Syndromal Autism
There are many causes of autism and lots of people have co-morbid health problems depending on the cause. I have a few health issues that I believe are likely all connected in a way by a gene that would explain everything.
I am posting this to see if anybody has similar symptoms as me to help get a better idea of the cause. I have been thinking for a while I may have Elhers Danlos Syndrome since my symptoms are similar and it is often co-morbid with autism and mental illness.
If you don't match my description you can still share a list of conditions here to see if anybody reports something similar. This way we can get a better idea of the exact cause of symptoms rather than vague catchall terms that are really a variety of disorders.
I have the following symptoms and believe they may have a related source
-Aspergers
-Schizoaffective Bipolar Type
-ADHD
-Dyslexia/Dysgraphia
-Personality Disorder Traits
-Dyspraxia
-Auditory Processing Disorder
-Nystagmus
-Essential Tremors
-Hypersomnia (possible narcolepsy)
-Sleep Apnea
-Periodic Sleep Movement Disorder
-Circadian Rythym Disorder
-GERD (acid reflux)
-Hypermobile Joints (mostly in shoulders and fingers)
-Arthritis
-Subarachnoid Cyst found on CT Scan
-Heart Palpitations reported on EEG
-High Cholesterol
-Seasonal Allergies
-Post Op Unbilical Hernia
-Frequent Illness during childhood
-Severe Headaches during childhood
-Back Problem (Not sure what diagnosis was called)
All of these have been diagnosed.
goldfish21
Veteran

Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,612
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
I have had a laundry list of symptoms - mostly self diagnosed, some diagnosed.
1.5-2 years ago I discovered what the common denominator was: Intestinal dysbiosis.
Treating the digestive root cause has reduced my symptoms dramatically and I've been back to life and work for the last year or so. I still have symptoms, but they're mild in comparison and only start to get bad after a round of antibiotics. Treatment has consisted of diet, extreme herbal detox to cleanse the intestines as best as possible, and probiotics for the most part. I've also used an epsom salt lotion daily.
I believe ASD & related comorbid neurological symptoms are caused by some sort of fault in the enteric nervous system, altered neurotransmitter levels in the gut, and the drug effect of various foods.
Treating the digestive root cause has resulted in living a second life, pretty much.
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No

I'm just asperger's. Everything else that they could slap me with I find is just a direct result of asperger's. I personally feel it is a waste of time to try to slap myself with labels, especiallly given asperger's explains enough in detail about myself as to where I can strive to make myself a better person off of that alone. I think it's too easy to get a diagnosis these days, I've had therapists slap me with bipolar for having depression, but said depression was self-esteem issues causing it as a result of having asperger's syndrome.
This isn't true for everyone, obviously.
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If Jesus died for my sins, then I should sin as much as possible, so he didn't die for nothing.
How is this supposed to work?
It seems to me that the basic method, comparing lists of symptoms or diagnosis names, is unlikely to reveal the exact cause of anything.
I also wonder if you have been professionaly diagnosed with these conditions in your list, or if these are labels you discovered that seemed to match your symptoms?
How is this supposed to work?
It seems to me that the basic method, comparing lists of symptoms or diagnosis names, is unlikely to reveal the exact cause of anything.
I also wonder if you have been professionaly diagnosed with these conditions in your list, or if these are labels you discovered that seemed to match your symptoms?
It's not going to work for everyone, but there are many genetic disorders that autism is a symptom of along with other conditions. These syndromes often have a consistant list of health problems, such as the commonly known fragile x syndrome, as well as thousands of lesser known genetic syndromes.
As I stated in my post all the things I listed have been officially diagnosed by a doctor and I have been to treatment for many of them.
The only thing I have not been diagnosed with is Elhers-Danlos Syndrome which would explain most, if not all everything I listed. I have brought this up with a couple doctors but haven't gone through the testing yet. I posted this to ask if anybody knew of other genetic conditions similar to EDS. Another one similar I know of is Marfans Syndrome, but I am missing som features of that.
