Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Not a deficit but a different way of perceiving — understanding helps more than pressure to conform.
Also known as: autism · autism spectrum disorder · ASD · Asperger’s
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
An innate, lifelong way of perceiving, communicating and experiencing the world — not an illness to be “cured”, but a different way of functioning. The spectrum is wide: from people needing substantial support to those living independently and working. Common features include differences in social communication and in dealing with stimuli, routines and intense interests. Autism is strongly hereditary and neurological in origin — not caused by upbringing. Understanding, acceptance and suitable accommodations help far more than trying to make someone “normal”.
Individually tailored support (communication, daily life) helps unfold strengths — not to “undo” autism.
Low-stimulus spaces, clear structures and retreat options bring real relief.
Constant masking costs a lot of energy. Being accepted as one is protects health.
Anxiety, depression, ADHD or sleep problems are more common and are treatable.
There is no drug for autism, and none is meant to be — only what is burdensome is treated: restlessness, sleep, anxiety, ADHD. Melatonin helps with falling asleep. Risperidone and aripiprazole are licensed for marked irritability and work within weeks, with weight gain as the most common consequence. What builds ability is support — started early and over years. Diets and detoxification procedures have shown no effect on the core features in studies.
About one to two in a hundred people are affected. First signs can be recognised from about eighteen months, and reliable classification is possible from about two years — in girls and in people without language delay often much later, sometimes only in adulthood. Early support works most strongly between two and five years in studies. About seven in ten have another diagnosis as well, most often ADHD, anxiety or a sleep disorder.
Little eye contact, a calm face, an even voice — in everyday life this is read as disinterest or dishonesty. The consequences are not theoretical. The Body language tool explains why interpretation goes wrong here particularly reliably.
Eye contact, facial expression, irony or small talk may be experienced differently or as tiring.
Sounds, light, touch or smells are often felt more intensely — overload is possible.
Reliable routines give security; intense interests can be a great strength.
No value makes this diagnosis — it rests on observation and developmental history. With very selective eating an iron shortage often develops, and that worsens sleep and resilience.
For the same reason: a very narrow choice of foods over years can lead to a shortage that can be corrected.
Belongs to basic supply, especially when little time is spent outdoors. The value has nothing to do with the core subject.
A lack causes exhaustion, problems concentrating, low mood and forgetfulness — and it is one of the few causes that can be found and put right with a single blood draw.
Low values are common with low mood. Whether correcting it lifts the mood is not settled; that it makes sense in winter at our latitudes is.
An empty store causes tiredness, lack of drive and problems concentrating long before any anaemia becomes visible. In women of childbearing age the most common single reason.
A building block of the cell coverings in the brain. The studies on mood are inconsistent; as part of a good diet it belongs there anyway.
Needed for making the messengers in the brain. It runs short with alcohol and under certain medicines — and it is always judged together with B12.
The most frequently given preparation in this field and one of the best studied. The pooled studies find no effect on the core features; on restlessness and attention some find a small one. Well tolerated, inexpensive, not a cure — that is exactly how it belongs placed.
Low levels are more common here, and there is an obvious reason: less time outdoors, narrower eating. Replacement by measured value makes sense because a deficiency concerns bone and muscle — for the core features the data are thin and inconsistent.
Very narrow eating over years often leads to iron deficiency, and that shows as tiredness, irritability and restless legs in sleep — things easily ascribed to the underlying condition. Ferritin is here one of the most worthwhile measurements there is.
Sleep is here often what burdens the whole family most, and here the data really are good: time to fall asleep and sleep duration improve measurably. It is counted in small amounts — 1 to 3 mg, one to two hours before bed; more does not help better.
The clear sentence belongs here: chelating agents pull metals out of the body, but they pull zinc, copper and calcium with them, and deaths from falling calcium are described. A benefit has not been shown in any controlled trial. This is not a question of amount — it is the question of what for.
Clearly worthwhile and well supported when deficient — vegan, older adults, certain drugs. No energy boost without a deficiency.
In pregnancy clearly established against neural-tube defects, otherwise mainly with deficiency. Can mask a B12 deficiency — watch both.
Oxytocin as a nasal spray has been tested in several studies — the largest, carefully controlled trial found no difference from placebo. That is a cleanly measured no, and it is rarely stated so plainly anywhere.
Sleep problems affect a large share of children on the spectrum, and here the evidence is different: prolonged-release melatonin markedly shortened falling asleep in controlled studies. It is the best-supported help in this field.
The morning cortisol rise turns out differently for some, and the answer to strain is often delayed. That is described, not explained — and it serves neither for diagnosis nor as a point of attack.
Many eat only a few foods — often by texture, not taste. This can lead to real deficiencies; vitamin C, iron and vitamin D are worth measuring before widening the menu.
This diet has been recommended for decades. Controlled studies found no effect on behaviour. In children whose eating is already narrow it narrows the menu further — that belongs said.
The gluten-free casein-free diet has been recommended for decades; controlled studies found no effect on behaviour. With already narrow eating it narrows the menu further.
Reviews find no reliable effect on core symptoms. With accompanying restlessness individual studies show small improvements — that is the honest position.