sensory problems started a few months ago.

Hi

Just a reminder that we have some general information about diet on the main website here.

www.autism.org.uk/.../dietary-management.aspx

Bob Mod

steven658 said:

'Some foods can make me have a bad night's sleep and can disturb me for a few days so I am avoiding curry (I never liked hot curries in any case) and a few things like apples and tomatoes - I have a slight intolerance which I think is called pollen fruit syndrome - there are theories that your diet can affect autism but the evidence for this is not great at the moment.'
Eating a curry results in an explosive episode on the toilet for pretty much everyone.
That's normal.

steven658 said:

About the diet, yes I have heard it is all in the gut and GAPS diet can fix this. I am starting to believe this since it would explain autism sensory problems starting later if my gut got worse. I also had a lot of bowel problems and diarrhea as an infant.

steven658 said:

Scientists how found a drug that prunes the brain of excess of synapses by reducing levels of a molecule in the immune system.

steven658 said:

Did you have this your whole life? And would you classify this is as a sensory issue? or rather just a hearing disturbance?

No, it's only a recent thing. I'm not sure about this - that is why I am going to see the specialists.

steven658 said:

I don't really get woken up easily by the sun because sometimes I sleep through the day. Sometimes I wake up early and go back to sleep. This happens whether or not the sun is up. What I find especially during hay fever season is the sunlight aggravates my symptoms. At night it is not usually bad but in the morning I find the sun makes the dust affect me more. Also I am hesitant opening my eye(usually the left one) first thing in the morning because of the visual problem and I feel like the morning light makes it worse. I don't know whether you would classify this is photophobia but one day i actually walked with my eyes closed until I was away from the window so i didn't have to look at the sunlight.

Disturbed sleep is common amongst people with autism. Some people take melatonin to help re-establish a better rhythm.

If your eyes are this disturbed by bright light then you should see a doctor.

steven658 said:

But if it is a sensory problem then why does it come and go?

I don't know, there are lots of known unknowns in my life!

steven658 said:

'I hate it when a fire engine goes past with its siren going. The noise seems unbearable but I know that it won't last and sometimes I cover my ears.'

Everyone hates those sounds including me. Does it break you down or overwhelm you? I don't really have a problem with them apart from hating loud noises just like everyone else.

Well, I don't really know how much other people are bugged by this. The problem is that I have only lived in my own head so can't really know what other people feel. I do get the impression that it is worse for me than others.

steven658 said:

'I have had visual disturbances sometimes that I think are like migraines - they never developed into real migraines (i.e. crippling headaches, nausea etc) so I never went to the doctor about that.'

Can you please go into more detail about the visual disturbances and describe how they feel to you in great detail?

I haven't had one recently but It appears as rings or disks of disturbance in my vision - things get very flickery in part of what I am looking at. The flickering is stationary in the picture that I see so part of the picture is scrambled but parts of it stay in focus. The bit in the middle i.e. the central vision, where I look to read something, is scrambled so I can't read text but my peripheral vision is usually intact so I don't go blind and I don't bump into things.

steven658 said:

'Other issues I have are problems recognising people - I noticed over the years that I get confused between people and I cannot follow films unless there are only a couple of main characters. (this is known as prosapognosia and some people are completely blind to faces.'

No I don't think i have experienced this, but speaking of TV, I have this problem I noticed last sumer where when characters are talking to eachother I can't register what they say and I have to repeat everything they say in my head. Most of the time I can't keep up and keep having to rewind. This problem usually happens when watching on demand tv or videos where I know I can rewind. When watching normal TV my brain seems to register thing automatically but not every single word. So it could just be an obsession to understand every single word or it could be a processing issue, I don't know. I find this issue doesn't affect me as much when there is a single person talking into the camera. Just mainly when they are decribing something or talking to someone else.

Sometimes OnDemand can get out of synch or the device you are using may not be 100%. It may also be autism related - I have almost given up on following drama on TV because I am now aware that I can only follow a fraction of the dialogue.

steven658 said:

'I'm also prone to fainting out cold if people talk about operations and such. I used to be really bad but have been mainly cured by going through the experience of falling off my bike and breaking my leg. I ended up having two operations and found it to be nothing like as bad as I imagined.'

I don't experience fainting when subjects are talked about although recently I have had an issue where standing up causes slight faintness and holding my breath while standing up makes me black out and nearly faint and then makes my head tingle. I also have breathlessness and panic like symptoms sometimes(similar to the ones I described happened in school) and heart palpitations. I don't know if this is related to fainting but they could be related.

Some of this could be stress or over-thinking things.

'I currently have tinnitus which for me is a practically constant high-pitched whistling in my head (I hear it but it doesn't seem like it is coming from my ears if you see what I mean). It is loud enough that I have just asked to be referred for hearing checks. I believe that this is stress related - I resigned from a job recently and am struggling to get another job.'

