Does anyone know anything about the effects of foetal alcohol syndrome in adults?

[BertieBotts]

I keep coming across things recently which are pointing big red signs at my ex. I know it's not a good idea to "internet diagnose" people, and it's unlikely it will do any good as I wouldn't be able to speak to him about it anyway, but I'm curious and wondering if it would help explain some things.

For the reasons why I think he might be affected by this condition - he seems to have no sense of thinking through the possible consequences of his actions. He's almost 30 but acts like a young teenager. Everything he does is about how it benefits him, now, this second. He seems to jump straight into relationships without ever having space for himself just to think. He get angry easily and reacts aggressively, although 99% of the time, it is all talk. When we were together he fit many of the abusive patterns and traits, but then seemed to either tail off/not follow through, or seem to have genuine (if misguided) strands of reasoning for the way he was being. He has ongoing drink and on and off drug problems. He also has the characteristic facial structure, and I know that his mum drank a substantial amount of alcohol on one occasion when she was unknowingly 12 weeks pregnant. He was born in the early 80s - is it likely this would have been picked up?

As I said, I'm not really sure what I am asking for because there's nothing I can realistically do with the information, but I was curious to know if anybody knew anything about it.

Did his mum consistently drink a lot of alcohol throughout her pregnancy? If it was just one binge then I am 99% certain that that wouldn't have caused FAS.

I don't know, I doubt it, though. Something I read said that it can have an effect even as a one off if it's later than 5-6 weeks in. But I don't know much about it at all.

how can you possibly know exactly what his mother drank ?
and if one was a one off binge, unlikely to cause FAS.

anyway it doesnt matter does it ? he is ex? unless you have dc together

Yes we do have a DS together, although he hasn't seen him in a long time. I know because they would all laugh and joke about it as a family, I could say exactly what the drinks were but didn't want to be too specific. It doesn't matter, I was just curious.

Yes a couple of drinks can cause FAS if on a particular day of the pregnancy. the research is still in its infancy though i have read and seen some good stuff.
But I don't know how on earth you could diagnose him accurately and, as you say, not much point.
Always nice though to come up with a "condition" for someone who is a bit irritating!

FAS is caused by prolonged heavy drinking in mid-pregnancy.

Ignore all the silly scaremongering from prohibitionist sites in the US, which seek to reduce women to incubators, and are convinced that sampling auntie's sherry trifle the day you conceived is be responsible for ASD, ADHD, and almost every other behavioural and developmental defect on the planet.

True FAS, with the facial characteristics and GDD only occurs where the mother drinks heavily throughout the pregnancy (and it's worth remembering that most children born to heavy drinkers do not have FAS).

VeryLittleGravitas, that is an outdated take on FAS, research has come along since then and it is troubling. Hence why many medics advise no drinking during pregnancy, they simply don't know how much or exactly when it can affect. But there are specific days of pregnancy, one of them v. early, that have been linked by researchers to FAS.

Imaginethat, please could you post links? Or is the research not yet public?

www.ssbp.org.uk/site/images/stories/ssbp/downloads/Foetal_alcohol.pdf

Check your sites imagine...most of the US ones rely on scaremongering rather then peer-reviewed studies.

They've also widened the definition of FASD so that it becomes a meaningless catch-all. Children with neurological/developmental disorders such as ASD and ADHD, as well as children from chaotic or abusive homes, people with personality
disorders and a host of genetic syndromes would all fit the criteria for FASD.

The physical structures affected by FAS all develop between 12 and 22 weeks in utero.

One binge drinking session CAN cause FAS. There is a milder condition called Fetal Alcohol Effects.

Links please, not unsubstantiated rumours.

