TONSILLECTOMY
(Patient information sheet)

Why is this surgery done?
The indication for this surgery has reduced a lot in recent times and the common indication that remains now a days is
• Recurrent tonsillitis ( more than 3-4 /year)
• Tonsil enlargement causing sleep disturbance ( snoring , mouth breathing)

How is this surgery performed:
This is performed from inside the mouth and there is no external scar

How long does the surgery last:
Varies for each patient but ranges from 30 min to 90 min

Does this require overnight stay in hospital :
Many centers include this in day care but I feel at least one day admission is a must to keep a check on any minor bleeding.

What are the complications? :
Tonsillectomy is generally a safe surgery. Few children have some amount of bleeding occasionally. But that can be controlled. This surgery is done under general anesthesia so there is a minimal risk of anesthetic complication that is associated with any other surgery.

What do we expect after surgery :
The child has lot of pain for which pain relief medicines are prescribed. Still child will have some difficulty in swallowing food. So he is kept on fluids and icecreams. This lasts for 2-4 days

What is adenoid?
Adenoid is a tonsil like lymphoid part present behind the nose. In children who have enlarged adenoids these have to be removed during the tonsil surgery and is called as adeno tonsillectomy

How do I know if my child has adenoid ?
Constant mouth breathing, snoring are common symptoms. Rarely child may develop reduced hearing.

What precautions to be taken for food after surgery :
For 5 days child will need soft food and icereams and plenty of water. Nothing HOT should be given.
After pain subsides he can be given all food except spicy and very hot food for 15 days. After 15 days all regular food can be given.

Will my child never have throat pain after surgery :
This is myth even after removal of tonsil child can have throat pain due to other reasons but the repeated attacks of tonsillitis will definitely not happen.

Will the height /weight of my child increase or decrease after surgery : Tonsillectomy has no relation in increase or decrease of height/weight . However after removal of a chronic source of infection from body definitely the general well being of child improves.

For any other queries please feel free to contact me
Dr ( major) Prasun Mishra
MS ENT ( AFMC), DNB,
Pune
+91 9881676449
majorprasun@yahoo.co.in

TALKING TO TEENS
Teenage is a very sensitive age. Over her the teenager is neither a kid anymore nor a complete grown up. There are lots of changes happening in the body, in the mind as the teenager is unable to control them and neither are the parents. There are a few things that one needs to know about while dealing with them.
ACKNOWLEDGE YOU’RE TEENAGERS FEELING
• Instead of dismissing feelings…Identify thoughts and feelings
• Instead of ignoring feelings…Acknowledge feelings with a word or sound
• Instead of logic and explanation…Give in fantasy what you can not give in reality
• Instead of going against your better judgment…Accept feelings as you redirect unacceptable behavior.
TO ENGAGE A TEENAGERS COOPERATION
• Instead of giving orders…describe the problem
• Instead of attacking the teenager…describe what you feel
• Instead of blaming…give information
• Instead of threats and orders…offer a choice
• Instead of a long lecture…say it in a word
• Instead of pointing out what’s wrong…state your values and/ or expectations
• Instead of angry reprimands…do the unexpected
• Instead of nagging…put it in writing
ALTERNATIVES TO PUNISHMENT
• State your feelings
• State your expectations
• Show how to make amends
• Offer a choice
• Take action
WORKING IT OUT TOGETHER
• Invite your teen to give his point of view
• State your point of view
• Invite them to brain storm with you
• Write down all the ideas-silly or sensible- without evaluating
• Review your list. Decide which ideas you can both agree to and how to put them in action.
WHEN PRAISING TEENS
• Instead of evaluating…describe what you feel
• Instead of evaluating…describe what you see
TALKING ABOUT SEX TO TEENS
• You need to talk to your teen about sex the reason being whether you tell them or not they are going to learn about it. Atleast you would provide them right information.
• Forget the big talk have small talks which could be sparked by something that’s happened to a friend, a piece of television news.
• Try to talk about sex without embarrassment.
• Remember you are aiming for a conversation not an attack.
• Don’t worry if they seem not to listen, this is an important subject to them and you’ll almost certainly have more of their attention than it seems.
• Talk about the emotions as well as the physical process, and explain your beliefs and values.
• Be sensitive to your teenager
• Talk to not only about sex but also about love and commitment.
INTERNET AND TEENS
• Encourage your child to use a chatroom that requires registration the first time you visit.
• Explain that they should never give their password, phone number or email address to somebody they do not know.
• Social networking sites allow children to build up a list of selected friends. Just keep a watch on this list.
• Warn your teenager to be aware of somebody who wants to be too close too soon-perhaps someone asking for personal details.
• Sending photos is fine- to people your teenagers actually known. But remember they should not send it to just an internet friend.
• Tell them to always let you know if somebody has made them feel uneasy- perhaps by inappropriate language or suggestions.
• They should only meet face to face with somebody they have ‘met’ online if they have an adult they trust present and that to in a public place.
• Warn them about chatting online with somebody who is obsessed with secrecy.
• Most teenagers prefer to have computers in their bedroom with internet access this may not be wise.
• Install filtering software that prevents your teenager entering sites that you don’t wish them to.
DEALING WITH DRUGS
• Know about drugs, be ready to spot symptoms.
• Talk about drugs before it’s an issue.
• Know their friends.
• Build their sense of personal value
• Look out for vulnerable moments.
• Allow other adults that you trust to be a support to your child.

