Women on the spectrum and hormones

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I am posting this here instead of the women's forum, because I don't care who responds and I think there is more people here.

I read somewhere before--please correct me if I am misinformed or if this is just a generalization!--that women on the spectrum frequently show higher levels of androgens than non-autistic women.

My blood tests came back for the past 4 or 5 years that we have been checking, that I have higher levels of androgens. My doctors keep saying I have PCOS, even though the last 3 ultrasounds I had (one just last December) show no signs of any cysts.

Is this elevated androgen thing a result of the autism? If I take pills to alter the hormone levels, is it just going to change physical symptoms, or will it change autistic symptoms as well (not sure if the two are co-related or not)?

I've never had blood work, but I think the finger ratio stats are also interesting.

I have the low 2D4D ratio, so I (probably) have high levels of androgens, but I'm not sure how it all works.

I'm on a hormone pill to settle my periods down, and it hasn't changed me at all, oh except for my periods being much less painful and less nauseating. I still get tearful when I'm coming on, but I'm not going to start associating that with having AS because every woman I know gets more emotional when they're coming on.

Otherwise, it hasn't changed me in any other way. I've had regular pill checks at the doctors and my blood pressure is fine, which is amazing for somebody with an anxiety disorder as intense as mine....

I have a high digit ratio, which supposedly means I was exposed to a lot of estrogen in the womb. While that would, I suppose, partly explain why I'd much prefer to be a girl (I'm male), it doesn't fit together with the supposed correlation between high pre-natal testosterone levels in the womb and autism.

Very true.

They say this ratio also correlates with schizophrenia but I think there are probably a lot of autistics with it.

I don't know about my levels of androgens. I do know I had a high level of testosterone in the womb (my parents even thought I was going to be male).

Hormone altering medications haven't changed any of my autistic symptoms, only have made me feel more emotional.

According to wikipedia, testosterone is responsible for promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle, bone mass and the growth of body-hair. Also females are more sensitive to the hormone.

Whoa that explains my hairy eyebrows

Well I'm a woman and I actually have too much estrogen. I don't have much body hair and look pretty feminine everywhere, but too much estrogen isn't good for my cycles. My periods are awful.

I think I inherited this problem from my mom, who's NT.

It won't change your autism to treat a hormone imbalance. I'm basing this on the fact that correcting hormone imbalances in adults doesn't change their sexual orientation, which is theorized to have been created by hormone levels during the prenatal period. If it can't re-wire enough of your brain to switch you from gay to straight or vice versa, I seriously doubt it's going to do any re-wiring that affects autism; sexual orientation is much more closely linked to hormone levels than autism ever was.

I have 'too many' androgens but I have a high 2D:4D ratio. My mother has also had lots of hormonal problems involving too many androgens in the past but this isn't reflected in my hands.

I'm naturally hairy (though I do shave a lot), have dense bones and put on muscle quite easily in some parts of my body...and some other things that are a bit TMI.

I don't feel that I have hormonal problems, though. It's just the way I am.

I agree with you, but when I was on birth control pills, my behavior really changed.

I was less systematic, had A LOT more emotions, and started to take things very personally.

I was never that way before and haven't been that way since.

My gynae thought I had PCOS when he examined me (excessive hair in the places it shouldn't be, etc), but I was tested and don't have it. Also, my index finger is a little shorter than my ring finger and I gain muscle very easily (definitely a mesomorph). I'm much heavier than my dress size would suggest and always have been. I don't have excess androgens, it's just the way my body responds to normal levels. But, in some ways I'm extra female - was diagnosed with endometriosis, which is associated with excess oestrogen and my bust is large, to put it mildly. I've always felt like an enigma.

My permanent side effect from the pill was PMDD.

The body is tricked into thinking it's pregnant, so it's understandable we get the emotions that come along with it.

But PMDD, ugh, that just makes my more destructive autism symptoms worse and my hyperactivity.

Meds might not re-wire the brain (as if the brain is some man made structure) but it can alter chemicals in it and might cause damage to certain areas.

There are different types of pill, estrogen, progesterone etc. Some pills have different estrogen content than others too.

I don't think it makes a difference with the way I act, I just get headaches when I'm on the sugar pills

I'm built more like a man than a woman which I'm actually blessed that I am. with my sexual issues. I also look very androgenus which I'm also thankful for. I also have Mick Avory's face which I'm also thankful for. Oh, this thread is about hormones - not issues.

I have more testosterone than the average woman, but I don't really want to do anything about it. I also have facial hair that needs to be shaved off, every two days. I'm also stronger than half of the men at the clubhouse that I go to, which isn't a bikers club.

Fixing up the hormone issues will probably help you feel better on a regular basis, though I wouldn't place your hopes on much more than that.

I used to get very sick every month, to the point where I would be up all night throwing up. Taking birth control pills can help some women, though I had mixed results.

As for whether the hormones are causing your symptoms of autism, I doubt it. I think researchers would have been trumpeting hormone therapy as a cure if it did.