**NEW QUESTION PG. 12** Autism: Yes, you may ask my opinion!

[ursusarctosana]

No, Wifezilla, I had not heard of the Vitamin D Theory until just after reading your post. There are so many theories. What I do know is that we, in my family, have several defects that seem to appear with autism. For example, my son has Sherman's disease. He used to complain about his back hurting all the time and no one believed him. I, too, have had terrible back pain and swelling most of my life, but I've ignored it--though it is getting worse. So I probably have this Sherman's disease, too. I have a vascular defect (a cluster of veins near my kidney) and an extremely large kidney cyst. Furthermore, I have a skeletal defect, obviously in keeping with the spinal issue. The left side of my body is bigger (the bones are bigger) so my left foot is slightly larger, etc. The condition, and I forgot what the maxillofacial surgeon said I have, is something like Hemifacial Microsomia. Some would say I am lucky because, while I do have these defects, my features are favorable (according to the culture I live in) so most people cannot tell there is much different about me. Besides, I had major surgery to correct the asymmetry in both my upper and lower jaws, though I did not have that surgery until in my late twenties. I'm beginning to wonder if the skeletal asymmetry is not causing me to have arthritic-type symptoms now.

Yeah, it's all quite fascinating and I try to find out as much as I can. I find this is one way to help myself navigate in this world when I can see, right away, for myself the differences between myself and others which has caused a lot of anguish for me over the years.

 

[ursusarctosana]

Examples of things that I feared (tremendously) as a child, include: generators, chain saws, firecrackers, balloons, loud engines, gun shots, people screaming and yelling, sudden movements like in a gymnasium, bouncing balls, squeaking shoes, water, physical contact, team sports, gymnastics, helicopters, low-flying airplanes, etc.

I still have issues with people sneezing or coughing at a certain pitch, honking horns or revving engines in my neighborhood, many people moving around me (I become paralyzed so when I'm in a crowded room I prefer to sit in a corner and not move for hours), people walking around with long objects, like broomsticks--I have trouble determining the depth-of-field so I may run into the end of the broom.

These are some things I've observed animals feel nervous about, too.

 

[conny63malies]

Is Sherman's disease the same as Scheuerman's or is it different?

 

[ursusarctosana]

Yes, my bad. I misspelled it.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Bettacreek]

How do you generally test for these syndromes? Some people have mentioned that our son could be autistic, but I haven't said anything to doctor's about it and have just started looking into it. Reading some things, his dad has a lot of the symptoms of Asperger's as well. How do you find out exactly what's going on? I know that there's probably no for sure way, I'm not even 100% sure if I'm bi-polar or not like I was diagnosed (originally diagnosed as ADD, then YEARS of Ritalin and problems later, re-diagnosed).

 

[klf73]

Quote:
I brought it up to the pediatrician and called child development services(not sure what you would call it where you are). My son got a speech eval, developmental eval, etc. and they then sent him to a behavioral psycologist and that is who diagnosed him. He was diagnosed at 2 yrs.

 

[AngieChick]

Quote:
One way is to go to your doctor and ask for a referral to a specialist. Autism is a spectrum disorder, and that means that people can fall on the high end or the low end, and there are some big differences in functionality in between. Much of the test is questions about early childhood language issues, sensory issues, etc. It can be quite traumatic as a parent to fill out. There are also observations of the child and verbal tests with speech pathologists and autism specialists. I am not sure about the diagnosis process of adults, though I do have relatives who have done this.

In my family, the neurotypicals stand out more than the rest of us.

 

[newchickenfamily]

Quote:
Thanks for posting. My 6 year old DD is not autistic, but is very anxious. She has sensory integration issues and what you posted above is very much like her. She dives under the table at school when any unexpected noises happen. Fire drill, earthquake drill, announcement over the PA system, etc... She is also overly interested in any type of emergency responder, firemen, police men, and their vehicles. She obsesses about it. Every week at school, when she visits the library, she comes home with books about firemen, etc...

She receives help from an O/T, speech teacher, resource teacher, etc..

Anyway, sorry for the random ramble, but thank you for posting about your experiences. There are many people on here with autistic children that would probably love to have some of your insight.

 

[mirecipes]

Thank you for this thread

I have enjoyed BYC for many many reasons!

Me: Diagnosed with borderline personality disorder..Became a "psychiatric guinea pig" for over 20 years..
My dad..A psychologist.. My parents divorced, my mom, an "end of the worlder" (my father raised me and my brother/unheard of in the '60s)..My brother still considered schiz..

These days..For me..No meds!!
Lots of milk and sunshine and critters tho..
No more depression..
No more being told I'm a hypochondriac..
I survive much pain, but rarely complain..
Within the past 4 years, many broken bones..very few docs..

I keep to myself..
I laugh at the chickens and my dawgies..
I smile at the sun..
I ..breathe...

Nuff said

(edited to change the word "never" to "rarely")

 

[conny63malies]

I wonder how many kids back in the 1930-40s had autism. You know before it was a known disorder. Or how many kids were misdiagnosed back then or marked of as "retarded" or "stupid".I read up on the scheuerman/sherman, i think lots of americans call it shermans because they have a hard time saying the other name.
How old were you when you were diagnosed?Do you have APD? I noticed with Sebastians friend has big time problems reading, it seems he is severely dyslexic.