Identifying patterns.

Post Reply New Topic

I thought I had posted about my son melting down at school and not participating. I came back to look for responses and couldn't find the note, but when I searched my past posts I realized that I have been posting essentially the same note for the past 3-4 years, so this site is a journal of sorts.

And the solution in the past has been to pull him from school for a week, and watch his nutrition. He has been complaining about being hungry all the time. We are looking into gluten sensitivities and a genetic mutation that blocks the absorption of folic acid. My wife grounded him off of personal electronics.

In other news his little sister has something going on, but the local clinic charges $400 now for diagnoses. I will probably re-read this note a year from now.

He's being grounded off the computer and ipod touch for:

1. Not doing any classwork for an entire term
2. Intentionally sabotaging his ballroom dance lessons
3. Arguing for eternity when asked to do the simplest of chores

And that's just what I can think of. I will probably pull him from school for a week as that seems to have worked in the past.

Thread drift, but the more I think about it the more I think that many of his meltdowns are related to him getting absorbed in something and not eating until his blood sugar crashes. He is 12 and complains about being always hungry, often an hour after eating.

You should definitely follow up on that thought. Try to keep the healthiest snacks you can readily available for him (as in on the counter within easy reach) and/or offer him snacks at regular intervals. Blood-sugar highs and lows are fairly easy probelms to address for most people but they can have such a major impact on behavior if they are not addressed. Set a reminder on either your or his phone to help him remember to eat something at regular intervals. Will they allow him to have snacks during the school day?

This sort of thing happens to me: I get too involved in my special interests, or work, and forget to eat. Then I crash.

We took a box of nut bars to school for him and today he ate six of them. He said he felt dizzy and had to miss his ballroom dance lesson. He is bummed about not having his computer so he went to sleep at 8 pm. We are taking him to the doctor on Monday and then to a specialist about the constant hunger.

Various things could be going on that would make him hungry all of the time, even after eating--thyroid issues, diabetes, poor diet, meds, etc. I would check it out with a doctor to make sure that he doesn't have some health issue or nutritional issue unrelated to ASD.

I have an idea, about the being hungry all the time.......it could have to do with stress or anxiety, because if you're stressed or anxious your body uses more energy so it can make you more hungry. So that might be something to look into.