There have been many genes found to be associated with autism. It is pretty well accepted that autism does not have a singular cause that is consistant amongst people who are diagnosed.
Autism itself is simply a list of specific symptoms which are defined as being lifelong and not better explained by trauma or an or an organic condition such as brain damage or a tumor.
In light of the fact that not even autism researchers know the cause(s) of autism, this is a curious statement.
Autism not having a singular cause is quite different than autism having many causes, as you claimed.
Many genes have been identified as causes to autism. Just google autism genes and you will see many studies have been done to show this.
Most medical conditions as well as non medical traits, have various possible genes that are associated with that trait.
Autism not having a singular cause is quite different than autism having many causes, as you claimed.
Many genes have been identified as causes to autism. Just google autism genes and you will see many studies have been done to show this.
Most medical conditions as well as non medical traits, have various possible genes that are associated with that trait.
This is not accurate. Many genes have been implicated as playing a role in autism, none has been identified as a cause. The strongest associations, as in the case of the CDH8 16q22 variations, are only found in a small percentage of autistic people.
An implied role in very small subset of autistics is a long way from an identified cause.
Autism not having a singular cause is quite different than autism having many causes, as you claimed.
Many genes have been identified as causes to autism. Just google autism genes and you will see many studies have been done to show this.
Most medical conditions as well as non medical traits, have various possible genes that are associated with that trait.
This is not accurate. Many genes have been implicated as playing a role in autism, none has been identified as a cause. The strongest associations, as in the case of the CDH8 16q22 variations, are only found in a small percentage of autistic people.
An implied role in very small subset of autistics is a long way from an identified cause.
Doesn't that actually support my point? Like I said about having multiple causes, something like the 16q22 gene is one of many possibilities that could cause autism. Of course not all autistic people will have that gene. That was the whole point of what I was saying. There are all kinds of genes like that somebody could have. There is no consistant cause of autism or any defined mental disorder for that matter, because everything in the dsm is a description of a group of traits without giving the biological reasoning for those traits. When you look at the biological causes they vary between people who may even have similar symptoms.
If you feel that this supports your point, then I don't think your point was stated clearly in your OP.
I think it supports the understanding that autism is a spectrum and that within autism there are multiple pathways to the observed symptoms. This view is shared by and widely discussed by many autism researchers.
I don't think it supports the idea that listing a bunch of diagnostic labels or vague statements like "back pain" are going to clarify anything or define any of the diverse pathways to autism.
Maybe if you restated the point, it would come across more clearly. Or maybe I am the only one who did not perceive your meaning and got hung up on the erroneous claims in support of it.
I think it supports the understanding that autism is a spectrum and that within autism there are multiple pathways to the observed symptoms. This view is shared by and widely discussed by many autism researchers.
I don't think it supports the idea that listing a bunch of diagnostic labels or vague statements like "back pain" are going to clarify anything or define any of the diverse pathways to autism.
Maybe if you restated the point, it would come across more clearly. Or maybe I am the only one who did not perceive your meaning and got hung up on the erroneous claims in support of it.
I am not sure if we are communicating clearly or not.
My original topic was that out of many of the genetic syndromes that have been identified as associated with autism, cause other health problems as well.
For example common conditions that are often seen in autistic people are joint problems and digestive problems.
The purpose of this post was an attempt to pinpoint what gene I may have causing all or most of my symptoms. I figured if somebody read this and thought "hey, i have the same problems" and they happened to have identified the gene they had, I would get a better idea of what could possibly be going on with me.
As I am getting older my health has gotten worse and I like to learn more so I can manage my own treatment, because nobody else is going to do it.
I talk to somebody else I met here who has a very similar list of conditions as me and they were diagnosed with Elhers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a genetic connective tissue disorder which is often seen along with autism and mental illness, but not always.
I have not been tested for EDS, but have brought it up to my physical theripst who agreed I may have it and if I don't I probablly have something similar.
I am curious to know what similar possiblities there are that may also be the source of my health problems. It is important for me to be correctly diagnosed if my health declines. Any information regarding genetic syndromes that are consistent with my health would be helpful.
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