• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Do you have any gut issues?

What state are your guts in?

  • I have IBS - Irritable Bowel Syndrome

    Votes: 6 35.3%
  • I have IBD - Crohn's disease

    Votes: 1 5.9%
  • I have IBD - Ulcerative Colitis

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Nothing - I have bionic guts of steel. Nothing upsets them.

    Votes: 7 41.2%
  • I have Coeliac disease

    Votes: 1 5.9%
  • I have diverticulitis

    Votes: 2 11.8%

  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .
I really wish I had known about this when I was younger. I was presumed sterile because the damage was so great--and the pain was literally crippling. On-the-floor, can't-move, helplessly-crying crippling. No doctor I approached would actually do the surgery I asked for on a 24-year-old who had been suffering this for 10 years.
I'm so sorry you had to deal with that.
 
I didn't vote for the simple reason that I haven't been diagnosed with anything on the list, but I have some issues and have to be careful with my diet. I sometimes experience bloating and pain, alongside excessive wind and leaking. Then I have to think about what I ate and avoid eating that specific food. Also, my bowel movements aren't very regular - I can go as long as a week without deficating, and then it all comes out at once and I need to go 3 or 4 times in one day. I avoid this by always eating foods with fibre alongside starchy foods. I have haemorrhoids as a result of these problems.
 
I really wish I had known about this when I was younger. I was presumed sterile because the damage was so great--and the pain was literally crippling. On-the-floor, can't-move, helplessly-crying crippling. No doctor I approached would actually do the surgery I asked for on a 24-year-old who had been suffering this for 10 years.

That's awful. How are you now?
 
I would b wary of the "green movement" and all their funky ideas about the leaky gut, toxins, gluten blah blac blah whatever. It's at least partially based on pseudoscience and also unfounded.
 
I have IBS, amongst other digestion issues and I must thank you for this thread, because you have prompted me to post a thread of some VERY interesting information regarding acid!

I was officially diagnosed about 3 year's ago, but when in my 20's, a dr did the usual pressing etc and said it was IBS.

I used to suffer horrendously and would be in bed folded nearly double, due to the stabbing pains. I have calmed down and now, seems related to when I do not eat!
 
Hm, well if nothing else this thread inspired me to try to find a disorder that fits my symptoms. I think the best fit would be microscopic colitis. They say if you have other autoimmune problems like psoriasis (which I'm dealing with now) or arthritis (which I seem to have trouble with as well), it may increase your risk, and it sounds milder and more about chronic diarrhea than some of the others.

ETA: I should note that yes, I do realize this is just a guess based on a little searching, and tests would probably need to be done to give any definitive answer (particularly to tell between IBS and microscopic colitis). I just hoped I could at least put a guess for the poll (yes, I am still trying to answer lol). But it's given me all sorts of things to bring up next time I go to the doctor.
 
Last edited:
Personal example then. I have a cast iron stomach, except when my sensory issues are involved. When I'm having one of my bad days then temperature, touch, and especially smells can ransack my system about as bad as you can get without having something pesky like an autoimmune disease. My appetite will be thrown off most of the day, on the lighter side of things. I usually loose a pound or two those days. All the sluts I knew accused me of having morning sickness ten years before my first kid ever came about. And that's not counting the problems from another issue I have. That one is potentially linked to my being on the spectrum, but I've got a few more years of research and blood tests to go before I can confirm it.

That sounds like stress-induced IBS. Getting an upset stomach in response to stress is a common thing and not confined to a particular segment of the population. Also, it's normal to lose/gain anything up to 5lb over the course of 24 hours - water weight fluctuations, clothes, and that.

Urgh, my brain isn't working... I wasn't ready to post this yet. Give me a few more minutes while I finish this reply, folks.

I did not chide you for that. I simply would like to respond to your poll because I do have gut issues, but all I can say is "Yes! Me too!"

Yeah, I know you weren't chiding me. I meant that other people were.

I'm getting really bored of this reply already. You can't add quotes to a post that has already existed, at least not without manual cutting and pasting, which I really can't be bothered with - life is too short.
 
Last edited:
I didn't vote for the simple reason that I haven't been diagnosed with anything on the list, but I have some issues and have to be careful with my diet. I sometimes experience bloating and pain, alongside excessive wind and leaking. Then I have to think about what I ate and avoid eating that specific food. Also, my bowel movements aren't very regular - I can go as long as a week without deficating, and then it all comes out at once and I need to go 3 or 4 times in one day. I avoid this by always eating foods with fibre alongside starchy foods. I have haemorrhoids as a result of these problems.


