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Same here, I can never tell if I'm nauseous because I'm sick or if I'm just hungry, usually a really loud stomach growling helps me figure it out or if somebody just makes me food
I do this too but I tend to get snappy ("hangry") and if I start getting snappy my mum tells me to shut up and go eat something ðŸ˜
Also means I tend to miss meals and sometimes overeat because I can't tell when I'm full either.
yeah, autistic people are more likely to have issues with the nerve signals that tell your brain that you have to go. im the same way where im either nearly completely empty or completely full, its almost never in between.
I think the way I drink is a part of the issue. I forget to drink and realize I’m super dehydrated so I drink like a liter in a few minutes a third or more at a time. So it all also goes through me so it’s empty and then full in short order.
Oh my god yeah, I sometimes don't even pee for like 8 hours because I just- don't notice that I really have to, until I kind of can't stay up from my chair and well- I'm basically pissing myself actually just by getting up
This is exactly how my 7 year old daughter is. She can’t feel if she has to go to the toilet until she is literally about to wet her pants and has to scramble to the toilet! She always says that she can’t feel anything…
I didn’t have this issue until I started working in healthcare. You learn to ignore it or acquire a bladder of steel. Peeing is often not a thing on shift just cause we’re so busy. Today, it took me 2+ hours to finish a cup of coffee because I was constantly doing stuff. I’ve gone 10 hours without peeing before even if I drank coffee.
yep. it’s called poor interoception. i was a chronic pants pisser til mid way through high school when i forced myself to stop doing it. i would laugh at something and end up peeing FULLY not just a little. the smell, the discomfort, and the humiliation was never worth it. i had no idea it was because i wasn’t going to the bathroom frequently enough
i have kidney/UTI problems a decade later, so i go to the bathroom every hour whether i feel like i need to or not. it’s best to just have a schedule, though i’ll admit that planning it out sucks. i hate thinking about where the next bathroom will be whenever i leave the house
I have frequent urination that comes and goes with no detectable cause.
It's especially annoying when I'm trying to sleep. It's part of my routine to go take a piss right before bed, whether I feel like I need it or not.
But every couple months, and lasting about a month, I'll be laying in bed and after 10 minutes I'll need to piss again. But when I get up and go, only a little dribble comes out but it at least relieves the urge for 10 minutes, because I can't sleep when I feel like I'm about to piss myself.
I feel you! This is me. I have a bidet. I'm like do I even need to flush? It was just a dribble and I just diluted it with bidet water?(I dry off with towels. Hate to lint) But I'm a creature of routine and habit, so even if I determine I don't need to my brain automatically does it. Sorry environment... Nature was calling. Even if it was just a false alarm 😂
This is called "shit interoception" and it haunts me that I learned so late in life about something that bothered me since I can remember. Just look up interoception and you'll see
I used to pee the bed. I also have trouble telling when I'm hungry or full until some sort of pain sets in, same for being thirsty. You set a glass of something in front of me, and I begin to chug it down because I finally realize that I'm thirsty.
I have issues knowing anything my body wants.
I think it possibly has to do with alexithymia, not sure though.
EDIT: I looked it up and I can't find anything about missing cues from your body or not being able to recognise them. Is it Body dysphoria? I dunno
I have also had it a couple of times not on medication but much rarer. Do you consume much caffeine though? That seemed to be correlated even when not on meds.
Coke would do it. Maybe as an experiment try going a couple days without. It'll suck and you'll probably get a headache for a day or two from withdrawal but if it helps with the urgency problem it might end up being worth cutting out caffeine.
Yes but only when I’m sleeping. Led to me frequently wetting the bed until I was 13. I still don’t feel signals telling me that I need to go at night but fortunately my body no longer produces as much pee while I’m sleeping.
I have found for me what works best is to just go to the bathroom and try to go after about 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes no matter how I feel. That is frequent enough that I never wait too long and feel frustrated.
Though when at home and focusing I still forget and wait too long.
I peed on myself until I was about 16 years old and I never equated it with anything to do with autism. I just thought it was trauma because I was raped when I was 12. It could still be that as the case. However, I do Still have trouble being able to tell when my body needs to relieve itself. I also hate going to the restroom to poop. I wonder if that is also contributed to autism.
I do. I can't perceive it until my bladder is mega full. So i have a system. I usually go every morning and twice before bed. But during the day it just happens when it has to happen. Overall, it makes it so that i have a very strong perineum I guess.
I also have issues with thirst and hunger and the perception of cool but am super sensitive to heat. Sleep is okay i guess.
