Intestinal pain or autism?
From David Kirby: I have heard them wail in pain the whole night through, bang their heads into dented closet doors, hang their inflamed and pain-wracked bellies over the sofa back in vain attempts for deliverance from the agony they cannot describe, because they can no longer speak.Obviously (or, I hope, obviously!), no sane and well-intentioned parent would deliberately allow their child with or without autism to suffer from gastrointestinal pain. Equally obviously, a child who is suffering from and acting out as a result of physical pain is in need of medical help - and is not expressing his uniqueness! It may be difficult to know whether a non-verbal child with autism is also having GI difficulties, but parents with questions or concerns should certainly contact their pediatrician.From an About.com Commenter: Should a nonverbal child be free to roll around on the floor, hunched over a play ball? Or should that child’s parent(s) get an X-ray and maybe find the entire colon filled with feces? The child gets cleaned out, the posturing ends.
If your child really is suffering from both GI problems and autism, then relieving the GI symptoms is likely to have a very positive impact on autistic symptoms. After all, a child in constant pain is likely to behave poorly, attend poorly, act out, and so forth. If, after treating GI symptoms, the autistic symptoms disappear altogether - it seems reasonable to explore the possibility that the "autism" was actually a direct result of food intolerances, allergies, or nutritional issues.
There isn't a clear consensus on whether and to what degree GI issues and autism go together. There does, however, seem to be an association between the two. For much more about autism and its relationship to gastrointestinal symptoms, along with information about special diets for autism, explore these articles.
Comments
We in the autism/Asperger’s community need to get our act together so that we can create a database of autism/Asperger’s versus associated illnesses and food intolerances. We cannot figure out the associations, we will never find consensus, until we create the database. I believe there is enough anecdotal information for me to say autism and Asperger’s are genetically related, but despite the strong association, even I cannot say that with 100% certainty. I, (professionally diagnosed with Asperger’s) can altruistically offer here my personal perspective on my history of digestive problems, but I have no way of knowing whether I am helping, or throwing out a red herring. We need a database so that we can compare notes.
I spent a childhood wracked with intestinal pain. I believe the source of the pain to be gas pain. To this day, I do not know of a treatment for acute gas pain which will act quickly enough to provide prompt relief, relief more prompt than just waiting for it to pass. At no time in my life have I had constipation, bloody stools, etc, so I do not believe remedies along those lines will help. For me, the best remedy is food avoidance. I now know that if I drink a glass of orange juice, I can expect excruciating gas pain 12 hours later. Obviously, I must lack an enzyme for digesting the sugars in orange juice. Beans and dairy cause me problems too. Unfortunately, I cannot cut out the dairy, or I get migraines and leg cramps, apparently from the lack of calcium. Maybe I might have had a less painful childhood if I had not been forced to eat foods I intuitively wanted to avoid.
One of the most frustrating things about my lifelong quest to figure out what was causing my migraines was the failure to spot that it wasn’t what I ate that caused the migraines, it was what I DIDN’T eat. It wasn’t until I saw an article about people getting headaches on weekends because they drank coffee at work all week, and then didn’t bother to make coffee at home and ended up with splitting headaches, that I was led to start analyzing what I hadn’t eaten before I had a migraine and spent 12 hours puking. For me, I found that nitrites, the preservative in ham and bacon, was the worst culprit. The solution was simple. Eat ham sandwiches seven days a week, instead of the five days a week I packed a lunch. Obviously, I could have chosen to avoid nitrites altogether, but I live in a rural area, and getting fresh deli meats for lunch every day would be more of a burden than just eating the nitrite every day. (Note, nitrite is a powerful poison with a profound effect on cell respiration, but concentration is everything when we are dealing with “poisons”, and I will continue to love to eat ham, corned beef and bacon.) For a while I thought soda pop was causing migraines, because we would run out of milk, want to save gasoline/be to lazy to drive all the way to town to get a few gallons of milk, and when I got the migraine I would want to blame it on the soda pop I had substituted for milk, but couldn’t figure out why the soda only sometimes gave me headaches. It wasn’t the soda, it was the lack of milk.
I have also had thyroid problems.
Now, which of my health problems have any bearing on the autism/Asperger’s community at large? Maybe all, maybe none, we won’t know until we get a database.
If I was a parent of a child with digestive pain, knowing what I know now, I might try some “Beano” or other digestive enzyme booster on my children, and see if you got lucky. {I haven’t tried it, I am not a doctor, and do not want to give medical advice.) You could also try the live digestive bacteria cultures that are on the market.
