PDD/ASD kids: have you ever noticed..

[Anoah]

Okay, I have never asked anyone this before because it is yucky but...

Does anyone know anything about the connection between asd kids and bowel problems? My son is undergoing assesment for autism. He didn't start showing asd charactoristics until he was 15 months or so and that was the same time he started have soft loose yellow poos for about a year or so. My daughter is 3 and she is also showing signs of ASD and has had a long history of having nothing but these same yellow poos. I can only describe it as looking like banana custard. My 10 month old baby who seems okay so far has now started with them as well.

I have seen the GP and he doesn't know what it is. I have also messed around with their diets i.e. cutting out dairy but it hasn't helped. My oldest seems to have grown out of it.

Has anyone seen this before? Is there any kind of link? I work in healthcare and have seen a lot of sick poos but this is like nothing I have ever seen.

Sorry to sound bowel obsessed and disgusting but I just had to ask.

My ds had all sorts of tests to find the cause of his bowel problems, the conclusion of which was toddler diarroah(sp wrong I know but I have a mental block!). Not convinced as he is coming up to 6 and still not grown out of it. He also had 9 months on a GFCF diet which had no effect. The consultant at the hospital refused to believe it was anything to do with his asd which was strange because when we moved and got a new GP he patiently explained that a lot of autistic children suffer from this problem. Dh and I just looked at each other in disbelief!

Agree with Socci. ASD and bowel problems sometimes go together, especially in children who "regressed" into autism, i.e. they have a predisposition and "something" may have triggered it. That is where the MMR theory also comes from, plus mercury in vaccines, organophosphates, general allergy and food sensitivity/allergy. ALthough my DS displays a lot of the behaviours that some people believe would be relieved by diet change I don't think diet has an effect on him. He ate very well and good food when he was younger, yet he was still autistic, and we have several other family members on the Autistic SPectrum so there is a strong genetic component in my family and the others don't have allergies, sensitivities or immune system disorders.........
With that type of poo though I would definitely look closer at the gluten-free diet for your children.

A good place to look at is thoughtful house in the ~US- they have an email list and webpage- and andy wakefield works there now.

Alo sunderland- but they're more leaky gut which doesn't always produce poo problems.

DS1 (ASD) has loose pale bulky poos. We were told it was simply toddler diarrhoea but it's not changed despite him being four. My youngest son is intolerant of dairy so we decided to cut out dairy from DS1 diet and his poos have firmed up and are less pale now. I don't know whether he too was intolerant of cows milk protein like his brother or whether he had the leaky gut thing that the people at Sunderland Uni are researching. It's certainly a recognised association. The paed gastroenterologist that DS2 is under says that in his experience children with neurodevelopmental disorders are at least twice as likely to have bowel problems.

HTH

Liz

Healing the gut is paramount with my own son. After comprehensive stool analaysis, numerous blood work ups and other tests, his nutritionist and private doctor concur that he has malabsorbtion problems, apparently quite common in kids with ASD.

If your child has bad poos, remember that 60 percent of our immune system is triggered and operated by the gut. If the gut is off balance, there will be other problems as well.

Read Jacqueline McCandless, "Children with Starving Brains". This has been my bible so to speak regarding asd specific health. Its a minefield to try and guess, much less treat our kids on our own. There is help out there but as you have already encountered, not muc will come from mainstream medicine. In fact the opposite is true, they will tell you "well its the autism". yada yada

Here is a U.K. based website with loads and loads of help from parents who know what they are talking about in terms of helping kids with biomedical interventions.

www.treatingautism.com/ They also haev a web chat for parents who are actively trying to heal their children. The forum is on yahoo and you can join via the above website.

Here is another U.S. based website with loads of doctors and parent testimonies regarding ASD and the newest research available on treating ASD.
www.autismmedia.org/

This is an excellent place to start and to look at what is going on outside of this country (which isnt much) in terms of healing our kids insides.

The gut is too important to not get fixed.

P.S. here is another very interesting website from the states

www.drneubrander.com

there are 25 hours of videos of parents and children who are taking the vitamin "methylcobalamin". These videos are incredible and give much hope. I gave up listening to my sons paed and GP 2 weeks after his diagnosis. If it werent for the internet, i would never have learned all i know today about how to help my child.

Oops forgot another one.

www.autismone.org/AutismOne2005/download2005.cfm

Here you will find more info than you ever wanted to know!! Check out the file entitled, "How i was able to make a difference"

google Feingold diet, or check out a Sue Dengate book.