High levels of oestrogens in the womb linked to autism

Re:High levels of oestrogens in the womb linked to autism by loceng on Thursday August 01, 2019 @02:04PM (#20586540)

Couldn't you classify what you described as early trauma - highly stressful situation? I ask because I would have been considered Asperger's as a child, however was never formally diagnosed, and I had I'd call traumatic, a few childhood experiences with severe pain. It was however a series of events in my early 20s lead me to developing a severe hypersensitivity to sound, which then through trying to problem solve, discovered a sound therapy - with a diagnostic method of determining if the therapy would help before doing it - I did it, and it helped me dramatically, including unblocking whatever developmental blocks had occurred at an early age; I had extremely painful ear infections as a child, very stressful for the nervous system - and at a time of rapid brain development - and without going into more detail now, which I have in the past on HN, whatever coping mechanisms lead to autistic characteristics relating to processing feelings, emotion, focusing, which cascade learning, attention, etc. The sound therapy can potentially help the full autism spectrum, of course what the cause is will likely impact who will benefit from it; you also don't lose any of your skills developed, things just flow easier, and you may have gain access to sensory in a more balanced manner, leading to better self-regulation. The therapy I did is called Auditory Integration Training or Berard AIT for short; there is also another method called the Tomatis method which is apparently more effective if the trauma occurred while still in the womb. There are other sound therapies out there claiming to be beneficial, marketing themselves efficiently, however I'm uncertain of their methods - something I someday hope to test adequately with proper research comparing sound therapies.

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Re:High levels of oestrogens in the womb linked to autism by Zenst on Thursday August 01, 2019 @02:43PM (#20586946)

Hard to clarify, and just earliest memories and maybe trauma solidified those event in memory, really hard to speculate even from personal experience. Also of note I was diagnosed officially in my late 40's, I was tested for autism when I was 5 (remember that vividly) and they deemed me 50/50, which in the 60's - autism was either yes or no with no aspergers or other half-way definitions.

Interesting how you mention sound sensitivity at a later age and I would say puberty saw many senses become more acute. Hearing still today (which is not fun living above a crack-house) in my 50's, it is still impressive.

I, also developed my own coping mechanisms and in many situations, people would have no clue that I was on the spectrum. Equally I'm aware of my kryptonite issues, so avoidance is as with many, whilst not ideal, a good plan B coping mechanism.

But with sound, and many coping mechanisms we develop in out brain, I do find falling asleep hard as those mechanisms take focus and the conflict of sleep and awake fall foul in such situations.

But I just love my bluetooth headphones, listening to music and whilst not drown out the outside world (I don't use noise canceling and play music low), it is enough to dull outside sounds that can prove annoying - which are more annoying the more tired I am, as in unable to focus them out.

But you know what my most favorite things in life still is today - a walk in the snow with nobody around. Kinda my happy place and living in outer London, one in which a good memory has its upsides as not that many opportunities to actually do it.

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Re:High levels of oestrogens in the womb linked to autism by loceng on Thursday August 01, 2019 @05:10PM (#20588392)

What you've said overall makes me think you're hypersensitive to sound - and that if you can afford a ~$50 USD hearing test/audiogram to check for imbalances in your hearing then it'd be worthwhile confirming that; it's not a standard audiogram, you'd have to call around to ask and find out if they know what that is - and is meant for use with Berard's Auditory Integration Training) which then can confirm imbalances. Imbalances showing at certain frequencies is actually just a signal that something is blocked function wise, not processing how it should, as your brain and body is a system of homeostasis that wants to find equilibrium at all times - so it should be able to equalize the perception of sound (save actual damage to the hearing); yes, damage is also a possibility, or both. There's a book on it called "Hearing Equals Behaviour: Updated and Expanded" on Amazon - has original book within it.

Do you remember having ear infections as a child, and were they painful at all?

Re: Falling asleep - what you've said regarding sleep is another proof point to me that you likely have a hearing imbalance. I found the comment on HN I made going into more detail on theory of how it works - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13657973 - and in it I explain why your brain may not be able to actually stop paying attention to sound, which of course - a natural cycle of falling asleep - will have your senses slowly diminish until you're asleep and not not getting strong signals from them, or rather not reacting to them - making it difficult to fall asleep.

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Re:High levels of oestrogens in the womb linked to autism by Zenst on Thursday August 01, 2019 @06:02PM (#20588797)

"Do you remember having ear infections as a child, and were they painful at all" No, though tonsils often a source of discontent, so removed. Though nobody ever warned that they could grow back, though not a troublesome size. As for ear balance, no issue there.

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Re:High levels of oestrogens in the womb linked to autism by loceng on Friday August 02, 2019 @01:15PM (#20594678)

If you haven't had an audiogram specifically to check for imbalances in your hearing, then standard audiograms won't tell you.

When I was in Grade 2 I had trouble focusing in class - they brought in an audiologist to see if I had trouble hearing. They were surprised that no, in fact, I could hear extremely well - however they didn't recognize that as a problem, hypersensitive hearing.

A standard audiogram only checks to see that you can hear well enough in each ear, at different frequencies, say at 15 decibels. Checking for imbalances they check instead for HOW LOW of a decibel you can hear at different frequencies. Say in your right ear the lowest you can hear 1000 Hz frequency is 15 decibels, but in your left ear you hear at 10 decibels - that would show an imbalance by 5 decibels. Very few audiologists do this test, so I'd be very surprised if you found stumbled into one who did check it in this way.

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Re:High levels of oestrogens in the womb linked to autism by ddingus on Thursday August 01, 2019 @03:44PM (#20587539)

Oh, I love a walk in the snow, ideally when it is falling, nobody around.

So soothing.

I am not autistic, but do have high aural senses. As a kid, I could hear well above 20khz. Today, that has rolled off due to age, but my discrimination is still great.

Sounds can sometimes move me to distraction. ASMR, for example. I trigger easily and it is fairly intense.

There is something about the crisp air, dampening on sound that snow presents to us, and what little is heard otherwise seems to just stand right out, like incongruent, but not in a bad way. Just there, present.

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