Why do I have ASD?
I keep reading on WP that a lot of people's autism are caused pregnancy complications, premature births, age of parents and other factors like that. But I didn't have any of that so why do I still have ASD?
- My parents are both NT (my dad's IQ may be slightly below average but does not have an ASD or any mental health disorders)
- My mum had no complications during pregnancy
- I had no birth complications, was born naturally and was healthy and didn't lack oxygen or anything
- I was not born prematurely, in fact I was born almost a week later than my due date
- My mum did not smoke, drink or take any drugs during pregnancy, she wasn't on any medication either
- Both my mum and my dad were in their 20s when I was conceived (my mum was 24 and my dad was 27)
It seems that other people on WP had at least one of these autism-causing risks happen, but not me. Anyone else who knows that they literally had none of these risks but still have autism?
Oh, and how do some people get to not have autism when they do experience complications at birth? My next door neighbours have autism both sides of their families, and they conceived their child (now 20 years old) when they were in their 40s, and the boy was born 2 months early and almost died from lack of oxygen. But he's 20 now and is definitely NT.
I do sometimes get resentful of how some people get spared of autism despite their risks being higher than mine.
_________________
Female
Autism is diagnosed by symptoms and traits. So anything that affects the brain in the particular manner for it to meet the diagnostic criteria is labelled as Autism. So we can't tell you what your particular circumstances were. I know that I am genetically Autistic. The genetic coding runs in my family. I also know that some people are Autistic because of environmental influences. Some people could have combinations of both causes. It is also possible that you have the genetic coding even if your parents are nt. My parents are also nts but I am Autistic and I believe that my biological brother is also. He also has a condition that is sometimes found in Autism families and is caused by differences in the same gene pool as Autism. Some of my cousins are Autistic as well and some of them also have nt parents. The genes can code in several different ways and people can be affected differently. Some genetically Autistic people have Autistic parents. Some have BAP parents, some have nt parents. We are not knowledgeable enough yet to understand everything about how the coding can present.
_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
Wreck It Ralph
- My parents are both NT (my dad's IQ may be slightly below average but does not have an ASD or any mental health disorders)
- My mum had no complications during pregnancy
- I had no birth complications, was born naturally and was healthy and didn't lack oxygen or anything
- I was not born prematurely, in fact I was born almost a week later than my due date
- My mum did not smoke, drink or take any drugs during pregnancy, she wasn't on any medication either
- Both my mum and my dad were in their 20s when I was conceived (my mum was 24 and my dad was 27)
So are mine mostly.
No carriage or delivery complications, mom's healthy on habit, parents are of age less than 30...
Yes -- myself.
Even my lineage doesn't show any strong inclinations of autistic traits.
Nor vulnerabilities towards mental health issues -- might as well had the opposite of that.
My next door neighbours have autism both sides of their families, and they conceived their child (now 20 years old) when they were in their 40s, and the boy was born 2 months early and almost died from lack of oxygen. But he's 20 now and is definitely NT.
If anything, my sister had most of the complications (parents then at their 30s, she got out early, delivered via c-cession...) And got out as NT.
Growing up a bit needy, health wise, but still; grew up healthy and stable anyways.
And she is not a bit autistic -- or ND by any means.
I don't know why. No one knows why.
I just laugh at the whole irony myself.
_________________
Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).
Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.
- My parents are both NT (my dad's IQ may be slightly below average but does not have an ASD or any mental health disorders)
- My mum had no complications during pregnancy
- I had no birth complications, was born naturally and was healthy and didn't lack oxygen or anything
- I was not born prematurely, in fact I was born almost a week later than my due date
- My mum did not smoke, drink or take any drugs during pregnancy, she wasn't on any medication either
- Both my mum and my dad were in their 20s when I was conceived (my mum was 24 and my dad was 27)
It seems that other people on WP had at least one of these autism-causing risks happen, but not me. Anyone else who knows that they literally had none of these risks but still have autism?
Oh, and how do some people get to not have autism when they do experience complications at birth? My next door neighbours have autism both sides of their families, and they conceived their child (now 20 years old) when they were in their 40s, and the boy was born 2 months early and almost died from lack of oxygen. But he's 20 now and is definitely NT.
I do sometimes get resentful of how some people get spared of autism despite their risks being higher than mine.
_________________
ever changing evolving and growing
I am pieplup i have level 3 autism and a number of severe mental illnesses. I am rarely active on here anymore.
I run a discord for moderate-severely autistic people if anyone would like to join. You can also contact me on discord @Pieplup or by email at [email protected]
dragonsanddemons
Veteran
Joined: 19 Mar 2011
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 6,659
Location: The Labyrinth of Leviathan
The rest of my family is NT and the only thing even remotely out of the ordinary about my birth or my mom’s pregnancy is that she had preeclampsia. Personally, I believe that there is no one single cause of autism, that it’s probably a combination of factors and quite possibly different for each person.
_________________
Yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage. For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"
- My mum had no complications during pregnancy
- I had no birth complications, was born naturally and was healthy and didn't lack oxygen or anything
- I was not born prematurely, in fact I was born almost a week later than my due date
- My mum did not smoke, drink or take any drugs during pregnancy, she wasn't on any medication either
- Both my mum and my dad were in their 20s when I was conceived (my mum was 24 and my dad was 27)
Same with me. Perhaps your case is not so unusual after all...
