Sigh, do you get this too??

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Do your auties/aspies show lots of negative behaviours few days you notice they are unwell?

I posted yesterday about Damo's weekend and today wasn't much better either. He has been getting angry/frustrated more than usual and lashing out kicking, hitting and biting.
I have lost count of how many times I have said Stop hitting/biting/kicking and redirected him. And his defiance has been so unlike him.

Then this evening I notice he has a runny/blocked nose and he complained of a headache with a mild cough. I asked him if kids in his class have been sick and he said Yes.

Penny has dropped!! ! I think he was OTT because he was getting sick but unable to tell me he wasn't 100%.
Made me feel like worst Mum of the year (I know I'm not but ya know).

behaviors absolutely escalate when son & hubby are sick

I get cranky when I'm sick too. Raising kids is a learning experience. I don't know when my son is sick until he spikes a fever. The first time he had strep he couldn't even swallow and he spiked a fever of 103 before I figured it out. I know now what to look for.

You're not a bad mom, just remember that defiance is a sign of sickness. It's really hard when they can't tell you. It's all a guessing game.

One of the kiddos I work with professionally always escalates when he is ill or in pain. He is verbally capable of communicating his discomfort but due to Autism lacks the theory of mind that he needs to tell anyone. They sort of feel like they know, so you should know too. And if a person is unable to communicate at all, it compounds that problem immensely.

My son isn't diagnosed and may never actually be on the spectrum, too soon to tell, but because he can't communicate things like sick or hurt, we're getting tantrums and mild aggression when he's getting sick now, too.

PM me if you'd like to talk more about ideas for strategies to help with this.

I think it's an everyone thing. My older 2 were home from school yesterday and even the 7 year old was whining about stuff. Simple things like, "mommy, get me some waaaattter pleeeeease." The glass was about 3 feet from him.

My 2 year old is sick as well, finally getting over it. He was rampaging. Rampaging is what I call his very.. um.. active/ not behaving at all days. He would run from putting toys in the toilet, and when I was cleaning up the water from the toilet I would come out of the bathroom to realize he was busy magic markering the television, after that was clean he would have used that time to take the canister of oats out of the cupboard and decorate his room. While I make him HELP me clean up the oats so i can see him while I do it he up and decides to pee on the floor. Thankfully those days are few and further between now that he's getting closer to 3 and only show up with he's not feeling well.

Both of those are NT as far as I know, as of yet. Hopefully he'll figure out that if he lies down he'll start to feel a little better soon.

Unfortunately, when dealing with sick children half the time you know that you are coming down with it as well. bleh.

My AS behaviors actually get better when I'm sick. It was really noticeable when I was a kid. My mom always could tell when I was starting to feel better, because I would start to act up again.
-OddDuckNash99-

Everything escalates for my guys when they are unwell too.

Well he does have a cold.
Not bad enough to stay home from school but yesterday he was back to his usual self and not aggressive like he has been. I have only had to ask him things twice (1 to tell and 1 to make sure he understands) not 6 times.
He goes all "NT like" when he has a temp but a little cold he is still VERY autie.

It's like clockwork here, too. One day I find myself thinking, "Why is he doing that thing he hasn't done for a year? Why is he struggling with everything?" Two days later his nose starts running or he spikes a fever.

I know what you're talking about though I don't know whether it can be attributed to AS. You don't mean while their sick, you mean before they begin to show symptoms, right? I get very irritable before I begin to show symptoms of illness, as does my son. I'm not as sure about the girls, but I know that we do this, and we're the family aspies. I'm self-diagnosed and he's school diagnosed, but still, I'm pretty sure we are.

Oh yes, my son's behavior takes a tailspin right before he gets sick.

My son, too! He apparently had a 102 temp a few weeks ago and actually finished all of his work in record time. He was not overstimulated at all that morning (before they discovered he was sick). It's like the temp calmed down his nervous system. I don't know. I have noticed that with him other times as well. He has never been a hyperactive child but does have alot of sensory issues. Strange

Yes, my son's behavior gets "better" when he's not feeling good. Thank goodness he's getting better about letting me know he needs to throw up. He used to say nothing and then let it go.

I am actually happy to hear another story like ours. What is your child like? Is he usually hyperactive, inattentive...? What behaviors have you noticed improve when he is sick?

It's the same at our house. Luke is just getting over whatever it was he had, so he and his sister were at each other all day. When he doesn't feel well, he can usually just ignore her.

They did a really small study on kids with ASD/AS losing some of their "symptoms" when they have a fever...

I find that very interesting as I have found myself in the pediatrician's office with Alex a few times and I have gotten the "crazy mom" treatment when I say that aside from a fever his symptoms include "climbing things" (he has always been very "ground bound") and "blasting the tv volume" (he's very sound sensitive)...

Kiddo tends to do all of the stuff we expected him to do that everyone warned us of that little boys do, but only when he is not feeling well- of course it starts subtle and takes a few days for us to figure it out... It can get pretty dangerous though- as he is much bigger at 5.5 than he would have been when he was expected to do those things and can get in more trouble- at 2-3 he wouldn't have been able to get into much but at 5.5 he can move the table over to the screen, move the chair to the table, climb all the way up and push against the upper screen of our porch (and we are 3 stories up...hair is going gray fast!)... It's amazing to me how we initially babyproofed and he had no interest in anything that we babyproofed- but whenever he gets a cold we feel like we have to bust out the outlet covers, cabinet locks, etc...(although his saving grace when he is sick- is also when he is most ADHD symptomatic- he can't focus for long, so he usually loses interest before he gets in trouble...)