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Autism and medicines/treatments

DaisyGirl

Hi,

I am posting this in the hope that someone can point me in the right direction. I am an adult female with Asperger's, I have no learning disability, but my Aspie traits are very pronounced.

I have been ill recently and have again had a real problem with being prescribed medicines which I then have side effects to. These side effects are known problems asociated with the drugs, but are classed as rare, so the Docs don't think I will get them. However, I ALWAYS have bad side effects to medicines. I once ended up in hospital because of side effects.

My first question is this, I know that many autistic people have this problem, but does anyone know of any studies, or articles by respected autism professionals where this is discussed?

Secondly, on a related theme, does anyone else have a problem in recovering from illnesses and medical treatments (like operations)? I had an operation which the recovery time until being back to normal is 2 weeks, it took me over 6 months. I also heal VERY slowly, and have repeated illnesses that are associated with childhood, like tonsilitis and ear infections (which take weeks to clear), and I have always been like this, so it is not a new things associated with stress or anxiety in adulthood.

Any information at all would be appreciated. Thanks.

  • Thanks so much for your replies.

    I did not know that there was any possible link with ENT problems and dyslexia or ADHD. It is interesting. Perhaps as more people become interested in autism in adults there will be some investigation into it. Even a correlation style study would flag whether there might be a link which could then be investigated further.

    I think I have read elsewhere on these forums about people with problems regarding medication and needing low doses, or having side effects. Maybe one day this will be associated with autism too (like all things on the spectrum some people will be badly affected and some not).

    Thanks again.

  • I too have reactions to medications, my current medication I can only take the lowest dose of, even though they said I needed a higher dose because when they put it higher I had terrible side-effects and had to reduce the dosage again.

    If you don't look after yourself by eating a healthy diet with enough vitamins etc. and get a little bit of exercise then this will impact your recovery time and healing.

    Autism seems linked with the immune system as many of us suffer immune reactions and have things like eczema so it's possible this is why you suffer that way.

    It looks like it might be quite a challenging search for specific research, having had a quick look, this might be useful:

    http://www.autism.com/index.php/pro_adversereactions

    Personally, my skin healing is good but I have a history of tonsillitis and unusual throat infections and I always seem to catch every bug going.

    I can recommend Vitabiotics Immunace Extra Protection, since taking them my colds are less severe and I don't get blocked up with them barely at all.  The reviews on them say the same by a lot of people, that either you don't get so many illnesses or they are less severe when they get ill.

  • You could be describing me - but you need more than 2 cases to prove a pattern. My doc simply calls me 'a highly alergic person'. It's most likely coincidence.

    I have read several research reports that indicate that people with dyslexia and ADHD have very considerably more ENT infections (ear infections, tonsilitis, sinus infections, etc) than totally neuro-typical, and since the genetic basis for these multiple conditions is the same as for aspergers, there may be a link. I have had at least one ear infection every year of my life, and so has my son.They normally take me months to recover from, and seriously strong antibiotics.

    This person outlines the much higher incedence of ear infections in people with dyslexia, but then muddles up cause and effect, making this peice highly illogical. www.hi2u.org/.../glue_ear_and_dyslexia.htm. And then there was the clasic Levinson studies, whihc were never taken very seriously. www.ehow.com/facts_6178472_dyslexia-inner-ear-problems.html

    'prone to ear infections and alergies' is also often listed as a diagnostic criteria for dyslexia, but without further explanation, as can be seen in this link www.dyslexia.com/.../symptoms.htm and this one www.dyslexiacenter.com/symptoms.htm