Did you have this your whole life? And would you classify this is as a sensory issue? or rather just a hearing disturbance?

'I am sensitive to touching hot things. I can't pick up hot dishes like other people.'

I find it easy to pick up hot things if I know they are hot. Or I normally drop them in a surprise. I think this is simple survival instinct.

'If I don't put up blackout curtains then I get woken by the sunrise at 5 in the morning.'

I don't really get woken up easily by the sun because sometimes I sleep through the day. Sometimes I wake up early and go back to sleep. This happens whether or not the sun is up. What I find especially during hay fever season is the sunlight aggravates my symptoms. At night it is not usually bad but in the morning I find the sun makes the dust affect me more. Also I am hesitant opening my eye(usually the left one) first thing in the morning because of the visual problem and I feel like the morning light makes it worse. I don't know whether you would classify this is photophobia but one day i actually walked with my eyes closed until I was away from the window so i didn't have to look at the sunlight.

'Sometimes I get extra sensitive hearing so that going into a coffee shop becomes very unpleasant - the noise of the espresso machines can seem unbearably loud. This seems to come and go and I have not really found what triggers this.'

I don't think I have had this. I might have in the past but I don't recall it so I'll say no I don't have it. But if it is a sensory problem then why does it come and go?

'I hate it when a fire engine goes past with its siren going. The noise seems unbearable but I know that it won't last and sometimes I cover my ears.'

Everyone hates those sounds including me. Does it break you down or overwhelm you? I don't really have a problem with them apart from hating loud noises just like everyone else.

'I can get very distracted by people talking near me at work so I use noise cancelling headphones and listen to music whilst working. The headphones reduce the intrusive sounds enough to let me concentrate.'

This only distracts me if I am interested in the conversation. But it is probably because of ADHD as I get distracted by things that interest me. If I am not interested, I normally just zone everything else out.

'I have had visual disturbances sometimes that I think are like migraines - they never developed into real migraines (i.e. crippling headaches, nausea etc) so I never went to the doctor about that.'

Can you please go into more detail about the visual disturbances and describe how they feel to you in great detail?

'Other issues I have are problems recognising people - I noticed over the years that I get confused between people and I cannot follow films unless there are only a couple of main characters. (this is known as prosapognosia and some people are completely blind to faces.'

No I don't think i have experienced this, but speaking of TV, I have this problem I noticed last sumer where when characters are talking to eachother I can't register what they say and I have to repeat everything they say in my head. Most of the time I can't keep up and keep having to rewind. This problem usually happens when watching on demand tv or videos where I know I can rewind. When watching normal TV my brain seems to register thing automatically but not every single word. So it could just be an obsession to understand every single word or it could be a processing issue, I don't know. I find this issue doesn't affect me as much when there is a single person talking into the camera. Just mainly when they are decribing something or talking to someone else.

'I'm also prone to fainting out cold if people talk about operations and such. I used to be really bad but have been mainly cured by going through the experience of falling off my bike and breaking my leg. I ended up having two operations and found it to be nothing like as bad as I imagined.'

I don't experience fainting when subjects are talked about although recently I have had an issue where standing up causes slight faintness and holding my breath while standing up makes me black out and nearly faint and then makes my head tingle. I also have breathlessness and panic like symptoms sometimes(similar to the ones I described happened in school) and heart palpitations. I don't know if this is related to fainting but they could be related.

No probs, and thanks for being so polite!

I currently have tinnitus which for me is a practically constant high-pitched whistling in my head (I hear it but it doesn't seem like it is coming from my ears if you see what I mean). It is loud enough that I have just asked to be referred for hearing checks. I believe that this is stress related - I resigned from a job recently and am struggling to get another job.

I am sensitive to touching hot things. I can't pick up hot dishes like other people.

If I don't put up blackout curtains then I get woken by the sunrise at 5 in the morning.

Sometimes I get extra sensitive hearing so that going into a coffee shop becomes very unpleasant - the noise of the espresso machines can seem unbearably loud. This seems to come and go and I have not really found what triggers this.

I hate it when a fire engine goes past with its siren going. The noise seems unbearable but I know that it won't last and sometimes I cover my ears.

I can get very distracted by people talking near me at work so I use noise cancelling headphones and listen to music whilst working. The headphones reduce the intrusive sounds enough to let me concentrate.

I have had visual disturbances sometimes that I think are like migraines - they never developed into real migraines (i.e. crippling headaches, nausea etc) so I never went to the doctor about that.

Other issues I have are problems recognising people - I noticed over the years that I get confused between people and I cannot follow films unless there are only a couple of main characters. (this is known as prosapognosia and some people are completely blind to faces.

