Getting Worse With Age?

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Zeno
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28 May 2007, 9:48 am

Does anyone notice that their autism actually worsens with age? Mine certainly does. When I was growing up and my brain was still expanding, I slept a lot, behaved oddly but I did not feel the worst effects like the running mind or the meltdowns. Now that I am in my thirties, and far more aware of the limitations that autism imposes on me, I find that the effects of autism really hits me. Maybe when I was young and there were not that many bad memories to recall, the running mind problem does not get to show me a slide show of the worst moments of my life over and over again. Happiness is just one of the prerogatives of innocence. But as I age, the effects on my body becomes ever more pronounced. I started noticing irregularities in my heart rate and beat when I was in my early twenties. It would come and it would go. Since I exercise regularly, I am by no means unfit. The physiological symptoms coincides perfectly with the rhythm of slipping in and out of autistic impairment.

Does anyone else amongst the more mature members of this community have the same experience?

poopylungstuffing
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28 May 2007, 10:07 am

Gahh!
Ye read my mind..I was gonna post a thread with the same name a long time ago..yep..i have the same issues....will give more articulate post later.

SteveK
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28 May 2007, 10:09 am

Zeno wrote:

I don't. Interestingly, the running mind type deal bothered me a LOT earlier. I actually had to concentrate REAL hard to STOP IT, and it often quickly came back. what I think might be meltdowns only happen with the type of stress I generally didn't get in school.

The heartbeat deal isn't an autie/aspie trait. And exercise does ****NOT**** mean you are fit, and can actually HURT! Eating "healthy" can hurt TOO! Have you asked a doctor about your heart? It could be due to a bad valve(People generally acquire damage as early as their TWENTIES), bad vessels/blood supply(It often becomes noticable as early as the TEENS), etc... For the valves, colds and infections can do it. For the blood vessels it can be genetic, vitamin/amino deficiencies, too much cholesterol or other junk, not enough omega 3/6, etc....

Note that exercise wasn't mentioned ONCE! Exercise CAN make it all more noticable and exascerbate it. There IS a reason why they say you should consult a doctor before starting!

Steve

Danielismyname
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28 May 2007, 10:23 am

If your heart is flipping and flopping when you’re more “autistic”; it’s most likely due to an increase in anxiety; adrenaline, catecholamines and stuff from perfectly natural worry and anxiety due to the autism.

Muscles tense up (your heart), and this can lead to a greater increase of premature-atrial and ventricular contractions (the skipped beat feeling), the excess of adrenaline and stuff will make the likelihood of an underlying electrical disturbance in your heart more prevalent.

My autism changes with the environment....

coolstertothecore
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28 May 2007, 10:26 am

I'm only 22 but I also feel like I'm getting worse, or maybe it's just that now I have more choice. Thinking back to high school I don't know how I managed to enjoy a moment of it but I did. Now, I can't stand being so close to all those people and being in big groups. My anxiety for new things is about the same and I have far fewer friends.

nobodyzdream
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28 May 2007, 10:32 am

coolstertothecore wrote:

same here, and I'm 26. I've also noticed more health problems, my kidney infections are increasingly more common, and my ear infections are almost non-stop. Meltdowns are a lot more frequent... I used to just hide in my room and no one would bug me much-they figured I was just going through some teenage thing, but now that I don't really try to hide, meltdowns are a lot more frequent.

My anxiety is getting worse and I actually get chest/side pains when I'm overly stressed

SteveK
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28 May 2007, 10:39 am

WOW, I didn't start to feel old(Physically) until I was like 32. The HMO said it typically starts around 30. Admittedly, my ears DID start getting plugged. I just have to think about that more. If I failed, they COULD get infected.

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Danielismyname
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28 May 2007, 10:41 am

Addendum:

I wasn’t too bad up until the end of adolescence; went downhill from there, started to climb the hill again when that hell was over until external events broke my legs, and I’m now stuck down here (20-25)..., they haven't healed yet.

Doesn’t really look much different down here though.... Anxiety seems to be getting worst like a few before this though.

nobodyzdream
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28 May 2007, 10:43 am

SteveK wrote:

Mine are just an ongoing chain of infections, lol, docs never can figure out what is going on with me

I've been getting the ear infections since I was 3.

tomamil
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28 May 2007, 10:50 am

Zeno wrote:

Happiness is just one of the prerogatives of innocence.

hmm, i like that sentence. but i can say that now i am more happy than during my childhood. maybe because living on my own is easier than living with my father? i don't know for sure. but falling asleep every day with fear of tomorrow and what's going to happen after if i fail in school, didn't help.

Zeno wrote:

I started noticing irregularities in my heart rate and beat when I was in my early twenties. It would come and it would go. Since I exercise regularly, I am by no means unfit.

i, too, experienced irregularities in my heart rate in my early twenties. but it went away. now, i am in my late twenties and nothing like that happened for several years. i started doing sport more often. not regularly, though.

MrMacPhisto
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28 May 2007, 10:57 am

Ay What I was told by the doctor when I was diagnosed that you get better as you get older

GoonSquad
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28 May 2007, 11:03 am

Yeah, I can relate to that... Also, the older I get the less I care about keeping myself in check and fitting in.

This is me, like it or lump it... :lol:

cognizant
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28 May 2007, 11:17 am

Zeno wrote:

Does anyone notice that their autism actually worsens with age?

Actually I found that some of my symptoms softened. My assumptions why it is so... Pressure of my family lessened (I am constantly in war with they). I got medicine (before, nobody cared of). I became more independent and can take care of myself. I became more open-minded and could engage in informal relations. Maybe partly it’s because I surrounded myself with the ‘right’ people.
About the heart thing, SteveK wrote... it’s true. I have a prolapse in the heart (I always had it but didn’t know that palpitation is a sign of it). It became better with magnesium. Exercises make it worse.

kiki3
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28 May 2007, 11:34 am

I've noticed that quite a few of your posts mentioned physical problems, such as ear infections, as symptoms of autism. Is it widely accepted that autistic individuals have more of these issues? It's the first I've heard of it.

I wouldn't say that my Aspie symptoms are getting worse with age, but I'm less accepted than when I was a child. When I was young, people mostly just called me shy. Now, I get the "You're weird" looks, instead.

If physical symptoms really are part of being an Aspie, then those have definitely gotten worse. My eyes water constantly (one more than the other). No matter how many allergy pills I take, I can't make them stop. I find that I'm allergic to many things, and I get hives easily.

pbcoll
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28 May 2007, 1:10 pm

You mean it's going to get worse?

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poopylungstuffing
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28 May 2007, 3:53 pm

um..I actually have gotten better than I was when I was a kid..I was a complete wreck..then the symptoms seemed to soften when I entered adolescence...and since then I have gone through
up and down phases...(mind you..before I knew what Aspergers was)....I don't know if the reason it has seemed worse lately has more to do with, age, environment, my newfound awareness of the possible reason for it or a combination of those factors.

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