stomach problems

I'm not sure why you believe anything I have said is unbalanced, when if you read back, you will see that I advocated always ensuring that the health professional is aware/involved and I have nowhere said there is no place for traditional medication.  I only believe that people should be fully informed and if one thing is failing to consider another option.  When someone is in that much pain and their quality of life is destroyed they need to consider anything that could help, and as I've said, do so in a responsible way.  I would imagine your point therefore nul and void.  I am not a particular advocate of natural therapies, although I do believe that where possible, or professionally advisable, natural is always best.

I'm not clear what your point is.  It would seem we disagree at any rate.  This is the right forum for discussing anything about autism or that an autistic person has an issue is, whether it's related to autism or not.  I don't believe it's any one member's place to say who can post what, and we are all entitled to our opinions.  Offering information to help someone is a positive thing, and should not be shot down in flames.  Even if there is only one snippet in that information that helps OP's son, it was worth providing it.  I have been careful what I've posted in actual fact, being aware of past moderator's comments when people have posted anything medical.  Not everyone thinks the same, even amongst Aspies, and we will have to agree to disagree on some points Longman.

My point is the need for balance. Natural therapies and questions whether NHS medicines are appropriate is alright if it forms part of a balanced debate.

I'm not saying who can post what, I'm just hoping you might see the "other side of the coin".

My concern is you are clearly an advocate for a certain approach to medicine. However its a peripheral issue that not many others here may be able to discuss. Therefore it is likely only your advocated view will be presented.

The priority is to help someone whose anxiety issues have led to stomach ulcers. For that really the priority is to reduce aggressive impacts in the stomach to help the ulcers ameliorate, rather than worsen.

Hiatus Hernia, stomach ulcers....all very common conditions, so a lot of money follows them around, and a lot of research. In contrast to autism, a minority group whose symptoms, in many cases, and under-rated and under-researched.

To write about stomach acidity issues, you cannot just cite a few arguments found on the web. The debate is very complex. And the original poster's son now has stomach ulcers, which aren't easy to treat.

This is the right forum for medication directly related to autism treatment.

I don't think it is the right forum for medical issues and medications outside autism, primarily because most people wouldn't get involved, or indeed be motivated to research it, so it risks being one person engaged in advocacy favouring one standpoint.

I think some care is needed on this subject.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/do-ppis-have-long-term-side-effects.shtml

http://www.intelihealth.com/article/cautions-about-reflux-relief?hd=Highlight

"Anti-acid medicines in both the H2 blocker and proton pump inhibitor groups can occasionally cause headache, diarrhea, abdominal pain or nausea. H2 blockers may cause drowsiness, dizziness or memory complaints, particularly in older adults. These problems go away if the medicine is discontinued."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112564382

"These drugs quench stomach acid almost like turning off a spigot. Taking PPIs typically reduces people's stomach acid to less than 10 percent of normal levels.

That's a good thing for millions who suffer from heartburn or GERD, gastroesophageal reflux disease. But a recent study found that when people stop taking these popular pills many experience painful "rebound" symptoms, often worse than before they started taking the drug. The healthy people in the study didn't have stomach problems to begin with, but they developed heartburn, acid reflux and indigestion when they stopped taking PPI pills after three months."

"These drugs are actually creating the disorder that the drugs are used to treat," says Dr. Kenneth McColl of the University of Glasgow, who wrote an accompanying editorial on the study."

"Acid in the stomach is there for a reason," Graedon says. "That acid in your stomach kills bacteria. When nasty bugs get into our stomach, they're killed by the acidity. ... Without that acid, the bacteria can proliferate."

In fact, there's growing evidence that long-term use of PPI drugs increases the risk of intestinal infections and pneumonia. It may also interfere with calcium absorption, making osteoporosis worse.

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/05May/Pages/ppi-stomach-drugs-harm-vs-good.aspx

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter/2011/April/proton-pump-inhibitors

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/804146

"In the United States, such reports have led the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a number of broad-based product warnings, including all of the available PPI drugs either for prescription or over-the-counter purchase. The pathogenesis of these proposed associations is not clear in most cases and the evidence base to support a clear association for harm is extremely variable. These potential interactions have ranged from alteration of absorption of vitamins and minerals, metabolic effects on bone density, alteration of pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and related drug interactions, or alterations of intended effect, infection risk, and hypersensitivity response with consequent organ damage."

