Any other lupies with a child who has some form of learning disability, be it slight?

The only other person I know locally with lupus has a son with mild aspergers and finally my son is going to be tested by an educational psychologist as he's special in his own way too. Is this just a bizarre coincidence? Xx

[scottty]

I got lupus and my son has got Asperger's syndrome aswell and I asked my gp could have asd is there a link between them take care

[Hidden in reply to scottty]

Sorry Scotty didn't quite understand. You've asked your gp? What did they say? Xx

[scottty]

I asked my gp if I had Asperger's syndrome if there was a link with lupus

[Hidden in reply to scottty]

Sorry again Scotty but is it you or your son we are talking about?

What did your gp say?

[Hidden]

my friend and I both have daughters who are fine by the way.

[Lisalou19 in reply to Hidden]

Hello Guildford, would you mind sharing some of the symptoms with Aspergers?

I have 2 teenage daughters (fine) a little bit who is almost 5. He can not read or write and is waiting for speech therapy. His a lovely little boy but can be very particular in his ways. I am not diagnosed at this time, but I’m certainly suffering from something that makes me feel awful

X

[Maureenpearl]

I have two sons who were both diagnosed with autism, my daughter is okay

[Hidden in reply to Maureenpearl]

Interesting its our boys isn't it? Xx

[Hidden in reply to Maureenpearl]

my goodness, how tough that must be for you on top of it all. Be good to yourself.

[lillyanne]

I have a 25 year old son with Aspergers, Dyspraxia and Dyslexia. My Daughter has no problems. I wonder if it is just coincidence? My son suffers terribly with joint pains too because the doc says he has unstable joints, apparently common in autistic people.

[Hidden in reply to lillyanne]

I think it's something I'd like to investigate further. The illness is difficult enough without having to cope with children who need extra special help. All the best to you.

[lillyanne]

Yes Guildford, it would be interesting to do some research into this. I'd never made any connections until you mentioned it, Yes it is hard having to cope with a person who needs extra help but I also find that he can help now in a lot of ways. He comes shopping with me and carry's the bags and he helps lift things etc around the house. What I found difficult is they stopped his esa payments after an atos medical and I had to go to tribunal to get it reinstated (twice now) and I found it really stressful. I just don't cope as well with situations like that as well as I used to and fnd Anyway, they reinstated his benefit but that was after 15 months.

[Hidden in reply to lillyanne]

Wow. Sorry to hear that. 3rd time lucky eh, hopefully you won't have to fight any more.

[lupuswriter]

Hi Guildford,

In 2012 I posted a comment (partially copied below) about the lupus/autism connection; I was responding at the time to a question raised by sarahbou. The book I refer to is one I wrote about lupus a couple of years ago. Hope the articles listed are helpful--all of them can be found by doing a Google search; just copy and paste in the Google search box.

All the best, LW

"In the chapter that discusses autoimmune disease and autism, I discuss the fact that a definite association exists between some autoimmune diseases and the incidence of autism. Some of the sources for this information are:

Epidemiology: November 2010-Vol 21-Issue 6 pp 805-808: Parental Autoimmune Diseases Associated With Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring; Keil: Alexandera; Daniels, Julie,.....

Psychiatric News: August 21, 2009 Vol 44 Number 16 Page 25 American Psychiatric Association Clinical and Research News Relationship Found Between Autism and Autoimmune Disorders

Child Neurol June 1999 vol 14 no 6 388-394 Familial Clustering of Autoimmune Disorders and Evaluation of Medical Risk Factors in Autism Anne M.. Come, MD, Johns Hopkins Hospital....

Please note that a statistical relationship such as demonstrated in these research articles is not necessarily valid when considering any individual case. The autism/autoimmunity association is helpful only to scientists as they seek to understand the cause of a disease. Given the information available today, none of us can guess why one of us has lupus or why one of us has autism. What we can do is seek the best possible medical care for our respective conditions. And if medicine cannot bestow upon us good health, then we, as members of a community, whether it be lupus or autism, can help each other to find a way toward the richest and fullest life possible."

[Cma9905]

Omg I had never even thought about this but I have a son and daughter. My daughter is fine (well she has coeliac s). But my son has asphergers. It's strange because my son was born in the April and I started getting ill in the October and diagnosed in January within one year of him being born.

