ASD's and IBS

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For some reason, my guts have been acting up something fierce, even though I have been drinking a fibery smoothie in the mornings and taking acidophilus supplements. I am not incredibly disciplined with my diet, but I think I really really need to be.

I think that I have been suffering from IBS since i was a child.
It is a somewhat chronic condition of mine that i keep to myself, because I don't have $$ for a doctor...

I have read that such conditions are common to people who are on the spectrum..

There have been past threads to the effect, but it has been a while.

Are your intestines friendly or hostile?

I coulda swore there were alot who have this problem...it even runs in the family with the ASish members of my family.

Yes, but started (relatively) recently, call it ten years ago out of thirty.

Maybe people did not understand the acronym in the thread title.

I have the same problems as you, extremely unsettled innards. It feels like shards of glass in my guts sometimes. No stress usually brings the distress down to a reasonable level, but that means not leaving the house. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

And you're right about the connection between ASDs and IBS. There was a conference on developmental disorders last fall in Vancouver, B.C., and one of the speakers dealt with Asperger's and IBS. He admonished the doctors attending to take seriously any complaint about bowel problems from those with Asperger's, as he had seen a number on the coroner's table due to neglect of these symptoms.

I am a celiac, and I was undiagnosed all my life, so I suffered for a long time before going on the gluten free diet. I also have 2 other intolerances, one to dairy products, and the evidence also seems to suggest that I have a problem with soy. So, yes, I´m pretty sensitive.

If you´ve been having problems, it may be very likely that you have a food intolerance. This is very common, apparently, with autistic people. It might be a good idea to find out what that is, then change your diet accordingly, if need be.

i dont have any gut related problems but i know ppl that do, wheat grass, cod liver oil, and trying to restrict your diet will def help. i cant imagine having gut related problems, has to be rough!@

A number of people with autism have allergies or a system that just works a bit different, so a "normal" diet COULD cause IBS symptoms. I really don't think there is any other reason.

As for me, they CLAIM I have some allergies, and I DO often have the sniffles. My system ALSO works a bit different. I DON'T have IBS symptoms though.

You're right. IBS is extremely common for people on the spectrum. I used to have it, but not anymore. My BF has it really bad but he swears it's something else that the dr hasn't figured out and that IBS is just a lame label that means nothing.

Yes, all my life. I have always just called it a touchy gut. Not IBS, never constipation, but a very rapid and noisy throughput. No allergies AFAIK. I have read recently that the gut develops in the fetus in the same time window as the brain, and anomalies in one system are usually reflected in the other. Makes sense. I am lactose intolerant and before I discovered this, life was a lot worse. I drink lactose-reduced milk now and things are vastly better. I eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes so transit is always going to be speedy however.

Last edited by AnnaLemma on 16 May 2009, 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Forgot to mention that I also have a kind of vaso-vagal response that when I feel bowel sensations, I will feel faint or get irregular heartbeats for a few seconds. This used to scare the daylights out of me till I figured out what was going on. Now I just ignore it and it completely resets in a minute, but I am afraid if I ever had a colonoscopy I would flatline and die on the exam table. A not-so-irrational fear.

I am thinking of having an almost completely liquid/raw diet until this flareup subsides...it is a particularly scary one and i don't have money for the doctor.

My AS-ish mom has GI troubles and I am pretty sure my AS-ish paternal grandfather did as well, as he had a huge collection of books on colon health.

I have had problems with both to fast and to slow delivery, but a healthy diet with vegetables and very little milk, helps me halfway, and a supplement of minerals, especially magnesium does the rest.

I started taking Magnesium to stop cramps in my calves at night, but it helped me in many other ways.

I found this this on the net, after i discovered my own Asperger.

http://adhd-treatment-options.blogspot. ... -adhd.html
I hope this is usefull.

Interesting..

I only recently started paying attention to how much magnesium i am getting, and I notice a definite improvement at least in my attention span and ability to handle stress...


