FAS - drinking and links to ADHD and autism

[jb1964]

Didn't know if anyone else had read this today in the Mirror.

 

Big article on FAS (Foetal Alcohol Syndrome).

 

At the bottom of the page it says:

 

Doctors have found that binge drinking - and even moderate drinking - by mothers-to-be can lead to difficulties including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism.!!!!

 

Two 250ml glasses of wine per session constitutes a "binge".

 

I never drank at all during my pregnancy with my eldest (ASD) daughter - I didn't smoke (before they lay that one to blame as well) - I didn't drink tea or coffee - in fact I lived on salad sandwiches and milk because I couldn't eat or drink anything else as I felt so sick.

 

But it's articles like this that will lay blame with mothers whether or not they touched a drop during pregnancy.

 

Take care,

Jb

Edited October 2, 2006 by jb1964

[Lucas]

You can link virtually anything to ADHD and Autism these days, it's amazing. Red shoes even! Do you have any red shoes and if so then how many?

 

The fact is that what these two diagnoses have in common is that lay people have no idea what they actually are specifically; it's even been suggested by one expert on ADHD that the very name is misleading because it's possible for them to concentrate, it's more their perception of time that is a problem. So you can say about fifteen words to someone to and ADHDer and it can take half as many seconds, but they percieve it as very long and just can't keep listening.

 

I haven't even been able to read the article yet, let alone these doctors' study. It might be more likely that they've linked FAS to diagnoses, not the conditions. There is a difference between a condition and it's diagnosis; you don't become Autistic when you recieve a diagnosis after all, you are before.

[cmuir]

Oh really? I don't drink alcohol and haven't done for years. Sometimes I wonder what the government spend money on researching.

 

Caroline.

[Bagpuss]

Ah, Tonight programme covered this topic this evening. Caught some of it, but not all I'm afraid. I was suprised to say the least. The bits I saw mentioned FAS, which I had never heard of before, and amazingly all the pregnant ladies interviewed hadn't either. I also caught alittle of the reference to ADHD....they reported that studies had shown foetus's reacted in a startled way to alcohol, and they felt this may cause hyperactivity in their behaviour once born. Not sure if this was a proven fact, or just a theory though. Didn't hear Autism mentioned in the parts I saw.

 

I must say though, that with all 3 of my pregnancies I was the healthiest throughout my last one, and our youngest was dx ASD. I had given up smoking by then, and didn't drink at all once I realised I was pregnant....although I did go to a function and had got drunk before knowing about the pregnancy. Our eldest is NT and I smoked throughout this pregnancy and drank occasionally.....we were advised alcohol was ok in moderation...ie the odd glass. Now it seems they believe any alcohol can potentially cause problems, which is a concern, especially as the no one had told these pregnant ladies this.

[Frangipani]

Well,

 

I attended Prenatal classes with both my children and followed their guidelines very carefully and I made it an absolute no no to any alcohol or tea and coffee also.

 

My son still has ASD & ADHD so this certainly is not the case for me either.

 

Just trying to find something to blame it on. Try again.

 

 

F.

[Kathryn]

I didn't see this article but this has been vaguely worrying me for some time. The first I heard of this was an item on Radio 4 Womans Hour a few months ago. One of the guests was speaking about her child who had developed foetal alcohol spectrum disorder after she had drunk in pregnancy. As she was describing the syndrome I was thinking "hang on, this sounds very like AS to me" . I got a bit worried during the item when autism was mentioned, almost casually, as one of a range of disorders possibly caused by drinking even moderate amounts in pregnancy.

 

I wanted to find out whether there's any evidence for this and came across this site:

 

http://www.fasaware.co.uk/faqs.html

 

Have a look and see what you think. It appears to me that they are saying FAS is a spectrum - people at the more "severe" end have obvious physical characteristics and difference in brain structure. At the "milder" end of the spectrum people apparently have a range of behavioural characteristics which might look like autism and ADHD. How to tell the difference? If the mother drank too much in pregnancy then it must be FAS. What constitutes drinking too much? This appears to be a subjective judgement based on the perception of the researcher, as safe levels in pregnancyhave never been objectively established. Most of the available studies seem to be from outside the UK and to focus on women who have a clear history of excessive drinking.

