6 year old gagging at 'gross' things

[alwaysscared]

My 6 year old DS gags at things he perceives are gross. This used to be seeing dog poo, or any animal poo on the street, or mushed up food on the floor, or vomit/snot etc.
Over the last few weeks this has ramped up yo food on our plates, even seeing caramel come out of a twix.
He has other sensory issues like not wearing socks on carpet, not touching certain things like slime, not liking loud noises and not being able to wipe his own bottom because he doesn't want to see the poo.
I have severe mental health issues, emetophobia being one of them (so the gagging doesn't help!) and I'm worried that it has rubbed off on him. But also not sure if it could be a behavioural issue.
Does anyone have experience of any of these behaviours?

My DS is the same age and has this from previous health issues. What's really helped is agreeing a 'happy place' together and as soon as he feels gaggy we talk about his happy place and I ask questions about it to make him focus on that. It does help a lot. However if he's being ridiculous (ie about food on his plate) I tend to be a lot less sympathetic as I'm worried about it spilling into day to day life! He does seem to be slowly outgrowing it now but it reappears from time to time.

I was very similar as a child and was eventually diagnosed with autism in my thirties. Sensory issues are very common in autism...as are mental health problems.

He does seem to deal with it pretty well at the time, just takes himself away and takes deep breaths, but there are some things that even the memory of makes him gag, for example he went on a school trip to the zoo last year and saw a zebra pooing, he remembered it for ages and would gag when he thought about it.
The thing that is worrying is that he is starting to not want to go to places where he knows he will see poo, like on particular walks etc
When they were at school, if he saw anyone with a snotty nose it would make him gag. Not great when you are in a classroom with 4-7 year olds!

I have autism and I had a gagging issue when I was a child, mostly with foods. It doesn’t particularly affect me now - probably because I’m an adult so am not made to eat things which trigger it. I do have a very strong reaction to mould/insects/bin smell etc though, and have always had sensory issues.

My DD is autistic (and has the associated sensory issues) and is like this too. I don't it's rubbed off on him. If he's sensory then it's just how he processes certain smells/textures or whatever.

In terms of handling it we just don't make a big deal out of it and use distraction when we can.

Does he have a sensory diet? Maybe an OT can help with one if it's getting so bad that it's affecting daily life (which it sounds like it probably is).

I have considered possible autism. When describing him, other things he does as well, to a couple of people they have mentioned Aspergers

He doesn't tend to gag on food. To be honest he is a very picky eater so doesn't eat too much of a variety of foods, it's just when he sees something on our plates that he doesn't like the look of it makes him gag, for example a bone from a lamb shank
But he does get some anxiety about trying new foods, which we do regularly

Sorry to drip feed but we have also found his behaviour has been awful since lockdown. He loves not being at school but he seems angry, upset and he just can't concentrate on anything other than a screen.
Trying to do school work at home is nearly impossible. He will look at the work (after a long time of arguing about doing it) and then will just stare at the work, then stare into space, then find something to fiddle with.
He can do the work, he's good at maths and reading, but it's just like he can't get his brain to concentrate on it