I'm also prone to fainting out cold if people talk about operations and such. I used to be really bad but have been mainly cured by going through the experience of falling off my bike and breaking my leg. I ended up having two operations and found it to be nothing like as bad as I imagined.

Some foods can make me have a bad night's sleep and can disturb me for a few days so I am avoiding curry (I never liked hot curries in any case) and a few things like apples and tomatoes - I have a slight intolerance which I think is called pollen fruit syndrome - there are theories that your diet can affect autism but the evidence for this is not great at the moment.

I want to ask you something and I know it may feel a bit intrusive and personal, but can you please describe to me in great detail all your sensory problems so I can make a comparison and get a sense of how similar mine are and if your problems feel the same.

steven658 said:

No, I can communicate where neccessary, I just won't be talking for the sake of it

If you applied that approach to your football then you would turn out for matches but not do training and practice in between. Wouldn't you get worse at football if you did that?

Communication skills can be improved by

a) practicing

b) making mistakes and learning to recover

c) not being so hard on yourself if you do make a mistake. Autistic people can be very critical and can sometimes turn that critical eye on ourselves too much.

i.e. apply the same training concepts to the things you don't enjoy as to the things that you do enjoy.

and plus you won't get kicked out for not socialising

A lot of the times if I do something wrong, I know I'm doing something wrong but I am impulsive and then when people don't like me because of it I feel dumb for being impulsive

No, I can communicate where neccessary, I just won't be talking for the sake of it

My point wasn't about getting rid of the label of anxiety. I was trying to make the point that you need to be able to function socially if you want to be in the army. You can't remove yourself from social contact in a barrack room! You need to learn to get over your social anxiety if you want to be a soldier.

It should be a law that medical records should be destroyed at the request of the patient provided they are mentally capable and not schizophrenic or whatever

I am not diagnosed with anxiety so according to the army I don't have it. The army bans a lot of conditions that do not affect people. for example :history of anorexia, history of bulimia, long period of depression, self harm, ocd which is one of the most stupid things to ban. Aspergers I understand because the level of disability varies. I know I am capable mentally so unless they find a different disease I know I am capable. The army don't see it that way especially now it is all just ASD. The point is I know me the best and I know I am capable but once you're labelled you're labelled and with something like mild ASD it is pathetic that 1. this diagnosis prevents you doing multiple jobs such as army or pilot. 2. it is useless and doesn't help the child. apart from 'support'. how pathetic. If a child has social problems or motor problems or whatever he should have access to therapy if he wants it without the price of this label. And as for social therapy, sitting in a circle with a bunch of autistics discussing difficulties or whatever they do in there is the last thing I would want to do. Same goes for having a teaching assistant in school. And special needs schools. You are literally holding a sign up saying 'look at me! I'm disabled! I'm not normal! Bully me!'. One of the reasons I dropped out of school. No point studying when I can't do what I want to do and am expected to 'find another dream' when I shouldn't have to. This diagnosis just destroys ambitions and increases insurance prices. That's all.

steven658 said:

and no there is no point in getting over the social anxiety

IF you don't deal with this properly THEN you won't get into the army.

You have to tear yourself away from the computer and go and talk to and listen to real people in their real lives. You have to let real life into your life.

and no there is no point in getting over the social anxiety. I tried talking in school like once a month before realising what i did was weird. So I would rather have everyone thinking I am just a shy quiet kid than a weirdo. And social problems can be down to a lot of things. For example, kids normally think their parents are weird and they think 'how on earth did they get married?'. And I have come across many socially inept people that are just outright annoying. It all depends on you as a person. You need to change your behaviour depending on the context/surroundings. Its not difficullt to learn how to be social, its just most autistics prefer to act in an autistical manner and most of them are stuck to the idea of 'neurophsycial diversity' and 'being yourself'. They also need to change their appearence. Notice how the weird kid or the kid being bullied in school tends to be a pencilneck? It's not their fault but you really think a muscular, good looking guy is going to get picked on? Most of the autistics don't fit this appearence unfortunately but it can be changed and if they work on their visual image in the eyes of others, it will help a LOT. Now, granted I am not at that stage yet but am planning on getting there. Just picture this. a muscular well kempt person says something weird but people will look past that because he has a good physical appearence. And now picture a physically unfit, messy guy saying something weird. His weirdness will back up his appearence because like it or not, your appearence is how people judge you at first. Your personality can back that up or ruin it. But ultimately getting people to hate you when you are physically very appealing is as hard as getting someone to like you when you are physically unappealing. Granted, some physically unappealing people are very popular, but this is because they have good social skills which is not the case with autistics so they need to change other aspects of themselves. this rule applies autistic or not. I felt the need to write this long post because people simply name a problem as 'social awkwardness' without breaking it down and trying to fix each individual problem on its own. Now what is harder? fixing social awkwardness or breaking it down to easier parts and fixing those? I don't see how its impossible