Breast feeding has been the most natural response of a mother to satisfy the emotional and nutritional needs of her infant. That this can even serve as a natural barrier to infections and even save us money is perhaps not thought of. The effectiveness of the breast milk has long been established for reducing diarrhea, pneumonia, improved child nutrition and development along with its potential as Eco-friendly.
Breastfeeding benefits all sectors of society economically, ecologically and socially. However, over the last decades, women's self confidence in their capacity to nourish their infants has been undermined by many factors, including the power of the infant formula industry and a lack of social support. The major reasons for decline in breast feeding practices in India (50.9% by 3 months) are 1.rapid urbanization. 2. commercial pressure by marketing companies giving false messages. 3. lack of self confidence in mothers & dislike for breast feeding with the fair of loosing charm and beauty. 4. Practical problems of working mothers. 5.Most important improper technique and positioning while breast feeding leading to cracked nipples, engorgement of breasts and thus lactational failure a common problem faced by young mothers.
6. Delayed initiation of first feed leading to failure of lactation reflex.
7. Starting bottle or pacifiers along with breast feeding thus confusing the baby while sucking.
These and many other factors lead to failure to initiate breast feeding and an excuse for the mother to say I don’t have enough milk which is absolutely a myth because nature has been kind enough to provide milk to all the mammals to feed their young ones even to multiple ones at a time.
Benefits of breast feeding:-
There are many positive reasons for women to breastfeed their babies: breast milk is the best and most nutritious food, protecting them from illness and ensuring healthy physical and psychological development. For mothers, breastfeeding provides several health benefits such as reduction in the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, with the decrease in breastfeeding over the past several years one could daily hear the bad news of breast cancer in very young ladies attributed to hormonal imbalance led by stopping breast feeding their babies, a protective mechanism provided by nature. Breast feeding also helps in diminishing post-partum bleeding and iron deficiency anemia, and a natural means of spacing children by delaying ovulation. Breastfeeding also empowers women by increasing their self-confidence in their capacity to nourish and protect as well as nurture their babies and by decreasing their dependence on commercial products.
Millions of babies fall ill every year because they are not breastfed. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 1.5 million infant deaths could be avoided every year if all babies were breastfed. It has been observed that infants under 2 months of age are nearly six times more likely to die if not breastfed.
A study from Ghana on 10947 breastfed babies concluded that we could save 22 %( 2.5 lakh) neonates from death if breastfeeding was initiated within one hour of birth.
In Botswana in 2005/06, infant formula feeding was given to all the babies with the aim to prevent transmission of HIV infection fro their mothers suffering from AIDS. This led to increase in diarrheal disease in these children with the increase in national under five mortality by 18%.also hospital admissions increased by 50%. Breast milk being free of contamination, adulteration and available at desired temperature has been proven best anti-infective. This property is being attributed to certain immunoglobins, compliments, macrophages, lysozymes present in breast milk particularly during first few days (colostrum).

Incidence of atherosclerosis and various related heart ailments are on lower side in people, those who are exclusively breast fed in childhood .breast fed babies have also proven highly intelligent than artificially fed babies .

