Bulimia ? what next?

Post Reply New Topic

Ok so hi, hello, how are ya......Im new and glad to be here.

My son is 9, Autistic, nonverbal, and refuses to use pecs or any other communication tool. that said i have to say he still finds a way to communicate effectively as he is very emotional and connected to the emotions of others(strange I know). He has bizzare rituals, to name a few...... drinking out of the dog bowls, making the strangest throghty gutteral sounds (non stop all day) rolling quarters (all day), and the newest, is making himself throw up.. this last one has absolutely rocked my world. he sucks in air to burp repeatedly until he vomits. has anyone else experienced this behavior? it really frightens me. especially now because ive noticed him appearing smaller. His Dr (at the MIND institute......ha! ) has no useful information for me.........SHOCKED! anyway I always seem to get better insight from friends or online discussions. _shawniesmom

It is possible that he is just feeling sick and trying to get the food out. I will sometimes cause myself to through up when I get a really bad stomach ache. You really do feel much better after you get the food out of your system. I don't make myself through up very often, probably only once per month or so. It is only when I my stomach really hurts.

Is there any hint to the motivation of the behavior? Generally when I get really sick I will go throw up into the toilet and then slump over and lay on the floor for about an hour. If your child is just doing it to see what happens then he may act differently. So... is there any behavior that you have noticed with the vomiting? Does he seem woozy or sick? Or does he seem interested and fascinated like "hey look what I can do"?

So yea I'm thinking he is curious about it because he is absolutely himself otherwise. Another thing is that he likes to drink slot of fluids so that he can burp. He loves to burp. Lol. I just adore him and love all his little goofy qwerks but this one frightens me. What is the best way to discourage this behavior

I can't really help you, there. Is there an eating disorder clinic, close to where you live?

You could make him clean up the vomit. Give him a cloth with soap, show him how to scrub, and then make him scrub until the vomit is gone. That seems entirely reasonable and warranted to me.

Also, I am curious, what do you mean by the phrase he refuses to learn any communication tools? Most children I know of are willing to try out something if bribed with enough candy. I'm not trying to be judgmental, I am just curious.

Do you people not know the criteria for Bulimia?

He has enough of the criteria for bulimia for the dr to diagnose except from neg body image. I just didn't state that before. Sorry. And in regards to communication tools he just simply avoids the computer however he loves my iPhone so we are gonna get him an I touch. They now have a assisting communication app. Fingers crossed

Thank you for your replies it was helpfull and will take all suggestions into account. Even getting a second oppinion because I aggree that the probability of it being a stim is more likely .

Guttaral throat sounds + trying to burp/vomit would make me suspect he might feel like he has something stuck in his throat.

He should be examined by a gastrointerologist.

are you sure the vomiting is the goal, or is it the burping? it sounds like he really likes the burping in which case the vomiting may just be an unwanted side effect.

i can burp at will also, and do it sometimes to amuse my kids =) once you start tho, it can feel like there is something stuck in your throat. so you burp more. and more. once i start i tend to do it for a little bit trying to clear that feeling. and after a few minutes i start to feel sick to my stomach. i dont vomit very easily even when ill, its really rare for me to do so, but i can see someone with a more willing stomach could cause themselves to vomit by continuing to burp.

I would strongly caution you against seeking or accepting a diagnosis of Bulimia. As another poster mentioned, he really doesn't meet the criteria for it - even if a doctor has said he does, my personal (entirely unprofessional) opinion is that he does not even come close and that doctor is making a mistake.

I say this because bulimia is not a physical disorder, it is a mental one, and it's very specific. It is an obsessive need to control the caloric intake in your body and is related to mental illness and body image. From your description, your son has neither a mental illness nor a body image problem. Therefore he is not bulimic.

I also say this because the goal of a diagnosis is establishing treatment/next steps. A bulimia diagnosis leads to interventions/treatments/eating disorder clinics that are trained specifically and exclusively in treating bulimia as a mental illness related to obsessive control and body issues. If your son's vomiting habit is related to his autistic traits, then a bulimia diagnosis will not get you closer to appropriate treatment.

I would seek help from a developmental pediatrician who could refer you to either a GI specialist, or professionals trained in helping autistic children with problem (ie, unhealthy) behaviours.

