Medical gaslighting?

Mother.of.demons said:

Is chronic pain caused by autism??

Well, technically speaking, autism as a condition is not the cause of particular symptoms, for if it were ~ all autistic people would suffer from them ~ rather than a larger percentile per capita and all that. Hence, as such, your daughters condition might more accurately be described as being a co-morbidity, involving whichever causation is in fact involved.

Mother.of.demons said:

At the end of the consultation he said he thought the pain was sensory (isn't all pain sensory??) And a result of her autism. I was too taken aback to question or ask about management. Was this just abject gaslighting? Is it a thing?

No you have not been gaslit, as your GP was most likely referring to a range of conditions described as being Sensory Processing Disorders ~ which have a much higher incidence rate in autistic patients. 

Mother.of.demons said:

Im at a complete loss, dd already has zero faith in the medical profession after being gaslit for 8 years. I feel like a fraud insisting she should see a Dr only to be dismissed.

Please help.

The following article could well be of some use quite possibly:

The Unexpected Connection: Autism and Leg Pain

Deepthought said:

technically speaking, autism as a condition is not the cause of particular symptoms

I agree with this. With autism there are often sensory issues for those who are autistic and this includes those who have low or high sensitivity to pain, so it is quite possibe that a level of pain that may be mildly annoying for you could be excrutiating for your daughter. The pain is not caused by the autism but it is felt more intensely because of it in some cases.

There is an interesting article on this subject here: https://neurosciencenews.com/asd-pain-22394/

If it were me in your shoes I would get advice about establishing a pain index with your daughter so she can more accurately rate it from 1-10 as to how severe it is. There is an article on this here: https://www.verywellhealth.com/pain-scales-assessment-tools-4020329  Note that this should be done with the help of medical professionals as I'm sure you know better than to take the direct advice of a random from the internet.

The tingling sensations, numbness and collapse are more concerning and could have a range of other causes. If they are recurring then if it were me, I would ask for a cardiologist referral to get a professional to check it out. Again ask for medical advice from professionals before doing any of this.

Before doing this I would get as much data as you can on when the symptoms happen (eg after exercise, what was she wearing, was she on any medication, what had she eaten / drunk in the day beforehand, what environment was she in etc - this will bring any common factors to light to help narrow down possible external causes and give the cardiologist something to work with.

Also gather any details of exercise activity in the run up to these events - encourage your daughter to keep a detailed journal for a while to see if this helps.

You are being a good parent by not allowing the doc to fob you off without proper consideration but they will need this info on the context to be able to do more than wildly guess at the moment.

Good luck.

[edited to avoid the impression of offering medical advice]

Deepthought said:

technically speaking, autism as a condition is not the cause of particular symptoms

I agree with this. With autism there are often sensory issues for those who are autistic and this includes those who have low or high sensitivity to pain, so it is quite possibe that a level of pain that may be mildly annoying for you could be excrutiating for your daughter. The pain is not caused by the autism but it is felt more intensely because of it in some cases.

There is an interesting article on this subject here: https://neurosciencenews.com/asd-pain-22394/

If it were me in your shoes I would get advice about establishing a pain index with your daughter so she can more accurately rate it from 1-10 as to how severe it is. There is an article on this here: https://www.verywellhealth.com/pain-scales-assessment-tools-4020329  Note that this should be done with the help of medical professionals as I'm sure you know better than to take the direct advice of a random from the internet.

The tingling sensations, numbness and collapse are more concerning and could have a range of other causes. If they are recurring then if it were me, I would ask for a cardiologist referral to get a professional to check it out. Again ask for medical advice from professionals before doing any of this.

Before doing this I would get as much data as you can on when the symptoms happen (eg after exercise, what was she wearing, was she on any medication, what had she eaten / drunk in the day beforehand, what environment was she in etc - this will bring any common factors to light to help narrow down possible external causes and give the cardiologist something to work with.

Also gather any details of exercise activity in the run up to these events - encourage your daughter to keep a detailed journal for a while to see if this helps.

You are being a good parent by not allowing the doc to fob you off without proper consideration but they will need this info on the context to be able to do more than wildly guess at the moment.

Good luck.

[edited to avoid the impression of offering medical advice]