Can AS be triggered by early-life events?

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While I'm sure that there is a genetic factor in my case (my siblings, father, and two of my uncles (one on each parent's side) have AS characteristics, but have not been diagnosed), I was wondering if events early in life could trigger it.


For example, I had eye surgery at about 6-months. Would this affect it?

If the eye surgery included a re-arrangement of the neurones and connections in your brain then maybe it affected it. But this is not traditional eye surgery in the way I understand it.

So my completely unqualified unprofessional opinion is - the eye surgery had nothing to do with it - unless perhaps there was a major brain surgery associated with it.

And genetics is a far more likely explanation.

I had eye surgery as well when I was very young, but I have not read any reports stipulating that eye surgery causes neurological disarray. I had birth anoxia also, and that's a more likely an aspect.

You say you suspect your parents as having symptoms of AS? From what I read, parents who exhibit some symptoms may have a neurological imbalance, but not enough to cause them much trouble in life. They might not even realize anything is wrong, unless a functional MRI was done, and those studies are still inconclusive. It appears a really complicated issue as to what causes it, though there are cases where people have had severe aspergers, causing many problems through life, while only one of their parents had only a small fraction of AS symptoms. Parents who don't handle friendships too well, who constantly can't seem to keep friends, or who are overly sensitive or seemingly a bit arrogant a lot may put their children at risk. I have seen many parents who have sort of expressed some minor symptoms really worry about their AS child, such as myself as well as many others I have read about on various aspie sites, to the point that their parents think their child is far more disturbed while they see themsleves as quite normal.

- Ray M -

Here's some interesting info about my parents. My mother is NT, as far as I can tell, but doesn't seem to handle friendships as well as most NTs are supposed to. She has friends, but then decides later on to back off after feeling disinterested. My father, who will up and down claim he is as normal as can be, tends to have a few AS symptoms. He is distant and not well connected to friends. I at one time blamed a lot of this on his family life, who had a lot of girls and two boys, and his mother was a b***h, but maybe there is a neurological factor involved as well. My father claims to be extremely rational, so much so that he wildly claims that he speaks the truth and nothing but the truth. He does refer to it as his own opinion, but anyone who disagrees with him is a liar. He has even called my mother a liar. He understands jokes, though, much more so than I do, so I don't know. I think he has symptoms, but not enough as to where he would seek help. There appears to be some sort of complex with him, though, about people calling him odd or not normal. I used to believe this was due to his parents, since his mother was extremely domineering. I, on the other hand, do not care if I'm seen as weird, so long as I fit in to where I want to be. I'm paranoid in other ways, but I am who I am.

I have also read in aspie books that some female types tend to see AS traits as simply male traits. Why this is, I can't say, but my mother has commonly said this when I express disagreements between my father. It's always a "male thing." My father chalks it up to his Polish descent, and I have heard quite a few people say Polish people are "supposed" to act this way. I'm not sure if that is just an ethnic slur, but given his family, I'd say that I tend to agree somewhat. In my opinion, they're all quite weird.

- Ray M -

I had birth anoxia as well, I had to be sort of yanked out with forcepts because I got stuck coming out or something, I was quite close to getting brain damage apparently so it does make one wonder, it certainly can't have helped.

Neither of my parents show aspie traits, my father shows possible ADD or ADHD traits and sounds not unlike your father Aeturnus because he can also be difficult and have a quite illogical and strange ways of thinking that he is right and the rest of the world is out to get him sometimes, he has mood swings all the time and will occaisionally try to pick arguments. I, on the other hand, have very little mood swings in comparison and I hardly ever show much emotion and my thinking is probably a bit too logical sometimes. I found it best to just ignore his craziness and let him have his rants without provoking him or just to let things slide, made my life much easier because you can't argue with logic against an illogical person (ask those with NT wives ) . I've moved out now and wished I had done it sooner, everytime I go back home I am reminded why I left, parents are like volcanos, usually better admired from a distance .
In fairness I do think part of it is due to his traumatic childhood including being adopted as a baby and growing up in the 50s and 60s with a strict family. I'm fairly certain my grandfather (on motherside) has aspergers though, and I do take after him quite a lot, and I can think of a cousin who probably has it as well, so it's probably something at least partially genetic.

Several websites recommend Cranio-Sacral Therapy for the secondary symptoms of AS. CST is like slow-motion chiropractic: it's defined by it's inventor as "a gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the function of the cranio-sacral system, which is made up of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord."

If you check some CST websites, you'll see that it's recommended for correcting structural problems associated with"birth trauma".

I had birth anoxia too- the placenta I depended on separated from the wall of my mother's womb too soon. Luckily mum was being monitored, as both previous births (1 prem birth, who died, 1 breech presentation who was turned at the last minute) and I went into "foetal distress" so Mum was induced. Apparently I came out almost black in colour, and had it taken another minute, i would have been stillborn.

As for my parents, well, Mum does does not DO a social life-she never goes out except to do work or shopping. However, she has people she is on a friendly basis with at work.

My Dad gets stressed if anything goes wrong or something he;s expecting dioesn't happen. This makes him, shout, swear and pace. He has two hobbies-chess and playing an instrument and these are and have been his ONLY hobbies since before I was born (I am 32). He now has a social life because he plays in local bands and orchestras but this is one drink in a pub once a week, then he leaves. Sometimes he says things that Mum finds cruel or uncalled for, but he cannot see what he's said wrong.

My brother is a quiet and hard worker, and has no interest in sexua l relationships, male OR female. He's just totally not interested.

Julie

I don't know if they can cause it or which did, but these are the possible causes I've come up with yet:
1) Genetic
2) Oxygen deprivation at birth
3) Head trauma at birth (being pulled out by suction machine)
4) Poisoned by either mercury (moms tooth fillings) or possibly second hand smoking.

I know that my (deceased) mother had trouble properly hearing other people speak, which seems it could be related to Asperger's like symptoms, and for the first year and a half of my life, I had colic and my parents found that afterwards, I didn't want to be touched or held at all. I'm actually a little thankful that they held me against their will since that is a common treatment and I believe that it made me the kind and loving person I am now. Of course, the colic could have had nothing to do with Asperger's since that is around the time when AS traits show up anyway. And my youngest brother is diagnosed ADD and is taking Stratera.