Jan 10, 2017
Active mute kid getting better, ended treatment halfway to return home
The patient of this case was a five-year-old Japanese boy with severe autism treated for only ten months. His parents had to stop his treatment to return to Japan for some reasons quite suddenly. During the treatment, his condition progressed. Before, he never knew how to speak. After the treatment, he started to make sound and learn to speak. Although his language ability was way behind kids of the same age, it was a good start. It was a pity his parents had to stop his treatment halfway. Unknowingly, this little boy would be the one to suffer the consequence. Many parents expect this complicated condition to be cured in a few months. Based on my experience in treating autism, a complex brain disorder, it takes at least one year for a mild case. A much longer time will be required depending on the complexity of the disease.
When patient first came to my clinic, he looked healthy and active. He was a little chubby and the skin was fair. He was restless but did not speak. There was reddish bruise below the eye, indicating blood clots in the head. The parents had consulted Western doctors but did not get any solutions. He was later transferred to Sanatorium Hospital for examination. His brain MRI showed normal brain development and he was diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder and mute. I observed his tongue and found that the tip of the tongue was stuck to the back of the tongue, hence could not move.
Patient’s mother said that his son had fallen from the table when little, which could be the reason for the blood clot. He liked to look at himself in the mirror when he was eating and liked to do arts and craft with paper and scissors. In the beginning, he refused to take the medicine so his mother took him to the clinic to learn how to feed him the medicine. We tried to squeeze his jaws and pour the medicine in. He resisted and spitted out the medicine, wasting a lot. At the end, we found the better way was to feed him the medicine squeezing his nose. At home, besides feeding him squeezing his nose, his mother also fed him the medicine using a syringe. When he came back for a follow-up visit after taking medicine, his tongue became flexible and was able to stretch and retract. His father told me that one night his son suddenly was able to say a few words, which had never happened before. The very first words of his life, unexpectedly was “God damn it”. From that, we knew how angry and frustrated he had been for not being able to speak and express his thoughts since he was born. Afterwards, he counted his fingers and read out the numbers. In addition, he became calm, unlike the last time when he was restless. His behavior was what I hoped to see. As far as I could see, he had a good chance of speaking. Once again, my “brain theory of traditional Chinese medicine” was proven accurate.
Suddenly spoke, said ‘pa pa ma ma’
Based on my observation, the blood red and dark brown color (the color after oxidation of iron) of patient’s urine samples indicated that there was a lot of toxin stasis in the brain. When his mother called to report his condition, she recalled that when her son was two, he could say “Mom and Dad”. After getting several vaccinations, he never spoke again until a few days ago when he suddenly uttered the first words, “God damn it”, and a few days later, “dad, mom”. She was overjoyed. In addition, he also said “thank you”, “I will kill you” and other English phrases. During the early stage of the treatment, he had pain in his left ear and kept moaning. His mother told me that he had had an ear infection two years ago and had taken antibiotics. Although the infection was cured, it might have destroyed the auditory nerve. I told her not to worry, the pain could have occurred while the medicine was removing the blockage from toxin stasis in the auditory nerve. We know that a deaf person is usually dumb (usually speech is controlled by the left brain). Due to auditory nerve problem, patient was not able to speak. I told his mother that after two days when the medicine had removed all the blockage in the auditory nerve, the pain would disappear. As expected, after two days, patient’s pain in the ear had gone.
At the third follow-up visit, patient constantly tried to learn to speak. Although I did not understand his words, it was a good start. When I asked him to stick out his tongue and show me, he was able to do it. A flexible tongue enables speech. Improved hearing would also help him speak. Another big change with patient was that he was not restless. He stood quietly in front of the window and looked down the road. He was able to sit very steadily and did not bounce around.
Patient knew that the Chinese medicine had improved his condition and was finally willing to take it without being forced. His mother said that his left ear could hear much better. However, he was afraid of the TV’s sound, it felt like loud noises and he often covered his ears with his hands. I explained to her that before the treatment, her son could only hear a little, or almost nothing, with his left ear. After the treatment, his hearing had improved and he was not used to the sound he was hearing. His mother also added that her son once said “Ma Ma Sleep” in English and could clearly read aloud the numbers one to ten altogether and many other new words. As for being hyperactive, the condition fluctuated. On the whole, the progress had been good and the mother was very happy.