If it is genuinely some kind of inflammation of the intestinal tract, one of the tell-tale signs would be mucus covered stools (you’d wipe your kid’s butt and it would feel slippery like snot). And of course, the panic and run to the doctor immediately sign is dark/stools-blood in stools and fever,(but do not get fooled by black stools caused by eating Oreo cookies!). Good luck.
Bill,
Have you considered lactose intolerance? It’s fairly common, and might explain some of your issues. If you are lactose intolerant, lactaid (generic or name brand) is an easy treatment.
“If, after treating GI symptoms, the autistic symptoms disappear altogether – it seems reasonable to explore the possibility that the “autism” was actually a direct result of food intolerances, allergies, or nutritional issues.”
Has a case ever been documented where treatment of GI symptoms resulted in loss of diagnosis?
I do not believe a parent would not seek help if a child had GI issues and autism, regardless if they viewed them one in the same. Unless there is true evidence of a parent not seeking help, it’s speculation. Sometimes for the child, the trip to the ER or clinic is worse than the GI issue.
I seen a show on medical Mystery. An infant was born, and never had a BM but maybe once a month. The doctors said not to worry. This poor child suffered with this, showed obvious pain and a belly so swollen I had never seen such a thing. Turns out, this child was born with out a protein, or enzyme, something which resulted in muscles not knowing more or less, how to push. However during all of this GI issues, this child did not display autism behaviors.
My son showed signs of autism long before his GI issues showed up. Once the GI issues were taken care of for the most part, his autism still remains. His IBS does show up when he’s been tense at school in social situations and more quiet.
I think a data base is a good idea but not sure how useful it would be. GI issue and absorbing nutrients or a lack there of can cause cognitive issues. A certain percentage of those with autism have constipation, diarrhea, sleep issues, seizures, allergies, asthma, reflux and reflex issues. That list can go on and on and I am not sure of what relevance knowing who suffers from what medical condition that will help, relating to autism. An interesting aspect might be of the child population in general, who suffers from these same issues.
Hey, ANB. I guess it depends upon your definition of “documented.”
Lisa
I have had my doubts about some of the things related to the autism diets, but without a doubt since being on SCD and avoiding sugars, preservatives, dyes, junk, etc; my daughter is a lot calmer and more with us. She also loves to eat now when she used to be super picky. She is now eating the kinds of things most parents only dream their kid our eat (snacking on vegetables for one).
It may be nothing more than eating better than most people (all natural, from scratch, etc.) but there is for sure something going on.
The SCD diet is worth it in my book if for no other reason than she now has solid poops instead of never-ending runny poop.
FJH
ANB, aka Ken Reibel — who cares whether eliminating GI distress single-handedly removes an autism diagnosis? What matters is that the child is without pain, healthy, thriving and happy. But a nonverbal child cannot sound an alarm about his/her pain.
Behavioral symptoms given the psychological label of autism spectrum disorder can disappear once the underlying medical condition receives proper treatment. If that allows the child with autism to get along better in life, wonderful — but that’s no condition for love and acceptance.
I have heard from parents who brought their child to the psychologist or doctor when the child demonstrated a motion some parents refer to rather inelegantly as “humping the floor,” or leaning over an ottoman, or making sudden grunting noises. The “health care professional” observes and says “that’s just part of autism.”
But thank God that some parents are savvy enough to seek second opinions, get X-rays or MRI’s or gastrointestinal biopsies. And they find fecal impactions, or diverticuli, or perhaps even lesions containing vaccine-strain measles. Pain can lessen with anti-inflammatories like steroids, and other treatments including antivirals.
A previous commenter here indicated that he spent a childhood wracked in pain. That is unacceptable, and I feel sympathy for him. Strong evidence that more parents need to reexamine their ASD children from a medical rather than behavioral perspective.
Nancy~ A verbal child cant often sound an alarm for pain, either. You also don’t go to a psychologist or just any doctor for a GI issue and except them to give an expert answer. When my child was non verbal, all he ever did was growl in tones and each tome meant something. You had to guess which it meant. He also put himself in odd positions yet it was related to, well him. Unless a parent has noticed no BM for a few days, there is no reason to assume these behaviors are not just related to autism. My son had chronic diarrhea and he did have a full GI endoscopy (this is not an easy procedure by any means and requires sedation), biopsy of the gut and a ton of other things. The pain and physical symptom’s simply was not there for my child, only the clear cut diarrhea. A doctor has to validate the need for such evasive tests. You can not simply walk in and demand these and then expect insurance to pay for it no matter how savvy one may be.
