Throwing Up

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My son (7) throws up more than I think is normal. If he has even a minor cold, he will likely puke. If he is crying or upset, he will likely puke - he used to puke when I put him on the timeout chair when he was younger. He has recently had to come home from school twice because he threw up; the first time he had a cold, and the second he did not.
Is this related to Asperger's? Is it common for children with Asperger's to have sensitive stomachs?

I would say yes stomach problems and headaches go with AS, but Ive never found a Dr to agree with me! My daughter had loose bowel movements and constant stomach pain for over a year and no Dr could find a reason so they began to tell me it was "normal", which of course it isnt. I asked on here and was advised probiotic drinks and it sorted it out in day. We are now working on the constant headaches. My daughter was sick just at the thought of having to have some medicine, it got her so worked up she was sick on the floor, the medicine hadnt even been poured out!!

I think its a stress induced thing. My daughter also gets nose bleeds and all of these things seem to occur around particularly stressful periods, like starting school etc. Make a note of when it happens, even if you cant do anything to cure it, it could at least give you a clue as to what is worrying him and maybe that can be avoided.

My NT daughter has a strong gag reflex. She would throw up just like you were saying. I had to argue with the school to stop sending her home unless she was acting like she was feeling bad or had a fever. This lessened about the middle of 2nd grade. She still throws up easily, but not so often.

Things that made it worse were allergies, empty stomach, crying, coughing, hiccups, laughing, and eating and talking.

Things that helped were letting her eat a cracker, keeping allergies under control, getting her to blow her nose instead of sniff it down, taking breaths and blowing her nose when crying, and taking small bites and chewing lots. Otherwise she just grew out of it.

BTW. She didn't have any other problems that indicated a worse GI problem.

DS recently had a horrible day at school (fortunately, his team was right on top of things so it was mostly horrible in his own head.) He started throwing up just from the sheer stress (and, I think, in some faint hope that I'd come get him.)

Fortunately for us, it was pretty clear it was stress-induced. The team kept in touch with me during the day, and I asked them to give him water to drink and time to calm down. He managed to get through the rest of the day without incident. When he got home, he was fine - back to normal (but a little annoyed when I pointed this out.)

He now complains of nausea when he's under stress. I try to be sympathetic, to remind him that it's his brain, not really his stomach, and give him a hug - but I don't let him get out of doing anything (usually it is in relation to a social event. He starts out nervous but is fine after a few minutes, and fine afterwards.) We're watching this carefully - I'm not 100% convinced I am doing the right thing, but I'm hoping that with positive outcomes (which we have had) this will start to dissipate.

OTOH, DS's good friend, who had a speech delay and some serious sensorimotor issues with his mouth, spent about a year throwing up at the slightest provocation. He wasn't allowed to go to school for several months because it was so severe. Not sure how his parents figured it out, but I think it had to do with a combination of stress and gag reflex as mentioned above.

If your child is in speech therapy, I'd mention it, just in case it has to do with the gag reflex. Also worth mentioning to your pediatrician just in case there are other underlying issues like undiagnosed food allergies, etc.

I know when I was a kid, I was in the office most days with a stomachache - it was likely a lactose intolerance combined with a nervous stomach (DS doesn't do liquid dairy for this reason.) My father had an ulcer when I was a kid (in his late 30s?) and had always had a hypersensitive digestion, especially in response to stress.

Wow, I must be the exception to the rule. Thank goodness! Actually I developed emetophobia as a kid and even though I'm literally terrified of getting nauseated and throwing up I very rarely do. But this is not unusual for people with emetophobia because the part of our brain that controls vomiting is actually quite primitive. Right now I have a really bad chest cold or flu and I've been coughing and hacking so badly I felt like I was going to gag up a lung, but I'm ok.

If you check with a doctor, ask them about acid reflux, too. My youngest was throwing up all the time, including waking up at night vomiting, and he was having some acid reflux. I think stress can make that worse. We'd had a huge bit of stress about the time he started that, and after everything calmed down, he was able to stop taking the anti-acid stuff (ranatidine. can't remember the brand name right now).

Yes I would go see a Doctor to check it isnt something else.
My daughter often says she feels sick but never really is, luckily. Sometimes I think she exaggerates too, or feels every little twinge and possibly misinterprets normal feelings. She over reacts to every little scratch like they are a deep cut and panics about needing stitches etc so it may just be that shes getting a slight feeling of hunger or a twinge of trapped wind.

I didn't throw up a lot when I was a kid, but one or two of mine have had that problem. It could possibly be from mucus. When they get upset and cry, that makes mucus which can drip down the back of the throat and cause them to throw up. Also, a postnasal drip that you might not even be aware of could be doing it sometimes. Occasionally in the morning, if they had a bit of a postnasal drip during the night, they could throw up stomach acid and mucus in the morning, or it could make them feel sick.

I gave mine decongestants for it when they got that way. Sometimes I would give them every day for weeks and then try a few days without them and if they were ok, I'd take them off but if they threw up again, I'd start them back. If it's mucus that's causing the problem, a decongestant will show a big improvement. It won't stop all the throwing up from it because something like crying makes a lot of mucus no matter what you take, but it can help overall. I used Sudafed for mine, just the regular plain Sudafed, not the 12 or 24 hour kind. Also not the kind with anything else in it. I imagine you could use Claritin as well.

Talk to your doctor and see what he thinks, or if your child has had decongestants before (and what child hasn't?) then give it a try and see if a dose in the morning prevents vomiting. If it does then you know it works. It really won't hurt anything, and if you see that it is mucus that's causing it you can talk to the doctor to find a particular one to give on a daily basis, although we did fine with Sudafed.

When I am stressed, I usually end up throwing up. If I cry, odds are 7 out of 10 times I WILL throw up. It has always been this way and I am in my 40s.

Not counting when I was an infant, I literally have thrown up less than 10 times in my life. I also rarely get fevers. I consider myself to be an emetophobe of sorts.

My daughter used to vomit easily when crying, etc. I couldn't have let her "cry it out" if I tried, because I would have been changing sheets all night! I think it was sensory in nature. She used to gag at the sight or thought of certain foods, too. The gagging and vomiting has steadily gotten better since her sensory issues with food have decreased.