Some people on WP claim that autism is not genetic, but I believe it is, because there are a lot of ASD parents here that have one or more children with an ASD and I don't think it's coincidence.
_________________
Female
Some people on WP claim that autism is not genetic, but I believe it is, because there are a lot of ASD parents here that have one or more children with an ASD and I don't think it's coincidence.
_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
Wreck It Ralph
Many people carry genes that predispose towards autism, but not all will become autistic.
There are environmental factors at play, through both direct toxic and also epigenetic effects. (I've just been talking about that in another thread).
So it might not just be pregnancy complications, it could be toxic exposures of your father, mother or grandmother.
For instance, my grandmother was a heavy smoker. Smoking during her pregnancy with my mother may have caused epigenetic effects in my mother's developing ova. And they became myself and my brother.
Alternatively, sometimes autism comes out of the blue in families with no genetic predisposition. In that case, it is likely a genetic mutation that is the cause.
funeralxempire
Veteran
Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 39
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 28,701
Location: Right over your left shoulder
My maternal grandfather was an alcoholic who died 15 years before I was born. He's probably the most "pathological" person in my lineage.
There's lots of neurosis in my family, I'm the only diagnosed autistic but I'm not very convinced I'm actually the only autistic based on the specific neuroses.
Undiagonoesed adults with autism are pretty neurotic. I don't know how exactly your ancestors are neurotic but it wouldn't surprise me if at least some of us have ancestors who likely would be diagnosed if they were born into this era instead of their own.
_________________
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas, this is part of our strategy” —Netanyahu
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now." —Former U.S. Airman (Air Force) Aaron Bushnell
I don't know if I would say that undiagnosed Autistics are neurotic. I believe that they are frustrated and confused but I don't think they suffer from neurosis. Of course some might, just like there is some neurosis in every part of the population, but I think that most undiagnosed Autistic adults are just suffering from a lifetime of never being able to have their needs acknowledged or met and they are completely misunderstood all the time. This causes immense frustration but I don't think it's diagnosable as neurosis.
_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
Wreck It Ralph
funeralxempire
Veteran
Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 39
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 28,701
Location: Right over your left shoulder
So they aren't prone to behaving in unusual or anxious manners? Whether or not it's diagnosable isn't the point because the lay people who interact with them aren't attempting to make formal diagnoses, they're just judging (and remembering) them as neurotic, eccentric weirdos.
_________________
“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas, this is part of our strategy” —Netanyahu
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now." —Former U.S. Airman (Air Force) Aaron Bushnell
I'm pretty neurotic and misunderstood, but I've been diagnosed since 8 years old. Getting a diagnosis is a waste of time, it just wraps a tag around your neck and you still get misunderstood anyway if your symptoms aren't stereotypical. I've always been frustrated with my diagnosis and in my case not knowing would have been bliss. But there you go, I was just a little 8-year-old girl that became a bug under a microscope and felt ashamed because I wasn't normal and wasn't well-behaved like my NT cousins were. I was actually happier with myself BEFORE I got the stupid label. As soon as I received the label, it had to be blabbed out (by adults) to everyone including my classmates, which was just too much for 9-year-olds to understand so they started treating me like I had COVID or something.
But now as an adult I am finally in control of who can know and I am not going to let it follow me around everywhere like it's my middle name. I am ME, Joe90, I am not Asperger's syndrome. I'm an individual.
I've swept the diagnosis under the rug right now and sure it will probably come back and bite me in the ass one day, but until then I'm quite happy with not having it follow me around. I feel normal and free. Asperger's does not define me. Asperger's is not who I am, it is just something I have got. There I said it.
_________________
Female
Good. Be free and worry not.
I solemnly support such reaction.
I still suck at words.
Ahm...
It is unknown if it applies to all his sons, it certainly didn't applied to his daughters.
Yet still nothing autistic or ND. Or even eccentric.
More like temperaments with it's own set of inclination towards addiction and anger management issues -- maybe a dash of antagonism.
I may inherited that particular trait, when my sister didn't.
Mine happened to be doubled with my mom's own set of traits (which appeared like a non-dysfunctional version of said dysfunctional-like trait that came from my dad's line), something my sister inherited well.
It's enough for possible emotional and behavioral issues -- my own issues beyond autism, and in which autism itself cannot explain or justify and likely only made whatever those issues are less manageable.
It's not enough for autism in particular, trait wise; most of my aptitude, sensory profiles and sets of vulnerabilities came from nowhere...
It cannot be said risk factor wise though, knowing how that particular linage may act in their lifestyle.
If it's done in a linear like fashion, that supposedly made me more antisocial allistic than asocial autistic...
Thus, that's why I thought if I had been or became NT or perhaps just allistic, I wouldn't exactly end up a normal person, living up to normal things and enjoying normal life.
Except that's not just how it works. Or how it ended anyway.
Neurosis? It may be translated here differently. And I wouldn't truly know.
_________________
Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).
Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.