Although I work as a nurse in the conventional health system, I am aware that the type of medicine that is practiced today still has much to improve, sometimes so much, that some people prefer to run away from it and opt for other alternatives.
In many cases, such as when homeopathy is used, the risk is minimal if it is used as a supplement (as it does not have any primary or secondary effects), but the risk may be high if conventional medicine is stopped, for leaving the child without a real treatment that takes effect; on other occasions, if alternative medicine is naturopathy, the risks can be very high if it is not dosed correctly by a logical question: not because they are natural the remedies are harmless, and in the same way that they have primary effects, they have side effects.
And to show a button: a case has recently been published in the magazine British Medical Journal warning that a misuse of naturopathy as an alternative therapy could be very dangerous, and that is a 4-year-old boy with autism almost died from being treated with her.
The boy was taking 12 different treatments
As we read on BBC, it happened in London, when some parents went to Newham Hospital because their son was in a very bad state. In their good intention to help them improve their autism, the parents went to a naturopath to see if they could help them. In successive visits he was indicating different remedies and at the time of admission I was taking 12 different treatments.
These included vitamin D, calcium, camel milk, silver and Epsom bath salts. The parents decided to go to the emergency room when they saw that in recent weeks he was increasingly deteriorated, with vomiting and thirst, and that he had lost about 3 kilos.
There in the hospital they saw that the boy was totally decompensated and dehydrated, with very high calcium levels that were endangering his life. Without knowing the cause, they began to treat him to compensate the values, and it was not until the mother told them how he gave her all the supplements they finally gave with the explanation: the boy had developed vitamin D toxicity and as a consequence their calcium levels skyrocketed.
He Dr. Abdul Moodambail, one of the authors of the published article, explained the case in this way:
This happens on many occasions with other patients. Often parents think that these supplements are natural, safe and do not cause side effects or adverse effects, but this is not true in many cases like this (...) The situation was complex because the child developed vitamin D toxicity that led him at very high levels of calcium, causing it to be quite bad, at the risk of having had a fatal outcome.
The boy recovered in two weeks
After two weeks of treatment, the child's health was restored and his calcium levels were in the normal ranges. Following this case, the National Autistic Society declared on the importance of doctors explaining the risks of improper use of alternative therapies.
The parents were desolate, so the support was maximum, as was the understanding of a disorder that has no cure. And it is that when some parents see that the situation is chronic and that medicine does not have a solution, a child tries what is needed, always with the best of intentions and always with information about the risks and benefits.
The problem is that when we talk about naturopathy, as I have already mentioned, the lack of regulation and clear evidence that demonstrates how it can be beneficial, leads to put children at risk, precisely because there is also a lack of documentation regarding the risks to which those using these treatments are exposed.
As a possible step forward in medicine (I repeat that it must improve a lot), the professionals who attended to the child consider it very important that there is more professionals who can accompany the families of children with autism, to give them precise advice and explain what can really help your child, as well as offer support that really helps them on a day-to-day basis with their children.
