Reading the Research: GI Misery

Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.

Today's article discusses the effects of gastointestinal symptoms on children.  The more GI issues (trouble swallowing, constipation, diarrhea, bloating), the more likely the child will have sleep issues, self-harm tendencies, focus issues, and higher rates of aggression and restricted/repetitive behaviors.  Can we all guess why?  Good, good.

This is one of those studies that you kind of have to shout "well DUH" at.  It's good to have the connection between GI distress and "challenging behavior" validated empirically, but I don't think it's quantum physics/brain surgery/rocket science to say, "if human A is suffering lots of misery on a regular basis, their whole life will be affected negatively."  

The study does at least note that autistic children are 2.7 times more likely to suffer these issues than typically developing children, and that half the tested autistic children had frequent GI issues.  That's a lot, particularly since the sample size was over 250 autistic children.  

The study also rightfully notes that GI symptoms are very treatable, and the results can truly be life-changing.  Now, keep in mind the best treatments for these issues can be expensive.  We're talking a fecal transplant from a good quality donor.  This is one of those things insurance should cover, but generally refuses to because their business is taking as much money as possible and spending as little as possible in return. 

The last thing to note here is that the study was specifically on little kids.  So here's the song and dance one more time: Hey y'all, KIDS GROW UP.  If these problems aren't caught and treated young, they can and absolutely will persist into adulthood.  Then instead of angry preschoolers, you have angry adult humans, some of whom can't vocalize their suffering in a way that is easily recognized as "I need help with my GI tract."  So you get holes punched in walls, and "challenging behavior" as caregivers often term it.  

This is one of those things you want to rule out in cases like that, because sometimes it literally is as simple as "ease the suffering, 'challenging behavior' ceases."  For further reading on this subject (and aggressive autistic people in general), please consult this excellent post.

(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)