 

Looking at some of the other articles, there appears to be a worrying lack of even basic understanding of autism. The writer of one paper states that the main difference between FAS and autism is that unlike autistic people, people affected by FAS tend to have IQ's in the normal range. ?

 

In short, there appears to be no objective evidence of a link and I remain to be convinced. There needs to be a lot more research into it, and it needs to be a lot more rigorous than it seems to have been so far. In the meantime I hope the theory doesn't gain credence or it will become one more stick to beat mothers of autistic children with.

[Flora]

I didn't touch a drop of alcohol before or during my pregnancies.

 

Flora

[curra]

FAS and autism are very different things. Babies with FAS can be diagnosed at birth or during the first months of their lives.

I heard about FAS a long time ago and during pregnancy I didn't have a single glass of alcohol, not even at Xmas or New Year. I don't smoke either, so there must be other causes of autism. Most scientists believe that it's genetic, so why does the media keep trying to blame the mothers??

 

Curra

[Tylers-mum]

My son has both ASD and ADHD and yet I never drank a drop whilst pregnant with him. I VERY rarely drink anyways, maybe7 or 8 drinks a YEAR!

Edited October 3, 2006 by Tylers-mum

[Jericho]

I didn't drink at all during pregnancy. I rarely drink alcohol in general.

[Kazzen161]

I have heard of FAS, but also thought it was only when the mother drank excessively. The report last night suggested even regular low level alcohol consumption could have an effect.

 

One pregnant girl said that she had changed to drinking Guiness cos it had iron in it - she had had 5 glasses (not sure if halves or pints) that night!

 

I hardly ever drink alcohol, and have two with AS. I also tried to keep myself healthy before and during pregnancy.

 

Karen

[Lucas]

I've been noticing the growing trend in trying to tie in Autism with lifestyles too, effectively making it the parents(mainly the mother's) fault and I think there is a vested interest by some parts of the medical industry into emphasising this. Whilst I'm not one for tin-pot conspiracies and I certainly don't think this is an orchastrated massive conspiracy, I think that a lot of doctors researching Autism from a medical standpoint are very aware that there is no medical intervention, so no money to be made from Autism. So they are encouraged in a very subtle manner to follow paths of research that can lead to possible medical causes that can be treated. They can unknowingly miss big parts of evidence that contradict their research.

[Jill]

I did see all the Trevor McD prog & TBH it wasn't that bad. They weren't trying to blame the mums, they were trying to say that the doctors / midwives should really discuss FAS with us when we're pg. They also covered how there were health warnings on alcoholic drinks in America similar to those on packs of cigs e.g. drinking when pg can harm your baby.

 

The main gripe was that the info that IS provided to mums is in leaflets, which mums don't read & if they do it's really hard to follow for e.g. it talks about glasses of wine as units - meaning 125ml but most pubs do 250ml as glasses these days. Also, none of the mums had ever heard of FAS cos no-one had every mentioned it to them.

 

The upshot was that the mums they had on the prog were all pretty much over drinking or even binge drinking without realising it (two glasses of 250ml wine in one evening, constituting a binge). They were all really upset.

 

For the record, I just had half a glass of wine on our wedding anniversary when expecting so I don't see how that could've done owt! But, DH does have three relatives on the spectrum, so I'm firmly in the "it must be something genetic" brigade.

[dooday24]

watever next didnt drink with any of mine lived on water when carrying reece as couldnt keep anything down

[Karen A]

I have a theory on this.If I am off the mark please feel free to put me right.

The behaviours mentioned sound very similar to ASD to me.Could it be that the specialists have seen a group of behaviours,have noted that the mother drank alcohol during pregnancy and have Dx FAS but some of the children actualy have ASD that is not recognised.It is not unusual here to find that professionals do not agree on a Dx of ASD.Both Dx appear to be based on a series of behavioural characteristics.

I would also like to add -when I read the article it stated that FAS could even happen where Alcohol above the small acceptable limit was drunk 3 months before conception-if this is the case how come a large percentage of the population do not have the difficulties described.Karen

[DaisyProudfoot]

Well I've got twins - one with AS and one without. As far as I'm aware they got the same blood supply so shouldn't they both have this condition?

 

Honestly, what will it be next? I reckon it's genetic and that my friends is that.

 

BTW do you not remember when someone linked drinking too much milk in pregnancy to dyslexia.