Scurvy and autism

'A majority (64.2%) had a concomitant diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Common presenting musculoskeletal reports included difficulty walking, knee pain, and lower limb deformity. Burden of disease of scurvy was markedly greater than that of the average inpatient population, with these patients experiencing greater total charges and longer hospital stays.'

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/.../

  • I had issues with my handwriting, too.

    Now, I need plenty of room on the paper; to write legibly.

  • I'm lucky I went to a crap state school and I wasn't expected to be good at sports because I was a girl and sport was a boys thing. I never had good handwriting and I was told off about that.

  • Yeh could be autistic people are more vulnerable to a large list of viruses and diseases due to widespread immune dysfunction. 

  •  Visual,gross motor,fine motor,ideotional, and constructional= global

  • Yes, Dyspraxia causes poor coordination. This can affect the fine and gross motor skills and can look like being clumsy.   I think an Occupational Therapist can diagnose this.

  • My balance has always been poor . There are ear problems now, but there were never any as a child. Nowadays I can sometimes experience auditory processing difficulty. Sounds are loud enough when watching a TV programme , but it's hard to make out the words. My daughter has said I'm the clumsiest person she has known.

    I was always crap at school sports and at gymnastics.My prep school headmaster described me as badly coordinated and bad at drawing and writing. My public school reports described me as disorganised and messy. I was regularly reprimanded for how untidy I looked. At prep school I was teased a little but the real bullying occurred at public school because I was physically awkward and socially gauche.

  • I have my doubts about this to be honest, scurvy is caused by vitamin C defieciency, now it could be that autistic children refuse to drink fruit juices or eat fruit.

    I'd get checked out for inner ear problems if your balance is poor, if your balance is fine then maybe you are dyspraxic? I think dyspraxia is far more common than people realise and it dosen't just effect people who've had brain trauma like a stroke. Think of school and all the kids who were crap at sport, who couldn't throw or catch, or fell over thier own feet, who were called clumsy, stupid and/lazy, how many of them were undiagnosed dyspraxics?

    I think that we forget how much more advanced diagnosis has got in our lifetimes, children are far more likely to be assessed for developmental disorders now than when we were children, lets face it most of them weren't recognised at all 50 odd years ago. Theres so much less stigma about any sort of disability now, than when parents were advised to put any disabled child in a home and forget about them.

  • I veer from side to side quite a lot . Have had balance and coordination problems from as far back as I can remember.  First school I went to in Bangkok  were concerned I might have what we now call cerebral palsy. My parents had me assessed at Great Ormond street c 1962/63. The result was negative, and other possibilities weren't explored.  Various (mental) health professionals have mentioned dyspraxia, but I've never been officially assessed.

  • It might be worth having your balance and ears checked. Inner ear problems can cause balance issues.  I know when I've been walking then come to a stop I sometimes vear to one side.

  • I definitely have gait abnormalities. I have been described as 'walking like your drunk'.

  • I think hypermobility is quite common in autistics and I've read there can be gait abnormalities.