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Child vomits when overwhelmed

Meeples

Can being overwhelmed mean you throw up? Does anyone else with ASD or an autistic child relate to this?

My 7 year old daughter (awaiting ASD assessment) goes through phases where she keeps throwing up. It only happens at night and seems to be related to her feeling emotionally overwhelmed. She went through weeks of it last year after the death of a family pet. At that point every night she would start to get sad when she needed to go to sleep, then she'd panic that she was getting sad (as if the emotion was too big for her to handle) and then she'd throw up. What made it worse was after this had happened on a few nights she started to worry that it would happen and that seemed to make it more likely. This went on for a few weeks and we tried a range of things - having me sleep next to her, reading special books, talking about the things that were upsetting her and wearing car sickness bands - when it became apparent that it wasn't a tummy bug. Eventually it went away.

But now it's started again. This week she got really upset because one of her regular groups has stopped running, changing her weekly routine, and she lost a milk tooth. She was very sad about the group and very excited about the tooth and at about midnight, after she'd been asleep for several hours, she vomited in her bed. I don't think she noticed for awhile, or maybe wasn't bothered, because by the time we got to it it had started to dry (TMI, sorry). We had to change all her bed linen, turn the mattress, put a vomit covered soft toy in the wash (which upset her more than anything else) and shower her/wash her hair. The following night she got upset because she had got into trouble and instantly threw up. I did everything I could to calm her down and made sure she felt safe, and we got her to bed. But a couple of hours later she ran to the bathroom and threw up again.

She has no other symptoms during this time and when she throws up it seems to catch her by surprise, so I don't think she feels ill leading up to it, and once its happened she's fine, all chatty and happy. She's not off her food at all during the day and is perfectly active and herself.  

I've Googled and the only thing that comes up is Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) and she doesn't fit the other symptoms, as these episodes are irregular and she feels generally well (no fever, stomach pain etc) both before and after she throws up.

I'm pretty sure that her being sick is rooted in her emotional state, and I wonder if this is could be related to autism. I know I often become unwell when I'm feel overstimulated or overwhelmed, though it usually has to be either highly traumatic or a sustained stressful situation, and it can land me in bed for days, and I wondered if she could be experiencing something similar and whether it is a known phenomena among those with autism or some sort of physical thing akin to a meltdown or a shut down maybe?

  • Hi Mimi

    Have you contacted your GP and asked for a CAMHS referral? You can make a self referral in fact.  Please keep pushing them if they aren't helping.

  • It doesn't sound like a syndrome, it sounds completely normal for the intensity at which she is feeling emotions. 

    The death of a pet? Oh goodness, yes. That's such a HUGE loss. And for many autistics pets are the ONE connexion we can find relief in, thus the Service Dog for vets. Who is now filling this role?

    Disconnexion, being dislodged, dislocation, these are traumatising for us due to a few factors. Monotropism, which can create a sense of loyalty most Neurotypicals never really experience and a vulnerable Sensory Experience, which as mentioned, isn't just heightened or incapable of being dulled, it is far more intense than you can imagine. 

    All of our Sensory experiences can tend to be on zero or 100. And until we learn to control our surroundings, collect external protection (ear defenders, tinted lenses), we can feel the exposure to the elements in a very severe and brutal way. Our senses are not just biological, they are emotional and psychological. Emotional maturity happens when we learn that going through a process and properly crying through a loss, learning about the cycles of life, death and nuance, learning practical tools to grieve and for acceptance, and with all kinds of wisdom. Because we are so intensely impacted, emotional disruptions that affect our heart will be overwhelming.

    We need extra time to process and to learn to identify the emotions properly. This is difficult in a world where 'happy or sad' are the main two emotions and society frowns on us if we burden everyone with any intense emotion. Therefore we need a safe space to work out all the complexity of feelings we actually feel with the death of something we felt protected by, someone we felt a connexion with, or when something dependable and methodical we could rely upon is suddenly revoked. It knocks the wind out of us. 

    We need to learn early who we can and cannot be vulnerable with and how that works. We need to learn we have a choice to withhold our vulnerable selves or not invest too much in relationships straight away, to allow others to prove themselves worth our trust and learn how to be trustworthy so we can see it in others. This is a grave matter. 

    Neurotypicals don't tend to be impacted as deeply, and there's a lot of reasons why which make sense from a psychoanalytical point of view. So NTs love surprises and excitement and sometimes chaos. The autistic brain can't shut out the chaos. It's always coming at us. It's suggested we're collecting too many details due to symmetrical processing in the brain. I've read papers that suggest our neuro-oscillations are different and wired for dependable structure (which benefit society when building bridges, for instance) as well as being responsible for how intensely we are impacted by emotion. 

    One way to understand how impacted we are is speak with someone who's micro-dosed on mushrooms. That intensity can be daily life for us and will cause biological effects if it's emotional. It's imperative we have the tools and wisdom to deal with this. 

  • There is a physiological link between anxiety and related emotional states and the stomach and gut. The digestive system has the greatest concentration of nerve cells in the body, outside of the brain. When anxiety is experienced, the brain produces corticotrophin-release factor, which causes the uncomfortable feelings of anxiety, plus it heightens the way we feel internal gut irritation and pain, it also can directly trigger feelings of nausea. In addition, it can affect the gut lining allowing it to leak small amounts of gut bacteria into the bloodstream, which can also cause nausea. So, yes emotions can directly cause nausea and consequent vomiting.

  • I think this could be caused by being overwhelmed yes. It happens to me a lot especially if I have to go out or leave my comfort zone. Embarrassing if it happens in public. Really annoying though because it makes me feel even more overwhelmed if I'm sick as well.