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IBD and autism

Do you or someone you know have IBD and autism of some sort?

  • Yes

    Votes: 5 13.5%
  • No

    Votes: 28 75.7%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 4 10.8%

  • Total voters
    37
Hey all,

After some recent education on my part, I learned quit a bit about myself..interestingly enough I am finding out that the various issues I have seem to be inter-connected..never would have guessed :)

Anyway, now I am wondering who else may have IDB and either diagnosed or thinks they have some sort of autistic spectrum issues. Anyone?

Anyhow, I recently learned about Aspergers syndrome, and then found out my mother already thought I had it..so ya..interesting.
Here is the wiki on it, perhaps it will help someone else!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergers_syndrome

And one article I found on IBD and Autism connections is located here, but since most of it doesnt apply to this topic I will paste the portion that does:
----------------------------
Is there a link between autism and bowel disease?
There is growing recognition that many autistic people suffer from bowel symptoms that cause very real pain and distress. What is certainly not clear is whether it is the autism that can cause bowel problems or the bowel problems that can help cause autism.

It is known that people with neurological problems, like autism, are particularly likely to experience these gut symptoms. This may be because the brain and the gut are closely connected through the nervous system. Autism involves the incorrect functioning of parts of the brain, and therefore it would not be surprising if this led in some cases to the bowel not functioning correctly.

In addition, the bowel problems may be exacerbated by the autistic behaviour affecting the diet of the person. People with autism can sometimes develop very strong food preferences - such as only eating one type of food, or only food of a certain colour - which can itself produce bowel problems.

It is also inevitable that some people with autism will suffer from bowel diseases such as Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, which can sometimes be very serious. This does not mean that these conditions are linked with autism. It is just that some people will be unfortunate enough to be affected by both, because bowel conditions are found across the population.

The question of whether there are also unusual biological abnormalities in the bowels of some autistic people is one that is currently being investigated. Some researchers claim to have seen unusual immune cell patterns or distinctive microscopic features in the bowel tissue of some autistic patients. Recent work has also suggested that there may be differences in the immune systems of people with autism, and so it might be possible that this could affect the gut. It is not known yet if these differences will be confirmed, and if so, whether they are specific to autism or also found in other conditions.

If a link between such bowel disease and autism were proven it would not in itself support the existence of a link between MMR and autism. If the bowel disease was indeed new and had not existed before the introduction of MMR this might point towards a link. There is no convincing evidence that this is the case. Indeed, researchers have reported finding such bowel problems in autistic children who have never had MMR.
 

mikeyarmo

Co-Founder
It was an interesting article none-the-less. Truthfully it is hard to self diagnose this as well, so a mild case may go unnoticed.. right?
 
Autism & GI disease/disfunction

I felt compelled to join and respond to this posting as it fails to mention the crucial research being done on the MET C & G links between autism and gut function. Approximately 75-80+% of all autism spectrum peoples experience some type of GI abnormaility therefore it cannot go w/o mention that the MET gene link between the two, not to mention the areas of control the MET gene link governs, is a given. It's been long suspected that there may be an even higher prevelance of GI disfunction among the autistic society, perhaps due to lack of an ability to verbalize or in many cases to be clearly in touch with their bodies enough to provide accurate sympomatic information to diagnosticians, that the numbers are most likely much higher.
My son is now 20. He was just the 8th juvenile in the world to be diagnosed with SRUS which is a secondary disease to an initial disease that is heretofore unnamed and therefore "idiopathic" in nature. While Crohns disease has long been suspected, but never successfully proven, the pathology has never been able to clearly define if it's Crohns or a cancer that is not [somehow] a "true" cancer. We need research. We need funding. The austistic community and the heathcare community has long been stymied by lack of funding and response to our childrens' needs.
My son, while not initially, is high functioning, but never-the-less, cannot live truly on his own. Because of the needs of his autism and now his idiopathic GI disease, is unable to realize his dreams of living on his own as there is no place for independent adult autistics with serious medical needs to go to but their own parents. Many of them, like my son, want to live like everyone else. It's time to create legislation to help high-functioning autistics with medical needs to realize their dreams of independence.
 

David

Co-Founder
Location
Naples, Florida
Hi Obaymenow,

Welcome to the forum!

Would you be willing to share what your sons symptoms are? And what would need to change for him to realize his dreams of independence?
 

Catherine

Moderator
I have one child with crohn's disease. Second child who has aspergers dx this child second child had stomach migrane as 6-7 year old.

Both IBS and aspergers run in my family and there are cases on aspergers before MMR vaccines.

Can't vote yes as different children.
 
IBD and Autism

Hello, David.

My son has had a multitude of symptoms: initially it was massive weight loss and then some bleeding that turned into massive rectal bleeding (low hematocrit, etc), not absorbing food or medication properly (poor nutrition & weight loss), fatigue, prolapse, unknown masses, "disease" and inflammation of the small intestine, large intestine, colon & rectum to sum it up to the higher items. He's suffered through many surgeries such as rectopexy, colostomy, ileostomy, has a j-pouch and lost much of his large intestine. the Jpouch & rectopexy still have not healed and it is now suspected he has a foreign body reaction to his staples. The surgeries have resulted in numerous paralytic ileus', sepsis (which was caught early & successfully treated), a seepage from the small intestine that infected his blood with bacteria and blood poisoning from the surgeries. It took less then a year for everything they cut out of him to come back and now we're right back where we were before, but maybe worse. They have tried every medication and the disease just does not respond. For now he is being regularly transfused or infused and at times has been on IV nutrition to sustain him. We'll be meeting with them again next week where I've already been told we're being referred back to the surgeon again. I hate the idea of going through all of that again when his prior surgeries, some of them nearly 2 years old, haven't even healed yet. What next? I've called the CDC, the Mayo, St. Jude's and he's been treated by one of the best institutions around, but we just have no answers.

Currently there is no housing for someone at his level of autism that requires only support (e.g. ensure they bathe, take medications, eat regularly, schedule appointments, etc.) when that person has heavy rectal bleeding and needs supervision for medical issues they are unable to handle themselves (e.g. symptoms of blood loss, changing "ostomy" bags, ordering supplies, knowing when to infuse, etc.). He wants independance that right now, I can't give him and so far no one else knows of a plae that exists like that either w/o causing him to feel suffocated.
 
My 14 yr old son has Aspergers and GI issues.. if it's found that I have crohns I am going to have him tested too..
 
My brother has Asbergers. I have Crohns.

The original posting talks about bowl issues caused by eating the same things all the time. There has been no evidence of Crohns being caused by diet.
 
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