Artificially fed babies have to bear extra financial burden for purchasing milk, bottle, fuel etc., which amounts to almost Rs 1500-2000/month, which is beyond the capacity of average middle class family, which compels them to over dilute the milk, thus leading to malnutrition. at the national level almost Rs 15000-20000 crores (estimated cost of marketed milk)can be saved by breast feeding approximately 22 million babies born per year.
Perhaps the least known of all the advantages of breastfeeding are the ecological benefits. Breast milk is a natural and renewable resource which is often overlooked. Breastfeeding protects the environment by reducing the demands made on it and eliminates sources of waste and pollution. Artificial baby milks and processed baby foods are non-renewable products which create ecological damage at every stage of their production, distribution and use.
Breastfeeding is unique - it causes no pollution and is the best example of how humanity can sustain itself through provision of the first and most complete food for human life. It is vital to increase our efforts to support, protect and promote breastfeeding. All sectors of society need to learn about the advantages of breastfeeding and how to support the natural rights of mothers to breastfeed and babies to be breastfed. All women should have access to information and support in order to be able to make truly informed choices about these natural rights.
The breastfeeding culture is culture of peace, balance and harmony. It involves trusteeship and global responsibility towards our young, and seeks accountability from governments and various spiritual traditions to support families in nurturing children. Almost all great world religions recognize breastfeeding as a essential nurturing the young and respect women's role in doing so.
Processing artificial baby milks wastes energy
Baby milk consists of a mixture of factory-processed substances which may be then added to cow's milk and converted into powder at high temperatures. This wastes a lot of electrical energy. This energy usually comes from hydro-electric or nuclear power plants that are expensive and cause a lot of damage to the environment. Breast milk is naturally produced. A mother's normal low-cost diet is transformed into a natural, invaluable and specialized food for her baby! This is the most energy efficient food production system ever known!
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Breast milk needs no extra-packaging
The packaging of manufactured baby milk wastes tin plate, paper and plastic. Bottles, teats and other feeding equipment use plastic, rubber, silicon and glass. To bottle feed all US babies, the 550 million tins sold each year, stacked end to end would circle the earth one and a half times. In 1987, 4.5 million feeding bottles were sold in Pakistan alone. These feeding bottles stacked end to end would reach the top of Mount Everest.
________________________________________
Disposal methods pollute air, land and groundwater
The packages used for baby foods, along with feeding bottles, teats and pacifiers, are commonly thrown away after use. Normally these are not biodegradable. Plastic feeding bottles, teats and pacifiers take 200 to 450 years to break down when disposed in landfills. Glass feeding bottles take an undetermined amount of time to break down. Landfill and incineration are the most common disposal methods. Landfill sites can pollute groundwater, and there is a shortage of suitable sites in some countries. Incineration releases pollutants into the air: if plastic bottles are burned, the fumes may contain dioxin and other toxic substances. The beauty of breast milk is that one need not worry about disposal and it is immediately available without any need for packaging and preparation. Breastfeeding is waste free.
________________________________________


Transportation pollutes and wastes fuel
The fresh cows' milk, grains and additives used in making baby food travel long distances even before processing, and additional long distances on the way to central, then regional warehouses, and finally, retail outlets. Many countries import baby food and feeding bottles from the other side of the world. This means a great waste of fuel and contributes to air pollution everywhere. Breast milk does not have to be shipped around the world; every mother has a ready supply wherever she goes...
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Preparation - more waste
A 3 month old bottle-fed baby needs a liter of water per day to mix with the formula powder. Another two liters are needed to sterilize the bottles and teats. If the water is boiled over a wood fire, more than 73 kg of wood are needed to prepare a year's feeds. In many parts of the world, water and fuel are so scarce that few mothers have the luxury of keeping the bottles and teats clean and of using only boiled, cooled water to make up the feeds. Breast milk is ready to use at the right temperature, does not need to be sterilized and causes no pollution.
________________________________________
Processed baby milks maybe contaminated
Baby milk is an industrially manufactured food which undergoes multiple processing, additions and alterations as it is converted from cows' milk plus additives to a can full of powder. No wonder that it has proved vulnerable from danger to contamination by harmful bacteria like E. Sakazakii and Salmonella, radio-activity, chemicals, foreign bodies and insect pests. Furthermore, the water mixed with the powder poses another danger of contamination, while problems have also arisen from teats breaking during use. Breast milk is a living substance. Each woman's milk is individually tailored for her own baby. What's more, her milk changes constantly - both during a feed and day by day - to meet her baby's evolving needs. When a mother is exposed to pathogens in the environment, she produces antibodies to combat them. The mother's antibodies are then passed on to her baby via her breast milk.
The dangers of Donations
Many violations of the code have been observed in emergencies with the donations of breast milk substitutes. During earthquake in Indonesia 2006, distribution of donated formula to children under 2 years led to increased prevalence of diarrheal disease to 25%, compared to 12% in breastfed babies.
Similarly in 2005 tsunami in Pondicherry, the occurrence of diarrhea was three times more among children who were fed with free breast milk substitutes than in those who were not fed with the same. These figures clearly show the misuse of these donations.