That does actually sound like classic IBS. Even down to the alternating diarrhoea and constipation. (Not all people with IBS get that, but it is pretty common.) I don't know if it's worth going to the doctor's for an "official" diagnosis, but maybe you could get some useful tips if you joined - or just lurked at - an IBS forum for a while.
 
Yeah, I know you weren't chiding me. I meant that other people were.

I'm getting really bored of this reply already. You can't add quotes to a post that has already existed, at least not without manual cutting and pasting, which I really can't be bothered with - life is too short.

Sorry, I felt like, by responding that way, you were either blaming me or others in the community who I value for being 'chided'. I don't think anyone was chiding you, only suggesting ways to improve the poll. Anyway, it really doesn't matter anymore. I shouldn't have mentioned it.

I'm not sure what you mean about posts already existing...oh you mean because your reply to me was added through the edit function? I think you can do it in "more options" maybe, I forget. Or just make a new post. If you're bored, that's fine, but why mention it?

I'm sorry if I detracted from the focus of your post, but I wanted to explain why the problem seemed systemic for me and related to antibiotics/probiotics which I felt you dismissed. I think you were coming from a different perspective.

As for the bowel-specific issues I have, they began long before what I described there. It has been at least since high school, I'm not sure. It seems like it has just always been part of my life, but maybe there was a trigger. My mother always told me to take anti-diarrheal medication and not worry about it, but that isn't exactly a good way to deal with a chronic problem. I used to keep huge bottles of the stuff. Now I try to use it sparingly and use diet and probiotic (ETA: and exercise--that helps too) to manage it instead. Nothing is perfect, though.

Symptoms: irregular bowel movements (not going for days or many times in one day), loose stool most of the time (ranging in severity), especially urgent directly after eating a large meal. I suppose there is pain/cramping associated with it, but I always assumed that was just part of diarrhea. Gas seems to be associated with specific foods, which I think is normal. Bloating I'm not sure--unless it's painful or lasts for days on end, I don't pay that much attention. Oh, and fatigue associated with constantly having diarrhea.
 
Last edited:
Erm, okay?

I feel like you people are dismissing/ignoring my condition which has led to a blood transfusion, numerous partial obstructions, numerous fevers, several hospitalisations and two surgeries. I've lost 90% of my colon and the last few inches of my small bowel. I've also been on tons of steroids, powerful immunesuppressants, etc.

I know about "systemic" issues, mates.
 
That sounds like stress-induced IBS. Getting an upset stomach in response to stress is a common thing and not confined to a particular segment of the population. Also, it's normal to lose/gain anything up to 5lb over the course of 24 hours - water weight fluctuations, clothes, and that.

Urgh, my brain isn't working... I wasn't ready to post this yet. Give me a few more minutes while I finish this reply, folks.
It's not IBS or stress. And that has been ruled out by a physician after extensive discussion with the only physician that will actually listen to me instead of shoo me out the door after taking my vitals.
 
I have... something. My intestines do what they want and I just kind of deal with it because it's been going on so long and doesn't cause severe pain, but what's really annoying me lately is my stomach. I'll just have spells of a few days where everything makes me nauseated and anything with grease makes me sick. And I've checked several times, not pregnant :P and it's happened for years.
 
Erm, okay?

I feel like you people are dismissing/ignoring my condition which has led to a blood transfusion, numerous partial obstructions, numerous fevers, several hospitalisations and two surgeries. I've lost 90% of my colon and the last few inches of my small bowel. I've also been on tons of steroids, powerful immunesuppressants, etc.

I know about "systemic" issues, mates.

That was certainly not my attention at all. What you are going through is truly awful. I just thought that in a thread about asking other people about their bowel issues, you were interested in other peoples' experiences. There are many threads here where we ask about others' experiences and everyone chimes in with theirs (when that isn't what's wanted, usually someone will create a thread focusing on their experience or making clear what they want in responses). I can only speak for myself, but that is how I saw the thread. Also, I don't have much experience of what you went through and don't feel I can add anything helpful. Also, I was feeling not ignored but dismissed as stupid/crazy, and thus more preoccupied with defending/explaining myself than offering sympathy (not an excuse but an explanation).

All I can say is, I hope you feel better. :herb: I really wish I had something more helpful to say.
 
