Hi,
I am an "autism mom" of a 7 year old little boy. He has never had severe autism, probably because my husband and I chose to delay all vaccinations until 2 y/o. At that time our son, "C" was showing signs of sensory dysfunction, had no language, and had severe oral aversions.
In my humble opinion, I think that ME/CFS and ASD are related in some way, but I do not think that I would call CFS/ME "adult onset autism". I believe that my son has had a genetic predisposition to immune, auto-immune, and endocrine dysfunction/disease. My husband' s brother was diagnosed with Grave's disease at around 22 y/o. He also started to have CFS/ME symptoms around the same time. My husband and just had blood drawn for genetic testing, to see if there is something genetic going on with us, that could have been passed on to C.
As the one wise person said in this thread, it IS a matter of timing I terms of age of onset of illness. Most small children are very active and ASD kids often have sensory dysfunction. If they are "vestibular seekers", like my son is, they are going to be very active physically, since activity calms their sensory systems and helps them to become sensory integrated and more calm. There are some children who have autism who are not very active. I think that, generally speaking, ASD kids tend to be hyperactive and have problems with ADHD.
Back to the timing issue....I believe that the underlying illnesses that cause autistic symptoms, begin prior to birth. The parents who are militant anti-vaxers or blame their children's autism only on vaccines are really missing the entire picture of the disease. I believe that C was born with GI pain. These kids are developing, in utero, in women who most likely, have a toxic load in their bodies. Get a child (or fetus/embryo), who has a genetic predisposition, into a woman's body that is loaded with toxins, and the stage is set for the child to be vulnerable to acquiring the underlying illnesses that cause him to have autistic symptoms.
I am not sure if anyone in this forum know who Manuel Cassanova MD is, but he studies the brains of autistic children post mortem. He thinly slices the brain tissue to look at how neurons are have migrated in a different way in ASD kids. They tend to have too many neurons. He studies the "mini-columns" in the brain. Dr. Cassanova did a presentation at Autism One a few years ago, about how too many ultrasounds during pregnancy, may cause the neurons to migrate abnormally in the child's brain. My husband and I had to IVF with ICSI in order to conceive a child. (This is the procedure where they actually inject the sperm into the egg, and then put the embryo back into the mother.). As a result of having IVF, I had at least one ultrasound per week during the first 10 weeks of my pregnancy, at the fertility clinic, because they need to see when the embryo connects to the mother's blood stream (through the yoke sac connecting to the placenta via the umbilical cord.
For the person who mentioned being worried about having a child with autism, since you ha e ME/CFS, there is strong possibility that you could have a child who has autism (IMHO). If you ever have a child, the birth should be 100% unmedicated and you should avoid Pitocin (for induction of labor to begin). And, of course do NOT vaccinate. I think that an epidural is okay, but the the epidural slows the labor down, and then they start Pitocin to speed up the contractions. Also, if you can avoid a c-section, please try to avoid it. Very important "stuff" like beneficial bacteria, are in the vaginal canal. In addition, the child's spinal cord is stimulated by going through " the canal". I think that it is very important that the pressure put on the baby's spinal cord, is especially true for the sensory systems to develop properly. Also, a study just came out that showed a correlation between Pitocin and autism. (Pitocin comes from a cow, and I am not sure if the people who make the Pitocin, are able to get rid of "wild viruses" that the cow may haven carrying. For my labor and delivery, I was induced with 16 hours of Pit. My son's head was being forcefully "smashed" down onto my pelvic bones. C could not reposition himself, because my DO/OB kept writing orders for the Pitocin dosage to be increased.) I ended up with a non- emergency c-section. My son came out of my body with a "dent" in his forehead (where his head had been rammed against my pelvic bones).
I have a good friend who is married to a man who had or has ME. They have 5 children. None of them have autism. My friend gave birth without meds (except for one c-section because of placenta previa), and she does an alternative vaccine schedule with all of her kids. (She homeschools.) My friend's husband is 50ish. He planned his finances so that he could retire at age 45. I am thinking this is because of his illness, although he seems to be doing very, very well at this point in time.
My retired physician father, has either Asperger's or Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I think that he mainly qualifies for the latter, but I guess he could have both at the same time. People who have Asperger's have no social skills. It goes beyond being a person who tends to be a "hermit".
Autism is currently considered a neuropsychiatric disorder, so it is in the DSM 5. It definitely should not be in a mental health diagnostic manual, since it is a medical illness. For C, he retains viruses, has auto- immune bowel disease, and he has CFD. He had Hashimoto's, but since starting GcMAF almost a year ago, he no longer has Hashi's. (CFD is Cerebral Folate Deficiency Syndrome. His methyl folate levels are 29 in his CSF.)
Lastly, most of the children whom I know who have an ASD dx, have constipation much more than diarrhea. Dr. Krigsman has said that, when you look at the biopsies of ASD's children's intestinal lining under a microscope, it is the same pathology with diarrhea or constipation. My son's chronic, daily diarrhea started at about 10-11 months old, which is when he acquired a respiratory virus from me.
I come to this site once in a while, to see what treatments are helping all of you. I need to come more often.
Thank you for reading my post.
Madison