A lot of people with Autism/ADHD have sensitivity issues which can affect their physical health, mental health, body functions, and quality of life. This is quite a common finding I see in clinical practice. Sometimes health issues like sensitivities can have a very simple explanation and a very simple solution!

A sensitivity, as the name suggests, is related to your senses, such as of smell and taste, and more. People often refer the sensitivities as “intolerances” which is not the same thing. The sensitivities result from internal reactions to external sources, through our senses.

People with Autism/ADHD and related conditions can often have sensitivities to:

- Sight, including of sunlight and bright light – causing watery eyes, irritation, headaches and migraines, and the need to wear sunglasses, which causes even more health issues (but that’s a topic for another article!)
- Smells – of strong smells causing irritation, runny nose, headaches and migraines, and nausea or even vomiting (including morning sickness!)
- Sounds – loud noises causing shock and stress, ear pain, tinnitus (annoying ringing in the ears) and more
- Touch – of physical touching, or irritation to different fabrics, materials and surfaces, tight-fitting clothes, and tags on clothes, shoes etc
- Taste – changes in the taste of foods, of either no taste, or being repulsed by the taste of foods, and even the feeling of textures of foods can be off-putting and causing food restrictions (and nutrient deficiencies)
- Alcohol – having a stronger and quicker response to alcohol than others
- Medications - having a stronger and quicker response to some medications than others
- Emotional sensitivities – responding quickly and excessively to even minor stresses or emotions.

This is why I always ask questions about sensitivity issues in my initial consultations with patients! The more and stronger the sensitivities there are in someone, it gives me big clues as to what might be causing their sensitivities and other symptoms too.

Sensitivities are much more prevalent and severe in people with ASD and ADHD, and often affecting more than one of their senses. Typical sensitivities in ASD/ADHD include being sensitive to the sun or light (and preferring to be in the dark), a poor sense of taste and smell, or hyper-reacting to tastes and smells, sensitive to loud or sudden noises such as in schools or shopping centres, food texture issues preventing eating of many foods, and other reactions.

The over-stimulation of the senses bombards the nerves and the nervous system (Attitude Mag, 2025). This in turn causes so much information being sent to the brain and overloads it, causing an inability to concentrate or focus on important tasks, the person becoming overwhelmed quickly, and having an initial feeling of plenty of energy (seen as hyperactivity) but burning out quickly to fatigue. Combine this hyperstimulation with an inability to calm, and you have many of the characteristics of ASD/ADHD!

The sensory overload to the brain can also contribute to the inability to calm the brain and nervous system, and can often be diagnosed as Sensory Processing Disorder, another common co-morbid diagnosis in many people with Autism/ADHD.

It's not particularly well known that ONE major nutrient deficiency can affect all our senses! This nutrient deficiency can cause dysfunction in our senses, from reduced function to hypersensitivity.

That nutrient deficiency is the essential mineral of zinc!

Of course, zinc isn’t the only nutrient deficiency in ASD/ADHD, but it is extremely common in these conditions, and it has a huge impact on ASD/ADHD symptoms. For example, a zinc deficiency can cause other Autism/ADHD symptoms including:

1. Affecting stomach function – to cause reduced digestion. And leading to reduced nutrient absorption and other nutrient deficiencies. This can also lead to digestive symptoms of reflux, indigestion, heartburn, gas, bloating, and constipation or diarrhoea
2. Anaemia and iron deficiency – zinc is needed for protein metabolism and iron metabolism. Anaemia is extremely common in those with ASD/ADHD in approximately 80% of cases in my experience
3. Neurotransmitter and hormone imbalances – zinc is needed to make the neurotransmitters and other hormones too, therefore low zinc can affect moods and behaviours and mental health
4. Sleep issues – zinc is needed to make melatonin, the sleep hormone, hence a zinc deficiency can affect sleep
5. Skin issues and joint issues– zinc is needed for skin and connective tissue with collagen production. Low zinc can cause poor skin integrity, rashes and lesions, growing pains, hypermobile joints, all common with ASD/ADHD
6. Low immune system function – zinc is needed for production of the white blood cells for your immune system and protection from infections. Low zinc causes reduced immunity and increased or more frequent infections
7. Thyroid function – zinc is needed for optimal thyroid function and to make the thyroid hormones which control your whole body’s metabolic rate and all organ and cell functions. It’s very common to see many people with ASD/ADHD with low functioning thyroid, and this causing a lot of their symptoms.

