Resources for Parents
Practical information for parents researching autism, children's health, biomedical approaches, environmental health, gut health, heavy metals, and chelation.
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 Some autistic children experience frequent or recurring health problems that can be difficult for parents to understand as a whole. Maybe your child is constantly dealing with one thing after another: digestive problems, constipation, poor sleep, restricted eating, recurrent infections, skin problems, fatigue, or unexplained changes in behavior. Sometimes there is a clear medical explanation. Sometimes there isn't, and sometimes parents become so accustomed to dealing with one problem after another that they stop asking whether the overall pattern deserves a closer look. That was something we learned to do with our own children. An autism diagnosis does not explain every physical symptom a child may experience. Persistent, recurring, or changing symptoms deserve attention in their own right. In this article, we'll look at the health patterns parents may want to document, why physical symptoms can sometimes be difficult to recognize in an autistic child, and how looking at the bigger picture can help you ask better questions. What Does “Always Sick” Actually Mean? Before trying to figure out why your child is frequently unwell, get specific about what you're seeing. “Always sick” can mean very different things from one child to another. You may be dealing with:
Start by documenting what is actually happening rather than trying to explain it immediately. Don't Overlook Physical Symptoms One of the challenges for some autistic children is communicating pain or physical discomfort. A child who can tell you, “My stomach hurts,” is giving you very different information from a child who cannot communicate that clearly. Physical discomfort may sometimes show up through changes in:
These behaviors don't tell you what the cause is. But a significant change can be a reason to look for a physical problem rather than assuming the behavior is simply part of autism. Look at Sleep, Digestion, and Eating Sleep, digestion, and eating are three areas that can provide useful information about your child's overall health. Looking at each one individually, and noticing how they change over time, can help you identify patterns worth discussing with a healthcare professional. Sleep Is your child having difficulty falling asleep, waking repeatedly, sleeping very little, or waking for long periods during the night? If sleep has changed significantly, document when the change occurred and what else was happening around that time. Digestion Pay attention to constipation, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, reflux, vomiting, bloating, changes in bowel habits, or other recurring digestive problems. Gastrointestinal symptoms are commonly reported among autistic children. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of studies involving children and adolescents with autism estimated that about 55% had at least one gastrointestinal symptom, although the studies varied considerably in their methods and estimates. If your child has limited communication, digestive discomfort may not always be easy to recognize. Changes in eating, sleep, mood, or behavior may be part of what you notice instead. Eating and Nutrition Restricted eating is another area worth looking at closely. Some autistic children eat a very small selection of foods because of sensory sensitivities, texture preferences, or other difficulties with eating. If your child's diet is extremely limited, look at what they are actually eating and whether there may be nutritional gaps that deserve attention. Pay Attention to Changes A symptom that has always been present is useful information, but a significant change can be even more important. If your child has always been a poor sleeper, document it. If your child suddenly stops sleeping after previously sleeping well, document that too. If your child has always been selective with food, that's part of their history, but if the list of accepted foods suddenly becomes much smaller, pay attention. If your child has always had sensory sensitivities, that's their baseline. But if those sensitivities suddenly become dramatically worse, ask what changed. Don't ignore significant changes simply because your child is autistic. A change doesn't automatically tell you what caused it. It tells you that something changed and gives you a reason to investigate further. Could Environmental Exposures Be Part of the Picture? Once you've looked at the more obvious health concerns, you may also begin asking about your child's environment. Depending on the circumstances, children can encounter environmental contaminants through things such as food, drinking water, air, pesticides, household products, building materials, consumer products, and metals. Finding a potential exposure doesn't prove that it caused your child's health problems. But understanding your child's exposure history can help you identify specific questions that may be worth investigating. For us, this broader investigation eventually led to questions about heavy metals, including mercury. That is one family's research path, not a conclusion that heavy metals explain every child's health problems. If you're beginning to explore that subject, start with What Are Environmental Toxins? A Parent's Guide to Common Exposures and Heavy Metals and Autism: What Parents Should Know About Exposure and Testing. Where Should You Start? You don't need to find one explanation for everything your child is experiencing. Instead, start with the information you actually have. Write down:
A timeline can be surprisingly helpful. You may discover that several problems seem to occur together. You may discover that they appear completely unrelated. Either way, you now have a clearer picture of your child's history. Where to Go Next If you're trying to understand your child's health more broadly, these articles are a good place to continue:
This article is educational in nature and is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. SourcesGan, Y., Su, J., Zhang, X., Huang, C., Lai, Y., Lv, L., & Li, C. Questionnaire-based analysis of autism spectrum disorders and gastrointestinal symptoms in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 2023. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10410855/
This systematic review and meta-analysis examined gastrointestinal symptoms in children and adolescents with autism and found that GI symptoms were common, while also noting substantial variation among the studies included. Comments are closed.
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