Anybody find that things change when you get a cold/fever ?

Post Reply New Topic

There's been a fair bit in the media on this, lately.

That's not so much information so I'm going to guess what you mean. Big changes like in the 'Alice in Wonderland' syndrome?

Google Autism and Fever

I'm prone to sinus infections, and I can get very depressed, with very odd thoughts ...

So this is about autism and fever in specific.

I have heard about that one. The improvement everybody talks about is that the kids aren't as hyperactive when they're sick. And that they either accept more contact from their parents or actively seek it out.

The fact that the majority of all children are calmer and tolerate closeness better/seek it out when they're quite sick seems to much of common sense to me to believe that there is a connection between improvement of ASDs and fever if that type of observation is the only one.

It is also perfectly normal that for the following days after the fever, the non-autistic children remain calmer and still try to seek out contact. That state was a normal routine (for both autistic and non-autistic children) for a very marking and dreadful time. Maybe even a longer time of several days. The children get used to it, may feel insecurity, a stronger need for affection after a somewhat traumatic event.

Maybe some autistic children and their parents have found a new way of connection during the child's sickness too. Sometimes it takes new situations to discover new possibilities for old problems.

I just do not understand why they figure that in such exclusive situations as sickness in young children that autistic children would be totally off their rocker and as abnormal as possible. Last time I checked autistic kids had feelings too.
If in a unique situation, a change in their expression and behaviour is to be expected.

Wow, I don't know if I'm more cuddly when I have a fever, but I'm quite certain I'm not nearly as functional.

Kids with secure attachments seek out their parents in times of distress. Most autistic kids are securely attached. I don't see this is so puzzling.

After all, it doesn't take a lot to realize that when something's wrong, the parents appear and fix it. That's a simple association to make. A child who has a cold will seek out his parents because something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

As a child I was never attached to my mother. She was the bearer of food and a home

I don't function as well when I'm sick. I also withdraw more. I'm sick with a cold right now, and I noticed at work today I was having even more difficulty with eye contact than usual. Yesterday, I was barely noticing anything that went on around me. I can focus on the computer or a book or the TV, but that's about it. When I'm feeling really bad, all I can do is watch TV.

When I'm sick, I want more attention, affection and TLC. My ASD daughter is the same way. She's 10. Being sick, despite the unfortune situation of feeling poorly, also comes with lazy days in bed, no stressors other than being sick.

I have had periods of illness in my life, and my function goes right downhill.

When I had pneumonia with raging fever, I was unable to speak except in a slur and couldn't focus my thoughts.

When the fevers started last year with my latest illness, my ability to communicate or tolerate people in my environment dropped immensely. I had problems expressing myself to my doctor, and I had to struggle to let people know what I needed (i.e. left alone, or drop off groceries and leave me alone, or just call to see if I'm alive and then leave me alone).

What kind of fever are we talking about? Influenza? Infection?

Are we sure about that? I mean, "extra clinginess" could produce some really impressive effects.

I wonder if it isn't something like how brain injury sometimes produces savant skills combined with disability--disable some parts of the brain; other parts specialize. So maybe fever makes some parts of the brain less efficient, and the other parts get used more.

I don't know how that would work. I do know that fever can cause delirium, which is a sort of brain dysfunction. And I know temperature changes chemical reactions...

That's odd, becuase my symptoms get more pronounced when I'm sick. I don't want people around me when I'm miserable!

I tend to get a little sullen, a little moody when I get a bad cold.

And if I get something bad like the Flu, I find I tend to stay sad.