To think that taking Sertraline when pregnant caused my son's ASD?

Come on people, medicines can have an effect.

DH (on valproate for epilepsy) has been contacted two months ago by the GP surgery to inform him that his meds can affect the development of his baby, if he planned to have more they would switch him to something else.

DS has a speech and language delay, has been assessed for ASD and has an EHCP.

I therefore don’t find the OP’s theory unlikely.

OP, is it possible that you were taking sertraline during pregnancy because you are undiagnosed autistic? So it's actually genetic in your son's case.

Autism in women often presents as anxiety disorders.

People in this thread are conflating 'genetic' with 'inherited'. Autism is genetic but it isn't always inherited.

To explain: scientists think about half of autistic cases are due to spontaneous gene mutations. i.e. it's the genes that are causing the autism, but these genes aren't inherited from their parents. This is why autism is more common in children from older parents, as eggs/sperm from older people is known to make mutations more likely.

It's possible for other things during pregnancy (like heavy metal poisoning) to increase the likelihood of gene mutations, so SSRIs having an effect wouldn't be completely impossible, but they are probably not a huge risk factor.

See: Genetic analysis supports prediction that spontaneous rare mutations cause half of autism | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (cshl.edu)

Or if you have access, you can read this paper which also makes the point about parent age: A Unified Genetic Theory for Sporadic and Inherited Autism on JSTOR

My DS has autism and I’ve never been on anti depressants.

I personally dwell on whether the lead pipe supplying water to our house caused it (water company said the levels are very low) so I get the ‘trying to find a cause’ brand of worrying! The overwhelming evidence is largely for genetics though.

Autism is GENETIC

I tend to agree @RocketPanda but on the whole since I’ve got two girls who are autistic I tend to assume that dh and I probably are, and it explains some of the mh issues we’ve had over the years.

I know people get very anti about self ID but when you spend all of your time fighting for your dc and you are functioning to a reasonable degree, given the wait lists as it is now….

I wish they’d screen for ASD/adhd/ocd/DCD/dyslexia etc at the same time as these one by one diagnoses are so inefficient.

I think if a child has been diagnosed with ASD the parents should be assessed too. It would save a lot of heartache and soul searching.
Anecdotally of the Autistic women I know, most were diagnosed and medicated for depression long term.

I wasn’t taking antidepressants during either of my previous pregnancies even though I really needed them. Both of my kids have ASD and one has ADHD and a learning delay on top of that. I’m currently on 20mg of citalopram and I do worry about the effect on this baby at the back of my mind but it’s the best thing for me and also my family. They need me to be able to function.

I don’t know if there is a viable link between taking antidepressants during pregnancy and the child going on to have ASD or similar but you did the best thing at the time. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Looking after mental health in pregnancy is so important.

The discussion on this thread has mostly been around taking steroids specifically to strengthen the baby’s lungs before an early delivery.

I wondered whether anyone has come across research linking inhaled corticosteroids (such as for asthma), and prednisolone tablets, with increased risk of diagnosis? Or had any experience of this?

I’m not sure I believe there is a single cause either for autism (which is predominantly genetic) or the increase - we do know there’s a heavily genetic link but there may be other causes or things that make it more likely or affect severity etc.

@Guilty85 you’re not guilty, you cannot be guilty when nobody has a definitive answer to this.

how could steroids dawn on you as a risk - this thread is the first I’ve heard of it as a link (and no, I didn’t have any whilst pg with either of my two dc).

you sound like you need a break to see that you’re looking to blame yourself for something there is no blame for. I’ve been there - my friend sent me the research on autism being mostly genetic and it made me feel better. I hope you find some peace.

I believe my ex has ADD and maybe ASD traits - he is undiagnosed. He is hopeless with functioning day to day, no money sense, dislikes crowds and other people, gets very fixed ideas. His behaviours are a cause towards us splitting up and I can see them even more clearly with distance.

Of our four children I would say two have mild traits. My son can be very much like his Dad and struggles being motivated and making friends. My youngest daughter is very self contained, dislikes busy places, can be quite thoughtless and ‘cold’ in what she says or thinks and has a talent in drawing. Neither will struggle in day to day life or need a diagnosis but the more ASD and ND children I’ve seen through my job the more traits I notice in others including them which makes sense in what I’ve seen with their Dad. My other two daughters are definitely NT.

I would say of the people I know, there's no obvious evidence to see that. If anything the school friends I had that had kids with people a few streets away and still live in the same area have a higher % of kids with disabilities and other conditions than my university and work friends who met partners 100 miles+ away from home.

I didn't take sertraline in my first pregnancy and my child is autistic

Took it in my second pregnancy and that child is neurotypical

So no I don't think it's an issue plus autism is hereditary anyway

2 of my 3 DC are autistic. Those are the two pregnancies that I did not take sertraline. The one that is not autistic is the one that I took sertraline throughout the pregnancy. So there's no link at all.

I think its better to say that the current theory is that its genetic, and that doesnt account for every instance.

Our understanding of a number of different disorders change over decades/centuries as more and more research and investigation takes place about the human brain. We know very little about it

OP, there is so much we don't know medically. People are still doing research and I was being followed in a special unit whilst pregnant due to increased risks.
The highly regarded specialist, who is well known in medical circles for his research and results, was very concerned about the possible correlation between slightly premature birth (36,37 weeks), and asd. Others have mentioned steroids, when these are still being pushed in many hospitals (he steered us clear of those).

This article is quite helpful: suggests a possibility of it being a small factor but ultimately reassuring : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9963091/#:~:text=SSRI%20exposure%20to%20fetal%20through,model%20of%20autism%20%5B29%5D.

I say this not to worry you because you are worried already. Rather, to avoid gaslighting you. Truthfully we don't know if sertraline was remotely a small contributing factor, but it's unlikely to be more than that and in all likelihood wasn't a factor at all.

Anecdotally, I took sertraline in pregnancy and my dd is not affected. You didn't do anything different from me.

Hugs to you.

No they ask about these things because they could indicate other issues that are not autism.

It's very common to try and blame yourself, my eldest daughter is ASD & ADHD, she had a very long and traumatic birth, as a result I really struggled to bond initially. I was convinced I'd done something to cause it (all the pregnancy & birth questions during diagnosis dont help) but its simply not true x

I didn't touch alcohol or smoke, ate a very healthy diet, did everything you "should" do.

My son is diagnosed ASD. It is just one of those thing's.

ASD is heritable. But it’s not 100% heritable in the way that say eye colour is. So there are contributing environmental factors. Some
of them are quite well established now (maternal/paternal age, stress exposure in pregnancy) and others are not. I don’t know of any established link between sertraline and ASD but I do know of a correlation between depression and ASD. So it seems a lot more likely that your link is there OP. You can’t change the past, who you are, who your son is. You can just love him and support him as best you can which is, I’m sure, what you already do every day.

I don’t think that is true, we just haven’t found out yet.

I can't recall being asked if I took any medication whilst pregnant when my dd was being assessed.
I was asked if it was a normal birth, it wasn't, it was a ventouse delivery.
That made me wonder if they were gathering data into delivery method outcomes 🤔

My sons' neurodiversity was almost certainly inherited from both sides of the family. However, their outcomes and life chances have almost certainly been affected by the quality and level of support they received, and the co-occurrence of serious mental illness (some of which is also almost certainly inherited).