Aspies For Freedom

Hi,

I've just found this forum and think it's fantastic! I have an 8 year old son who's recently been diagnosed with AS.

I wonder if anyone can help me? I have noticed that at times of stress/anxiety my son will suddenly get a headache or stomach ache. the pain is obviously genuine and he often says he doesn't feel stressed but the link is very clear, my questions are:

1. Is this something that others have come across?
2. Any suggestions as to what I can do to help him with this?

Thanks

B

WELCOMBE BELINDA!

I have a 7 year old son with AS, he suffers headaches and stomach aches caused by excessive anxiety (as do I!)  I have found that giving him a microwavable herbal wheatbag to put across his stomach and a cold flannel on his forehead or a cooling headache patch seems to help, I find these simple measures effective as I am seen by him to be "doing something" about his aches and pains without having to give him loads of medicine (unless it is really hurting him) it is a fine line though as I don't want to mollycoddle him either!

Oops, please excuse my spelling errors!  I meant "welcome!"

Hi Belinda, and welcome. My nephew had stress related stomach aches and his doctor suggested crispy bacon to settle his stomach.  It seemed counterintuitive, but it worked for him and I've tried it and it worked. The bacon has to be cooked crispy, though.  For those who don't eat pork, I have no alternative advice.  Not sure whether turkey bacon works the same way.

Hi,

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions, I'll certainly give them a try.

Michael 1  - just to clarify, when I say 'stress' I mean normal stuff for an 8yr old like the first day back at school after holidays or even parties and things he enjoys but gets himself very worked up over.

Hi Belinda

I have more empathy than suggestions, lol. My son is 7 and newly diagnosed, although we have been casting about for "non-traditional" strategies to parent this child since he was an infant.

Physical symptoms of stress are what promted us to seek formal diagnosis, professional help, etc. The main signs of stress for him are not sleeping well, night terrors, worse than ususal temper, etc. But it is not uncommon for him to complain of headaches and stomache aches so I tend to think that stress is the root.

My only suggestions (and I'm reading along with you to get more myself) are to try and "diffuse" some of the baggage early. We try to talk to DH about his day (the therapist has given him the imagry that stressful/unpleasant things in his day fill up a stinky bag of garbage that he needs to put down) and get him to "unload" his garbage bag so he doesn't carry it for days (as he is apt to do). This seems to help as does our attention and validation of his feelings. Also, I am trying a weighted blanket (from autismshop.com) to help him relax and hopefully sleep better.  IMO, poor sleep is the fuel for the stress cycle so I would be more willing to try an intervention/supplement of some kind (melatonin?) to help him sleep before I would consider an anxiety medication, for example.

I just say in a magazine a flannel pad for children that can be heated or cooled that also sounds like a great idea. I'll post a link after I find it again.

Liz

Thanks for all the comments.
Following some of the suggestions I found something call a 'Hot Hug' which is a wheatbag you can warm in microwave that then fits inside a cuddly toy - my son absolutely loves it and it does seem to help the stomach aches. Might be worth a try a a Christmas present - they cost about £20

A Hot Hug!  Wow!  I've not seen these before, definitely better then just the boring old wheatbag on it's own.  My son would love one of these, I'm definitely getting him one.  I think I'll get one for myself too!  Thanks for that Belinda  

Tigger - good point!
I have actually had him checked by a doctor (a paediatrician specialising in AS for what it was worth!!) as I have suffered from migraines in the past, but they were convinced that wasn't the problem. Still I'll keep in in mind and maybe get a second opinion.
Thanks.

I supposedly had frequent belly aches when I was in kindergarten. That went away during primary school, but I had frequent 'common cold' kinda things. In high school that went away but I developed a dizziness issue that I still occasionally get. Head aches are more common now. All of the above are probably mainly stress induced. And to the person who was saying that 8yo is rather young to be stressed, school, or even kindergarten in my case, can be very stressful to an Aspie.

What I'd start working on is getting your son to realize that he's feeling stressed sooner. If his belly aches are psychosomatic, then recognizing that he's feeling stressed can prevent him from physically feeling ill. Of course, don't just teach him to realize that he's feeling stressed, but also teach him why he's feeling stressed and what he could do to reduce the stress (teaching him some general relaxation techniques would be good, as well as things to cope with the situations he's usually in when he's stressed). I'd start out by asking him to ask himself whenever he has a belly ache whether he's actually feeling stressed about anything; whether there's anything going on that might be making him feel stressed. You could sit down with him one day too and make a list together of things he finds stressful to help him recognize stress. You could make a list of things you find stressful too, to show him and to tell him how you cope with those situations.

It's true that special diets don't effect a lot of autistic people. I think they're a good thing to try once or twice, and if there's no effect, then discard it.

I was going to post about migraines. A friend of my brought up a good point to me, I get horrible migraines (they are genetic in my family) ,and I am sensitive to light and sound when I have them, that it sounded like sensory issues in someone with autism. My question is does anyone know if there is a genetic link between migraines and autism? There is no one in our families with autism but like I said migraines are a big thing in my family!

My husband, his sister and her sons all suffer from migraines.  I would say that my husband has aspie traits and my sister-in-law, who works in residential childcare, has told me that she thinks her younger boy, now in his late teens is an aspie.  My nephews started having the migraines when they hit puberty so I'll need to ask her whether they complained of stomach pains before that.  Nevertheless, that side of my son's family do seem to have a migraine/aspie combo going.  So maybe there is a link.  Would be interesting to find out.

I've never had a migraine, and from what I've seen of them I'd be more concerned about my son suffering from them, than being diagnosed aspie.  Migraines seem to be really vicious.