A member suggested I may have CAH

[Peter]

Hi Rycharde,

You wrote:


"Regardless if there is a 1% or a 100% chance of giving CAH to my son, who wants to wake up next to a baby who isn't responding, dead. Not I no way. I'm only having one more child and he's going to be my special little guy! I have to make sure he is ok."


Due to the dangers of salt wasting CAH, hospitals routinely screen new born children for SWCAH. It is something that you should expect to routinely happen with your baby. If you are in doubt, I would recommend asking your midwife about the health tests that your child can expect to undergo.

Peter

[neko2]

Well, I'm having some trouble following all of this, and I'm definately not going to wade into the IQ score debate, but about testing for CAH...

The advertising material of forza-t claims it to be an aromatase inhibitor. If that is true, then it would stimulate ovulation. No wonder you got pregnant.

What you're saying about taking testosterone doesn't really fit with 3B-HSD deficiency. The normal regulation of 3B-HSD type II is to act as a sort of switch at puberty to increase testosterone levels. At puberty, 3B-HSD expression is reduced, which causes the adrenal gland to grow and produce more DHEA. In other words, a slight 3B-HSD deficiency is a normal part of puberty. More testosterone causes more 3B-HSD deficiency. So if you had serious 3B-HSD deficiency, why would you take more testosterone? It would just make things worse.

If I had to guess, what you're describing sounds more like 17alpha-hydroxylase deficiency or 17,20-lyase deficiency.

Anyway, a standard test for any form of CAH is the adrenal stimulation test. This involves measuring cortisol levels, giving an injection of ACTH (or sometimes insulin or metyrapone) and then measuring cortisol levels again. This isn't the sort of test you can order on the sly though, since you need that injection.

The other test would be to measure pregnenolone, progesterone, 17a-hydroxypregnenolone, 17a-hydroxyprogesterone, and DHEA. With 17alpha-hydroxylase deficiency, there would be reduced 17a-hydroxypregnenolone and reduced DHEA. With 3B-HSD deficiency there would be reduced progesterone relative to pregnenolone. Being pregnant will affect the tests though since the placenta produces these hormones too. I wouldn't even try to interpret such test results on someone who is pregnant.

[Rycharde]

Haha yeah thats why it made me ovulate! Duh why did they tell me to take it.
Would it cause my testosterone to go up? I want to understand why my testosterone was very high for a female last October.

I'm glad you understand this a little bit better with what I have said.

Still I am just starting to learn about all of these things.

I would like some information like CAH for Dummies please because you are speaking Greek to me, I don't understand much at all of what you are saying and I do have a learning disability, a screaming child and a joke being told about someone having a "fire crotch" in the background by my two friends. I really can not even think at all let alone begin to understand any of this.

I'm saying this because I'm genuinely having trouble as having ADD and who knows what else, in picking this up and understanding it.
I have tried to explain it to friends to get them to help me and they are more confused than I am. I don't understand, please help!

[neko2]

Originally Posted by Rycharde

Haha yeah thats why it made me ovulate! Duh why did they tell me to take it.
Would it cause my testosterone to go up? I want to understand why my testosterone was very high for a female last October.

Ok, first thing to understand is that estrogen is made from testosterone. Your body first makes testosterone, then an enzyme called aromatase converts it into estrogen. There are some drugs which block this process, which are called aromatase inhibitors. These substances cause your testosterone level to go up. Which is, I think, exactly what you wanted.

So... what does this have to do with ovulation? The menstrual cycle is regulated by a structure at the base of the brain called the hypothalamus. This tiny structure monitors the amount of hormones in the blood, and when it's time to ovulate, causes a signal to be sent to the ovary.

The whole point of birth control pills is to add more estrogen so you don't ovulate. If you take estrogen then the hypothalamus will think that there's already an egg and won't try to make another. By taking all this anti-estrogen stuff, you are counteracting the effect of the birth control pills.

[Rycharde]

Originally Posted by neko2

Ok, first thing to understand is that estrogen is made from testosterone. Your body first makes testosterone, then an enzyme called aromatase converts it into estrogen. There are some drugs which block this process, which are called aromatase inhibitors. These substances cause your testosterone level to go up. Which is, I think, exactly what you wanted.

So... what does this have to do with ovulation? The menstrual cycle is regulated by a structure at the base of the brain called the hypothalamus. This tiny structure monitors the amount of hormones in the blood, and when it's time to ovulate, causes a signal to be sent to the ovary.

The whole point of birth control pills is to add more estrogen so you don't ovulate. If you take estrogen then the hypothalamus will think that there's already an egg and won't try to make another. By taking all this anti-estrogen stuff, you are counteracting the effect of the birth control pills.

Ok I never had a cycle for a very long time. I'll give you my times and you can interpret this.

Sept 2 2004 live birth. March 2006 Stopped nursing. April 06 spotting. June 06 Supplements. September 06 2 day cycle. October 22 06 start cycle, October 25 end cycle. Second week of November, Positive pregnancy test.

I have not taken birth control for ages. Not since October 03. I took it 2 weeks to start my cycle. I don't normally have cycles but if I take birth control I start my period.

[Rycharde]

Misae I am thus concerned. Who do I listen to? Everyone tells me something different!
Don't worry, he's fine, you don't have CAH if no ones diagnosed you and if you do you aren't going to pass it on said one person. I have to be with another carrier said another.

I'm getting the screening done, I don't know who is right!

I know I have some kind of CAH because I don't have PCO and I have a very large meatus that shares an opening with my vagina.

I'm very flexible and I can reach my own hand right up to the end of my own opening. I can get a firm grip on a large meatus all the way into my opening. ( I had to explore this and see how far back it went) I can actually grab onto it. So no one has offered any other way that this could happen to my body.
No other reason why my clitoris is always erect, no other reason for my coma in May 05.

I'm still open to suggestions!

But yes I am aware that my child has a phallus, not necessarily XY, possibly prader 5-6 XX Who knows?

I do need to screen the baby, but I will love it either way and I will do the right things when the time comes.

Thats why I asked other members to help me to prepare for the things that might lay ahead. The CARES people were really rude to me and told me I should talk to the hospital.

[Misae]

Rycharde sama, it is hard to see right knowledge through a crowd. You may listen to others, still it is best to study the subject also.

To be a carrier has many variations in severity. Some carriers are hidden and show nothing. Others have as much trouble as a full case. You could have a full case, or be a carrier with symptoms. The way you were born might be from your mother having a full case. Your baby's father could be a silent carrier, or safe.

This gives many combinations. If you test yourself and your baby, then you can both stay healthy. If you have a adrenal condition and then take testosterone, you could have more comas.

[neko2]

Originally Posted by Rycharde

Sept 2 2004 live birth. March 2006 Stopped nursing. April 06 spotting. June 06 Supplements. September 06 2 day cycle. October 22 06 start cycle, October 25 end cycle. Second week of November, Positive pregnancy test.

Lactation can stop your period. This doesn't seem all that unusual.

[Rycharde]

Neko, I was second in line for leadership at the branch of the le leche league in my community two years ago.
Lactation typically stops menstruation for up to six months. In some cases we had seen eight. Never eighteen. Never twenty. I did not have Any periods for two years. I spotted. This is unheard of if lactation is the cause.

I've had maybe four or five periods in my life. I haven't been lactating since I was 14.

Yes lactation stops periods, but not for long. Commonly 3-4 months even if the parent continues to nurse for years.

Don't think I didn't know that much.

WB to me my modem crashed, good to be back I guess.