IMS Act and breast feeding:
To encourage and promote breast feeding various organizations like BPNI,IBFAN etc have been playing a commendable job by providing training people including health personnel ,highlighting benefits and objectives of breast feeding through printed and electronic media and interacting with various government officials for strict implementation of IMS (infant milk substitution act)1992 and amended in 2003 through the act of parliament and as per this act it is illegal:
1. To promote infant milk substitutes and feeding bottles intentionally /unintentionally on pretext of distribution of educational material
2. To make advertisement or exhibition of these products.
3. To sponsor any health official or related to child welfare to any tour, conferences etc.
4. To provide gifts or monitory benefit.
5. To distribute literature which directly or indirectly helps in promotion of their products and thus undermining breastfeeding?
DR.NIYAZ AHMAD BUCH
PROFESSOR (pediatrics).
SKIMS MEDICAL COLLEGE
SRINAGAR.
National trainer for infant and young child feeding
Niyaz_buch@yahoo.co.in

CHILD PSYCHOLOGY:
Is a curious thing that the scientific study of child behavior is only of recent origin. Philosophers had talked about the importance of childhood in determining the nature of the adult and poets had written about it.

The childhood shows the man,
As the meaning shows the day.
__ Milton in Paradise Regained

The child is father of the man
__ Wordsworth in My Heart Leaps Up

Two parents including Charles Darwin (1877) published infant biographies. But the first comprehensive study of child development did not appear until 1882. This was Prayer’s, “The Mind of the Child.” It also, was written by a father and observation was limited to one child. Although restricted in these ways, this was a careful study, dealing e.g. with reflexes, sensory ability, emotional development and thought processes. It is infact, a landmark in the history of child psychology.

Evolutionary Influences: One idea which played an important part in evolutionary biology also gave an impetus to child psychology. This was the concept of recapitulation, which supposed that, in their early growth, organisms exhibit, for a time, certain traits possessed by animals lower in the evolutionary scale. Some structural evidence for this came from the fact that human foctuses have structures resembling gill slits. These later become a part of the ear. Likewise, each human being has tail, which, except, in rare instances, disappears before birth.

Impressed by evidences for structural recapitulation, some early child psychologists looked for behavioral evidence. It was suggested, e.g. that “the child after birth recapitulates and uses for a time various phases of its prehuman ancestral behavior.” Offered in evidence were the monkey-like antics of children and the tendency of many to walk on all fours. One of the early leaders in child psychology, G. Stanley Hall of Clark University, even claimed that the cultural history of man’s behavior is mirrored in the activities of children and especially in play. He believed that, “The best index and guide to the stated activities of adults in past ages is found in the instinctive, in taught and non-initiative plays of children.” But the recapitulation concept, although it served for a time to focus psychological attention on children, received little support from observations of child behavior.

Developmental Schedules: When child psychology got under way, there soon developed an interest in such questions as: What reactions are usual or normal, or to be expected at given age levels? Research designed to answer such questions is often referred to as normative, a search for norms. Intelligence tests such as those, which originated in France, were normative but confined largely to memory and reasoning. They were, of course, designed for school children. They did not tell how a baby of three or six months or of two or four years should be reacting. Nor did they deal, in any direct way, with sensory, perceptual and motor development. The first extensive development schedules designed to tell parents what children usually do at various age levels from birth, up grew out of research conducted by Arnold Gessell and his associates at Yale University. Various test situations, involving response to such objects as dangling rings, cubes and mirrors were used at the early age levels. At later ages, the tests involved observations of language and social behavior. Large numbers of children were tested. Movies of their reactions were made and analyzed frame by frame to discover age changes in behavior. The chief outcome of this research was a detailed catalogue of the responses to be expected at successive age levels. Over and beyond its scientific value, information like this is of obvious value to pediatricians, educators and parents.

