My daughter, who is grown now, has always had problems if she missed a meal. She'd grow excessively cranky, her thought processes would derail, she'd get "so hungry that she wasn't hungry anymore" and that only made things worse. She'd get frustrated with whatever she was doing - she threw things across the room when she was little, or would kick out at toys or her bed, etc. She was never a really active child, so running around, etc., did not get worse. But it was pretty easy to identify when she missed a meal. It would then take quite a bit of coaxing to get her to actually sit down to eat one.
We were on a trip this year where we were in a place with unfamiliar food. She had already passed the "hadn't eaten" mark and was getting really spacey. We had been doing quite a bit of walking, and we were both tired. I sent her to a cafeteria line about 100 feet from where we were sitting to get us some food, and reminded her that she needed to eat something even if it wasn't all that appealing. She came back and said nothing looked good, and didn't bring anything - after waiting in a line for 20 minutes. I went to the same line immediately and got a sandwich, chips, and fruit juice that she ate promptly and pronounced good. In about 15 or 20 minutes she was more or less "normal" again and embarrassed that she had "gotten goofy" again. In the line she was literally unable to think rationally enough to pick out a meal. While that is an extreme case nowadays for us, it shows how it still can rear up unexpectedly.
I've spent the last several years reminding her to keep at least a granola bar or a bit of beef jerky in her purse and that if she noticed things weren't making sense or she was getting agitated and noted that it'd been more than 4 hours since a meal to excuse herself, go somewhere quiet, eat the darned thing! She's starting to make real progress on that now. In hindsight, I realize that I should have focused on making sure she was aware of this quirk of her biology a lot more than I focused on making sure she ate at regular intervals.
My daughter was diagnosed with type II diabetes a few years ago, although it's completely under control with medication. They're also investigating the possibility there's something mitochondrial going on, but have no positive leads. I only write all this bit because you might want to think outside the Aspie box about your child's behavior. It might be something entirely other than that at work.
Other than that, all I can say is that you might want to try to work with him so that he starts to recognize when he's getting hyper and to go have a bit of jerky or a granola bar, or instant breakfast, or something else that will put the brakes on it all until he can have a real meal. If he turns out like my daughter, it'll be a lifelong thing so the sooner he learns to deal with it, the better. Good luck!
19 Oct 2009, 7:43 pm