Nope I can understand facial expressions fine. If someone looks at me and then talks about me to someone and I see them looking at me, I can anticipate that they are going to to talk about me and I know they are talking about me. I understand from someomes facial expression or tone of voice whether they are getting bored, faking an emotion or if they think I have said something weird. And I took a facial expresiion test online and did very well. So did the doctor, multiple times and the tests came out negative. Autistics are supposed to fail the test. And aspergers and asd are now grouped as one disease. so my diagnosis transferred to asd

OK, I think I understand and I think we had our wires crossed a bit. If I understand correctly:

You have, more recently, developed problems including social anxiety but you weren't aware of social problems before that.

This could well be due to autism. Anxieties and other mental health problems can develop at any time. Anxieties can be sorted out if the underlying problem is understood. It seems to me that you may well have Aspergers (AKA autism).

One of the issues with autism, in my experience, is knowing what other people are able to do in terms of understanding non-verbal signals. Non-autistic people see a lot of additional information, in people's faces and hand gestures and body posture, that I was never aware that I couldn't see. I never realised that I couldn't do this thing that I didn't know existed! Non-autistic aren't aware of what they can do because it is so automatic and natural to them. It is hard to understand this thing and hard to understand what to do about it. This inability is what I was referring to as a social problem but I suppose that it would have been clearer if I had called it a social communication problem.

Are you getting some help in overcoming your social anxiety etc?

No I do have social problems. But I would say less than most autistics. I understand the social word very well. I know what is weird and what isn't weird mostly. Most autistics don't care if they smell, how they look, what they wear. I take great care in that. Unless I am depressed or I never go out in which case I don't care because no one sees me anyway. In school I know who is weird and who isn't and I tend to stay away from weird people. I just sometimes say things that I look back on later and think 'oh that was weird'. When I was 11 I was extremely weird. So much that I look back at things I said and text messages on my phone from the past and think 'what?' 'how is it possible to be so weird?'. I wasn't picked on or bullied. People still got on with me mostly but I had arguments a lot. Now I can say a lot of the severely weird things I did then I wouldn't dream of doing now. I am still a bit weird when I look back at myself a few days ago or at least to me I am. I am not very good at coming up with something to say. If someone gave me a list of three dialogue boxes to say I could pick the right one to say but I can't really come up with anything on my own. Anyway the weirdness doesn't really affect me because it is dominated by social anxiety now and I now never talk to anyone. Apart from online on the internet. I have internet friends but they are not friends, they are just on the internet. And I have arguments and disagreements with them a lot and friendships typically end in a few weeks to a few months but some of them are caused by xbox disagreements and not social disagreements. And I was bullied/picked on in year 5 when I was 9/10 but that was when I move to a very small school where the students were very close to eachother and didn't take kindly to newcomers. Another kid was also bullied there simply for having a different skin colour. They just picked something about you to bully like they bullied the name 'steven'. When I joined, I became the new bully target and they left the other kid. I guess they just picked on new people who didn't know anyone. But that was primary school and was just kids being kids. In secondary school, i didn't experience being picked on or bullied. But then again i haven't been to school much. Only about a total of 3-4 terms since year 7. I am in year 10 now.

Autism is, by definition, a condition that is present from early childhood - people do not develop it later in life. The sensory things are common with autism but not strictly part of the condition. You can develop other issues later in life - allergies develop through exposure to different foods, epilepsy is another condition that can come out later.

It is distinctly possible that you don't have autism. The fact that you have not had social problems is quite significant - people with autism continually get into misunderstandings and disagreements with people and behave differently to non-autistic people. People pick up on the social awkwardness and we often have few friends. Autism is hard to diagnose and I am not surprised that two doctors have come to different conclusions.

No Asperger's doesn't have prominent physical features and its not like I tell people so I don't see how its possible unless you tell people. And I am going to try to get the diagnosis removed by pretending I don't have it. My mother and a few other people have doubts whether I have it so we are going to try and get the doctor to think I don't have this disease but instead ADHD which is  not as severe.Well aspergers doesnt exist as an official disease it is listed as ASD so it looks more severe on paper and so the army might not like that. I was diagnosed with ADHD and the doctor did autism tests over and over and the results came out negative and she assured it wasn't aspergers. Then I was at another doctor who I didn't cooperate with so it was difficult for them to diagnose me. Whether or not I have it isn't the problem, the fact is there is a strong case here for a wrong diagnosis. Plus growing up I never had sense sensitivites, motor problems, social problems, or all the usual stuff. Most of this stuff has developed fairly recently, making me think perhaps autism is progressive or something that kicks in later on in life.