Can Aspergers cause physical changes in the body?

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I was wondering if there is an evidence that Aspergers can also cause physical weaknesses or changes in a persons body? I heard somewhere that there are differences in a persons brain density and the way the brain cells refresh and neurons.

I know that in many cases depression, anxiety and motor skills problems are found in persons with AS (myself included), but what about other complications like Arthritis, and auto immune disease etc? The reason I am asking is I have a rather rare auto immune disease, in addition to another somewhat rare genetic disorder, including pretty moderate arthritis which is unusual for a person of my age.

I know that although no one else in my family had AS or motor skills issues, there seems to be some similar traits to AS in my younger brother, but he doesn't show the social issues or obsessions like I do, nor the other complications which I have.

I'm just curious if the brain is working differently if it can change how muscles and bones are formed or maintained?

I have some sort of genetic oddity, its really difficult to attempt to explain and I don't even really get it...not really a health condition or anything as it doesn't effect any of my health just sort of a random genetic mutation, basically I've had a lot of blood tests done since I was like 7 and even a muscle biopsy so they could tell me things are somewhat intresting/unusual having to do with muscle structure but nothing all that clear or definite. So yeah I don't know if autism somehow contributes to things like that or not.

if you google, or search this site for 'physical symptoms of AS' a ton of things come up

off the top of my head (characteristically, i can only remember those relating to me, ha ha) there are~

looks much younger than real age.
wide shoulders,
large, or flat forehead,
long arms,

additionally, though less visible, are
hyper mobile joints,
digestive problems,
poor eye sight ( or at least the need to wear specs),
allergies,
poor motor skills
poor immunity

additionally, there is an established link, though no understanding why, of an incidence of PCOS in females in the family.

as with anything else in AS, remember that its a spectrum disorder and you can have really severe As and not a single one of these things.

im not sure how much these qualify as changes (if you mean developmentally changing through life, or changes as being different in our bodies to NTs) - I've always had crap digestion, since birth, but I've got progressively younger looking with age. my joints have always been the same, but now start to ache badly, if, e.g., i walk long distances.

obv, being a neurological condition, there are other neurological, e.g., cognitive processing, issues as well. so when one may *appear* to have poor balance; bumping into things etc, its often because one is wrapped in thought and doesn't notice things, or misjudges them; poor cognitive processing. i simply don't see things half the time, but if i look for something I've lost, i have unusually sharp eyes. many people also experience pain differently- which is cognitive processing at play again (different to touch).
many people are also allow to recognise sensations in their bodies- like needing to go for a pee, being cold, or being hungry. i can go for 24 hours and not feel hungry, or wonder what sensation I'm feeling, and slowly go through checklist of stuff tip i realise I'm cold.

im a resaerch guinea pig in numerous university studies into AS and ask this kind of stuff every time i meet someone new: "we don't know" is the reply.

serotonin is produced in the brain (i think) but the majority of it is in the stomach, someone tried to posit a link to me with that and digestive disorders & lowered immunity, but my ADHD kicked in and i tuned out :/

i know absolutely nothing about brain density~ thats fascinating, but the rest of the physical stuff above is pretty widely circulated. that said, my mildly AS sister only has PCOS off the list,while i have everything on it, so it illustrates the whole spectrumness of the spectrum disorder.

psychological reactions are going to be inevitable- my hyperesthesia, and synesthesia mean that every movement i make my brain logs a whole bunch of sensations NTS, and even other people w AS, don't get- its tiring at best, stressful at worst. add in the social complexities of AS, and its easy to feel an outsider, and then depressed~ i think this is reactive.

also, i read recently somewhere that AS is more common/ dominant in older siblings~ so its often the older child who has it more severely.

well aspergers is a developmental disability,
its highly possible it coud have more hidden effects on development.
it happens with other developmental disabilities;with mine intelectual disability it caused a very high top lip line,a special needs dentist has spent months having to constantly re fit partial dentures to top teeth because of it.

