Polycystic ovary syndrome - Autism link????

[DeepThoughts]

Does anybody else have any information that would support this theory?
I have quite a lot of personal information that would support this.

I have always suffered from PCOS, I was diagnosed after trying for 5 years to become pregnant. I very rarely had periods. Sometimes I would go for 8 months without a cycle. I have way too much man-hair (chin, upper lip, belly etc...)

To be honest I am like an adult version of my son who is going through a diagnosis for HFA/Aspergers. The reason I say that i am like an adult version is because I have also suffered in many of the areas that he does. Social awkwardness, extremely nervous, OCD, Phobias, control-freak, hates being wrong, obsessive, hates suprises etc...

Anyway, when i started diet intervention and removed certain things from my sons diet (mainly sugar, milk, sweetners and cut down on bread) I also did the same diet myself (since I knew I also had issues).
Well me and my son become quite ill at first. He suffered only with a sore throat and an obvious worsening of his autistic traits (to be honest he looked completely drunk), I got really ill though. I felt a pain move throughout my body from my legs upwards, i was also having strange chills, sore throat and I was coughing up gunk. Sorry to be so detailed but I even sneezed out a huge polyp.

After the illness passed (about 3 days)
My son started to function so much better, he became very loving and the talking was constant. All of his past health issues dissapeared (Excema, Congestion, water eyes, red ears/cheeks, Sleep disturbances, constipation).
All of the same issues in me got better too, i was never congested though.

Well It gets even stranger. Could be mind over matter, but after the illness. I felt so much better. My nervousness improved by miles. I stopped being so obsessive and I also got my first period in about 5 months. Stranger still I got my next one 30 days later.

As the months went by I gradually introduced some of the items back into my sons diet in small amounts with no problems (all except sweetners).

I feel that my system has been so clogged up from a very poor diet (too much bread). I also feel that my son has inherited this from me during pregnancy or shortly after.

I know that both Autism and PCOS have been linked to high testosterone. I was just curious if anybody else had any other similar experience.

Boo hoo!, wrote a lovely long answer to you Deepthoughts and then accidently deleted it.

Anyway, I too have wondered about this. When I read about the link between testosterone levels in the womb and autism I thought of my PCOS (and discussed with dh at the time) as my hairy face certainly suggests male hormones. I did have a lot of difficulty getting pregnant due to my cycle being all over the place (longest I think was 5 months without anything) and I thought, what if I had some kind of hormone surge just at the wrong time in ds's development?
I do look at ds and see a lot of a younger me in him, although most of my problems seem to have been put down to extreme shyness. I didn't speak to anyone at school until I reached juniors (have a few vivid memories of wanting to join in playground games but not knowing how) and after that I still struggled socially. Even until my late-twenties I would have panic attacks in strange situations, crowded places etc. When I first started work I would have to get up early to allow time to get ready as I would be so sick and shaking.
There were many foods that would make me gag because of the texture and even now the thought of having something like blancmange in my mouth makes me feel queasy. Ds is a very poor eater but it genuinely isn't just 'fussiness'. I once got him to taste a bit of spag bol and he threw up all over the kitchen!
Also, ds suffers with bowel problems and his symptoms seem to me to be the same as mine when I suffered very badly for years from irritable bowel syndrome. We are both much worse when we are in stressful situations. I have mentioned this to the doctors who have treated ds but they have dismissed the idea that there could be a link so I haven't bothered bringing up the subject any more.
I could give more examples but I've already gone on far too long!

Pixel, I can totally relate to what you are saying. School and Work problems were the same. I gave up work due to stress 6 years ago, and fell pregnant with ds just 1 month later (after 5 years of trying).

Could I ask you if you crave bread and other savoury foods, as this really seems to be my poison because when I dont eat it as much my cycles return. However I will have to be strickter with this to find out for definate.

I know certain foods can raise and lower testosterone levels, I think I may have to look into this

Oh yes, I love bread and savoury foods. Ds and I are both marmite on toast addicts. I'm afraid I've never gone without it long enough to know if it would make any difference to my cycles .
Strangely though, when my IBS was at its worst I could eat any amount of bread, donuts, etc and be ok but trying to eat a bit of salad would be instant disaster. Ds likes grapes but I only dare give him a few at a time. We did try the GFCF diet for 9 months when he was younger but gave it up because it wasn't making any difference.

Yes, I havent been strict enough with the bread diet. Yesterday I replaced the bread with crackers with cheese spread and they gave the the worst ever migraine.
I know that the best help for my son was giving him the multi-vitamins and mineral water.

Have you ever looked into the candida theory?
I heard alarm bells when you mentioned the marmite. I do think that me and ds were definatly suffering from this as we both craved suger so much. Ds was a major milk addict up until January this year. He shouted for milk constantly and he really seemed to get high from it. I dont think he actually had an allergy to it i just think that his system was so clogged up.
When we switched to goats milk (which tasted almost the same) the cravings completely dissapeared. He now hates the taste of cows milk.

I also used probiotics for a little while for both of us, but to be honest im not sure which ones would be best. I dont think that the yakult drinks are the best idea.
I definatly crave every food that would contribute to candida, I think this may be the root cause for most of my problems.

Just to say that we dont buy goats milk anymore, it was just an alternative to get past the cravings.

Hi, no ds has never craved milk so it's not really relevant to him. I breastfed him for 3.1/2 years because we have never ever managed to get him to drink milk in any form from a bottle, cup or carton. Not even chocolate milk shake! I tell a lie - he did once drink a bottle of expressed breast milk when he was very tiny and we went to the circus but I remember it so clearly because it was the one and only time! He did have cereals for a while and I gave him goat's milk then but now he won't even eat those. He won't touch yoghurt and he'll only have a bit of dairylea in a sandwich as long as it has plenty of marmite. Just recently he has started to eat pizza so that's a bit more cheese but he won't eat it any other way. We did think about probiotics but couldn't think how we would get him to have them.