As I said before, many prescribed medications come from natural sources anyway, there is no fear of trying a natural approach as long as you research, do it under guidance of a qualified professional and ensure your GP knows.  What recourse does OP have bearing in mind that they are pumping her son full of traditional drugs which not only don't help, but apparently he is worsening?

GPs can access manuals with up-to-date details of medicines -used to be a book, more likely now to be a website. The GP shouldn't have made out a prescription without checking its availability, so sending you haring after a medicine that's no longer available sounds pretty close to negligence. Although I suppose with busy surgery lists these days they don't have much time in which to check.

You can research medications yourself via NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk/.../default.aspx

If he now has ulcers he is going to need appropriate medicines so I'm rather concerned about this idea of using natural remedies. Particularly I don't think an autism site is the right place to be advocating natural remedies, as the issues surrounding contributary effects of autism on the response of medicines would be no different for natural.

Does the GP take autism into account?

A lot of people have to take pills that reduce acid production. Not sure why it follows you cannot digest food if you take them, if the acid reduction was that complete it would be a bit doubtful - and all medicines have side effects.

With ulcers he needs to get the right treatment. If your present GP cannot spare the time to check the medications prescribed, or take proper care, it is time to change GPs. Even if you have further to travel, for better treatment it would surely be worthwhile.

Buscopan are IBS relief, I know because I take those ad hoc.

All the ones ending in "prazole" are proton pump inhibitors (I was previously prescribed them but decided not to continue taking them because I researched and found out they permanently turn off the acid production in your stomach and you need the acid production for food digestion and you can get knock on effects and there are potentially bad side-effects).

It sounds like such a cocktail of drugs, it must be messing with his system.  Peptac sounds like an antacid and Solpadol sounds like Solpadeine so may be a pain-killer.

Diarrhoea could well be due to IBS, stress or even all those drugs.

I really would go and see a naturopath asap.

at the moment we,ve had 3 days of diahorea and pain so much pain i couldnt get him to the surgery so we had a call back from the doctor who put out a prescription i then spent the afternoon running around trying to fill this finally to tbe told theey no longer make these tablets quick trip to the shop back to imodem.These are the tablets we tried last year E Someprazole Mebevarine Lompiomide Buscopan Peptac Solpadol Lansoprazole Ameprazole sorry i may of miss spelt also anti sickness tablets which i cant remember the name of

You might find this useful: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/chronic_pain/detail_chronic_pain.htm

and this: http://www.poweroveryourpain.com/understand/chronic/paintypes

"Neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain is caused by a malfunction of the nervous system due to an injury or an illness. Neuropathic pain can be a sharp, intense, shocking, or shooting pain. It is also very stubborn in that it does not usually respond as well as nociceptive pain to standard pain therapies, such as over-the-counter pain medications (for example, aspirin or ibuprofen) and prescription pain medications. Unlike nociceptive pain, neuropathic pain can often be managed by neurostimulation."

http://www.poweroveryourpain.com/docs/poyp/understanding/Chronic_Pain_Assessment.pdf

no we tried acupuncture it made things much worse he was sent there by the acute pain clinic.We need to find a doctor with knowledge of autism this may be even harder as he is an adult we havent seen a doctor like this since he was in primary school but we do need some one who understands and not some one who just treats it as all in the mind put it down to autism

Natural remedies can also include things like acupuncture (which I have previously benefitted enormously from), chiropractic, osteopathy, massage etc.

crystal12 said:

Hi - a lot of gd advice.  The most important thing is to get the ulcers under control.  Anxiety produces acid which produces nausea, discomfort + ultimately ulcers, given enough time.  Therefore he must stay on the anti-acid meds or the ulcers will get worse.  I suspect there are many posters/lurkers here (autistic or not) who suffer anxiety + have varous digestive problems brought on my anxiety.  It is possible your son feels pain more acutely than most other people.  Some pain meds contain aspirin which is known to irritate the stomach. Therefore he needs a strong med that doesn't have that composition.  Does he take any other meds, an SSRI for example, which may help to make him feel less anxious?   As someone who knows quite a lot about digestive problems, my personal opinion is not to recommend alternative meds. They are unproven + can clash with other prescribed meds.  There's always allergy testing to consider, if you think it worth while.  I do hope you can find a solution to this as it must be so distressing for all of you.

coffeecup did say in her last post that he was tested for allergies already.  In my post about alternative remedies, I said he could be weaned off the painkillers not to take them alongside traditional medications, and even if they were taken alongside, I would expect anyone to check for contraindications of taking any two medications together.  There have been a lot of people that have benefitted from natural remedies.  Many traditional medications come from plants and natural substances anyway.

