Published on 12, July, 2020
How does autism affect pain?
Chloe, my daughter, now 18!! hurt her right wrist during a meltdown in school 2 weeks ago. She has been in a lot of pain (but bear in mind, she has a high pain tolerance). It's probably the second time in seen her cry in pain. She took herself to hospital a week after (hospitals have traumatised her so for her to take herself to hospital shows how much pain she must of been in). They x-rayed it and said it's not broken or fractured.
They didn't say what was wrong but to wear a wrist support and a sling. She has diagnosed herself with a Grade 3 sprain, which I believe she has sprained it.
Paracetamol and ibuprofen did nothing for her so she is now on ibuprofen mixed codeine, which she says is helping a bit.
She is wearing the wrist support but the sling tends to stay round her neck, not supporting her wrist. People have signed her sling, hoping it encourages her to wear it.
But I hear that autistic people experience pain differently so I was hoping people could explain how it effects them?
Thanks
Lucy
ParentingAutism said:She is wearing the wrist support but the sling tends to stay round her neck, not supporting her wrist.
As an autist she is probably one for following rules (not universally, but typically) so point out that she is not following medical advice to reduce the strain on her wrist and keep it elevated.
Every time she complains of the pain, ask if the wrist if up in the sling - if nothing else it will soon stop her complaining.
Ice packs are also appropriate for sprains if she has swelling.
The pain meds are something that need a bit of experimenting with but try to avoid anything with addictive qualities as this can be another weakness for autists.
Autists do experience pain in much the same way as you I believe but it is how we interprit and express it that is normally different. We can sometimes have difficulty to explain it clearly, but if she can work on identifying where it is and draw comparisons to other experiences to describe what it is like then it should make more sense.
Maybe she has bruising to the bone which is really painful and can take a long time to heal, I was hobbling about for ages after walkiing into a metal wheelbarrow full of building rubble. For things like that I always use arnica, usually Weleda Arnica massage Balm, you can get it on amazon and other places, but its really good for taking down any swelling.
Has she asked the local pharmacist for the best pain medication available over the counter?
I'm not sure if Autists feel pain differently but as Iain says they may have problems describing it. I'm not sure about Autists being more likely to become addicted, some people become addicted very quickly and others not, I believe this happens across the population as a whole.