​Correcting a zinc deficiency can therefore reduce all of these issues, and give other benefits to your health too, and can greatly reduce the Autism/ADHD symptoms.

This should be the biggest shock to people with Autism/ADHD or parents of children with these conditions. Or one of the biggest omissions in testing or treatment for people and children with Autism/ADHD.

But you can’t or shouldn’t just go out and get some zinc if you have ASD or ADHD! You need to get this tested first, along with other blood tests which are related to low zinc levels, such as checking for anaemia and immune function, iron levels, thyroid function, stomach function, and more. This will help with getting a baseline of your zinc levels to check against later, as well as helping with your likely dosing needs.

There are also some tricks with taking zinc, such as the therapeutic doses, the forms or types of zinc (ie zinc oxide, zinc picolinate, zinc citrate, zinc amino acid chelate, or others) and/or from foods, as some of these forms are useless and not bio-available, and some are much better! The timing and dosing of the zinc is very important to reduce possible side effects.

This is where I can help, with recommending specific testing first, and dietary improvements, and improving digestive system function, and recommending the right form of zinc and dosing for each person.
More more info on this website, including the Bookings page, where I can help you in your journey to reducing your symptoms and improving your health!

References:
Attitude Mag. (2025). My Hypersensitivity Is Real: Why Highly Sensitive People Have ADHD. Retrieved 5th November 2025 from

While boys and males are more traditionally diagnosed with ADHD, in recent times more females and adult women are now being diagnosed with ADHD. Some people claim that this is because of increased awareness, improved testing and/or reduced stigma of the ADHD diagnosis, but is it really?

If a particular condition or symptom is more common in one gender than the other, it usually suggests that the issue is something to do with sex hormones, at least in part.

With respect to boys with ADHD, due to the larger incidence of ADHD in males, one of the many possible causes is indeed a hormone imbalance. But ironically, it is not due to the higher testosterone hormone in males which is driving the ADHD, but actually lower testosterone and/or higher oestrogen, the female hormone! The opposite sex hormone to what there should be in males.

Males can have a hormone imbalance for a number of different reasons including nutrient deficiencies or excesses, low thyroid function, and environmental toxicities.

Similarly, females with ADHD can have a hormone imbalance too, and the female hormone system is a lot more complicated than for a male! But it’s not higher oestrogen which contributes to ADHD development in females, but again, the opposite sex hormone to what there should be – high testosterone!

Having a high level of the wrong sex hormone in some males and females can be a contributing factor to ADHD in some males and females. Because of questionable diets (of excesses and deficiencies), along with increased stress in the COVID times, and increased use of technology and social media by children and teens, has contributed more to the recent large increase in ADHD incidences in both males and females. In a previous study, which I wrote an article on, found that these were the causes of the increased incidence, and nothing to do with improved awareness or more or better testing that some people believe.

Obviously having a hormone imbalance is not the only cause of ADHD in either males or females, as there are many other known root causes and factors to ADHD development and symptoms. To help reduce ADHD symptoms and conditions, improve mental health and behaviours, improve quality of life, prevent worsening symptoms, and even reverse the condition, the causes and factors in each person with ADHD must be found and treated individually. This is what I can do!

For more information on ADHD or how I can help reduce symptoms and improve quality of life in your or your children/family, please see the other pages on this website or book in for a consultation.