I’d also like to know if there are any documented cases where treatment of GI symptoms resulted in loss of diagnosis, and yes, it would depend on the source of that documentation. But it kind of is that topic.
bill, i enjoyed reading your comments. thank you. you remind me of a friend of mine who is also diagnosed with asperger’s. she had terrible gi issues as a child and into her teens. when she was about 15 she was in an auto accident and had some injuries to her jaw and she could not chew for several weeks. as a result she was on a liquid diet, and her gi issues went away. when she started eating solid food, she added one thing at a time, so she could determine which foods had been triggering her gi issues. she discovered she was gluten intolerant, and she was allergic to a variety of fruits and veggies. she also discovered that her periodic panic attacks were gone, along with some of her need for routine. she also had frequent respiratory infections and skin rashes which went away after she discovered the food triggers. today she is a total health nut who is devoted to eating a healthy organic diet, and she avoids all the foods that trigger her gi and respiratory issues.
Bill, a database is steadily being built by the Kennedy Krieger Institute. This may be where your inputs would be most valuable for researchers to compile. I would like to urge all parents to contribute to scientific research that taps into the knowledge of those with day-in-day-out experience with autism.
http://www.ianproject.org/
I wonder if there might be some correlation between the incidence of autistic “G/I issues” and inexperienced parents. I’m sure NT kids have “G/I issues” too, but I only came to realize that after #2 and #3 came along. My autistic firstborn definitely bore more than his share of new parent anxiety.
Tylenol is very likely what’s behind the epidemic of autism, since it is known to deplete glutathione. Glutathione is a critically important antioxidant, and parents are often told to give Tylenol before and after vaccination. However, doing this will strip their bodies of glutathione when their little bodies need it the most-to filter out the toxins in the vaccines! Glutathione is essential for the function and structural integrity of the gut, and it makes sense that if glutathione is depleted, our kids are going to have gut issues.
Look at when the autism spike started…it was after it was discovered that aspirin was linked to Reye’s Syndrome, and parents were told to use Tylenol instead. Tylenol started to become very widely used in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and autism starting increasing during that same time frame.
The Tylenol theory is a good and valid one concerning Glutathione , however depleting glutathione happens with acetaminophen over dose or extreme prolonged use. Recommended use, this will not occur. Also, noone would really know the stats on who used Motrin opposed to Tylenol relating to autism.
Glutathione depletion happens to a certain degree every time you give Tylenol. I think it’s probably dose-dependant. My son’s metabolic analysis showed that he is deficient in glutathione, and the test was ran weeks after I figured out that Tylenol was giving him problems and quit using it on him. I always dosed it by weight, not age, since he is small for his age. However, who’s to say that babies aren’t already deficient in glutathione? Do their immature systems make enough? Did mom take Tylenol for headaches while she was pregnant? Was the child sick when receiving the Tylenol? Was it taken on an empty stomach? Was it dosed properly or was it given concurrently with other drugs containing acetaminophen? Who knows? Lots of variables here, and definitely something that warrants further research.
There is a rare genetic disorder that would effect this, making a normal does toxic, and those with Down Syndrome having an extra chromosome would effect the use of acetaminophen however for the most part, a normal dose does not generally “strip their bodies” (children) of glutathione (besides that, this is an issue of the liver, not the whole body) unless of course there is a study that can be provided other than via a source of which sells glutathione for a number of various disorder’s.
Maybe a new topic can be started on this topic about the liver, how ever I have not heard much about that in relation to autism.
The gut does indeed affect mental and emotional function. I’ve struggled greatly with that. Do get your gut checked out if you’re having unexplained mental or emotional problems.
I don’t think that all autism is because of gut problems, but some of it is. Give the diet thing a try. If it doesn’t work for you, then drop it, or perhaps keep it up just for health reasons.
Glutathione is key to everyone’s health. Just like other antioxidants, it controls inflammation, a leading cause of most disease. But more importantly, it acts as a detoxifier, supporting removal of poisons, heavy metals, and mercury. Presense of heavy metals leads to brain issues – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ADHD, Depression, AND Autism. Most kids have an abudance of glutathione where kids with autism have unusually low concentrations of glutathione in their cells (for whatever reason). There are natural ways to help increase our bodies glutathione levels. Check out GlutathioneGenerator.com for several reports. I know several people who are having breakthroughs with this approach.