autism and arthritis

Post Reply New Topic

(but but but. . . Duncansbass, unless you were sold into some cultural cult oddity at a young age, you chose your wife in the first place. Surely some time in that relationship you actually admired that person.

come'on I've had a couple of husbands, I know how it is easier to hate someone than to deal with the loss of not only what was, but what might have been. )

Merle

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) knows that mycoplasma infections can cause arthritis and can be treated with an inexpensive antibiotic called doxycycline thats costs about $10/month.

One study found mycoplasma infections in 58% of people diagnosed with ASDs compared to less than 5% of non-autistics so if you're AS and have arthritis, it's more likely that a mycoplasma infection is the cause of your arthritis symptoms. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17265454

That's very interesting. I had mice (although I got them after I developed the symptoms of arthritis) and they had mycoplasma (got them from a pet shop rather than a breeder). I never thought humans were susceptible to it. Do you know if there are different kinds of mycoplasma? Like, would I have been susceptible to the type my mice had?

Also, just wanna point out that in research, one study does not a conclusion make. There needs to be multiple studies to replicate the results. (Not saying that to poo-poo the study you brought up; but just pointing out one shouldn't draw immediate conclusions from a single research study.)

There are different types of mycoplasma. I don't know which ones mice get. I think Mycoplasma fermentans is the one that causes arthritis. Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a common cause of upper respiratory infections. I don't know about the other types.



I realize that. The same researcher found these infections in CFS and other researchers have confirmed his findings in CFS so I think his methods are sound. I think he was the first to look for these in ASDs in 2007. He found the same infections in ASDs that he found in CFS the same percentage of the time. Several studies found mycoplasma in arthritis. I only concluded that the study in autism makes it more likely to be the cause of arthritis symptoms in autistics. I'm fine with people not wanting to be tested for mycoplasma until researchers replicate his results.

I have childhood arthritis...

Well, I don't see how there's any harm in testing for mycoplasma. Provided one doesn't go crazy and just starting taking antibiotics without finding out it is mycoplasma.

I have reactive arthritis which has rapidly worsened over the past year. I'd like to hear from anyone who's found some kind of treatment that improved things for you. Also, anyone who's on methotrexate.

I had whatever the kind is that you get when you're young and it lasts a few years and then goes away. Had it in my fingers, wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, and where the legs connect to the hip.

Aside from my jaw (because I have TMD which I haven't really been taking care of recently), I haven't had a stiff/swollen joint since I was about 16 or 17, and it started when I was 13 or 14.

I didn't go to the doctor for it because I was stupid and secretive about it, so I was never diagnosed.

editing to add:

I'm 21 and I have had eczema since I was a little kid.

I don't have arthritis but people always suspect it (and test for it and I don't have it) due to my joint hypermobility that causes pain in every joint in my body. When I could still walk a lot, this caused huge problems due to my ankles and legs hurting whenever I put weight on them, so I would always be shifting from foot to foot. Some people assumed the shifting from foot to foot was because of autism, but it wasn't.

I'm 29, 30 in less than a month.

This is the list of stuff I've been diagnosed with. It's long, but that's partly because several of these things are probably related to each other in various syndromes, but are just all diagnosed separately for the moment. Also I am undoubtedly forgetting something -- I don't think of my body as all these separate things, so I often forget some of them.

Parkinsonlike movement disorder (CNS disorder NOS, related to autism), CAPD, hyperacusis, epilepsy (complex-partial mostly, well-controlled, in the past have had atonic and myoclonic seizures), circadian rhythm sleep disorder (mostly irregular sleep-wake pattern, which is more common among both autistic people and people with real Parkinson's), hypermobility syndrome (with joint pain and all the other stuff), migraine (severe, chronic), asthma, eczema, trigeminal neuralgia, bronchiectasis, allergies (anaphylaxis to medications, then regular allergies to cats, grass, trees), tendinitis, spastic urethra with urinary retention (successfully treated with an Interstim implant), dysphagia, esophagus spasms, reflux, early-onset gallbladder disease, chronic severe constipation (multiple hospital/ER visits), neurological motor/muscular disorder (no specific name), occipital neuralgia, straight neck, neck spasms that can lead to pain and/or further spasms going down my right arm, either peripheral neuropathy or central pain, TMJ (skeletal jaw deformity + hypermobility), upper back pain, amenorrhea (with possible premature menopause), chronic nausea, exotropia, supraventricular tachycardia, PTSD.

Some of those may be related to autism but a lot of them just run in my family. (Well, so does autism.) And some of them we have no clue where they came from.

I don't have arthritis, but it runs in my family; my mom has psoriatic arthritis. And perhaps not coincidentally, her side of the family is full of Asperger's and other disorders.

Physically, my problems are all pretty minor. I'm allergic to most metals, especially nickel, and to various kinds of pollen, though it's not severe enough to keep my stuck inside all the time. This may or may not be related to the metal allergy, but after I got my ears pierced they just wouldn't heal. I have irregular periods and worse than normal PMS. I've had eczema on some body part or another, usually my feet or arms, for the past several years.

I have no idea if I have arthritis or not.
I've had unexplained pain in my legs since I was very young (at least 4). It feels a bit like an ache in the centre of my bones and reaches from my mid calf to hip and back. It's always either in one leg or the other, never both at once (which is the weirdest part I think) and doesn't seem to follow any pattern at all. Sometimes I can bring it on by lying on one side for a long time but mostly it's completely random. Even the effectiveness of pain meds is erratic; sometimes things like ibuprofen will work and sometimes not (and when it does it takes about 800 mg). When I was young it happened mostly at night and would keep me up, now as an young adult it happens at any time of day (but still more often at night).
My doctor has decided that it's "growing pain", but that just doesn't fit. I haven't grown in years
No one can tell me what this is.