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’m autistic and both of my adult children are autistic. My eldest has had long standing and quite serious GI problems - to the extent that he gets seriously underweight and has iron deficiency etc. it’s been a huge problem for him. He has a very healthy and varied diet. My youngest has a very limited and unhealthy diet due to issues with food relating to his autism - and that affects him. But he doesn’t have the same serious issues as my eldest. I get very affected by stress - it upsets my stomach. My eldest’s Consultant talked him about the ‘gut/brain axis’ - which seems to be a key aspect of all of this. It definitely seems to be a common problem for autistic people. Hopefully one day they’ll be more research and support for this.
I'm sorry to hear that about you and your children. I can relate to iron deficiency even though I have a (mostly) healthy diet; I don't drink alcohol, etc..
I imagine I probably have more going on than I know about because it's never been properly looked into. I have always been medicated rather than have anything properly investigated.
I would like to speak to a consultant so I can understand my specific conditions better. Did you get that appointment via the NHS, or was it a private appointment?