It's not true that their efficacy is unproven, you might like to see this for instance:

www.sharecare.com/.../how-evidence-effectiveness-herbal-products

How strong is the evidence for the effectiveness of herbal products?

Debbie Nogueras, MSN, Nursing, answered on behalf of Honor Society of Nursing (STTI)

The evidence for natural remedies is growing by leaps and bounds thanks to the research by the National Institutes of Health - National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine http://nccam.nih.gov/research/ in the U.S.

Note, the German Commission E: Monographs, have been publishing results for many years. cms.herbalgram.org/.../approvedherbs.html and the FDA (although they treat herbs as foods not drugs) has issued guidance on the use of such products. www.fda.gov/.../ucm144657.htm

Most importantly, any individual who chooses to take herbal remedies should discuss with their health care provider, specifically for potential interactions with commonly prescribed prescription drugs or other treatments.

And even were it not proven, that's not the same as saying they don't work, it just means it's untested in scientific research.

What about exercise and brisk walking? Due to anxiety I often get aches, particularly round my upper abdomen, but my neck can also be affected. Thankfully I have never experienced the sort of pain or discomfort that you describe, but the aches cause me anxiety, which then  makes the ache worse. The aches occur during rest, but don't occur during exercise. The problem, however, is getting out to do exercise, because the aches and health anxiety associated with them can prevent me from going out. But exercise does alleviate my tension and aches, so it is worth it.

Has he been directed to try relaxation exercises? This is usually a GP brush off - a leaflet and maybe a tape/cd on how to reduce stress this way.

However it is useful as it can help you focus on the sources of muscular tension. As well as a stomach response I get neck pain when stressed. If you use relaxation techniques effectively it heightens your awareness of where the stress is occurring, and gives an early warning that you are starting to knot up those muscles.

You have to be careful with relaxation exercises as you can strain a muscle or two and make things worse, but it involves holding your breath while tensing, alternated by holding your breath while trying to imagine yourself relaxed, best applied lying down. If you do it regularly and attentively you begin to spot the tension areas.

The other thing to help stomach issues is pelvic floor exercise - not something men usually think about, but again it regulates stress tension in the lower body.

Pilates exercises can also help. There is a lot of interconnectivity between back pain and stomach problems.

Hi - a lot of gd advice.  The most important thing is to get the ulcers under control.  Anxiety produces acid which produces nausea, discomfort + ultimately ulcers, given enough time.  Therefore he must stay on the anti-acid meds or the ulcers will get worse.  I suspect there are many posters/lurkers here (autistic or not) who suffer anxiety + have varous digestive problems brought on my anxiety.  It is possible your son feels pain more acutely than most other people.  Some pain meds contain aspirin which is known to irritate the stomach.  Therefore he needs a strong med that doesn't have that composition.  Does he take any other meds, an SSRI for example, which may help to make him feel less anxious?   As someone who knows quite a lot about digestive problems, my personal opinion is not to recommend alternative meds. They are unproven + can clash with other prescribed meds.  There's always allergy testing to consider, if you think it worth while.  I do hope you can find a solution to this as it must be so distressing for all of you.

please try and get this looked at i hope you have more luck than we,ve had over the years but i would hate to think your son could end up as ill as mine

thank you every one for all your help its certainly given me things to think about he has has so many tests H pylori,food allergies,camera put down into the stomach,camera up the back passage and all comes back negative so they obviously think its all in the mind.Been to a pain clinic He has a very healthy diet he is a vegeterian doesnt smoke or drink alcohol.Im going to have a look at alternative medicines.I do remember reading some where about stomach pain that occurs in some people with autisum anxiety does have an affect on him i know this but to be in so much pain day in day out cant be right ,and i was really upset by the doctors comments today about the aspergers,he shouldnt have to suffer this way

I'm new to autism as my son was only diagnosed yesterday along side mild adhd and mild learning difficulties I will defiantly be taking it up with my dr asap he doesn't have them everyday but has them more often then a child should if that makes sense