adult onset of autism

[Guest guest]

Hi. I've been lurking for a long time and have seen little on adult

onset. Have any of you? Around 22 her behaviors changed; apathy,more

twirling,less speech,etc. Its been really shocking. I was so adjusted

to the DS, a happy kid, good times; and then bam! she regressed. There

isnt any physical reasons. My Dr.says she has early Alzheimers. I'v

never seen anything on Alzheimers at such an early age. Dr. put her on

2 Alzheimers drugs. The only changes I saw were weight loss(which is

great) but nothing much else. Its pretty confusing. How would you

differentiate Autism from Alzheimers?

[Guest guest]

Sandee,

was 23 when he was diagnosed as being severely hypothyroid. It was

after this he was put on Synthroid and all his hormones kicked in and we

began to see him getting more upset over things. We were never able to get

the Synthroid up to therapeutic dose until five years later when he was put

on Tegretol for a mood stabilizer. Then at age 41 was diagnosed with

the autism. Some doctor’s don’t agree. In my research I have an article

that a psychologist referred me to that a Dr in Sweden wrote that states,

“It has been suggested that untreated hypothyroidism from infancy or early

childhood may cause autism (Gillberg et al 1992). The article was written

by Peder Rasmussen MD PhD Title: Autistic disorders in Down syndrome:

background factors and clinical correlates. It was published in the

Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 2001, 43:750-754.

As far as your question as to how to differentiate Autism from Alzheimers I

will check around and see if I can find anything on this.

Louise, Mom to soon to be 45, DS, Deaf, ASD

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Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:48 pm (PST)

Hi. I've been lurking for a long time and have seen little on adult

onset. Have any of you? Around 22 her behaviors changed; apathy,more

twirling,less speech,etc. Its been really shocking. I was so adjusted

to the DS, a happy kid, good times; and then bam! she regressed. There

isnt any physical reasons. My Dr. says she has early Alzheimers. I'v

never seen anything on Alzheimers at such an early age. Dr. put her on

2 Alzheimers drugs. The only changes I saw were weight loss(which is

great) but nothing much else. Its pretty confusing. How would you

differentiate Autism from Alzheimers?

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6:32 PM

[Guest guest]

Hi Sandee,

This book has received excellent press; it probably should be the

next thing you read.

Mental Wellness in Adults with Down Syndrome

A Guide to Emotional and Behavioral Strengths and Challenges

Dennis McGuire, Ph.D. & Chicoine, M.D.

Available through Amazon.

The two links below take you to an excellent summary (1999) of the

trends for adults with DS; the Adult DS Clinic in Park Ridge Il (as

outlined in the article) would be another excellent resource for you.

http://www.ds-health.com/adults.htm

http://www.advocatehealth.com/adultdown/

I am not 100% positive but I do not think that by definition autism

would be a later in life " onset " ; mental health issues would be

likely to be more accurate. Autism would likely have been present

all much earlier in life with symptoms not being diagnosed accurately

or else misinterpreted as something else.

For example, there ARE adults who have autism but were not dx'ed with

such until their 30's or later. They were misdiagnosed with various

mental illnesses before that. There is a woman from central Ohio

where I live who went through that and talks very poignantly about

her experiences. I have only heard of adults with DS undergoing

serious depression and mental health problems in their adult lives;

this would be quite different from a true dx as Louise describes her

son 's experiences. I surely do agree with Margaret's suggestion

to get thyroid functioned checked ASAP.

I would also recommend checking to see if there is a listserv just

for adults with DS and pose the questions there as well. I will be

glad to do a search for such a list, but I suspect there are members

on this list who know about them? Also check on the

http://listserv.nodak.edu/archives/down-syn.html . There may be

folks who can direct you to more exact information.

Please share with us what you find out. Many of us now have older

teens- it always helps to have an idea of what could be hiding behind

the next curve in the road.

Beth Pete's Mum (age 17, Columbus OH area)

[Guest guest]

http://www.lleichtman.org/

DSTNI

Sandee....I wholeheartedly agree with Beth's recommendation on the book

Mental Wellness. Above is the website and listserv where Dr. Leichtman hangs

out. I realize he is not all that popular with the anti vitamin brigade but he

has become remarkably more conservative and more fully informed about autism

especially, as well as Alzheimers in the past 10 years. I know that he often

puts his DS patients on Alz meds during their teens and he treats many adults

with both DS and Autism. The list is composed of many with young kids but I'm

certain if you pose your question with Attention Dr. L in the subject he will

respond about the possibility or frequency of such late onset diagnoses.

Good luck and DO get hold of that book. It's fascinating. I started at the back

LOL.

Sherry mom to 18 DS/Autism/Crohn's