The Influence of Psychoanalysis: Like the poets quoted above, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and later psychoanalysts claimed that childhood experiences leave an indelible impression in adult personality. Freud emphasized experiences associated with sexual development. Others stressed the importance of frustration and insecurity in childhood, with or without sexual overtones. Regardless of such differences among them, these men helped to turn the spotlight on childhood and more specifically on parent-child relationships and other aspects of family life. This approach supplemented and as it were, rounded out the approaches to child psychology that we have already considered. Moreover, the influence of childhood on adult personality became an interdisciplinary problem, bringing about cooperative studies among psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists. The later were led to investigate how methods of child rearing characteristics of different cultures influence the personality of adults.

The principles of child psychology are based on research findings and theories about children’s behavior and development from the time of conception to the beginning of adolescence. The onset of pubescence, which typically occurs between twelve and fifteen years of age, marks the transition to a period of life which psychologists have considered sufficiently different from earlier childhood to merit separate treatment as the psychology of adolescence.

Psychologists have found it convenient to identify the following chronological age groupings:
Germinal: first 2 weeks after conception
Embryo: 2-6 weeks after conception
Foetus: 6 weeks after conception until birth
Neonate: First 2 weeks after birth
Infant: First 2 years of life
Preschool child: 2-6 years of age
Primary-school child: 6-9 years of age
Intermediate school child: 9-12 years of age
Junior-High school child: 12-15 years of age (the onset of adolescence occurs during this period)

This classificatory schema is arbitrary and has no theoretical value. Based on more-or-less general usage, it merely provides a convenient framework for discussion and easy appellation.

A study of the psychology of childhood, of conscientiously and intelligently pursued, provides a rich background of information about children’s behavior and psychological growth under a variety of environmental conditions. It provides information about psychological scales for appraising a child’s developmental status; provides certain “norms” of behavior and growth for comparative purposes; provides understanding of basic psychological processes like learning, motivation, maturation and socialization; supplies knowledge of general principles of development with which to evaluate critically new trends and “fads” in child care and training and offers practical suggestions for guiding the psychological growth of children who experience difficulties in adjusting to adults, children and other personal and natural components of their culture. Furthermore, extended study in this scientific area promotes a better understanding of adolescent and adult behavior. Familiar aphorisms such as “The child is father of the man” and “As the twig is bent so grows the tree” document man’s belief in the major contributions of childhood experiences to the personality and behavior of the individual.

While the present research and theoretical status of child psychology may appear to have emerged “full blown” in the twentieth century, closer examination reveals its deep and tenuous roots extending far into the past.


Dr. Nahida M.Mulla M.D.MACH
Principal,
A M Shaikh Homoeopathic Medical College, Nehru Nagar, BELGAUM

Special Children Of Punjab
Dear Doctors and friends,
Carin Smit, a neuro-nutritional therapist out of So. Africa, has written and forwarded this report, urgently asking for our support.
MICRO TRACE MINERALS has agreed to test about 300 children free of charge. Via hair mineral analysis, we will check the nutritional and toxic status of these children in Punjab. The next step will be to detoxify these children. It is assumed that nutritional deficiencies and intoxications (mercury etc) play a role in the health of these special children, and we are aware that a detoxification program cannot, and should not be started unless nutritional needs are somewhat met. Therefore, detoxification will not take place unless the nutritional status of these children has been improved.
Carin Smit has received a small donation of some protein powder, which is desperately needed to support these children, but is only enough for a dozen children at best.
VITMIN LABORATORIES of Germany, the nutritional company of my daughter Yvette Busch, has offered to provide nutritional supplements sufficient for the majority of children. We are about to send protein and nutritional supplements to start the program. We have cases of protein powders, vitamin and mineral supplements, probiotics etc, worth several thousand Euros, waiting for shipping.
Punjab is a state in Northern India, bordering Kashmir. It is difficult to reach. Few shipping companies deliver to Punjab, and costs for shipping and crating are high. Help us and the Children of Punjab with a donation that allows this project to become reality.
How to donate? Contact us and pledge your help. Every cent, dollar or Euro will help. Anything will be of benefit and we assure you that your kindness supports the children of Punjab.
Most sincerely,
Eleonore Blaurock-Busch PhD
Yvette Busch and Team
PS: I AM SENDING THIS TO EVERYONE ON MY MAILING LIST, BECAUSE I DEEPLY BELIEVE THAT THE POVERTY AND ILL HEALTH OF CHILDREN CONCERNS US ALL.



