Page 1 of 3 [ 43 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next

johnnyrook
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 12 Jul 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 6

06 Aug 2010, 9:24 am

Hi there, did anyone else go through puberty late and do you think it has a link to autism? I went through puberty two to three years after other kids of my age, as you can expect it was hell knowing there was another thing that made me quite different.

Now I'm 28 and keep getting comments about how I look 21. I still get ID'd. I'm not complaining of course :)



MONKEY
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Jan 2009
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Posts: 9,896
Location: Stoke, England (sometimes :P)

06 Aug 2010, 9:28 am

I don't think there's a link, because there are threads about puberty where everyone has started at different times.
I was really quite early with mine.


_________________
What film do atheists watch on Christmas?
Coincidence on 34th street.


Northeastern292
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Sep 2008
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,159
Location: Brooklyn, NY/Catskills

06 Aug 2010, 9:30 am

MONKEY wrote:
I don't think there's a link, because there are threads about puberty where everyone has started at different times.
I was really quite early with mine.


I'm on the later scale.

But honestly, late bloomers (including me) have a slight jealousy factor in regards to puberty. It goes back to the virginity paradox, feeling like all your friends have hit important milestones before you have. It eats at your soul.



MotownDangerPants
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 May 2010
Age: 40
Gender: Female
Posts: 955

06 Aug 2010, 9:52 am

I didn't have a regular period until I was nearly SEVENTEEN years old, and I've wondered about the same thing. I think it can be related to ADHD as well but I also think my growth was stunted and my puberty was delayed by Ritalin and Adderall, I was on it pretty consistently through the ages of 14-18.



capriwim
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 2 Dec 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 433
Location: England

06 Aug 2010, 10:09 am

I had a late puberty, but I was also very underweight, due to a neglectful mother and a lack of awareness of hunger. Being underweight tends to be a conributing factor to late puberty.


_________________
'If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?' Gloria Steinem


Leekduck
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 31 May 2010
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 620
Location: Britain

06 Aug 2010, 10:14 am

ive not hit puberty yet, i mean my voice has changed but i still look 12



League_Girl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 27,280
Location: Pacific Northwest

06 Aug 2010, 11:18 am

I reached it early. After school started, my mom came home with undershirts she bought for me telling me I needed to start wearing them because my boobs are starting to come and she showed me how my nipples were sticking out from my chest. I was nine. Yet my eight year old cousin was getting them too when I was 17 and she didn't even wear a bra or undershirts or training bras. :?

One of my aunts also reached puberty late. My mom said she was 17 or 18 when she got her period and then a woman's body when she was in her 20's.


Isn't that hitting puberty leekduck? Your voice changed and that's part of it.



mechanicalgirl39
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Apr 2009
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,340

06 Aug 2010, 11:30 am

There's nothing abnormal about hitting puberty late, especially if you're very active.

I mostly didn't menstruate until around 19. I had them only occasionally.


_________________
'You're so cold, but you feel alive
Lay your hands on me, one last time' (Breaking Benjamin)


Willard
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Age: 65
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,647

06 Aug 2010, 12:40 pm

Well, actual puberty as far as physical sexual maturation started for me around 9, but I still look a good deal younger than my actual age even now. The Executive Function of the AS brain seems to slow quickly to a virtual halt around that age (adolescence), so I guess it makes sense that other maturation processes might be affected as well.



DW_a_mom
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 22 Feb 2008
Gender: Female
Posts: 13,689
Location: Northern California

06 Aug 2010, 12:53 pm

My son is an interesting paradox on this, because physically there is no doubt that he is in puberty, and is on the same scale as his friends, but mentally he's trying not to be. He has told me that he chooses not to think like a teenager, as he has always found them "annoying." And, yet, he can't really stop the hormones from fogging his brain, and that is annoying him even more. His body is changing and, because he has what to me is an astounding amount of control over his subconscious, his interests are not changing. It's a shame he hates to write, because documenting all that while he's in the middle of it would be interesting reading for those who study autism, I believe. I would never try to direct and control my subconscious mind, or my instinctive reactions like pain, but it is something he has done since he was very little.


