Is there a link between chronic illness and neurodiversity?

I’ve been in the chronic illness world for over 20 years now both having lived it, recovered and now support those going through the same thing.

I see the same women -  type A - the perfectionist, people pleaser, putting on a brave face, pretending their fine, high achiever.

They come to me with fatigue, low mood, hormones all over the place, gut issues, insomnia, joint pain etc.

They also have nervous system dysregulation - I see that quite quickly into our sessions.

You may have seen in a previous journal entry, someone very very close to me has recently been diagnosed with Autism. Now this isn’t something I knew much about if I’m honest, it’s never been something which has crossed my path before.

But that was 4 months ago, I have read, spoken to, listen to anything I can about autism and specifically autistic burnout.

Which gets me onto…

has neurodivergence got huge links with chronic illness?

It started with me reviewing my own journey and questioning am I autistic?

Probably.

Let’s not just take my ramblings lets look at the science:

Autistic people have higher rates of chronic physical health conditions across the whole body and are more likely to have complex health needs, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

This is the first study to show that autistic people are more likely than non-autistic people to experience ‘physical health multimorbidity’, meaning that they have at least two or more physical health conditions. These include co-occurring fibromyalgia (which causes chronic pain throughout the body) and polycystic ovarian syndrome (which causes irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, excess hair growth, and acne in women) across different organ systems.

The new research also replicates previous findings to show that autistic people have higher rates of all central sensitivity syndromes, which are a varied group of conditions that are related to dysregulation of the central nervous system, compared to non-autistic people. Central sensitivity syndromes include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ), migraine, tinnitus, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and fibromyalgia.

link here

A Dutch study found:

This data suggests that Autistic people are at increased risk of experiencing symptoms of and being diagnosed with CFS/ME.  

There is no data on exactly how many Autistic people experience Autistic Burnout but estimates are as high as 80% (Dawes, 2023).

more info about autistic burnout

Neurodiverse children are twice as likely to experience chronic disabling fatigue in adolescence.

link here

And you may ask, why is this? From my own understanding it’s due to masking. Essentially, pretending to be someone you not. Feeling uncomfortable, overwhelmed and overstimulated most of the time. Feeling like you don’t really understand the social norms, the way people do things, the pace of life.

I know all that was true of me and still is.

So the body becomes exhausted quite frankly, from putting on a show, from having a dysregulated nervous system and not feeling “safe” or “seen”.

I’m currently living with autistic burnout in our house and I see it.

However, I haven't recommended supplements or tests, the way he is improving is by completely shutting the world off for a time.

Basically resetting his nervous system and removing over stimulation.

• Complete deep rest

• Being cosy - hot water bottles, cosy dressing gown, teddies

• Familiar audiobooks and films

• Baths

• Candles instead of bright lights

• No demands on him - we trust he will say when he feels able to do something

• Keeping the house quiet

• Leaning into his sensory needs

• Taking any stress away and expectation

• Listening to him when he says he doesn’t feel “safe” in a certain environment - (usually loud busy places)

• Leaning into his interests - boardgames, books, time in nature which fills up his emotional cup

Through these methods he has vastly improved, he’s by no means fine but he is maybe 50% whereas in January he was at 10%.

You may also say - “Everyone is now being diagnosed as neurodivergent”

I have 2 thoughts on that:

1. As our psychologist said - “We didn’t know there were so many stars until we invented a telescope” meaning, those people have always been there, we just didn’t know.

2. Maybe the world is getting more and more mad, more noise, more speed, more chaos and the autistic folk are feeling it the most. This world to me makes no sense at all.

So why do I say all this? I say it because if you suspect this may be you. You’ve lived with chronic symptoms for years, maybe look into neurodiversity and see if you feel is resonates.

I don’t think everyone needs to be diagnosed.

But I do think it may help you put some pieces together and find some answers to life long struggles.

It may help you to give yourself some grace when some environments don’t suit you or understand why you feel so deeply.