Baba Farid Center For Special Children
Harindra Nagar Faridkot (Punjab)


Some years ago I met a mother of a profoundly autistic boy, called Ankit Sharma in Gaberone, Botswana, where she and her husband lived and worked. At the time we provided a unique therapy intervention to Ankit, then 8 years old, called Auditory Integration Training. The treatment is an electronically modulated music intervention, which stimulated the entire auditory system, but also provides a strong impact on the brainstem, midbrain and cerebral cortices, providing overall sensory integration and it also changes the neuro-immunological status of the brain.
Ankit was greatly helped at the time, but because no other metabolic interventions followed his first exposure to AIT (Auditory Integration Training), he again deteriorated and his autism became more and more entrenched.
Savita heard about Dr. Pritpal Singh & Dr vipan kumar in Faridkot, Punjab in G-News whilst she was still in Botswana. Her father lives in Himachal, one of the other states of India. She brought her now teenage son to Punjab for treatment. He attended therapy in Batinda and in Faridkot and it was during her stay here in Punjab that she wrote to me and told me that Ankit had improved greatly under the Neuro-Therapy treatment of Dr. Singh.
She asked me if I would be interested in sharing some of my work with this doctor and his staff and upon my positive reply I received a phone call early in January 2008 from Dr. Pritpal Singh to come over and visit his Center and assist with the special children they serve.
Many months of collaboration followed. Over the months I became more and more convinced that this community of therapists is very poor and that they serve families who are not able to provide for their children according to Western standards.

Eventually the day came when we arrived in Punjab. A colleague and friend, Mrs. Vera Dirr, an NCRT and NCM therapist as well as teacher of Cerebral Palsied and learning disabled children in South Africa, accompanied me to Faridkot.
Our arrival here was met with much excitement and from the outset I realized that the needs were much greater than we could ever have hoped to meet. The families who have children in the center are devastated by the degree of disability which afflicts their sons and daughters. Many of the families have seen miracles happen – sometimes within days to weeks of bringing their children to the Baba Farid Center for Special Children.
The Center’s director is a young man, called Dr. Pritpal Singh. He is energetic, a visionary and a deeply committed therapist of young children. Dr. Pritpal Singh is a Doctor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences. He started this work about 6 years ago and has worked for 12 hours per day for the past 6 years, 7 days a week training up young men who have since qualified as Neuro-therapists in 4 Centers in which there are currently more than 300 children receiving daily Neuro-Therapy.

In addition to the 300 + children served in this way, there are more than a 100 on a waiting list. This is by far not the number of children whose plight is dire in the state of Punjab, as many are currently turned away as there just aren't enough Neuro-Therapists to work with them at this time. Just this morning parents again arrived at the Center hoping to receive help for their children, but had to be turned away, as the waiting list needs to be supplied with therapists, before any new families can be enrolled – this means that there is an urgent need to train up more therapists, but limited resources prohibit training of a new intake of intern Neuro-Therapists. These young men aren’t trained up over-night – the full training to certification takes up to three years to complete.

I was in awe from day one about the constant stream of children who arrive here from early morning (7am) till late evening (some as late as 9pm), who come for help. The Center offers this unique kind of yogic intervention, based on a combination of neuro-stimulation which is the result of stimulation of internal body organs through direct and indirect pressure. The pressure provides better blood flow to organs, thus the metabolism of these organs increases and more hormones, enzymes, chemicals are secreted/produced, which supply the body with better nutrition. Better nutrition for the entire body, results in better nutrition for the brain. Direct stimulation of the spinal cord, peripheral and central nervous system, also brings about better enervation and yielding astounding results.

To date more than 62 children are fully recovered - the majority of these came to the center severely spastic, blind, deaf, with contracted limbs, crossed legs, unable to speak, feed themselves, with no bowel or bladder control and some profoundly autistic. Yet now, after a relatively short time in therapy (15 minutes every 2nd day), they have gained normal bodily functions, are able to walk, talk, can see, hear, feed themselves and are integrated in mainstream schooling!


It is scientifically unacceptable to hear someone make a statement that a happening has been a miracle in the making, but the recovery rates in these children bespeaks super-natural intervention. It is not the norm that severely disabled children, especially those damaged by severe hypoxia at birth or have sustained damage from neuro-toxins, show such recoveries. I have personally seen the MRI’s of the children and the damage is real. Occipital, parietal, deep white matter damage, mid-brain and cerebellar damage abound in these children. Yet, within a relatively short period of time, Dr. Pritpal Singh and his team of Neuro-Therapists apply their therapy and within days the parents start seeing a lessening of spasticity, normalization of squints, correction of severe bowel issues, and improvement in eye contact. Before long, the children start making their first struggling attempts at muscular movements with their hands and then attempts to sit and stand follow.

