Hormone imbalance inutero? | Autism PDD
high testosterone levels for the mom or the baby? or both? i know i have always had higher testosterone levels 
and sometimes i wonder if my daughter does too. she's very hairy and
seems to have many more "boy" characteristics than "girl"
characteristics. she's very much a tomboy. 
From the way it was described to me is the mother had the higher levels while being pregnant. But it was geared more towards, the study that is, an explanation as to why more boys are affected by autism than girls.
Tammy
Does the study link high testosterone levels to more morning (or all day) sickness symptoms? I ask because I was so sick when pregnant with my 2 boys on the spectrum, but not so much when I was carrying my other kids.just curious......bonnie
That is interesting. I would suspect that that 'could' be a cause for Autism in some kids. I personally don't think there is only one cause for Autism. The families affected from Autism differ in so many ways. I do believe that hormonal imbalance ( not just testosterone) in general can increase the possibility of a fetus developing austism. I have hypothyroidism and often wonder if I had it during pregnancy. My OB never tested for it and the symptoms are extremely similar to pregnancy symptoms. I have read that hypothyroidism can cause neurological damage to a fetus. Interesting.
The kids social worker was telling me about this today and he said basically that when the woman is pregnant she has more male like tendencies in thinking. That there might be a link there. That girls are more into people's faces where boys aren't. Boys are more into structure like thinking. I would nned more than one study to do anything about it though. I don't think my insurance would cover a hormone study based on one study. It could be a combination of things or in some kids just one factor. We don't know at this point.
Tammy
No, but thanks for letting us know....I belong to another board for a diff't illness where this just came up, so I wished I'd heard it...I'll definitely look into it.Someone was saying something about "within 2 years we'll know if vaccines/mercury had an effect"....I believe also there's a tie mentioned somewhere in this interview to Mercury vs. Mitochondrial disorders that I'm curious to read about. Thanks again!
~Lesley
I just heard the tail end of a radio interview about the cause of autism. It was on NPR's "Day to Day" show. The audio will be available on the web this afternoon.
Basically, this British researcher is testing hormone levels from amino and is linking a high testosterone level inutero to autism. Has anyone heard of this?
Suzi T
I had heard something about that. I know I wasn't making enough thyroid hormone at some point in my pregnancy because Anna is cogenital hypothyroid.
She will not grow out of it (if they do it is before age 3). She take .075 of levoxyl (synthroid). It was the blood test they do at birth that caught it. W/out that hormone a baby will not thrive mentaly or physicaly.
wow that would be interesting....I have elavated levels of testisterone..... Here's an article talking about this:http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/08/opinion/edbaron.php
I find it fascinating, and although it relies on many stereotypes of male behavior in it's arguments, there just might be something to it. My wife clearly has quite a bit of testosterone (somewhat hirsute).
Oh, and little byrd... she's also hypothyroid, and we're not sure if she was pre-pregnancy or not, but she definitely was post-pregnancy.
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