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

[Guilty85]

So I took about 150 to 200 mg of Sertraline throughout my pregnancy as I am prone to low mood. I remember a doctor at the time said it was ok for me to take it while pregnant and especially if the benefits outweigh the negatives. My son is 7 and is autistic, he is verbal but struggles socially and is very delayed speech wise and emotionally.
I can't help but wonder did the chemicals in the anti depressants enter his blood stream and for want of a better word, give him autism.
If your child has an Autism diagnosis, did you take antidepressants during your pregnancy?
This is something that has been niggling me for years. I don't have any other children so can't compare.

Of course SOME medicines can have an effect on foetuses - valproate is one very well known one recently, the most obvious one is thalidomide.

However, that does not mean all medicines are unsafe in pregnancy. Neither does it mean that antidepressants, or any other medicines, are responsible for autism.

I hope your son is doing ok.

What do you mean by "spectrum"?

While it's true that someone is either autistic or not, it's is becoming increasingly clear that people can have "spiky" profiles.

But arse did yours have absolutely bugger all symptoms when younger?

my younger kids who are also considered NT have a couple of traits each (one doesn’t like really big crowds, the other is a little introspective) and I’m utterly terrified they will take the same route. I now see ASD in girls as a hidden monster. It has nearly destroyed us. I cannot cope if it happens with the others. The anorexia alone was horrific and there was no help until her life was in danger

(masks - yes. We have tried to drill down to the trauma and a lot stems from the treatment of Covid in the school. Scottish kids were masked all day in school and she had no transition from primary and don’t know where she was going and couldn’t see anyone’s face. She has symptoms of PTSD from this and behavioural issues of some of the kids)

@Gruffling I don't think I have autistic traits but I definitely have anxiety and worry about the future a lot

guilty I am the same and absolutely am not autistic. Do you think there is a tendency to label many mental health issues as autism in women?

That's really interesting, so it's possible that the increase in ND diagnosis is a combination of improved recognition and diagnosis, ND genes from parents, older parents generally compared to pre-boomer generations, and individuals settling into relationships with a high level of familiarity and codependency?

ASD requires a genetic/environmental combination of predispositions that leads to a lack of neorusynaptic pruning, which then causes ASD.

Sertraline regulates serotonin. It would not, on it's own, cause ASD.

My son has autism. I have adhd. His Profile is more obvious. He was harder to raise !

I did read once that children born to mothers not living in their home country were more likely to have autism. I felt responsible, although not to blame.

Darling @Guilty85, please stop blaming yourself. I took Sertraline all the way through my third pregnancy and he’s the only one of my children who’s NOT autistic.

it’s not the sertraline but it IS genetic (and you can’t blame yourself for that either)

Pretty much.

Very sociable and friendly. Lots of friends, did well in school. Happy.

The only things looking back were
Mwltdowns after childcare
Being irritable/awkward
Refusing to wear certain clothes.

When she was 10 she had really bad anxiety about a teacher in school. But that went.

But these were only random things across her childhood. Not all the time.

She talked and smiled early. Always maintained eyecontact. Cuddly and loving.

Autism is a diagnosis.
It is not a label.

I did read once that children born to mothers not living in their home country were more likely to have autism

What nonsense.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/migration-and-autism-spectrum-disorder-populationbased-study/484A626477247A7BFAEF8DEDF753B5CC

I can't take that seriously.
It's from 2007 and it talks about high and low functioning autism.

Ok Dr ShellBeach
re 2007- take your pick for more recent studies & metaanalyses

re high/low functioning – did you even read? how can you possibly disagree that these 2 categories exist – "high-functioning autism (defined by the absence of a recorded comorbid intellectual disability, IQ<70 by international and Swedish convention) and low-functioning autism (defined by the presence of a recorded comorbid intellectual disability)."

shell I don’t disagree that this is current scientific thinking. But in my own head there is very much a spectrum and number of traits (also shared with NT people).

my DD hasn’t even got a formal diagnosis as she doesn’t want one but she is clearly exhibiting neurodiversity to me

arse we didn’t even have that. Zero meltdowns. Not even quirky. It was literally as if my child vanished overnight.

Interesting.

Makes some sense, people finding others who "get" them & understand their ND traits and behaviours as similar to their own ... get married, have kids ... stronger probabilities of the ND genes.

............ in my own head there is very much a spectrum and number of traits (also shared with NT people)

No. NT people don't have any traits of autism.

If they did, they wouldn't be NT.

Mine wasn’t quirky. And the meltdowns stopped about 5 or 6.

l feel mine has vanished overnight. She sailed through primary and years 7 and 8. Then lockdown in Years 9 and 10 seemed to change her. She got her GCSE’s. But refused school 1/2 way through y12.

Now has an E HCP, but too exhausted for school.

She literally went from getting 9 GCSE’s to crashing out of school 7 months later.

The fact that 12% of people agree with the frankly batshit OP shows nicely why the UK is fucked

@TheShellBeach

I am not sure I agree that NT can’t have ‘autistic traits’. I share a number of traits with my autistic & ADHD son, but I would not say my traits are severe enough to be diagnosed with autism. In fact, it’s why he was diagnosed later, because I saw much of myself in him (albeit he is more ‘severe’ than I). I do not feel my life is impacted at all by my traits - I don’t fit the ‘impair everyday functioning criteria’ of the DSM-5. However, those around me would definitely agree I have traits.

I think a NT person with traits, or someone on the borderline of a diagnosis, could have a child with the same traits but more severe, thus pushing them over the threshold for diagnosis.

For the love of Christ. I am Audhd. So are four of my five children. I’m really sick of the idea that it’s caused by women being a shit mum while you’re pregnant or the fact the internet exists. I was 42 before I was diagnosed, I’ve lived my entire life being told I’m over sensitive, I’ve suffered with depression, anxiety, I’ve attempted suicide multiple times starting at 15.

What you’ve outlined in your OP is NOT what ‘causes’ autism. It’s simple genetics. Think before you speak on this again please.

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick. To. Fuck. Of. These. Threads.

Someone has already mentioned sodium valproate, the troubling thing about this case in particular is that it was prescribed to pregnant women even though the doctors knew it could caused brain damage to the foetus. It does make I hard to trust doctors and ideally it’s best to avoid all unnecessary medication when pregnant as the effects on the foetus are usually unknown. However you need this medication and the ASD is likely caused by something else.

Yes x 1,000,000!!