Stomach trouble

Thank you for this thread as it's really informative.

Thank you all for your detailed replies.

I have eaten just one slice of cheese on toast in the last 24 hours.

I think I need to go shopping on Monday for some alternative foods.

Good luck to everyone in their digestive system battle.

Apologies for being more otherwise focused at the moment as I am in the process of responding to a previous post on another thread ~ but basically stress kills off the good bacteria in the gut and other fluid operating systems in the body, so one needs to repopulate the the gut flora in the microbiome with cultured foods and supplements ~ such as things like sauerkraut and Bio-Kult etcetera.

Years ago a specialist at the hospital suggested a low fodmap diet to me. 

https://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/15392/ibs-and-the-low-fodmap-diet

I found it quite restrictive as so many of the foods I loved were on the avoid list. There are some foods that clearly do increase gas and bloating, perhaps for everyone but maybe we are more sensitive to it. Nowadays I try to be mindful of limiting some of those rather than avoiding completely.

I agree that the issues are so strongly linked to stress and anxiety. In the fight or flight response the body slows down or shuts down the digestive processes. 

We're all quite different, but the more I've looked into my ever-increasing problems, I've found I needed to eliminate most grains/cereals/grasses (including sugar cane, which is a grass!), the mustard family veg & all legumes/pulses/beans (the peanut is a bean not a nut!). It seems cabbage (mustard) when properly fermented doesn't cause too much harm if it's a very small amount. 

This has helped me, personally. I still have white rice, GF oats, corn (which is in a botanical group all to its own as far as I know) and starches. I get most of my fibre from the Daisy family lettuces and fruit, seeds/true nuts - chestnuts & hazelnuts. I also tend to use full fat & grass fed dairy/meats if I can. But it's nice to know anything from the sea is safe!

But this entails making almost everything and sticking to a jacket when out if I can find one. Just some thoughts! I had started at a FODMAP "map" and navigated from there. 

Autistics (Au) tend to Sense-Perceive dangerous elements before Allistics do. A theory in psychoanalysis is either a design function or difference in the ability to Dull the Senses. Every time you hear about Resilience or Adaptability, or even dismissing someone who feels a sensory assault by their environment, it reinforces this theory. There's a reason behind it that creates a type of tribe-inclusion function. This would be fine if the Autistic were respected as someone with a potential to sense-perceive dangerous elements, but that's not often the case. There are many things which take time to cause cancer or death, and often it's a slow progression, like never wearing sunblock or consuming too much alcohol and not heeding ones biological warnings.

From what I've read and am still trying to work out, I have a sinking *feeling* we'll eventually say the same thing about certain GMOs and agriculture crops. Changing the skin of an apple so it's resistant to a bug can create a structure problem for human teeth and saliva. Crops are only tested against environmental factors when modified, never against human digestion. Just some things to think about. 

We've tried different approaches, but it's not really that simple. I always thought I just had to find all the trigger foods and find foods that were good for me to digest etc. I always knew stress was also part of it, but it's taken me a long time to really appreciate the huge impact that has on digestion- My dietitian has been trying to make me see this for a long time. I have the added challenge that I have a tendency to just eat the same foods over and over, plus often struggle with loosing weight- So at some points we have focused on trying to get more diversity in or on boosting the weight. But mostly I feel like my dietitian has been providing a lot of moral support and has encouraged me to be kinder to myself. 

She takes a very indiviualised approach in terms of diet so any advice give to me probably is not applicable to others and I have also come to recognise that even for me what was right a few years ago might not apply anymore now (I have been ill from lots of foods and it makes me reluctant to try them again but I have now decided that if I fancy it I will just give things a try, within reason and see how it goes). 

I know that for me smaller more frequent meals work better. Fatty foods are definitely a trigger so I avoid those. I used to avoid garlic/onion at all costs (and lots of other things) as they made my IBS worse but recently I have just tried to relax that (as I really have no energy to cook at moment and wanted to go for convenience options) and realised that yes I can tolerate a little bit of them. Right now I am hoping that if I introduce more diversity into my diet that will also help my gut flora which in turn might actually allow me to tolerate a more diverse diet. But that does mean being prepared to accept some more digestive upset possibly.... 

I also now try to have protein with most meals. I also realised that not having too much of any one ingredient/food can really help (eg. not having only brokkoli as a side, but having a variety of vegetables etc so that there is not too much of any one of them). 

But stress is awful- I had such a stressful week the past week and I don't think i changed anything in my diet (at least can't really pinpoint it to anything) and I was in agony... so I think it is the stress. 

What sort of food has your dietitian advised?

Yes I also wish they would have more guidance on how to manage such digestive issues in autistic people. So far only my dietitian has been helpful but the doctors have mostly not been and have even made things worse... because they then thought I must have anorexia nervosa... I knew this was not the case and I even tried to convince myself (because I just wanted an explanation...) but it just never fit. My dietitian agrees... and I wish I had been listened too. Now that I know that I am autistic, I can understand my problems around digestion and food much better... but still there is just no proper support. I really feel like decreasing stress and anxiety in my life would help so so much also for digestion. 

Yes it's something I have suffered from for as long as I can remember. I've had all the tests to rule out any serious disease and I've had to learn to live with it on a daily basis.

Thankfully my issues haven't been as bad as my (undiagnosed autistic) mum. She has been in and out of hospital with her gastrointestinal problems since I was a child and has had surgical intervention on numerous occasions.

JT said:

Could the difficulties we have to navigate day to day be interrupting our 'gut-brain-axis' and so be an easy to spot sign of an autistic person?

It does seem to be so common in us that I am surprised it is not asked about in the diagnostic process.

Yes I have had digestive issues all my life and worse so the past 7-8 years. I have nausea, bloating, cramps etc. etc. And certain foods make it worse. And Stress- I am realising this more and more... It runs in the family too, my mum, gran and cousin all have similar issues ... it can be very debilitating. I struggle a lot with food and eating at this point because of all this and I am again super underweight and often don't sleep much due to the digestive issues...

I have had digestive problems since birth. So has my father who is also autistic. Basically my digestive system runs at about three times the speed of a normal person's. I can either take immodium to slow it down, but that has side effects including headaches and extreme fatigue, or I can eat like I'm recovering from food poisoning: lots of bland, starchy foods, nothing raw, nothing greasy or overly fibrous. For the last few months I've eaten the same diet every day based around white bread, soy milk, tofu, white rice, peeled potatoes and soft-boiled root veg and it's helped a lot: I'm only going to the toilet 2-4 times a day now.

Apparently it's common for autistic people to have too much serotonin which affects the gut.

"Gastrointestinal disorders are one of the most common medical conditions that are comorbid with autism spectrum disorders."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32471598/

Yes I've had stomach issues since I was a baby. My mother used to being me to the doctor all the time about it but nothing ever worked. It gets particularly bad when I'm anxious about something.

Yes all the time. My stomach is all over the place. I have IBD which does not help matters.

And the medication I'm on causes stomach problems too.

Yep.

At the moment I am fasting because of them.

You name it, I have it.