Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi Everyone,
I have a friend who is autistic and he has had gastro-intestinal issues his whole life, or as far back as he can remember anyway and he is awaiting a colonoscopy. I am also autistic and have had my own issues with this too. I have been reading different studies and scientific research online and have found that there may be a link between autism and bowel problems. I know from personal experience that all the autistic people I have encountered in my life have had a lot of bowel and tummy problems from a young age. I wonder if any of you have had a similar experience or have managed to resolve these issues in your self and what tips you may have to ease this? Hopefully more research is done on autism's connection to gastro-intestinal problems instead of research money going towards trying to invent cures using old drugs like Suramin for example.
Hope everyone has a good week.
I and several of my friends stick loosely by the guidelines of the FODMAP diet. I've worked out the basic foods I have problems with by taxonomy, which I've found fairly important. So I steer clear of most grains except GF oats and a little white rice (but barely), No legumes/pulses (no peanuts) and no mustard family/brassicas (no spinach, Brussels, asparagus, etc.). But this meant learning what we call a nut is a seed, many beans are actually seeds as well (coffee, cocoa and vanilla are seeds, while certain gums are beans and so on).
I've also found mushrooms like Reishi and Lions Mane to be particular to the gut/brain axis & aid digestion as well as taking a probiotic daily. There are several places with a mushroom compound (nootropics) which have been designed for immune health and aid the gut.
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice. Yeh all kinds of different things work for different people I suppose.