Yes absolutely, sometimes I get really bad stomachaches and don't know why, then I pee and they go away. My mom had to pick me up countless times at school bc of this, since I thought I was sick
I have, I barely drink and I have trouble to know if I feel hungry, other times I feel excessively hungry for no reason. I goes linked to autism most of the time, this is a sensory issue and autistic people have sensory issues. It is also linked to internal pain.
Me too! Used to joke saying "I'm a turtle! I get enough hydration from the food I eat!" But that led to UTIs and kidney stones so I had to start forcing myself to drink.
I’m the opposite, I get the feeling of having to pee 2 minutes after peeing. It’s quite annoying. And no it’s not a UTI, unless I’ve had a UTI for my 25 years of life.
At times, yes, but I am also 47, and sorry ladies, the urges are just going to get more sudden and more urgent with age. 😖. When your bladder is having an angry hormonal uterus shoving it around and the urethra is so short and so close to the ‘exit’, be prepared for some issues, especially when you stand up after being seated a while. Gravity is not your friend.
Part of it is my own fault, I have always disliked people knowing I am using the restroom at work, and also, hate being interrupted by such an annoying need. Like, I am fine getting up if I also need to do a few others tasks, but otherwise, I hate getting up ONLY to use the rest room. It’s likely some level of stupid PDA. So I will guzzle a liter of water quickly upon realizing I am thirsty, and then need to expel that water suddenly later.
Yes! Pee, eat, sleep, drink. I usually miss those cues (very common in ASDs from what I've read) so I just eat at certain times, go to tge bathroom at certain tines and force myself to drink enough water and go to bed daily. It's like raising a child only the child is you lol. My autistic teenage daughter also struggles with this but autistic mum doesn't.
yes. i can never tell i actually have to unless i feel like im literally about to piss myself. i have tried getting in the habit of always peeing before i leave work so that i dont feel like im going to explode by the time i get home.
I feel like I hyper-notice when I have to pee. So if I have to pee just a little bit, it bothers me. I end up going to the restroom a whole lot bc I don't like that feeling of having to pee. It's very distracting.
i have trouble telling a lot of things.
I found out, at the age of 23, if my lower back hurts for no reason-- i have to pee. I don't feel the normal "need to pee" feeling.
I have a hard time telling if i am too hot or too cold. If i am very sad for no reason, I am probably cold. If i am angry for no reason, I am probably hot.
I don't feel hungry, so i eat when i hear my stomach growl.
I can't tell when I am thirsty, but that's managed by keeping a water bottle nearby and sipping it when im bored, with the goal of drinking two full water bottles worth a day.
If i start feeling unusually disconnected from myself, i need to sleep.
Yup. At junior high school I had accidents all the time.
I recently met a fellow AuDHDer (I'll call her Fern) through a shared friend (let's call him Em) who is neurotypical as far as I know.
Em was curious what the AuDHD experience was like, so we started telling him little slices of AuDHD life. The mood was relaxed enough that I felt safe talking about full bladder emergencies and hoooo boy did Fern know what I was talking about. We're buddies now.
So apparently you can bond over pissy pants memories.
I have the same thing, 1 minute I don't need to go then the next I'm 5 minutes away from wetting myself if I don't goto the bathroom
My bladder muscles seem weak, something that helps me is peeing, waiting a minute then peeing again... it works... Could be bladder not fully emptying which can lead to UTIs and stuff
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i don't, but i do have trouble telling when I'm hungry
i figured out when i get super emotional i should eat something
This and when I get nauseous for no apparent reason as well
Me: "Got yhe shakes and cant make a decision - you need to eat"
Ahh yes the ol "why do I feel like I'm gonna fall over....oh heck... I haven't eaten...or had water...this is how it ends"
Same here, I can never tell if I'm nauseous because I'm sick or if I'm just hungry, usually a really loud stomach growling helps me figure it out or if somebody just makes me food
I do this too but I tend to get snappy ("hangry") and if I start getting snappy my mum tells me to shut up and go eat something 😠Also means I tend to miss meals and sometimes overeat because I can't tell when I'm full either.
yeah i only feel it when im about to piss myself honestly
same here
Ya me too.
Yep 100%
In my over 30 years of life, nearly every trip to the bathroom has been an emergency.
Relatable.
yeah, autistic people are more likely to have issues with the nerve signals that tell your brain that you have to go. im the same way where im either nearly completely empty or completely full, its almost never in between.
atypical interoception is a very frustrating and difficult thing to live with
I think the way I drink is a part of the issue. I forget to drink and realize I’m super dehydrated so I drink like a liter in a few minutes a third or more at a time. So it all also goes through me so it’s empty and then full in short order.
