It's time to stop thinking of autism as a disorder that only affects little boys.
I would like to bring to your attention that an alarming number of autistic adult females and autistic transmen are struggling with chronic health issues, and it grows worse as we age. Perimenopause seems to play a role in this.
When will there be a study on this population? Some of us have discovered, through what little trial and error we have been able to do on our own, that we have specific nutritional requirements, different from young autistic cis males and that those requirements change dramatically as we age and our hormones change.
There are no doctors with any expertise on our unique health care needs to be found. Most doctors who treat autism or co-occuring symptoms don't take insurance or else they are behind the wall of the Long Term Care system, which is inaccessible to most females / transmen because of the diagnostic bias against us. (Typically it requires early diagnosis to get into the system. Females or those viewed as female usually are later diagnosed because they don't fit the expected autism profile.) Since the majority of autistic adults are low income, paying out of pocket for medical expenses is generally not an option. Even the cost of a bottle of multi-vitamins is out of reach for some of my friends.
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