Published on 12, July, 2020
I have been doing a lot of reading about this recently, and I am finding more and more that there are potentially significant links between people with autism and people who have gastrointestinal (GI) issues such as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
I am a 32 year old male. I have suffered from acid reflux my whole life due to being born with a hiatus hernia. I am medicated for it, and I have been told that I will always be on medication for it due to the severity of my condition. It gets worse with stress, sleeping in a different position, changes in diet... all sorts of things can trigger it to be worse.
Does anyone else, formally or self-diagnosed with autism, have any issues like this?
I have other problem also lasting my whole life - bloating, flatulence, often diarrhoea. Doesn’t matter what I eat or drink, it’s always like this. But often getting worse, this is one of the reason why I avoid trying new foods and restaurants generally.
I am generally okay if I stick to a diet plan and take my Esomeprazole on time every day on time.
If, however, I get stressed or overstimulated, this can impact my GI system. I have been trying to keep track of changes in my GI with things that are going on in my life rather than keeping the two separate. When something is going on that is causing me physical or emotional stress, my GI system starts to get upset too.
Generally, I won't eat away from home because even when I go somewhere "trusted", I always end up regretting it.