At last, the first giddy attempts at walking emerge and then they start straightening out. As these processes emerge from deeply injured brains, the children start communicating. At first there are just glances that meet your eyes, then they fix their stare and soon they smile and attempt to babble or the first poorly formed words are uttered. For a parent who was told that his or her son or daughter would never sit, stand, walk, talk or be independent, no-one can dismiss the miracle of the first “Mama” or “Baba” and then the speech-mechanisms start stream-lining, to produce clearer and more complete sentences.

The autistic child who is hyperactive, aggressive to self and others, and the Down’s Syndrome boy or girl who cannot communicate because he or she has a tongue too large for his / her oral cavity or who has huge motor planning problems and who sits or lies locked away, begin to crack smiles and open themselves up to touch and communication; the frenetic behaviours that so often characterize autistics, start diminishing. We met a little girl here with Down Syndrome. She was said to be completely autistic and unable to communicate with people. The day we arrived she still clung to her granny in shy withdrawal, but as the days passed we saw this little girl as active, normal and communicative. Noor has become totally normal and she is well-able to mainstream with regards to schooling. Neuro-Therapy has changed her little life!

SOME CHILDREN DON’T RECOVER
We are desperate for this Center to obtain further help as their work is so deserving. Despite the success stories I have enumerated above, Dr. Pritpal Singh acknowledges that there is a small group of children whom they see with whom progress is less than satisfactory - these children still can't show the same recovery rates as the others I mentioned above. He called me in to investigate the causes for their slow or poor progress.
It is my humble opinion that heavy metal toxicity plays a key role in the non-recovery of these children. India, but more specifically, Punjab, where the Baba Farid Center for Special Children is located, is a toxic place. The streets are dusty and dirty. There appears to be no refuse removal. Cattle drift in and out of traffic and make their homes on the rubbish heaps, where they rummage for food and eat all manner of plastic and refuse articles. These ultimately kill them – it is a slow, agonizing and desperately cruel death! The majority of the side roads are mere dirt tracks, the poverty is tangible. The children of the poor are sold into a life condemned to slavery and children as young as 5 and 6 become servants and collectors of rubbish (garbage), as they have huge bags strapped to their heads, and they fill these bags with refuse, which is most likely



Semi-valuable for re-cycling. [Re-cycling is certainly NOT a priority in India!]. Children and their families live far below the breadline and mal-nutrition seems to be the norm rather than the exception. I have been shocked every time when I enquire about the age of a child and am told that the child is at least 3 – 5 years older than what I would have imagined. Their statures are small, their arms thin and wiry, their faces emaciated and their feet and legs bony and weak. The mal-nutrition is palpable and therefore the disease- and infection-ratio must, of necessity, be higher in this country.
In addition to this there is the horror of the intense vaccination schedule for Indian children, combined with the fact that the Indian Pharmacopoiea mandates that even single shot vaccines be laced with Thimerosal, which makes for very interesting and sad case histories. Other factors compound the ravaging effects of Mercury in young bodies: the majority of the children who attend the center are either Cerebral Palsied due to hypoxia at birth (local hospitals in towns and villages in India don't have ANY Pediatric ICU or incubation services and so brain injury due to Hypoxia is very high amongst Indian children - even in the cities).

Progressive brain injury is inevitable when one considers the hectic vaccine loading (28 - 32 vaccines by 9 months), for more than 15 diseases, which has left many devastated especially after the 9-month MMR. Those who haven't become autistic are more severely impacted and become brain injured, with resulting cerebral palsy, mental retardation or life-threatening epilepsy. One such boy at the Center is Nirmal, who currently has status-epilepticus and has not stopped having seizures since I came here 14 days ago. His little sister, aged 7 when she died, also passed away of a similar condition some time ago. Doctors across the state of Punjab and in Delhi have sent the mother home, saying that they can't do ANYTHING more for Nirmal and so she carries her racked and spastic son up and down daily to the Center. Here the men work on the boy, using water syringe therapy on his forehead and small parts of the Neuro-Therapy and these break the seizures for short periods daily, but inevitably the seizures return and contort his little body for hours on end.

