Regression experiences?

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In the massive research I've done on ASD since I began suspecting I have it (ironically, diagnosed during Autism Awareness Month), I have found quite a bit about sensory processing disorder and regression.

However, I have read conflicting opinions on regression, mostly as to whether it only happens in children or if, as I originally read, it causes autistic traits to worsen in adults as they age. I have also read that certain injuries can trigger SPD in those with no history, or exacerbate existing cases.

I ask because in addition to showing SPD issues such as aversion to food tastes, textures, smells, and even the feel of certain substances on my feet and hands as early as four years old, I later developed allergies and asthma-like symptoms that I now suspect could be SPD-related, as well as certain motor skill and coordination issues (fumbling / gripping keys / cell phone as well as typing), have gradually but steadily gotten worse in the past 10-15 years, and quite frankly it is scary to think that I might lose certain abilities and skills in the future to come. I already have issues with remembering to take medications (even when setting alarms and reminders for this purpose), and more and more frequently go as much as 18-22 hours without eating.

To summarize, as I have aged...

Since 1993, I have shown increasing hypersensitivity to a steadily growing number of allergies and irritants, starting with commercial cleaners.
Since 1999, I have shown increasing balance, motor skill and coordination issues. I had some as a child, but nothing like it is today.
Since 2002, my allergies have morphed to severe hypersensitivity contributing to recurring bronchial infections. Essentially the world is a gas chamber to me. The only hint of prior history is a family doctor diagnosis of asthmatic bronchitis at five years old I only discovered in 2019.

It also just so happens that...

In 1995, I was rear-ended at a traffic light by a hit-and-run driver traveling 45 mph on impact. Car's rear was crushed flat and did a three-point turn by bouncing off a guardrail head-on.

In 1998, someone pulled out in front of me and we hit head-on at a collective speed of approximately 60.

In 2001, someone pulled out in front of me and the collision was quite close to being a T-boned, I steered at the last second and it was nose-to-fender. Broke the other car's suspension, but saved the other driver's life -- they had a convertible. Approximately 50 mph collective speed on impact.

So based on what I've read thus far, it seems quite likely that SPD has amplified fairly soon after each accident's injuries, and I definitely see increasing issues with motor skills, coordination and balance as I age. If I try to get up as soon as I wake, you would swear I was drunk. At times, I wake from sleep with one eye's vision much darker than the other, like looking through tinted glass. I frequently bump into objects and walls, often appearing to veer off track.

Think of how a tank, bulldozer or other tracked vehicle changes its path -- it's very similar. I also frequently lose balance at random, or trying to stand after sitting or laying for awhile, sometimes having to put one leg out to the side hard to avoid falling, and have fallen against walls and other objects. Fortunately I have not yet sustained injury, but I'm very concerned about all this.

To clarify, the typing issues I mention are as follows. I was never really able to type in the traditional prescribed method. I did my own thing (hunt and peck I suppose) and made mistakes, but had no issue correcting them until recent years. Now, I frequently skip or repeat words or letters within words, misspell (I've always been a spelling Nazi), or even type out an entire word or sentence before realizing I was "one-key" off, as in "pmw-lru pgg" as opposed to "one-key-off", or worse. Even worse, I frequently backtrack to correct the mistake, only to repeat it several times before I actually correct it. If anyone's seen "Dante's Peak", it's a bit like "Spider-Legs" getting hung up and unable to proceed, raising the same leg again and again, going nowhere.

So, to reiterate my question, is regression a thing with ASD or SPD in adults? And does this all sound like regression? I had little to no history of any of this before my twenties, and quite a bit of it was as severe until my forties.

Undiagnosed chronic physical injuries should be considered for at least some of your symptoms because they did happen after physical trauma.

That said what is called regression in Autistic children is often described as "Autistic Burnout" by Autistic adults. It has similar causes as regular burnout but the combination of regular life stresses plus the stresses of being Autistic in a neurotypical world leads to burnout happening harder and sooner. In addition to typical burnout symptoms becoming "more Autistic" is described.

Thank you so much for clarifying this! So burnout is the term I'm looking for, even with the symptoms being more sensory-related? I do have a number of autistic traits that have intensified in this time as well, but sensory issues by large interfere more prominently in my life.

Unfortunately, I live with a relative who refused to believe I might be autistic before I was diagnosed, now they seem to think I only got diagnosed to get disability and don't seem to grasp the concept of what autism actually is, saying "you just have to deal with it", or "you just have to train your brain", or "you just have to get in the habit", when it really isn't that easy. Obviously they're being ridiculous, but they think they know everything and you can't tell them anything.

I used to drive tractor-trailers, and loved it, but diesel exhaust and cigarette smoke around company yards, truck stops and shipping / receiving docks was keeping me sick with bronchial infections. It was initially diagnosed as severe asthma and allergies, but I am wondering now if it is actually sensory processing disorder symptoms, seeing as there seems to be a pattern of gradual ramping since at least 2003, if not 1995.

Especially seeing as ASD inherently inhibits, hinders or flat-out negates the possibility of their suggestion actually working, as I have started picking up on a great many things being more difficult or that I just can't do anymore. They insist I'm just making excuses and that I don't want to try. Sure, I gave up a career grossing $1200 a week moving freight coast-to-coast just so I can sit at home with know-it-all dear old Dad and listen to him complain and second-guess me while I go through all the hoops and hurdles to see if I can get $900 a month just because I don't want to work anymore. *smh*

This is very interesting (and sad). I have been reading lately about links between the nervous system and inflammation. I read an interesting study the other day about using vagus nerve stimulation to treat Crohn's disease, which involves immune malfunction and over-sensitivity to food. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8019822/
The connection here to your post may not be obvious--I am thinking about how the nervous system influences the development of allergies via gut-brain feedback mechanisms. Perhaps in your case, nerve/neuron damaged causes the body to ramp up inflammation and begin over-reacting to benign stimuli.
I wonder if something similar to what they tried in the experiment could help you.

