Following some of the other threads exploring how we manage autism and live in a world not made for us. We've talked a lot about things like burnout, exhaustion, in ther threads we've talked about sensory issues and digestive problems. But does autism only manifest in things that in old fashioned terms could be called our "nerves".
What if it creates other changes in our bodies, like in my case an increase in allergies? The physical changes might not be huge or particularly profound, until something triggers them, like a medication or an operation. I know for myself there are certain medicines that just don't work, like valium, I can take 4 times the prescribed dose and it does nothing, 60ml IV and it lasted about 30 mins then I started fighting again, and I walked home, I should have been flat out, sleepy and maybe a bit happy. This was at the dentists by the way, I really don't like the dentist! I've been told I heal like a child, my recovery time from surgical wounds is about half what it would normally be for most adults.
I think this is something thats overlooked, to me it makes sense that if our brains are differnt, then it will not be unreasonable for there to be physical changes in other areas too, not just in how we interact with the NT world around us.
Personailised medicine is somethng that's only just being explored, its's starting to be better explored and understood in groups, such as how things like cycle cell anaemia only effects certain groups. One of the problems with medical research are the numbers of variables there are and how these variables are managed and minimised. This has led to medical testing largely being done on young healty white men, they don't have a menstral cycle to get in the way, they won't be pregnant and a whole bunch of other stuff. So basically they've been the baseline for all medicines Would it be such a surprise if these medicines didn't work as well or had unintended consequenses for other groups, such as different ethnicites, genders and neurologies?