I believe Nirmal has Hallervorden-Spatz Syndrome as he has an “eye of the tiger” ring of marked hypointensity involving his globus pallidus on a T2-weighted MR image. His situation is truly one of a life and death struggle, as the condition is said to be neuro-degenerative and his sister died with the same disease at age 7 some time ago. The problem with this syndrome is the deposition of iron as ferritin in the globus pallidus with the eventual destruction of the substantia nigra of the basal ganglia. I feel that chelation with chelators which cross the blood-brain-barrier might be helpful and wondered if this child’s life could not be saved if a strict chelation protocol were designed and applied. At the present time, his seizures are near life-threatening with extreme postural reflexes and rigidity. I tried to use supplements on Nirmal when I came here – not initially knowing what caused the extreme rigidity and seizure-like stiffening of his body. I started giving him Taurine (I didn’t have any GABA to give as this would have been another supplement of choice) and dispensed all the Foodscience sub-lingual DMG's I had access to. In addition to this I gave him Magnesium in mega-doses as he was extremely constipated. The first few days yielded few results, but by the end of meting out little amounts of Idebenone, DMG, Taurine, Omega 3 and Magnesium, he seemed to start stabilizing again and the seizure-like rigidity lessened. There are now days when he only fits 2 - 3 times per day. What his quality of life will be after this no-one can guess, but I feel giving him the little I had, had brought some change and trying to implement a chelation protocol which will cross the blood-brain-barrier might actually save his life from the life-threatening gliosis.

In desperation, before seeing his MRI results, I went ahead and ordered a set of supplements from Marion Ellison in SA for him, but the cost of sending these here plus the purchase costs came to R6000.00 (almost $1000!/ Euros 500!) and for this Center, and the family, whose monthly income is a mere Rs8000 ($200), this was a devastating amount!
The situation on the ground here is dire due to poverty with resulting mal-nutrition. The average parental income is less than $150.00 per month and the very poor ones may earn as little as $15 per month, which is hardly enough to keep body and soul together, not to speak of keeping these little ones healthy and kept in a live-changing therapy service!





The net result is that many die or will die. I can’t believe that there is an affluent “West” out there where people have cars, homes and comforts, fast-food outlets and ample medicine, opulence and high quality medical services, and here in India, in places like Punjab, the children have to die, because parents can’t even access incubators for the prematurely born babies or where talking about nutritional supplementation is like talking about life on Mars! For these families such help is “out of this world”, out of reach and beyond hope. Just today we struggled for over 5 hours just to find a courier company which would transport two serum and a few hair samples to Germany for analysis. The outcome was, after contacting the Post Office, several local courier companies and even DHL India’s National Customer Care services, that sending the biological samples internationally is an IMPOSSIBILITY! When I told the operators of the DHL service that it was a life-and-death matter for these children, I was told it would take up to 21 days just to open an international export account for biological samples and the cost of sending these samples will then be so astronomical, that it will put the entire project in jeopardy.

OTHER OBSTACLES
The ones who are fortunate enough to have heard about the Baba Farid Center for Special Children, and can manage to find transport to come over the miles to obtain help, may need ongoing financial support from Dr. Singh to pay for ricksaw and taxi services (nothing like what we know in the West!), to commute over the many miles to and from their towns and villages for the 15 minute treatment session per day. And yet, remarkably, these children, when treated, become better and better and the spasticity leaves their little wracked bodies and they manage to start healing up.

For the 20% of the children whom he has not been able to give hope and help due to toxicity issues beyond the scope of their therapy, he called for my help. I managed to procure free lab testing for all 300 children with Micro Trace Minerals (Dr. Eleanore Blaurock Busch) in Germany and she has kindly offered to set up a research project for this Center under my supervision to ensure that we carefully document our findings as I believe we might be observing a breakthrough in medical and natural sciences in this Center!

However, offering free lab services to us means nothing if we can’t get the samples to the lab in Germany and even if we could get someone willing to transport the urine for us, the project will still not be viable if the cost of sending these samples becomes exorbitant.
I trust this little vignette of the work and scope of the Baba Farid Center for Special Children will aid potential donors or individuals in power to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of children who can't speak for themselves and for parents who are not able to advocate for their children because their station in life discriminates against them.
With kind regards
Carin Smit – C/CMT
SYNAPSE AFRICA NEURO-NUTRITIONAL CLINIC
Posted By Dr vipan kumar