It seems for years that I have had problems with tiredness, from the age of seventeen came the bad lower back pain followed later by the aching knees and variety of other bodily pains. You can live day-to-day with aches and pains that drag you down, but aren’t yet entirely debilitating enough to seek medical help for, you kind of think everyone probably has this issue. Of course I did intermittently go to the GP with inexplicable tiredness and exhaustion over the years, sometimes blood tests were done, but they always came back with nothing of concern. It wasn’t until very recently I found out about a connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and began researching, that it all started to add up. I realised I had a huge host of the symptoms, one of which is many problems with the gastro-intestinal tract.
I knew that people with autism often have GI problems, scientists also know it, but no-one has been joining up the dots. Medicine and science often seem to identify symptoms and identify and treat them standalone, which of course never gets to the root of the problem, never finds out what is causing the symptoms, or doesn’t do so in a systemic way and match up seemingly disparate symptoms. Two days ago, after being yet again entirely failed by the NHS (rheumatology department failing to diagnose me, not to mention the arrogant GP who was dismissive and highly reluctant to refer me in the first place and ensured the rheumatologist treated me with the level of disrespect and dismissiveness many of us have become accustomed to with the NHS), I was privately diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Before I received my diagnosis, I had researched the seemingly anecdotal connection between EDS and ASC. ‘There must be some research out there’, I thought. My youngest child was already diagnosed as hypermobile by our local OT and I can see clear signs of it in my oldest child, they are both on the autistic spectrum too, both conditions are genetic, so there had to be a connection. Sure enough, although the research seems to be still in its infancy, I found it:
1) “High-functioning autistic disorder with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1440-1819.2011.02262.x/full
2) “Autism and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome” http://www.pubfacts.com/detail/1537777/Autism-and-Ehlers-Danlos-syndrome (download full paper from that link)
Here is another article on the effect of EDS on the brain (which also refers to autism, along with proprioception issues and sensory difficulties):
Here is an article which discusses the “Underdiagnosed” condition of EDS :
I have read a lot of anecdotal evidence about families with ASC and EDS – isn’t it time science and medicine properly joined up the dots? I mean even in the article above (3), they state
“Differences in the structural integrity of temporal and parietal cortices may underlie wider behavioural phenotypical expression of hypermobility: abnormalities in superior temporal cortex are also seen in autism.11“ so they aren’t actually making a strong enough link, they seem to think the two conditions share the same brain changes but not that they are intertwined in some way and that perhaps EDS is even causative of ASC. So basically there is an elephant in the room…
…and no-one is bothering to properly join the dots.
It’s high time that science caught up, if we understand connective tissue disorders we may get to understand autism better and perhaps, genes in common can be identified which could lead to understanding causation. Thought for the day:
“For every effect there is a root cause. Find and address the root cause rather than try to fix the effect, as there is no end to the latter.”
~ Celestine Chua
Edited 28.5.16 to add:
Two genes which may connect the two conditions are ADAMTS2 and TNXB. Seen on Pinterest –
Planet Autism Blog 