_________________
Mom to an amazing young adult AS son, plus an also amazing non-AS daughter. Most likely part of the "Broader Autism Phenotype" (some traits).


mechanicalgirl39
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 Apr 2009
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,340

06 Aug 2010, 12:56 pm

DW_a_mom wrote:
My son is an interesting paradox on this, because physically there is no doubt that he is in puberty, and is on the same scale as his friends, but mentally he's trying not to be. He has told me that he chooses not to think like a teenager, as he has always found them "annoying." And, yet, he can't really stop the hormones from fogging his brain, and that is annoying him even more. His body is changing and, because he has what to me is an astounding amount of control over his subconscious, his interests are not changing. It's a shame he hates to write, because documenting all that while he's in the middle of it would be interesting reading for those who study autism, I believe. I would never try to direct and control my subconscious mind, or my instinctive reactions like pain, but it is something he has done since he was very little.


Maybe you could try asking him questions and documenting his answers? Is he good at expressing himself verbally?


_________________
'You're so cold, but you feel alive
Lay your hands on me, one last time' (Breaking Benjamin)


Dnuos
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 588

06 Aug 2010, 1:18 pm

I think I was on the later side.

A little bit. I'm just a little bit shorter than everyone else (actually, I might be quite a bit. I don't know how to judge that), but my appearance is definitely a lot younger than everyone else. My voice isn't really as low as all the other boys (then again, my vocal range might just be higher. Maybe I'm just a born singer!), and I still occasionally voice crack. Not a single person believed me when I told them I was 18.

Most thought I was 15/16 or around that. I'm the one that clerks are still unsure of, having to ask "Is he 18?" Doesn't help much that I tend to feel a lot younger on my side, and sometimes tend to act younger. Not in an immature way, necessarily.

I'm not complaining, I can't wait until I hit my 30's and everyone else is complaining "I wish I looked younger!" while I'm still looking like I'm in my 20's. ;D



thechadmaster
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,126
Location: On The Road...Somewhere

06 Aug 2010, 1:23 pm

I started late. my voice didnt change until i was 15, at 23 i still have no chest hair, when i shave my mustache people think im 14, bugs the hell out of me. when i was 17 i asked the doctor for testosterone, but he said i didnt need it. i didnt see "real" pubic hair until almost 16, that led to ridicule in the locker room, for my own safety, the school had me change in a broom closet.


_________________
I don't know what the future holds, but I know Who holds the future.


frag
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Aug 2009
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Posts: 501
Location: Scändinävia

06 Aug 2010, 1:47 pm

Was the 1st to hit puberty in my class. Sigh.



frag
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 16 Aug 2009
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Posts: 501
Location: Scändinävia

06 Aug 2010, 1:49 pm

Oh yea, of course I didn't look my age at all up to I was around 35. But that is quite common, isn't it? LOL.



Callista
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Feb 2006
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 10,775
Location: Ohio, USA

06 Aug 2010, 2:08 pm

DW_a_mom wrote:
My son is an interesting paradox on this, because physically there is no doubt that he is in puberty, and is on the same scale as his friends, but mentally he's trying not to be. He has told me that he chooses not to think like a teenager, as he has always found them "annoying." And, yet, he can't really stop the hormones from fogging his brain, and that is annoying him even more. His body is changing and, because he has what to me is an astounding amount of control over his subconscious, his interests are not changing. It's a shame he hates to write, because documenting all that while he's in the middle of it would be interesting reading for those who study autism, I believe. I would never try to direct and control my subconscious mind, or my instinctive reactions like pain, but it is something he has done since he was very little.
Good for him; teenagers *are* silly. We've only invented them in the last century, anyway; chances are he will simply go straight from child to adult, and has started to become an adult already. That's what I did.


_________________
Reports from a Resident Alien:
http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com

Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com