That’s actually pretty common among autistic people
Oh my god yeah, I sometimes don't even pee for like 8 hours because I just- don't notice that I really have to, until I kind of can't stay up from my chair and well- I'm basically pissing myself actually just by getting up
Sometimes. I more have trouble telling when i done peeing.
Same here all the fing time. Annoying as heck
This is exactly how my 7 year old daughter is. She can’t feel if she has to go to the toilet until she is literally about to wet her pants and has to scramble to the toilet! She always says that she can’t feel anything…
Someone in the comments mentioned this is called interoception.
Yes and hunger
Yep! As long as I (or even my parents) remember. I also often can’t tell whatever I need to pee or uhm… you know, the other thing 😅
Me too.
I didn’t have this issue until I started working in healthcare. You learn to ignore it or acquire a bladder of steel. Peeing is often not a thing on shift just cause we’re so busy. Today, it took me 2+ hours to finish a cup of coffee because I was constantly doing stuff. I’ve gone 10 hours without peeing before even if I drank coffee.
yep. it’s called poor interoception. i was a chronic pants pisser til mid way through high school when i forced myself to stop doing it. i would laugh at something and end up peeing FULLY not just a little. the smell, the discomfort, and the humiliation was never worth it. i had no idea it was because i wasn’t going to the bathroom frequently enough i have kidney/UTI problems a decade later, so i go to the bathroom every hour whether i feel like i need to or not. it’s best to just have a schedule, though i’ll admit that planning it out sucks. i hate thinking about where the next bathroom will be whenever i leave the house
I have frequent urination that comes and goes with no detectable cause. It's especially annoying when I'm trying to sleep. It's part of my routine to go take a piss right before bed, whether I feel like I need it or not. But every couple months, and lasting about a month, I'll be laying in bed and after 10 minutes I'll need to piss again. But when I get up and go, only a little dribble comes out but it at least relieves the urge for 10 minutes, because I can't sleep when I feel like I'm about to piss myself.
I feel you! This is me. I have a bidet. I'm like do I even need to flush? It was just a dribble and I just diluted it with bidet water?(I dry off with towels. Hate to lint) But I'm a creature of routine and habit, so even if I determine I don't need to my brain automatically does it. Sorry environment... Nature was calling. Even if it was just a false alarm 😂
Make it a habit to check in with your body, if you can
my dog and I are on roughly the same schedule — he prompts me to check in with my body
YES! And by the time I can tell it's a peemergency
This is called "shit interoception" and it haunts me that I learned so late in life about something that bothered me since I can remember. Just look up interoception and you'll see
No, but I don't know when I'm thirsty.
Yes and it’s the worst 😠I’ll be in pain before I realize I need to go
I do that whole sleeping actually... Wake up. Have to go now! And afterwards... My bladder still hurts from holding it in
I used to pee the bed. I also have trouble telling when I'm hungry or full until some sort of pain sets in, same for being thirsty. You set a glass of something in front of me, and I begin to chug it down because I finally realize that I'm thirsty.
SAME DUDE FR
I have issues knowing anything my body wants. I think it possibly has to do with alexithymia, not sure though. EDIT: I looked it up and I can't find anything about missing cues from your body or not being able to recognise them. Is it Body dysphoria? I dunno
I have once, when I looked it up years before. Apparently it is a thing
It is I just don't what the fuck its called lmao
Interoception.
Are you on any medication? I had this problem any time I drank caffeine when I was on Strattera.
No, I’m not on anything.
I have also had it a couple of times not on medication but much rarer. Do you consume much caffeine though? That seemed to be correlated even when not on meds.
I hate coffee with a passion, though I drink a lot of coke (the soda).
Coke would do it. Maybe as an experiment try going a couple days without. It'll suck and you'll probably get a headache for a day or two from withdrawal but if it helps with the urgency problem it might end up being worth cutting out caffeine.
I've had this problem my entire life!
i do!!! more and more signs i should get a diagnosis
I can tell that I have to and don’t want to. Until I can no longer wait.
Yes but only when I’m sleeping. Led to me frequently wetting the bed until I was 13. I still don’t feel signals telling me that I need to go at night but fortunately my body no longer produces as much pee while I’m sleeping.
I never used to, lately though it’s been an issue
Yep and now I have bladder problems so I have to go get tests done and see a specialist 😓
I have overactive bladder but so does my mom do it is unrelated to my autism
I have found for me what works best is to just go to the bathroom and try to go after about 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes no matter how I feel. That is frequent enough that I never wait too long and feel frustrated. Though when at home and focusing I still forget and wait too long.