Hugged his mother, said he loved her
Patient’s urine sample for the past few weeks were mostly dark blood red in color with a little sediment. I believed that there should be a lot of blood stasis still clotted in the brain. When he was in my clinic, he did not want to talk much but would talk a lot at home. Sometimes he would quietly listen to other people talk and seemed to understand the conversation. When I asked him to stick out his tongue for me to observe its flexibility, he would do accordingly. At the ninth follow-up visit, his father said that his son once had a fever of 40 degrees Celsius and each time after he vomited, his speech would improve. During the visit, I saw him, for the first time, talk to himself, although I did not know what he was saying and he didn’t stop for a long time. When he stopped talking to himself, he became active again and jumped around. When he was at home, he often hugged his mother and said he loved her in Japanese. When his mother told me that, she was filled with joy and emotions. The phenomenon of a high fever during the treatment, I call it pseudo fever syndrome, 假感冒現象. I invented both the Chinese and English names. During the treatment, the pseudo fever syndrome will occur for quite a few times in the patient. After each fever, the condition will get better and better. For this patient, his father said that after every vomiting, his speech would improve further.
About 20 years ago, I started to treat autism. Every child with autism had different symptoms which varied greatly. During the treatment, I observed a very special phenomenon. At the beginning of taking the Chinese medicine, usually within a month, patient would suddenly show flu-like symptoms, such as runny nose, stuffy nose, low fever, vomiting and sore throat, etc. In my earlier time of treating autism, I would prescribe a Chinese medicine formula for cold, but it was not too effective. Later, I found out that these flu-like symptoms would disappear in about one or two days as long as the patient continued with the main drug. During this time, the color of the urine was dark orange brownish red, or even purplish red, indicated that the medicine had transported the liver toxins and blood stasis through the heart to the brain. At the same time, these toxins and blood stasis would be discharged from the brain. When a large amount of toxins and blood stasis had accumulated in the brain, the brain would react in a way similar to food poisoning and patient would vomit, have diarrhea, fever and etc. When all toxins and waste were discharged from the brain, the fever and other flu-like symptoms would subside and disappear automatically. Usually a few days later, the patient would experience rapid improvement of the brain function and verbal ability and respond more quickly. Therefore, in the course of treating autism, the more pseudo fever appear, the faster the progress will be. In Western medical treatment, there is also a reference to this reaction in the treatment of autism, called the “Yeast Die off Reaction” or Herxheimex Reaction. This reaction seems to have many adverse effects, so western medical treatment uses drugs to suppress this reaction. I, on the contrary, will enhance the detoxification, which will cause more pseudo fever and at the end achieve the improvement of multiple functions of the brain. After more than two months of treatment, everything went well with patient. He often murmured to himself loudly at the clinic. Although I could not understand what he was saying, I thought he was just like a baby learning to speak, indicating his verbal ability had improved a lot.
It was a pity that the parents could not bring patient to my clinic for treatment on schedule. When they came for their fourteenth follow-up visit, it was three weeks apart from the previous one. It was because the family had been back to Japan without notifying me so patient missed his medication over that period. When I saw him after they came back, he was much more active than usual, probably from missing his medication. He was singing and talking in the clinic keeping himself busy. His mother said that during the time without the medication in Japan, her son’s condition regressed and he was restless again. While in Hong Kong, he went to a speech therapy every day to improve his pronunciation. Although he was five years old, he never spoke and had to learn like a two- year-old child.
Senses recovered, felt pain when fell
Before the treatment, patient never complained about pain when he fell or got hurt because he did not know what pain was. According to his father, one time when his son fell, he complained that it hurt, indicating that his sensory nerves were recovering and that was why the reaction. Also, later on, he began to get used to the sound he was hearing with the recovery of his ears. It was not noise to him anymore and he did not need to cover his ears. In other words, the brain nerves had adjusted to the auditory senses and the response. In terms of speech, he also had a great breakthrough, from saying single words in the beginning to saying the entire sentence, such as copying her mother saying, “go wash your hand”, etc.
Afterwards, I did not see patient for another four weeks. At the twentieth follow-up visit, he spoke a lot more. He could count form 1 to 10 and even read the numbers on the ruler. He also sang the ABC song and spoke Japanese phrases. I thought he was more stable than at the first visit and he kept holding on to his mother.
Sick child progressed, learned to speak
Blood stasis and toxins continued to be discharged from patient’s body. Urine samples were mainly deep maroon in color, contained transparent tartaric acid crystal, brown urate acid, such as calcium oxalate, cholesterol toxins and other sediments. There was also floating fatty liver discharge. Later, patient’s mother told me that she would go back to Japan with her son and needed two weeks of medicine. However, after that, they did not return for more treatment nor medicine. At that last time, his mother said that her son had made great progress, he was not restless like before, he had learned some new words, such as “OK Mommy” in English. Finally, his mother told me that she would bring her son to me for treatment again if they returned to Hong Kong. This medical case started on April 17, 2004 and ended on February 20, 2005 for a total of ten months and 39 visits. It was a pity that patient’s family had to return to Japan and had to terminate his treatment halfway. Although patient’s condition had improved and could speak simple sentences, a better result could not be achieved.
By Dr. Au Sik Kee
Jan 10, 2017
Medical record number: 040417
For enquiry, email: sikkeeau@gmail.com