vision problems with autism/Asperger's

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Up until a year ago my 15 year old son was like any normal kid and made good eye contact and was very happy. But now he will not look into my face and squints to avoid seeing me. He gets angry if I walk into his vision and act like it hurt his eyes. He follows the walls with his hands while squinting his eyes nearly shut and walks like a blind person if I'm in the room. He has good eye sight. We are a very modest and moral, christian family and never did anything to cause this behavior. If I had to guess I would think he has become autistic a bit. He acts like I burn his retinas if I am in his vision. He loves me and he cannot explain his actions. He has tried hard to look into my face but finds it extremely difficult.So I end up having conversations to the back of his head. He can talk for hours like this. We are to poor to take him to a psychiatrist at the moment. Autism runs in the family. Is there anything supplement wise we can try that might help him? Also, is there a name for this issue?

Desperate mom

Assuming your son goes to school, maybe there is a school counselor or psychologist willing to talk with him a little while trying to make an assessment or come up with a recommendation. Assuming he is already getting proper nutrition, I would be very cautious in relation to medication...and especially if autism actually might be a factor...and overall, I would suggest not pressing the matter of eye contact with him and just enjoying the back-of-head conversations. Maybe he has done something he would be embarrassed or ashamed to have you know about and needs a little time or a bit of help from someone else to sort that out.

Thank you for your thoughts. However, he is homeschooled. I also homeschool my other son who is autistic so school counselors or psychologists aren't availble. Also my autistic sons dr moved so now I am without a good autism dr to go to.

Thank you

If you can, maybe contact the doctor and see if he can refer someone local.

Thank you but the Dr didn't know of any good autism Dr's in my area. Looks like I will have to consider a long trip. In the mean time if there is anyone who has experienced the vision issues that my son is dealing with I would sure love to know.

Thanks for your help

I deal with eye contact issues every day. Some days i am completely fine, others i need to just have conversations without looking people n the eye at all. They tend to be fine with it

I would suggest asking yourself what emotional gain you are seeking from eye contact, and what emotional need he is seeking from not having eye contact. Then you are weighing what you need versus what he needs in order to feel comfortable. If you are having conversations already, even with eye contact, that is a step in the right direction

Ultimately, you can only make it safe for him to experiment with eye contact. If you force him, he will resent you for making him feel hurt, especially him being young still. He will do it in his own time.

If however, you feel that your need for eye contact cannot be denied, even when you have considered his need for not maintaining eye contact, i would recommend, instead of trying to make him, simply say that you like it when he makes eye contact and that you get a lot from eye contact, but that you won't force him to do it until he is ready and happy. That will prepare the ground for him to take steps on his own. It may take weeks/months, but if you give him space, he will grow into it.

I am no Dr. just someone who has learned to cope. I hope these pointers are useful

Eye contact issues are common, but (reported) pain from just walking into his field of view? That sounds like something else.
It might be a good idea to consult a doctor about this.

What you described sounds like how people describe me. Between wearing dark glasses and feeling my way around, it looks like I'm blind - even though I have perfected eyesight

But that's basically the problem, I see too many details, all the lights and so on that I get sensory overload.

The thing is though I have always been like that.

It is so good to hear from you. Thanks for reaching out with the kind post. It's nice to hear how it feels to experience issues like this because my son can't seem to express what he is going thru.

I guess mom's always want to fix things. He use to be such an "in your face, demanding focus" kind of kid...as well as a best friend. And now something has changed to where he gets very angry if I am in his view but still the same loving child if I am talking to the back of his head. In my mind something happened to make him like this and that something needs to be fixed. If it is a problem with g proteins in the brain or inflamation of some sort it is something that can be reversed. He use to have serious problems with his gallbladder, liver, and gut issues which caused terrible inflamation that felt like electric tingling all thru his body, pain in his lymph nodes, and awful stomach swelling from toxins and gluten. But with the help of the naturopathic autism Dr. that use to care for my kids, that has been completely reversed. I know our bodies are made to repair and if they are given the right sort of things they can be restored to health. So in knowing this, it's hard for me to give up trying to help my kids until they are healthy and happy .

Common vision problem in the Autistic spectrum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosopagnosia

Part of it might be that he is 15. I read something by the author S.E. Hinton (IIRC) about what a great relationship she had with her cheerful son, until he turned 15 or thereabouts, and then there was this aura of hostility that took hold.

I'm a little bit like now that at 16. But then I've always been withdrawn and aloof.

OK - I'm going to put aside the fact that autism doesn't develop in late puberty for a moment, because I really want to get something through. And just for context, I'm a chiropractor. I love alternative medicine. I believe that inflammation is an important part of mental health. OK. But, don't you dare try to deal with this with supplements or alternative care alone. Go the ER if you can't afford a doctor, and get some help signing up for social services.

OP Mom; something is going down with your son and could be big and if you keep not taking your son to a doctor, you could cause permanent damage to his eyes or his brain.

Here's are some of the things you need to be ruling out with your son:

IIH - Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertention (http://ihrfoundation.org/hypertension/info/C16)
Brain tumor
Schizophrenia
Lyme disease or other tick born illness.

I know this list is scary, but they are all treatable, especially if you respond to them early.

If you came into my clinic with your son with these symptoms, I would turn you away until you saw a doctor. Its simply imperative that you get it seen to properly. Once you get it diagnosed properly, and you take care of the immediate threat to his brain or his retinas, then come back and I will give you to some sources for information on alternative therapies if you like.

I want to thank everyone for all their thoughts. I really appreciate your input.

In regards to the last post, yes I do believe there is cause to be concerned...though I would have thought that after a year of this, if it were a tumor or inflamation that he would be having head pain of some sort..but the only time he gets any headaches is if he gets to busy and skips a meal.

I will look into getting him checked out though.

Like another posted says, it does sound more lymes like than actual autism. Lyme disease causes pseudo autistic symptoms in a lot of people.