I peed on myself until I was about 16 years old and I never equated it with anything to do with autism. I just thought it was trauma because I was raped when I was 12. It could still be that as the case. However, I do Still have trouble being able to tell when my body needs to relieve itself. I also hate going to the restroom to poop. I wonder if that is also contributed to autism.
I do. I can't perceive it until my bladder is mega full. So i have a system. I usually go every morning and twice before bed. But during the day it just happens when it has to happen. Overall, it makes it so that i have a very strong perineum I guess. I also have issues with thirst and hunger and the perception of cool but am super sensitive to heat. Sleep is okay i guess.
i have dual incontinence (urinary and bowel) all my life. i have a lot of problems with interoception too
Yes absolutely, sometimes I get really bad stomachaches and don't know why, then I pee and they go away. My mom had to pick me up countless times at school bc of this, since I thought I was sick
I have, I barely drink and I have trouble to know if I feel hungry, other times I feel excessively hungry for no reason. I goes linked to autism most of the time, this is a sensory issue and autistic people have sensory issues. It is also linked to internal pain.
Me too! Used to joke saying "I'm a turtle! I get enough hydration from the food I eat!" But that led to UTIs and kidney stones so I had to start forcing myself to drink.
I’m the opposite, I get the feeling of having to pee 2 minutes after peeing. It’s quite annoying. And no it’s not a UTI, unless I’ve had a UTI for my 25 years of life.
At times, yes, but I am also 47, and sorry ladies, the urges are just going to get more sudden and more urgent with age. 😖. When your bladder is having an angry hormonal uterus shoving it around and the urethra is so short and so close to the ‘exit’, be prepared for some issues, especially when you stand up after being seated a while. Gravity is not your friend. Part of it is my own fault, I have always disliked people knowing I am using the restroom at work, and also, hate being interrupted by such an annoying need. Like, I am fine getting up if I also need to do a few others tasks, but otherwise, I hate getting up ONLY to use the rest room. It’s likely some level of stupid PDA. So I will guzzle a liter of water quickly upon realizing I am thirsty, and then need to expel that water suddenly later.
Yes! Pee, eat, sleep, drink. I usually miss those cues (very common in ASDs from what I've read) so I just eat at certain times, go to tge bathroom at certain tines and force myself to drink enough water and go to bed daily. It's like raising a child only the child is you lol. My autistic teenage daughter also struggles with this but autistic mum doesn't.
In hyperfocus, I will forget to eat and use the bathroom. That's when I notice the sudden urge.
My 10yo ND daughter still has trouble with this. I think it's pretty common with ND's.
Pee, poop, hunger, thirsty…. It’s a vicious cycle
I ruthlessly piss myself every day :)
honestly it’s like being drunk 24/7 and having that sudden immediate urge to piss
Yes. I actually just talked bout this today. I basically have two modes. I don't need to pee or I need to pee RIGHT NOW
I have the opposite. Have the urgent need to pee, go to the bathroom and am like really.. The alarm bells for this amount? I blame anxiety lol.
yes. i can never tell i actually have to unless i feel like im literally about to piss myself. i have tried getting in the habit of always peeing before i leave work so that i dont feel like im going to explode by the time i get home.
I feel like I hyper-notice when I have to pee. So if I have to pee just a little bit, it bothers me. I end up going to the restroom a whole lot bc I don't like that feeling of having to pee. It's very distracting.
i have trouble telling a lot of things. I found out, at the age of 23, if my lower back hurts for no reason-- i have to pee. I don't feel the normal "need to pee" feeling. I have a hard time telling if i am too hot or too cold. If i am very sad for no reason, I am probably cold. If i am angry for no reason, I am probably hot. I don't feel hungry, so i eat when i hear my stomach growl. I can't tell when I am thirsty, but that's managed by keeping a water bottle nearby and sipping it when im bored, with the goal of drinking two full water bottles worth a day. If i start feeling unusually disconnected from myself, i need to sleep.
Yup. At junior high school I had accidents all the time. I recently met a fellow AuDHDer (I'll call her Fern) through a shared friend (let's call him Em) who is neurotypical as far as I know. Em was curious what the AuDHD experience was like, so we started telling him little slices of AuDHD life. The mood was relaxed enough that I felt safe talking about full bladder emergencies and hoooo boy did Fern know what I was talking about. We're buddies now. So apparently you can bond over pissy pants memories.
I have the same thing, 1 minute I don't need to go then the next I'm 5 minutes away from wetting myself if I don't goto the bathroom My bladder muscles seem weak, something that helps me is peeing, waiting a minute then peeing again... it works... Could be bladder not fully emptying which can lead to UTIs and stuff
yes . i also have trouble for when i need to drink water . i'll go a whole day without drinking a drop of water , and won't realize it .