Hi, this is my first time posting on anything like this, I usually try to sort things out on my own but now I need advice and I am hoping that someone else has had a similar experience to me.
My son is 7 years old. We are currently in the long process of diagnosis for ASD. He is very high functioning and goes to a mainstream school who are very supportive.
The problem we are having is a compulsion he currently has to force himself to poo. He gets compulsions to do things and it seems to be quite cyclical in that he will have the same compulsion for a period of time, then he will develop a different one, then another, eventually returning to the original one.
With the current compulsion he usually does it at night before bed and then wakes up after a few hours screaming and writhing in pain. There is a fine line between his wanting comfort for his pain and it slipping into wanting to keep my 100% focussed attention - i.e. his pain will have lessened but he will scream again to keep me with him, whereas if his stepdad is there he will just stop once the pain has eased.
For some reason his compulsion occurred this morning. His reaction was worse than usual - throwing objects around the bathroom, punching the radiator and floor as well as the screaming and writhing around.
I'm pretty sure that by forcing himself he is giving himself hemorrhoids and that is causing the discomfort which he doesn't understand. We have tried explaining it to him and saying he shouldn't force himself but he can't help it.
Has anyone else had a similar experience and could give me some advice on what to do? It's horrendous to watch him so confused and in pain.