[ladybird4]

Yes I have a son now aged 20 with aspergers syndrome. He had congenital heart problems needing an Angioplasty on a valve when a year old. Currently studying History at University, was diagnosed pre-school and has had support of some description all the way through schooling. His problems with understanding language etc caused him to be very challenging until he was about 6 yrs old, since then he's been much easier, became very nice, polite, etc. Social Skills still remain a problem, has lots of friends who are but acquaintances.

My daughter who is 4 years older, has no problems.

I have recently discovered that my maternal aunt (late 70's)has had lupus for many years, never admitting it to her siblings, and she is quite seriously ill with Kidney Failure, needing twice weekly dialysis and now osteoporosis due to taking Fossamax, -making her bones /spine crumble, when this drug was given to her to strengthen them in the first place. So it looks like its genetic in my case. If I'd known about her having this I perhapscould have been diagnosed years ago instead of feeling like a fraud/hypochondriac for so long, going around in circles looking for answers, like so many of us do.

[cynamonspice]

Hi There,

Yes I have a 14 year old with aspergers and ODD, and a 4 year old son with severe autism, Global learning disabilities, ODD and ADHD lol, I laugh as it's sounds made up, but it's not lol.

[Hidden in reply to cynamonspice]

How on earth do you cope? My goodness. Xx

[cynamonspice]

Sometimes not very well lol, but I do my best :o)

[Hidden in reply to cynamonspice]

that's all any of us can do but I hope you have a good support network too. Take good care xx

[madmagz]

Hi Guildford

I have a son who has dyspraxia and ADD he is 22 was in the forces until an injury forced him out of his dream career. He is now starting a business with a friend as a motor mechanic, he lives in his own flat and manages very well with day to day life. He did need quite a lot of help to learn to budget but gets on really well. He has been registered as my carer since he was five years old and has had to cope with a hell of a lot in his life. My daughter on the other hand is 20 and was registered at three as my carer and has never had any problems academically and still lives with me as my carer.

The hardest time I had with my son was while he was at school and having a rough time - he was bullied but had surgery for a physical disfigurement then he went back to school. After a while we moved house and he changed schools, got his diagnosis and a very sympathetic teacher in his school who encouraged me to go in as a classroom assistant which helped him settle down and do some work which was useful in his last two years at primary. I then went round the local secondary schools and spoke to all the special needs coordinators and asked lots of questions about what they could offer him. The secondary school he went to had him in a class of no more than sixteen which was less stressful for him and had a knock on effect being less stressful for me making me feel better. There is a support group in our area for parents and children called SNAP I don't know if it exists in your area it might be worth trying these sorts of groups I found it very beneficial.

I hope that if your son does get a definite diagnosis I do hope that you get all the help you need, I found that the most helpful people are other Mums and Dads and not necessarily the "experts" as living with the child and working with the child affected by these things are two totally different things. It is worth listening to those who talk to you on and official level as they can have a few useful titbits of information but don't take all they say as gospel.

I have a very good friend who has a son with asperger's and he has been a totally different child since he has been given fish oil capsules everyday he is doing better in school too.

Good luck and I hope you get all the help you need

Madmagz

[Hidden in reply to madmagz]

Thanks so much for responding. So glad your son is doing well on his own. Its like everything really, the experts don't know it all or have to live with it and we're all unique. Did mention it to my rheumy, he said 'interesting but ask at St Thomas' they'd know more about that". Will definitely try the fish oil again but did give it to them for about a year or so and didn't notice a difference but luckily my sons problems are mild and he has become more controllable with age. Just want more consideration at school really. Xxx

[madmagz in reply to Hidden]

You are welcome. I know where you are coming from wanting more consideration from the school, I told one S.E.N Co. not to talk "at" my son but "to" him as he was perfectly capable of understanding her! I then had the head mistress call me into the office that afternoon from outside the front of the school in front of all the other parents. Oh how I loved that, I ended up telling her she was as much use as a chocolate fire guard when it came to understanding children who needed extra help. Needless to say both my son and I were glad when he left there shortly after.

I am not certain where I saw it whether it was Boots or Holland and Barrett but somewhere I have seen a super fish oil it might be worth reading the label to see if that might make any difference.

Good luck with whatever you try.

Madmagz

[Hidden in reply to madmagz]

Thanks