What are physical health problems that go with Asperger's?

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I have had this a lot and for a long time, it's one of my main issues. More then a year ago I was involved in a very busy life style and my heart beat so fast it nearly exploded, and i had a constricting feeling like someone was holding my heart in their hand and squeezing it hard. Another thing that is high up on my list are the tremors and cramps in muscles where you shake uncontrollably and violently.

It all pretty much suck ass (big time), but I'm still alive.

I have IBS, not really bad, but enough to annoy me and make me anxious. I went to the doctors the other day and he gave me these anti-spasmodic tablets to stop my bowels from working over time and giving me loose s**ts like they tend to do.
I also get anxiety problems/panic attacks, which counts as a health problem doesn't it? It's a mental health thing anyway.

I have IBS too and tend to have high blood pressure (well, on the higher end of a normal blood pressure but it can be quite high when I'm really anxious) because of my anxiety.
I am also lactose intolerant and have migraines linked to food intolerance, anxiety and hormonal cycles.
And I have a midl scoliosis and lordosis.

I thought I wouldn't relate with any of you for once and I do.

Many digestive symptoms are associated with the austism spectrum, this has to be the most significant of the physical symptoms. Minor visual problems such as problems with depth perception have been reported. Also, hypotonia, or low muscle mass/difficulty gaining muscle has been reported. With some of the psychological consequences of the autism spectrum come physical symptoms. For instance, panicking due to social anxiety can come with heart palpitations, sweating, diuresis, tremors, etc. Hope this helps!

i do not think these conditions caused a.s. but they certainly worsen it when not treated. i have sleep apnea, so i wake up tired. i also have a vitamin d deficiency (only half the normal amount without supplements), which might be the result of my always staying inside when i am not forced to go out, to avoid people.

Last edited by petitesouris on 15 Aug 2010, 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i also used to have terrible muscle tone in my arms and back, but over the years i fixed that with exercise. the only problem is that, after being slothful for a month, i return to where i started.

digestive problems, not quite anemic but low blood count, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, raynauds disease .. think some of them are related to my asd traits

i am glad to know i wasn't the only one with poor muscle tone as a child/young man.

whoever said fatigue is common in those with processing problems, i'd have to agree. also allergies, intolerances seem to be very common. and a variety of issues from low muscle tone. and as a few people said some things could be caused by or at least exacerbated by depression & anxiety. for ex, nausea - symptom of anxiety? motion sickness? vestibular problem? seems that and dizziness would be common, as they could be caused by so many different things.

as for me, things that might be related:
celiac disease
IBS / terrible muscle fatigue - lessened by gluten free diet but not totally alleviated
painfully seized shoulder muscles, all the time, like rocks (hand does same when writing)

in photos of me as a kid my shoulders are sloped and big protruding belly.
arches of feet / ankles collapsed terribly but i corrected for some of this stuff (rather my father forced me to) by walking on outsides of my feet and holding shoulders up, which i still do unconsciously but might be causing me all the pain.
one of my shoulders dislocated repeatedly when i was a kid. mild scoliosis (the twisting kind). all this and the seizing muscles may be due to low muscle tone.

sleep problems all my life.
frequent headaches, nausea, dizziness (blood pressure normal)
unbelievably menstrual pain.
skin itches constantly, sometimes breaks out in hives or tiny eczema like blisters - seemingly unrelated to diet, weather, clothing, detergents, etc. etc. i have tried everything. i wonder if it's just my nervous system gone berzerk. (also very sensitive to tags, seams, anything touching skin)
i sneeze easily. shake insanely when i'm cold.

i can feel every little thing that happens to me, every little tiny pain, and sometimes freak out - do i have a blood clot? am i having heart palpitations? am i searing the inside of my esophagus after eating food that's too hot? why do we have nerve endings inside the esophagus anyway? that makes no sense. oversensitivities can make you notice things other people wouldn't.

other related things could contribute to depression, not just social problems.
chronic unemployment, fatigue caused by processing problems or other related issues, severe allergies, and so on. so yes, i would call it a co-morbidity. same anxiety which isn't necessarily just caused by social problems either, but also by constant bombardment to the senses and plain inability to wrangle one's brain.

I have terrible fatigue. I've been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which I've had for over 25 years, and it's gotten progressively worse year after year. Also Fibromyalgia, and they often co-occur, but the muscle and joint pain is nothing compared to the fatigue. It's been much more disabling than AS. I'm too tired to have a job, a family, to go on vacation, to go out except on a rare occasion. The most difficult aspect is that once I overexert myself to do one thing, it takes me weeks to recover to my previous slightly less-fatigued state, so I have to ration what little activity I do.

But the fatigue is more of a practical problem than AS or depression/anxiety. It doesn't cause me the kind of emotional distress that AS and depression do.

I wonder if the fatigue is related to AS in some way, since so many people have mentioned it. Part of it, for me, comes from having a lot of difficulty sleeping, which also seems to be a common issue with AS. Also, having a conversation is just as or even more exhausting than physical activity, and that's definitely the result of AS.

my mother has inattentive ADD something fierce and fibromyalgia.
she now thinks her chronic exhaustion has a lot to do with her ADD.

I don't have ADD, and to be honest I've been very confused by how often it's mentioned here as co-occurring with AS and even misdiagnosed as one instead of the other. I thought people with AS were supposed to be good at concentrating on something, often to the exclusion of everything else? For instance, I can sit and read a book for a long time. Then again, if the book is not interesting enough or I'm particularly tired, I do tend to put it down a lot. But I'm so exhausted that I'm certainly not hyperactive.

It's interesting that your mother has found that correlation.

i should've explained better: simply on the topic of processing problems being a cause of fatigue.
i do think there is a relationship between ADD and AS but i couldn't articulate or even guess precisely what it is. some professionals allow ADD and AS diagnoses to co-occur, others do not. ADD/ADHDers can have hyperfocus.

when preparing to go out for lunch, my mother will sit on a bed with her purse out staring at everything she has just taken out of it, put a few things back in, write herself some post-it notes, take some more things out, stare at it, pick at her lips, repeat .. for fifteen minutes before concluding she has gathered everything she needs. when she visited recently i came home to find her keys in the door. she cannot complete a thought. but she can sit and read a book forever.

Thanks for the explanation. I think I was confused simply because I know very little about ADD other than the stereotype of the child who is too distracted to sit still.

I think of myself as being efficient at getting things done, but I'm probably not. It's hard for me to separate just feeling too tired to do something, or do it properly, and the scattered kind of feeling that makes it hard to make a decision or create a plan of action.

i'm no expert on the topic, i just know my mother. girls with ADD may be a little less prone to (physical) hyperactivity. and there are several different types of ADD.

you are certainly not alone on this. it took me years to be able to complete one push up. the gym instructors thought i was lazy without seeing the contrast between my upper and lower body strength. i could ski without any difficulty, but carrying heavy things is a challenge.