Connection between autism and endocrine/gastrointestinal issues

[leebee]

I work with a 13 yo, HF autistic 8th grader who is the son of one of my friends... it's a little too close, but it's a small school system and I am the best choice for math support. As he has grown 1 inch and gained 2 pounds in the past 18 months, the pediatrician is investigating other reasons for his lack of growth and scrawniness other than the anorexic side effects of his medication and his genetics- everyone in his family is tall and skinny, although his mom, dad, and sister eat like racehorses, at regular intervals. This is a boy who simply doesn't eat, and because of textural and other sensory issues finds many things he cannot eat, won't eat, etc. His mom says many days his calorie count is probably somewhere around 800 calories, and as we all know, you can't make a kid eat unless you want to catch it all back on your lap in a very unsavory condition! Anyhow... pediatrician referred them to an endocrinologist and gastroenterologist. Endo found this child to be hypothyroid, and has put him on meds to activate his thyroid. The gastro is convinced he has full-blown celiac and he is scheduled for a gut biopsy on Tuesday to confirm. Mom says the thyroid med hasn't kicked in much yet, and they are quickly making the adjustment to make the whole family GF.

I am not questioning the doctor's conclusions: after all, I am not a doctor, I don't play one on TV, and i haven't slept at a Holiday Inn Express recently However, I do have an associate's degree in Nutrition (admittedly from 1981 and I know things have changed) and took several medical micro and nutritional biochem courses while getting my master's (again, back in the 1980's). I KNOW things have changed, but I am truly puzzled by all this, as this child has totally opposite symptoms from those canonically seen with both hypothyroidism and celiac. The only thing I can correlate with what I know is the lack of growth and development, which is directly linked to malabsorption, which is symptomatic of both hypothyroidism and celiac.

My friend said the pediatrician mentioned that she's heard of autism having connections to gastrointestinal and growth problems. Does anyone have any experience with this, as they might be related here? This boy's issues aren't just a side effect of medication, or sensory concerns. He really does have hypothyroidism and celiac, but exhibits either opposite symptoms (with the hypothy) or NO classical symptoms at all (celiac- no gut pain, no fulminating diarrhea, etc). It's a mystery to me, for sure. This is all going to be such a huge change for this kid, whose mainstay foods are subway sandwiches, pizza, wendy's, and kraft macaroni-and-cheese (cooked to a very specific level of over-doneness... I'm sure you guys can relate!). Fortunately, he is a smart boy, and in a way his autism will help, I think, because he is a kid who takes things VERY straightforwardly (there's a touch of aspie in him, too, to me he's really more aspie than HFA, but who am I besides the person who works with him daily in a non-threating, non-anxiety producing atmosphere, unlike the neuropsych who evaluates him ).

ANyhow, I am rambling.. if you have anything that will help me understand how a kid can have these serious metabolic problems but exhibit completely opposite symptoms, I'd really appreciate it!

 

[bookwormde]

Nutrition plays a big part in growth. Have you done full intake logging and run it through one of the nutritional programs. Typically all our kids who are not on medicine need are vitamins.
The first thing you needs to happen is to get adequate support for him so you can get him of any medicines related to ADD and anxiety. This is likely 95% of the issue. Certainly the sensory issues which are so common for our kids around what they will eat will remain, but the quantity issues should end.
Highly qualified pediatric GI DRs are very familiar with our kids, so a consult is definitely in order as is a broad set of blood work.
I do not know what you can do to change the neuropsyc issue, but psyc who creates or does not know that managing anxiety is the top need of our children is grossly incompetent.
Our kids can have physiological issues just like the average child, but long term meds and other impacts of ASD can certainly make them more acute.

bookwormde

 

[clanmcculloch]

Actually, his symptoms are very much what my DD13's were before we started dietary eliminations. She tests negative for celiac but she DOES needs to be gluten free among many other things free. Her GI doctor specializes in autistic kids which I'm grateful for because autistic kids really do present differently with health issues than NeuroTypical kids plus there is a subset of GI conditions that are seen in a significantly higher percent of ASD kids than they are in NT kids. The fact that he self-limits himself to foods very high in gluten and milk in addition to his GI and growth issues really suggests that he would be a great candidate for the GFCF diet (gluten free casein free).