I suspect you should also look into choline, which is important for proper nerve function but apparently not always sufficient in our diets. (Anti-cholinergics cause dementia and inflammation.)

I tried to read that study, but I couldn't follow it. Can you possibly translate this into something that makes sense to me? Thanks

Yeah, it's pretty dense. I didn't get all of it, either, but I think the gist of is:
The vagus nerve is this big bundle of nerves that runs from the brain to our organs and is important for doing all of the stuff we don't think about, like making our heart beat and our intestines run. It has to detect when we've eaten enough, and triggers certain immune responses. It seems that under-performing vagus nerves trigger too much of certain parts of the immune system, causing chronic inflammation of the sort seen in irritable bowel disorders like Crohn's. (I have one kid with autism and one with Crohn's. Fun.) Crohn's is normally treated with immune-suppressing drugs to try to get the body to stop treating all food like it's the enemy, but those drugs have certain issues, so the paper looks at various ways to stimulate the vagus nerve directly in order to get it to lower inflammation and calm down the immune system.

One interesting way to do this is by applying electrical stimulation to the VN from the outside via a tens unit... The data on this look very promising. I am still researching this, but I'm hopeful.

So it seems to be theorizing electroshock therapy to treat Crohn's and ASD. Seems kinda primitive and barbaric, especially in regard to kids. And while it may help with some ASD traits, I doubt it will help them all, and I'm not sure I see a potential for consistency.

I was going to say the same thing as ASP. It sounds like autistic burnout. Chances are you weren't doing as well as you thought with executive function and coping skills prior to this setback. You were likely masking or forcing yourself to do the tasks because of a fight / flight response and increased adrenaline. Now that your stress and exhaustion levels have caught up with you, your limbic system and vagus nerve need a reset. They're connected to your parasympathetic nervous system (controlling your heart rate, digestion, immune system, and energy conservation).

It sounds like your body is trying to protect itself by conserving energy and slowing down your other processes including executive function as a safe guard.

https://theautisticadvocate.com/2018/05 ... c-burnout/

https://boren.blog/2017/01/26/autistic- ... d-passing/


Info on the SSP for Vagus nerve retraining:

Well, to be fair, I didn't even know for sure I had ASD until last month, and only in the past two years began suspecting it. So, yes, I had to be coping to some degree, but it's hard to gauge how well I might have been coping when I didn't even know that I was even coping, or even what I was coping with. So I think in regard to that, at least a small amount of such consideration would more or less be conjecture. That's not to say that I take what you say as conjecture, because it does make sense, it's just that in regard to my situation, I would only be guessing at it in terms of how well I was or wasn't coping.

Also, I forgot to mention that I not only was I exposed to heavy secondhand smoke in the home as a child (likely contributory to some of the respiratory issues). I also had COVID a couple months ago, which some studies show has been responsible for certain brain damage, and that I believe could exacerbate ASD.

I seem to remember my primary doctor mentioning the Vagus nerve (though they pronounced it Vah-gas, so I may have thought they said Fargas) some time ago, but it was lost on me as I didn't understand the implications. I also remember some mention of thyroid issues, though I don't remember exactly what. I've lived hand-to-mouth all my life and rarely had health insurance to explore any of this, although I was recently approved for Medicaid (received notification yesterday and now have to select a carrier / HMO program).

In a nutshell, I delivered food, ran a taxi service, and drove tractor-trailers from 1996-2017, with the allergies ramping up to the much more serious issues gradually until I stayed sick. In 2017, doctors told me to give up trucking, and avoid outdoors and exertion. Falling back to taxi and rideshare, I did what I could to keep respiratory triggers to a minimum (advising riders so I could avoid picking up those with potential triggers). I've been wearing masks when exposed to outside air for a few years now, but their effectiveness seems to have waned, which is to say they help, but not quite as much as they used to.

In 2020, at the behest of family, I took the PUA assistance and stayed home to stay out of the line of fire. Late 2021, I revamped my taxi service, positioned as a sort of subcontractor to an associate providing transportation for hospital patients. That lasted six months, and I was getting sick every time I turned around. Today, I can't do much without getting winded, the focus, retention and executive of ASD have amplified greatly along with SPD, I don't seem to be able to do anything particularly well. It really feels like I'm on the bottom to stay, especially as I've read that recovery from burnout can take months to years.

So with all this combined, I really don't know what to do anymore. It does make sense though, I remember reading in my early research that those with ASD (particularly AS), burn brighter, but burn out more quickly. While Vagus nerve therapy is possible, it really feels like a long shot in my case.

Last edited by Anomaly_76 on 06 May 2022, 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I am in my 60s and “everybody has problems, don’t burden me with yours, just deal with it” was the predominant attitude when I grew up. People who saw psychiatrists were placed in two categories 1. Batshit crazy. 2. Rich, with too much time on their hands.

Goodness, no. We're talking about electrical stimulation of the sort nerves do, not "shocks." It's more like a pacemaker, which delivers electrical stimulation to the heart to keep it beating regularly.

PS I have no idea if it would help you at all (though I bet choline would). I have only been looking into it to help my kids.