Asperger's and abdominal pain?

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Really? If you only have an ASD then you are really fortunate

Thanks for so many replies so soon - it is my first post in these forums (hi!), so a very nice welcome.

The pains I get are definitely made much worse by anxiety, and I do have constipation / diarrhea and some gut inflammation consistent with IBS. But severe, localised right abdominal pain is not consistent with IBS - the pain is severe enough that I have been treated in hospital, although I do accept that anxiety could still be the cause . None of the diets, medications or exercise programs I have tried over the years has been effective.

It would make a big difference to find something that deals with the pain.

I've had (what I assume is) IBS since my early 20s. It has got worse in the past few years and certain foods that I could tolerate before, I cannot anymore - onions and garlic particularly (used to be just raw, but now cooked ones too). I am rather lax about doing anything about physical symptoms and have only just started treating myself with peppermint oil (need enteric coated if you want to try, although not sure it's doing anything for me) and something you can buy over the counter called Kolanticon which contains an antispasmodic amongst other things. This seems to work, but unfortunately comes in a massive glass bottle, and my symptoms are often worst in the afternoons at work - I need to get round to decanting some. I have abdominal pain/discomfort, often on the left side (sidedness probably depends upon which part of the colon is sensitive), bloating, constipation etc. The worst symptom though is that my gut gets really noisy and it can sound almost like breaking wind, which is very embarrassing. Getting nervous about it inevitably makes symptoms worse.

I am sure that years of anxiety (particularly social anxiety) have sensitised my gut - I can feel even the slightest release of adrenaline as abdominal pain. Nowadays talking to people does not cause me mental anxiety, but my stomach still hurts - in fact I sometimes wonder if it is the only way that I know I am anxious about something now. When I was depressed I could also feel this strongly in my stomach and knew I was depressed even if I couldn't find any feeling of depression in my mind. I had no IBS when I was taking antidepressants and anxiolytics, although it is known that antidepressants can be an effective remedy for IBS independent of their anti-depressant effect. The gut contains neurons and uses the same neurotransmitters found in the brain, so it is no surprise that the two things are so closely connected.

I have IBS. I'm Lactose-intolerant. I think it's connected with general hypersensivity.

I have diagnosed Crohns which causes the exact mentioned symptoms, with stress being a leading trigger along with poor diet and lack of sleep. I am 45, so I grew up 'pre-Aspergers" and never had heard of Crohns until I had had an appendectomy and it was found then at the age of 23.

Is there a solid link between the two.. no, not that I have seen, but both can be genetic. Both my children have gastrointestinal issues and are both Aspies... (thanks to me... wheee!) I can see times in my life where my Aspergers issues have fueled gut issues... and visa versa.....

LEARN YOUR BODY! There are tons of books, websites, friends and whatever, but there is only one person living in you.... and that's you! What works perfectly for one person with Crohns (or any other digestive tract issue for that matter) will be a disaster for the next. It takes time to see what works, and attention to see how that changes over time. I don't have any 'absolute NO's' in my diet, but over time I have cut way back on processed grains, dairy, and green leafy veggies....and my tolerance of anything over-indulged is terrible. (when I went in for surgery, I had been living on frozen burritos.. the joys of college life!)

Any more I forget about my Crohns...it's just 'how I am'..... and my Aspergers is the same.... isn't a thing as much as it's a little part of me.

*that should be enough incoherency for one post!*

Doesn't the gut have it's own brain which is entirely independant?

Actually this article is quite interesting,

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... cond-brain

It has and it's bigger than this one in head

I have gastrointestinal issues as well, I never thought that it might be connected somehow to my AS. My appetite is irregular too, some weeks I'll eat an awful lot while others I won't eat much at all. Granted, I don't have weight issues, I'm at a healthy weight and am by no stretch of the imagination "fat".

I have a constant throbbing pain in my abdomen as well. I've been told it was probably a direct result of my Anxiety Disorder. It gets worse of better depending on my mood and thoughts at the moment. Go figure.

I experience abdominal pain, as well. For me, it's because I have Depression, and I hold a lot of my feelings inside. I also experience fluctuations in my appetite, as well.

I have constipation problems my whole life. I don't know if that counts. I never had any food or gastro problems is what I referred to. I also have co morbid conditions. But however sea food is hard for my stomach but I can have fish. There are foods out there that is too rich for me but it's not really an issue because I don't need that food to live and be healthy.

However I had lot of ear infections and fevers as a baby and my mom thinks it might have caused my ASD. I used to get hives but not anymore. Mom always kept me home from school for that because my school always thought they were chicken pox. I guess she couldn't tell them they were hives.

What is meant by gastro problem? Like what are examples of symptoms? The only thing I can think of is that sometimes I get this stomach ache, then fart a lot for 10 minutes, and then I'm all good.

Personally, chronic stomach pain, permanent sore throat and cough (which is incredibly annoying for me, as I love to sing) and I occasionally cough up little bits of partly digested food (which is about as disgusting as it sounds ). Darn correlations.

I've never experienced anything of the sort - thought I'm only 17. Just sayin'.

Tummy ache
Wind
Bloated abdomen
Pain especially below the waist
Constipation
Diarrhoea
Spasmodic pain
Lots of belching with other symptoms
Foods which bring these other symptoms on

I used to get stomachaches after dinner when I was a kid. Not every day but when I did, it was pretty bad. Mom would tell me to lie down on my stomach and this worked. It was probably intestinal spasms and gas.
Then around age 38 I started with bad GERD and heartburn. GI found a stomach ulcer when I was 45 which eventually healed, to be replaced by generalized stomach inflammation. I tested negative for Celiac but I did try a gluten-free diet a few years ago and noticed a lessening of GI problems and body aches ("fibromyalgia"). I don't think I have milk issues but my brother who also probably has Asperger's cannot do dairy.

I have real bad lactose intolerance and other stomach sensitivity.
It started about age 19.