 

[SashaFarce]

My youngest brother is on the spectrum and had intestinal upsets for years pre-diagnosis. Eventually while undergoing testing for various developmental and emotional issues he was diagnosed with a malformed bowel and underwent surgery very rapidly. That curbed around 75% of his intestinal upsets but he still has issues in this regard.

 

[Escape2Disney]

My Aspie daughter has Ulcerative Colitis which is exaserbated by anxiety and stress. Since part of her Aspergers makes her adhere strictly to rules, she's been able to stick to a diet that has minimized the symptoms.

 

[kirstenb1]

Our dd has HFA. She's six and has no digestive issues. However, there's a book by Karen Seroussi, detailing her son's gluten and casein issues. I believe it's called leaky gut syndrome. Basically her son had chronic diarherra from dairy and wheat, but perversely enough was addicted to both types of foods.

A lot of kids with autism are very self limiting as far as foods go. Dairy and wheat seem to be their go=to foods.

When their parents take away these foods, and it can take months, their autistic characteristics greatly improve.

Our dd has a great variety of foods she'll eat. I try to limit dairy and wheat, but really have no proof this helps her. Strangely enough, when presented with choices, she chooses almost no dairy and little wheat. She prefers meat, fruits and veggies. I need to adopt her diet!!! Anyway, if you poke around on autism websites, there is a strong belief that gluten and casein cause problems for many of our kids.

 

[wide awake]

The gluten/casein link is well known in the ASD community. Most of the kids have gut issues. Had we only known, back in 1991 that DS's chronic constipation was the first sign of his autism. He is on Namenda now, which has been a huge help...and helps regulate glutamate uptake in the brain...which is sort of what gf/cf diet is supposed to do. Which was also helpful for a time.

 

[Celidh]

Our dd has HFA. She's six and has no digestive issues. However, there's a book by Karen Seroussi, detailing her son's gluten and casein issues. I believe it's called leaky gut syndrome. Basically her son had chronic diarherra from dairy and wheat, but perversely enough was addicted to both types of foods.

A lot of kids with autism are very self limiting as far as foods go. Dairy and wheat seem to be their go=to foods.

When their parents take away these foods, and it can take months, their autistic characteristics greatly improve.

Our dd has a great variety of foods she'll eat. I try to limit dairy and wheat, but really have no proof this helps her. Strangely enough, when presented with choices, she chooses almost no dairy and little wheat. She prefers meat, fruits and veggies. I need to adopt her diet!!! Anyway, if you poke around on autism websites, there is a strong belief that gluten and casein cause problems for many of our kids.

I wish my Aspie son had an interest in your dd diet as well. His faves and the only thing he will eat without a fuss ( I do make him eat "normal" food even if he chokes, gags and complains) is KD, chicken nuggets, burgers and popcorn chicken, hotdogs and bologne. His fave is KD with hot dogs cut up in it. Everything else is a struggle but at 11 he knows he has to eat other things, way better than when he was 4 and 5.

OP, unfortunately, I have no suggestions for you. I hope things work out and this mystery is solved. I can say that my older son's ADHD meds really affected his appetite. While he was on them, he hated to eat. He said it made him feel sick just thinking about it. This was last year, he was 13. The meds never really had the desired effects in his school work and put this together with him not eating, I chose to let him come off them. He was 5'9" or so and weighed 125 lbs so losing weight was not an option for him. He said, "mom, I like eating, I want to eat". The same med that turned my older ds into a nasty moody person (worse than your typical hormone ridden teen! LOL) who didn't eat, doesn't affect my younger ds at all like that.

 

[LMC]

Did they check him for human growth hormone deficiency?

 

[YarnBombed]

Hmm..I'm very interested in hearing what happens because right now I"m reading a book called Autism's False Prophets and one of the dr's who first proposed the vaccines/thimerosal and autism/ASD link said that he found various vaccine components in the gut of children with Autism/ASD.