FAE is largely discredited (see my comment on FASD)except in the US.

thing is a lot of those cahrateristics of FAS mimic those found in micro deletion syndromes - i woudl like to see all "FAS " diagnosed people given a full CGH array chromosome test - you may find some indeed have a microdeletion.

my ds has many of the FAS features described dysmorphic features and so on and has a microdeletion syndrome. (yes i had the odd small glass of wine during pregnancy but so did i for other 2 dc and they dont have those features)

i dont doubt that heavy prolonged drinking thru out a pregnancy can impact on child and child development - also the environemtnal impact of a heavy drinking mother - but given how much diagnostic techniques ahve improved eg CGH array identifying micro deletions and so on i would posture that many "FAS" are actually undiagnosed micro deletion syndromes. in 1960s there were no such techniques available.

look at the symptoms in many chromosome syndromes - on the unique databse
www.rarechromo.org/html/ByChromo.asp

Check your sites imagine...most of the US ones rely on scaremongering rather then peer-reviewed studies.

Gosh VeryLittle so patronising. Thanks for the advice but I work in alcohol addiction and trust the research I have studied better than your random links.

What parts of the body it affects depends on what gestation was drank at, the central nervous system seemingly being one that is affected throughout the whole pregnancy. I came across this chemcases.com/alcohol/alc-08.htm last night when I was researching coursework into the effects of ethanol on the body.

Have two children with fas and fasd , sorry too much negativity in this area
sure is alifetime disability, but with early interventions and strategies outcome
can be posotive. See www.fasaware.co.uk for support and help.
Our kids are adults now both are in employment and are doing well, all
fas fasd children are effected in different ways.
Think posotive every child has a talent.

FAS is one of those ubran-legend catch-all conditions, one which is particularly popular with woman-haters. There's very little decent, peer-reviewed research which shows any direct causal link between pregnant women's heavy drinking and a variety of symptoms showing up in their children: raging alcoholics can and do give birth to healthy babies who do not have FAS.

Your XH might just be a knob.

SGB, sometimes I just love you.

I think cest deserves acknowledgement for hr very sensible point about microdeletions & the recency of molecular genetics.

I also acknowledge Cest's point. Downing two bottles of vodka a day is not a good idea for PG women, because it's not actually a very good idea for anyone. However, the collection of symptoms that are often categorized as being down to the Bad Selfish Woman's fault could also be ascribed to genetics, environmental pollution, oh and maybe the sperm having been dodgy due to the man's drink/drug problems.

I had a 20-week miscarriage. It was at the same time as divorce #1, I was drinking and smoking.

Doctors: Well, drinking and smoking aren't good during pregnancy or at any time ... but no-one can say what causes miscarriage. Could have been the stress or, most likely, the foetus was genetically unviable.

Everybody else: You were drinking and smoking??!! You shouldn't have done that!

Doctors: Bear in mind that women routinely smoked and drank during pregnancy until very recently. We don't see a whole population of malformed people in consequence, do we?

Everybody else: You shouldn't have done that, you may have caused your stillbirth.

Doctors: Healthy babies are born every day in refugee camps, on battlefields, in famine and to women dying of disease. It takes a lot to stop a healthy foetus. Yours was probably genetically unviable.

Everybody else:

My point here isn't about guilt or blame. It's that the medical professions recognise the huge variety of factors that go to make a baby, and have more respect for nature's power than Woman On The Street does. Everybody likes to think they've got total control over what happens. But it ain't true.

Everybody also likes to think everything has a known cause, but we don't know everything yet - far from it. With ongoing advances in genetics, we'll probably know more soon. That knowledge, however, won't change much. When a child is born with disadvantages, knowing the reasons won't really alter the outcome will it.

Would it help you to deal with him more dispassionately, more sympathetically, BB, if you knew for sure? Maybe you could deal with him like that way, anyway.

My father works in the criminal justice system (in the USA) & he's a firm believer from many many seminars (& a lifetime of experience) that FAS (& related damage from illegal drug use) have huge life long effects, especially to do with relationships and life skills. He's not a black & white thinker, is quite a believer in rehabilitation, & quite partial to a tipple himself too, but knowing that FAS is so permanent helps him to deal with victims & perpetrators.