madbutnotmad wrote:
Hello. i have problems with having acute sensitivity to my senses. Which i believe is part of suffering from ASC.
In particular I have acute hearing, and see too much and often feel overwhelmed. I believe due to being like this for many years, that i am overwhelmed.
Also, several years ago I was diagnosed as having clinically low testosterone and started treatment, which consisted of being given doses of testosterone which increased over time. This was done, because i suffer from anxiety, and the effects of the testosterone can sometimes be a little unpredictable. So my endocrinologist, did not want to give me too much at once in case it caused an adverse effect.
Nonetheless, I am now at my present optimum dosage. And am ok, although still feel a little slowed down.
Now my testosterone treatment is given every 4 months, and lasts 6 months with treatment overlapped intentionally so as to give a better over all consistent or constant level, as the testosterone treatment drops off over time. Starting off at optimum dose when the treatment is first given, and then slowly dropping off over 6 months to nothing.
The effects that this has is a little bizarre but has an impact on my cognitive (mental) and physical strength.
I notice, when i am first given the treatment, I experience a boost in cognitive ability. I can suddenly think clearly, am much more articulate and able to process the masses of information that i receive daily.
However, as my testosterone drops over time, my cognitive abilities drop with it and i eventually become very blunted.
Now i speculate that testosterone may be one treatment that may help boost high functioning ASC sufferers cognitive abilities, not to mention boost their physical endurance and their libedo.
I speculate that there may be a direct correlation between autism and problems with testosterone or how the body regulates testosterone. I also speculate, although in all fairness i do not understand enough about the causes of autism, that the high prenatal testosterone levels which has been found to be consistent with people with autism may be related to how people's body regulate testosterone.
Also considering the logic behind sensory processing disorders, it would be logical that if the brain is processing extra information that the brain would use up testosterone quicker and thus need a higher amount and more consistent amount sustained through the day.
This is sheer speculation on my part however, although i hope that this will encourage qualified practitioners to consider this and do the necessary research.
I think I can offer an explanation for this.
In adult humans, both males and females produce considerable levels of two sex hormones, the withdrawl of which, or chronically low levels of which, can negatively affect mental health and cognitive function. In females, this these hormones are estrogen and progesterone. In males, these hormones are estrogen and testosterone (normal male estrogen levels overlap with normal female estrogen levels on the low end). I should say that females also produce testosterone, but most of this is converted to estrogen, and the remaining total and free testosterone levels are something like 1/7 that of males.
Females experience regular monthly fluctuations in their estrogen and progesterone levels. The levels rise to facilitate ovulation and prepare the uterine lining to receive a fertilized egg, and drop sharply after ovulation. This drop produces hormone withdrawl, and the effects of the hormone withdrawl on the brain are responsible for the change in mental state and cognitive issues that some (but certainly not all) women experience shortly before and sometimes during their periods. The withdrawl of these hormones is also responsible for the same issues that some women experience when they hit menopause.
Males do not typically experience such problems because their two hormones, testosterone and estrogen, do not fluctuate to nearly the same degree, and while their estrogen levels are typically the same as the estrogen levels in women who are experiencing such symptoms, because their testosterone typically never drops drastically, they are usually spared the symptoms of hormone withdrawl/deficiency.
Because your testosterone levels were clinically low, and your estrogen levels are already low, you experienced hormone withdrawl/deficiency symptoms. This will typically amplify any pre-existing difficulties you have.
So dosing people on the spectrum with testosterone, when they have normal hormone levels to begin with, will likely not alleviate their symptoms. Additionally, in males with normal testosterone levels, exposure to exogenous testosterone can result in testicular atrophy, resulting in infertility and making them forever dependent on exogenous testosterone, or their body may convert the excess testosterone to estrogen, causing breast formation. In females, dosing with exogenous testosterone at high enough levels for a long enough time will cause virilization.
22 Dec 2016, 6:50 pm