Last edited:
That was certainly not my attention at all. What you are going through is truly awful. I just thought that in a thread about asking other people about their bowel issues, you were interested in other peoples' experiences. There are many threads here where we ask about others' experiences and everyone chimes in with theirs (when that isn't what's wanted, usually someone will create a thread focusing on their experience or making clear what they want in responses). I can only speak for myself, but that is how I saw the thread. Also, I don't have much experience of what you went through and don't feel I can add anything helpful. Also, I was feeling not ignored but dismissed as stupid/crazy, and thus more preoccupied with defending/explaining myself than offering sympathy (not an excuse but an explanation).

All I can say is, I hope you feel better. :herb: I really wish I had something more helpful to say.

Thanks. Sincerely.

I did want to hear other people's experiences. I guess I did just want to keep it strictly to gut issues and not bring other health issues into it. (Unless the gut issues were caused by another disease.) Anyway, I think I give up on trying to control this thread: talk about whatever >_>.

I didn't think I was dismissing anyone as stupid or crazy? I didn't disbelieve anything you said or claim that you were wrong about anything. I do think your gut problems are worth getting checked out: a colonoscopy would be able to detect microscopic colitis, for example.

I'm keeping this post short, because my stomach is killing me. I don't know if it's Crohn's, IBS or what. But ever since my 2nd and most recent surgery, my bowels have been all messed up. Makes it hard to post sometimes.
 
I have... something. My intestines do what they want and I just kind of deal with it because it's been going on so long and doesn't cause severe pain, but what's really annoying me lately is my stomach. I'll just have spells of a few days where everything makes me nauseated and anything with grease makes me sick. And I've checked several times, not pregnant :p and it's happened for years.
That sounds like it could be gall bladder related. I have that too. I have to watch my fat intake closely. Chocolate kills me.
 
I've seen stats which say something like 90% of people on the spectrum have problems with their gut. Sadly, I'm in that 90%. As a youngster I had chronic constipation - I often couldn't go for 2-3 weeks. In my late teens I sorted out my diet and started eating more fibre and things that were coloured green occasionally. That slowly cured my constipation, and for 5-6 glorious years I had the bowels of a god. One solid poop a day. I could forget I even had a stomach.

Then in my mid-20s, I developed diarrhoea shortly after Christmas Day. It wasn't severe at all, but it didn't clear up. My mum got me to make an appointment with a GP. Amazingly enough, I wasn't fobbed off with IBS or stress, and so after blood/stool tests, a colonoscopy, and a small bowel barium follow-thru, I was diagnosed a few months later with Crohn's disease. I still only had the very mild diarrhoea at this point - no pain, fevers, blood in stools, etc.

For a few years, my symptoms remained mild and I privately doubted my diagnosis. But my original doctors - although crap in every single other way - got that much right. Anyway, I'm not going to bore you to tears with a 3000-word essay on my Crohn's history. Suffice to say, the predictable happened, I deteriorated, went through 8 years of misery, and finally 'chose' surgery. I say 'chose', like I had much of a choice - it was that, or staying on high doses of steroids continuously. Without steroids, I would have had emergency surgery 2 years earlier.

I couldn't have a resection, so I was given an ileostomy. I absolutely hated it, even though it wasn't a shock (both my GI and surgeon had warned me well in advance). I did very gradually get used to it, but when the opportunity for a reversal came up this year I took it - I'd had the ileostomy for 2½ years by that point and no sign of Crohn's anywhere. Why do I do it? Why am I such a moron? I'm in a miles worse state now than I was before: urgency, abdominal and rectal pain, going half a millon times a day, etc. It's beginning to seriously depress me.

If things aren't better in a year's time, I'll probably ask if I can go back to the ileostomy.

Anyway, what are your guts like? As far as I can make out, IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disorder - please, please don't confuse it with IBS, which is Irritable Bowel Syndrome and not the same thing as IBD) isn't any more common in the autistic population than the general one. But I'll soon find out with my highly scientific poll... o_O

Edit: I was going to add a second IBS option, but the edit poll function doesn't really allow for that - it would mess up my nice, neat poll. IBS covers both diarrhoea and constipation; if you want to say which one you mainly have in the comments, that's fine.

---
I don't have any gut issues, but I sometimes have problems swallowing food. Up until about 3 years ago it was OK but every now and again it becomes a problem and can be painful.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom