Adults with Asperger's or parents with young adult DC with Asperger's- please help me

[MargoLovebutter]

DS is 19 and has had a diagnosis of high-functioning ASD /Asperger's since he was 7.

He started at uni in September and it hasn't been plain sailing for him. He is fine academically (despite some quite severe SLDs) but is not a good judge of other people, gets social cues wrong and has quite high anxiety with a dash or paranoia thrown in.

He also has a diagnosis of severe IBS, which is proving particularly troubling and he has lost quite a lot of weight, feels nauseous in the mornings and is also having great trouble sleeping.

The help I need is twofold - please!

Firstly, if you suffer from Asperger's and find it incredibly difficult to identify your own emotions - can what you are feeling manifest itself as physical symptoms?

Secondly, if you suffer from Asperger's, is there any form of counselling or therapy that can help with the anxiety or any of the other issues?

I am so worried about DS and can't work out if the deterioration of physical symptoms is related to stress and not coping at uni - or if it is completely separate and his bowels are in more serious trouble than originally diagnosed (he does have a referral back to gastro for more investigations).

Any thoughts / help / suggestions very very welcome.

Thank you. I'll check with him on both those.

Hi @MargoLovebutter

Does your son have hyper mobility?

My child does and I've read that stomach problems are very common in those with both asd and hyper mobility.

Aornis, both my dcs were/are under a child/adolescent psychiatrist who we pay for privately and it is he who recommended and prescribed the meds. This is also how they were both diagnosed with Aspergers /ASD as the waiting lists are ridiculously long where we live and CAMHS were bloody useless tbh. My DD is on Dulexotine Hydrochloride (she was previously on Escitalopram 10mgs ) and my DS is on Escitalopram 20mgs . As localfluff said above these drugs are antidepressants but are known to be very effective at treating anxiety disorders. They have certainly worked well for my two dcs.

Thanks,Mrs. Looks like a private psychiatrist might be the only route. Will bear that in mind.

Scifi101, not that I'm aware of, but good thought, thank you.

I think I may get in touch with some of the autism/asperger's charities and ask about private psychiatrists.

Hi Op. My DH has ASD and was diagnosed at the age of 43. I was pregnangt with our son at the time and he wanted to have a definite diagnosis. Similar to your son he was very stressed at uni (before I knew him) and ended up with a 2:2 in Law. This meant he could not get a training contract so his law career ended. During his assessment for ASD they identified that his IQ was "off the scale" and that with the right support he should have got a double first at Oxbridge. I don't know what support he would have needed but I do know now that he needs some routine and needs to feel that he has his own bit of space. Hard as he has to hot desk at work. Does your son have access to a student counselor? The uni has a duty to support your son.