Does your Aspie complain of headaches and stomachaches?

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My 13yo son has been complaining more frequently of headaches and stomachaches for the past few months. He has always complained of headaches when asked to do math. I am not sure whether he is experiencing more symptoms (could be anxiety-related), or whether he is just using the complaints to get out of things that make him uncomfortable, things he's anxious about, or things he just doesn't want to do.

He started complaining more of the stomach problems when he was on Strattera, which is why we took him off of it. But the stomach complaints continue.

Any experience or advice?

Thanks!
Jane

Stomach issues seem kind of common in Asperger's. I rarely experience headaches.

Does he need/have glasses? Until i was 13, i was having SEVERE headaches almost daily. turned out i needed glasses, headaches almost disappeared, and the ones i still had were not as bad, had a lot of stress back then too so that was part of it. Are you pushing the schoolwork on him too much? In 7th grade my father made me spend up to seven hours doing homework, then wake me at 5am to finish.

My daughter has had doubling over stomach aches regularly her whole life. It gets worse when she is anxious so eliminating anxiety has been helpful. She also has a prescription for Prevacid for especially bad bouts-it is helpful. We were referred for an upper GI but the procedure would have required General anesthesia (my daughter is aggressively resistant to doctors exams) so we didn't do it.

She will occasionally complain of a headache but definitely not as much as the stomach problems. Ask if you can try the Prevacid and see if that helps the stomach problems. Excess acid in the stomach can be caused by prolonged anxiety and can cause erosion of the esophagus and lining of the stomach. The Prevacid heals the erosion.

How long since he's been off the "bad" medicine?

My son is simply physically oversensitive to the usual headache or tummy ache. He makes a bigger deal out of it than most. His eye pupils are always pinpointy to the point that I thought there was somwething wrong with him. Turns out that he has light sensitivity. He wears sunglasses a lot. He's eleven going on 25...I don't underestimate his aches and pains but he sure does a of of acting. he didn't want veggies tonight due to a "toothache" but I caught him chowing down on a bag of Riesen candies in his bedroom. Those Riesen toffees will pull the teeth right out of your freakin' face! Toothache huh?

My 17 yr old son rarely has headaches but tummy aches have been a feature of his life for a long time. About 5 yrs ago he was told he had IBS. I have just been managing the symptoms since then. Just recently he took himself to a doctor (I was very proud of him for doing that on his own for the first time) to go over a range of odd symtpoms. He always has imagined that anything he has MUST be terminal so I'm glad he is now asking a professional (who he's likely to believe more than me ) and he'll probably listen to the answers.

I have never dissed his aches and pains, just always told him that if it worries him we'd ask about it. I do think that sometimes it's anxiety related - not wanting to go to school etc - but he's getting better now at actually saying if it's something he is concerned about.

magicmum

Yes.

Heard this from age 2? to about age 8. Chronic source of complaints, but never seemed severe. Pediatrician couldn't identify any cause. Was never sure how seriously to take it since she always had difficulty articulating her feelings. Was it a small problem (I may be about to fart) or a big problem (I may need an emergency appendectomy)?

Problem seemed to fade and I forgot about it until she was being evaluated for AS and one questionnaire asked about stomach problems. So it seems like somebody has made this connection.

Come to think of it, my own stomach was problematic for many years. Prone to an uncomfortable nauseous feeling. Haven't had that problem for a while though. Maybe due to a very regular diet and working with very limited social interaction (i.e. low stress).

DS gets migraines (also inherited from me along with asthma, and of course ASD. *^&* genetics!) We get good warning that these are coming, though - they're really severe and involve vomiting, and usually occur after exercise.

I'm not saying it isn't related to the Asperger's, but with the host of concurrent stuff, it might be worth checking for food allergies or intolerances - to me, headache/stomachache is a more likely predictor of those than the sort of general stuff people attribute to allergies. For instance, I was a kid back in the day before they knew anything about lactose intolerance. I used to get stomach cramps during math class...not coincidentally a couple hours after the milk from lunch. Yes, I had math anxiety - but in retrospect I bet the cramps weren't related.

After you've ruled out any physical causes (allergy, intolerance, IBS, migraines, eye problems etc.), what you are left with may be anxiety symptoms. I found this rather good comprehensive list of possible anxiety symptoms:

http://www.npadnews.com/anxiety-symptoms.asp

Myself and sons experience a range of these symptoms on a regular basis as our wonky nervous systems interpret mild stress as being-chased-by-axe-murderer level stress, and flood our bodies with adrenaline. It sucks. You feel no less ill than if the symptoms were coming from "real" causes.

If it is anxiety there is lots that a good therapist can do to help, (or a good book, for cheaper! I am reading a very helpful one now called "Freeing Your Child from Anxiety" by Tamara Chansky. It is also applicable to older children and teens.) but some of it you are just stuck living with, if your body is "wired" that way.

My migraines started that way at about 13 too. I had severe sotmachaches but normal headaches (it was not related to IBS nor to my lactose intolerance), it was also triggered by severe anxiety.

If the headaches persist and cannot be healed with usual medication, I suggest you take him to a specialist to find out whether he has migraines or not. Try to avoid any medication which contains Dihydroergotamine, it usually does not work and "poison" the patient. (I had severe water retention and my IBS became very bad because of that, plus it can give you more headaches if not tolerated).

Unfortunately, most treatments cannot be taken at such a young age but some work.

Migraines can be caused by food intolerance, anxiety, sleep deprivation, etc...

It's supposedly more frequen among women because of the hormonal cause but I actually think that some boys are not diagnosed with it (my brother has migraines but still no diagnosis).


If anxiety causes these symptoms, perhaps you should seek psychologic help and see if it becomes better.