Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello, my name is Steven and I am 15 and have asperger syndrome. I am here because I am having sense problems but am not sure what is causing them.
one day about october or november in 2015 I woke up and my left eye felt weird. A few days before I got a sensation that my left ear lost some hearing and sometimes still get that sensation. My peripheral vision felt sensitive and bright lights and vivid colours in my left peripheral vision would be annoying. This would also cause the area around my eye and left cheek to have a painful kind of pins and needles.(the kind of pain autistics get when they are sensitive to light touch). My actual eye doesn't hurt though. This problem has not gone away although now I get periods for a few days where the eye problem almost disappears completely but comes back again. if i hold my eye socket and left cheek this problem lessens a lot. so maybe it is a nerve/muscle issue. Now very rarely this switches to my right eye and my left eye becomes normal. So it affects one eye at a time. Anyway a few months ago I realised I started getting that same pins and needles sensation all over my face, neck and shoulders, but not usually below that. And light touch against my face and neck now leaves a painful tingling that I have to brush away. However the painful tingling around my left eye can not be brushed away. I realise a lot of autistics have problems where light touch leaves a tingling. A couple weeks back, tinnitus started in my left ear(ringing in ear) which I would rate mild but it got close to moderate at one phase. I also sometimes get tingling in my left ear too now. I have no idea if these are caused by autism. But lets go back to october before this started. I was at school playing football and i got kicked in the head. I didn't get knocked out or anything but I got kicked nonetheless.Anyway I went back to the changing rooms and started to get a vertigo/panic attack sensation. Ever since then at school I would get these sensations. They would normally start after stopping suddenly after doing exercise or they would start in class if i thought about them. I could normally control them but have had to go to the medical room a few times. This rarely happens at home though I still sometimes get these sensations. So I am wondering if these are caused by a brain/nerve injury? Anyway the only anxiety I had at school really was worrying about losing football matches. Now that I have left school I feel more anxious and depressed. One day I felt really depressed, and then the problem switched to my right eye soon after so this could be linked to anxiety. I am really worried about this. What if they start affecting more senses or they get severe? The only sense problem that is linked to autism is the tingling. I realise autistics might have light sensitivity but how can that only affect one eye? And why in the peripheral vision? And why does my actual eye not hurt? Or might I have a brain tumour or something affecting me? there are 3 causes i think it might be. 1. a brain tumour 2.anxiety/depression and 3. just side affects of autism. But if it is autism then how come I haven't had these my whole life? I never really even had sensory problems. Is it possible for sensory problems to start later in life? I spoke to an asperger once and he told me he has this eye thing and that it will soon develop in the other eye but maybe he misunderstood me. This post was long but I am really worried. Someone help please. PS I have been to the doctor about the eye problems and the optician and everything came back normal apart from slight short sightedness. Please don't post 'go to the doctor' because I haven't written this long post for someone to give me a generic answer like that. I am not asking you to be a medical expert but am asking for guidance on whether this is caused by autism or what else it could be so I can suggest it to my doctor when I go.
I mentioned the head injury as a possible cause, because it adds up. When my tinnitus started, my hay fever also kicked in, but I don't think hay fever causes tinnitus. It just causes cold like symptoms. So is there absolutely no chance this is caused by autism? I don't know any other diseases that cause tingling when touched lightly. Like I said, an asperger i met online said he had this and will get worse. And I have read posts about people getting sensory problems like this during stress or when they are ill. I also read that autism is linked to the immune system and the bowels so maybe something is wrong in those areas that is increasing the severity of the autism?
Hi Steven,
My first instinct was that you should go to your doctor. Clovis agrees and has provided a useful link.
There are lots of possible causes for your symptoms but we are not doctors and we can only give very limited advice.
Autism isn't a progressive thing. you can get more or less affected depedning upon your environment and the stress that you are under but your symptoms are very concerning and not easily explained by autism.
There are conditions that appear at your age - epilepsy is one that can appear at this age. This can be treated successfully.
Did you explain to the doctor that this started after your football incident? I am surprised and confused by the doctor not responding more urgently to this. Head injuries must be treated as soon as possible and it is concerning that there seems to be a progressive element to your problems.
I'm afraid that I would suggest that you go back to your GP or present yourself to Accident and Emergency at your local hospital and give the full story - print out your initial post so that they have the full story in black and white - to see if they can find anything.
the problems are easy to describe apart from the eye problem. The ear ringing is self explantory, the tingling happens sometimes when i feel a twitch or if my hair brushes against my face or neck. I hear tingling is common in autistics when touched lightly. The eye problem is so hard to describe though. It feels as if one part of my eye concentrates on what i am looking at the other part concentrates on a bright shiny object in my periphery. This only happens in my periphery by the way and mostly with my left eye. And it kind of feels like the shiny object is touching my face and that my sense of touch and sense of vision kind of intertwine. and then the area underneath and to the side of my eye starts to tingle when this happens. I hope this makes sense but I have never come across anyone else with this issue apart from an asperger i met online who said he has this and it will get worse and develop in both eyes but I am not sure if he understood me properly. If he did, and it is caused by autism, then I guess the autism will carry on spreading to more senses. But apart from that I have never heard of autism problems developing later. I thought they started from a young age and stayed the same.
so do you think this is caused by autism? if it is then how come I haven't had it my whole life. Is it even possible for autistic sensory issues to start later? This is really weird for me because my peripheral vision is literally really annoying and uncomfortablle and i tend to cup my left eye with my hand because it bothers me so much.
Hi
If I read this correctly then all the problems began after the kick in the head you suffered last October. Its possible that this is the root cause.
I know you don't want me to say 'go to the doctor' but perhaps you should be referred to see a neurologist or for an MRI scan and a visit to the doctor is the only way to get those things. Seemingly insignificant head injuries can cause damage which only becomes apparent over time.
If you really can't face the doctor then please contact the Headway Trust
www.headway.org.uk/
for a chat. But don't not do anything about it please.
I started to read your post because I also have problems with tinnitus and sensory issues. Yetsreday I woke up with a severe tinnitus like problem where everything in the room seemed deafeneing and distorted. The problem just went away later on in the day and I don't know when it went away, I just noticed that I could hear properly again. It was probably nothing more than a blocked sinus or a bit of loose wax in my ear.
I think that you have a number of things going on.
Some of this sounds a bit like migraine. I sometimes get a problem where my central vision gets blurred, there are flashing speckly patterns and I can't see things properly i.e. I can't read things and I couldn't drive safely etc. This passes after a while and I have never developed a migraine headache but I think that migraines often start like this.
Anxiety can lead to migraines and other such things. Autism and lack of ability to get on smoothly with other people leads to anxiety and stress so this can lead to physicl symptoms like migraines etc.
People with autism also have brains that are particularly sensitive and epilepsy is a thing that some autistic people have.
A traumatic incident like being kicked in the head can cause physical issues - the brain is easily bruised or damaged and it may be that we have particularly fragile brains. Trauma can also lead to mental issues like increased stress or anxiety.
My first thought was that you should see your GP (and/or talk to family/parents etc) and I think that this should still be a good place to go. You are clearly worried and in need of some help to manage your anxiety issues. This should not require medication - medication is not a preferred treatement for autistic issues - but you could perhaps benefit from talking to someone who could help you work out what to do, what situations to avoid, what situations to seek out etc and how to live a less stressful and happier life.