"Aspie Eyes"

This list is very interesting to me, because this describes me well. I am 48 but told I look 35 or less. I do have a large forehead and it is rather flat. I have hyper extension of the joints, long arms, GERD with the stomach, my vision without glasses is 20/300 ( i wear contacts), allergies and asthma, motor skills problems and my immunity is getting better only because I take a lot of vitamins.

Okay I have to ask what Aspie Eyes are??! If its a slant I have that a little, but I also have about 10% West/Central Asian in my DNA I recently found out...

There was a woman on the Internet who loved Aspie eyes and worked on a project where she called for Aspies to send her pictures of their eyes and she collected them for many months, made a video out of it and stuck it on YouTube. Ask her.

I have the age, forehead and arms. The hypermobility and motor skills also apply, but none of the others.

I look somewhat younger than my age.

I have wide shoulders.

My motor skills are fair to poor.

I have SHORT arms.

I have a large forehead.

I have poor vision.

I have digestive difficulties.

Nothing else.

long eyelashes (people have pointed this out for as long as i can remember)

long arms

skinny, low muscle mass (i'm 5'10'', 179 cm)

average forehead

average fine motor skills, gross motor skills are fair to poor.

some hypermobile joints

not sure if i look young for my age...but i don't have a very strong jawline.

poor eyesight, had glasses since 7th grade

average shoulders

not sure about immunity...i don't get sick often.

The only physical trait we are supposed to have (that ive ever heard of until now) is having a larger than average head. Which I do. Its hard to find a hat that fits me.

Do have long arms. Also have a barrel chest (like a monkey, ape, or Neanderthal).

Some loose jointedness.No eye troubles until middle age when I started to wear reading glasses. Not sure about the rest.

Brains develop according to narrow interests. Like Temple's brain is visually intense. Is that because she was obsessed with drawing or is she obsessed because of neural over-growth or a little of both?

I was a competitive athlete during my childhood took a break, then again as a middle-aged adult, so I was strong all over, despite exhibiting "soft neurological signs" as a child and terrible balance (the beauty of obsession - ).

The brain is very plastic, and neuroscience keeps finding evidence that it is far more plastic than anticipated. It remains plastic until death, it is the wiring together of nerves that decreases when animals get in a rut, which is frequently the case for seniors.



1. I believe in the power of the placebo effect. I first heard of it in the 1970s. We were assigned an article of how pesky it was. I made myself unpopular by extolling how wonderful it seemed. There is some good research being done now

There is little debate as to the power of the placebo effect in controlled short-term clinical trials of antidepressants, as well as in other medical and surgical treatments (1?3). Placebo response in the acute phase of antidepressant trials has often been seen as an unavoidable and distracting consequence inherent in the assessment of any given treatment intervention?whether cognitive, pharmacological, or surgical (4?11). While continuation studies (12?16) have repeatedly demonstrated an advantage of maintenance medication over continued placebo administration in preventing relapse and recurrence, the presence of a significant placebo effect with short-term administration provides a unique opportunity to examine brain mechanisms mediating clinical antidepressant response unencumbered by nonspecific drug, lesion, or learning effects evoked by medication, surgery, or cognitive therapy.

Our brains are amazing, but the inflammatory aspects of our environment, including foods, also holds hope for good research. if big pharma allows it.

I know a lot of people with ASDs seem to wear glasses. I feel like the only Aspie who doesn't.

Poor motor skills in Aspies is feasible too, although I don't have this either.

Stuff like awkward gait and stimming and IBS and all that is feasible too, but those are often caused by a mental disorder, not so much something you're born with otherwise.

All these other things, forget it. Most of the things listed here are physical conditions that usually run in families. If all these physical things are caused by Autism, then Autism would be considered a life-threatening condition a long time ago. I'm on the spectrum and I'm physically normal, the so are the other Aspies I have met.

Placebos are a very good drug, indeed.

The high lip line is caused by retraction of the facial muscles. The retraction can cause changes in the maxillary and dentation. It can be reversed with massage to lengthen the Levator labii superioris, zygomaticus, and buccinater bilaterally.