What I am puzzled over is why this particular flareup seems like it has gotten so bad, even though I have been taking pro-biotics and aloe vera and extra fiber and whatnot before the flareup began.

I definitely just have to avoid ALL processed food

My dad and both my sons are affected from time to time with IBS. I wrote the following a couple of years ago. Hope things settle down for you soon.

Autism/AS and Irritable Bowel Syndrome(IBS)

The American Academy of Pediatricians reports there is no evidence to support a link between vaccine and autism or IBS. IBS tends to be triggered by stress and anxiety. It’s not difficult to understand a physical link between emotion and IBS when you consider that the bowel(as with lung and skin) develops from the same forerunner tissue in the embryo as the brain and nervous system. In regard children experiencing IBS, it's important to be looking at what may be causing elevated levels of stress in their day(peer/teacher stressors/changes at home or school/tests etc) to pinpoint the IBS trigger. For older teens/adults, elevated levels of stress may be down to work-related stress, friendship/relationship difficulties, financial pressures.

Despite some reports claiming IBS is more common in females than males, in actual fact, it’s just as common in both sexes. It’s often the case that people will experience a combination of mild and more severe symptoms, with flare-ups from time to time. It’s estimated that between one and three and one in five people will suffer from IBS at some point in their life.

There are four main chronic and recurring symptoms of IBS: pain, constipation and/or diarrhoea and abdominal bloating. Other symptoms may include nausea, headache, excessive wind, poor appetite and bladder problems. The exact cause is unknown, but as anxiety is the dominant emotion in autistics, stress/anxiety would be high on the list of considerations. Diet itself does not cause IBS, but spicy, very high fibre and high fat foods would all likely worsen the symptoms.

A combination of factors across all populations that may be triggers are: stress, overactivity in the gut, overactivity of nerves and muscles in the intestines, food allergy or intolerance, hormonal factors, and diet and lifestyle changes. Adults with IBS learn to watch out for foods that are bothersome, and avoid them. Exercise is important.

The most troublesome symptom of IBS is often the pain as a result of abdominal spasms. There are treatments like Buscopan IBS Relief to help relieve pain in medically confirmed IBS. It has a relaxing antispasmodic effect which works directly on the muscle on the bowel to relieve the colicky pain of cramps and spasms associated with IBS. I remember my eldest son being given an anti-spasmodic brilliant green med way back when he was 5 years(he’s now 22yrs) and extremely anxious/stressed over school, though IBS was never diagnosed. Both our boys have IBS as do other Aspie family members.

It’s important to point out that blood in the bowel is NEVER a sign of IBS. In this case, a swift visit to the Doc for further investigation is in order. This is particularly important if you think the blood is mixed with the motion.

For further information about IBS:

http://www.ibs-relief.co.uk/
http://www.ibsnetwork.org.uk/portal/
http://www.corecharity.org.uk/



Latest Research/Articles

New Guidelines Issued for Management of IBS/Irritable Bowel Syndrome Linked To Genetic Causes:
http://aspie-editorial.blog-city.com/ne ... of_ibs.htm

"IBS" is just a blanket term they use if the abdominal distress has no known cause. Which means your boyfriend is right, it could be he has something else. I was diagnosed with "spastic colon"- (a similar blanket term)- before I found out that I actually have celiac disease.

I believe there is also a relationship between gluten intolerance and autism. At least, I´ve read that before.

The opioid theory of autism, which states that gluten and casein are turns in to opioid-like substances in the gut of autistic people has not been scientifically proven. However, there is some confusion because despite this some experts recommend a gluten-free casein-free diet for autistic children. This is because there is some evidence that autistics may be more likely to have leaky guy syndrome. It is hypothesized that milk and wheat products may cause stomach discomfort for these children. So since they cannot communicate very well, they act out because of this discomfort.

So if a person doesn't have any discomfort issues with wheat and milk products, there is no reason to avoid them. (well, unless you have celiac disease of course(not more common in autistics).