I'd agree with a few of the others who have said it's not bulimia. Speaking as someone who has had an eating disorder in the past, it doesn't sound like his intention is to make himself sick because of negative emotions (which is what bulimia is).
Maybe he is just getting carried away with the burping?
Also I've known kids who have developed a habit of throwing up because of the attention they get for it. That usually seems to happen during tantrums though, so I guess it's not that.
I'd say get him checked out by a GP (to make sure it's not a digestion or throat problem) and if not just hope he will grow out of it.

I don't think this has anything to do with conventional "eating disorders" as we know it.

You say he loves to burp. I'm going to pose a theory.

Some people can make themselves burp, and some can't. It's a muscle thing inside your stomach. Some people learn to work muscles inside themselves so that they can burp on cue. I've known many a teenager who thinks this is the ultimate in hilarity (I can burp the alphabet, hardy har har). And you can probably think of a time in your life where being able to control your internal muscles in some way, gave you a thrill, or sense of wonder.

I think he has learned - and is practising - his control over his internal muscles. He learned what to do to make himself burp, and now he's discovered how to make himself puke. He might also be (unknown to you) playing with his muscles while urinating, or defecating. Or breathing. Or sneezing.

The thing with autism is sensation, and curiosity. Curiosity about sensations. And when a person with autism discovers a new sensation they are enthralled by, they repeat and repeat and repeat.
Not that different from NT's (if you imagine your first kiss, for instance).

So, if I'm correct, what you'd have to do is to get him to understand that that particular trick is harmful to his health. Whereas burping might have gotten a laugh, vomiting is not the same thing. I highly doubt he knows there's a difference between the two, or why there's a difference. So that would be your job, to explain that the difference is one is healthy, one is dangerous.

My 2 cents.

My son likes to burp alot, especially when sitting during a quiet activity, such as reading a book. I think it's a sensation thing and a stimmy kind of thing. Also, DH burps alot too, but he has GERD.

As far as my autism knowledge goes though, I thought vomiting was considered "self-injurious behavior". My son does not exhibit this behavior so unfortunately, I don't know how to intervene other than to say you might want to consider looking in to ways on how to modify self-injurious behavior. I am surprised your doctor had not heard of this because I have, and I'm just your regular old mom. And/or a trip to the gastro might be worth investigating.

Hi, I know this was posted almost a year ago, but I wanted to comment on it.

I am 44 years old, Aspie with 2 Autistic sons, 7.5 years old and 18.5 years old.

I just discovered that my youngest is taking after me in another of the many areas that I have dealt with all of my life and not known why I do them, one of which is sucking in air and filling my stomach to make myself burp. I haven't done this in a very long time because I had weight loss surgery to combat an eating disorder that I did not know was related to the Aspergers.

My 7 yo is so proud of the fact that he can burp on command by sucking in air, as I was growing up. I now, after reading this thread, know why we do it. But, this isn't the reason for this post. Anyway, I just found out (I caught him) that he has been throwing up after he eats, which is something I had done ever since I can remember. I kept it a huge secret (I was not dx'd Aspie until just a few years agoin my 40's), and when I was 27, I told my mom I had been doing it since I was a kid, and she got mad at me and said if she had known she would have spanked me every time she caught me.

Anyway, I am now having to deal with this same issue with my son, and not really sure how to deal with it, without making it a huge deal (and no, I will not spank him or come down on him for doing what I gather is related to control issues, or the inability to stop eating when full, as was my case all my life). When I found the "puke" in the potty, only after I had just cleaned the toilet, and my son and I are the only two home, I asked him if he drank too much milk with his lunch or had an upset stomach. He said no, he didn't puke, and I said well... I had just cleaned the potty and there was puke in it when I came back down, and don't worry, no one's in trouble... and he then proceeded to blame his big brother for the puke in the toilet, but his big brother is not home, so he knew that didn't fly. He would not come clean, but I did tell him that if he feels like pukin' after he eats let me know and maybe we can make his meals a bit smaller so he doesn't feel the urge to after eating (He over eats, and will eat hourly if I let him. Picky eater but will over eat on the foods he likes.) He is normal weight and tallest in his class.

I have no idea if I am handling the situation correctly, and I am going to talk to his occupational therapist about this newly discovered issue. I don't want him to have to go through what I have been through with my issue and end up having to do something drastic that I did to combat my over eating/puking issues. I have had no help in my life for my issue, that is now forced under control due to the surgery I had.

Any advice would be greatly accepted.

Thank you,

Ashton from WA