I'm hoping to get insights here/see if anything stands out to anyone that could be helpful.
My older sister is 28. She has always had special needs - she has a condition called Sotos Syndrome. Here is a basic description:
Sotos syndrome is a disorder characterized by a distinctive facial appearance, overgrowth in childhood, and learning disabilities or delayed development of mental and movement abilities. Characteristic facial features include a long, narrow face; a high forehead; flushed (reddened) cheeks; and a small, pointed chin. In addition, the outside corners of the eyes may point downward (down-slanting palpebral fissures). This facial appearance is most notable in early childhood. Affected infants and children tend to grow quickly; they are significantly taller than their siblings and peers and have an unusually large head. However, adult height is usually in the normal range.
People with Sotos syndrome often have intellectual disability, and most also have behavioral problems. Frequent behavioral issues include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), phobias, obsessions and compulsions, tantrums, and impulsive behaviors. Problems with speech and language are also common. Affected individuals often have a stutter, a monotone voice, and problems with sound production. Additionally, weak muscle tone (hypotonia) may delay other aspects of early development, particularly motor skills such as sitting and crawling.
Other signs and symptoms of Sotos syndrome can include an abnormal side-to-side curvature of the spine (scoliosis), seizures, heart or kidney defects, hearing loss, and problems with vision. Some infants with this disorder experience yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice) and poor feeding.
She has always been special, but otherwise very smart, has a great memory, very social, loves people, takes some social cues, etc.
A year and a half ago, it was like a flip was switched and she has not been the same since. She developed severe psychosis, was talking to voices, making strange jerking motions with her head, saying she saw people and things that we didn't see. You couldn't even get her to look at you; she couldn't hear us when we spoke. She was in another world. You had to yell her name to get her attention. For the first several days/weeks, she was barely sleeping. She was up at all hours of the night, going outside randomly, walking around. She was very aggressive and spoke of evil things and hurting people. My parents feared for her safety, as well as for their own. They had to admit her to the mental health ward at the hospital. Needless to say, that time was VERY taxing on my parents. They didn't feel the desire to go on in life anymore.
My sister has shown improvements since then. Some days now, she even seems to be back to normal. Other days, it's nearly as bad as in the beginning. They have done every testing you can think of. No doctors seem to be able to have any idea of what has happened to her so my parents have been left to do the best research that they can.
They have altered her diet extremely as per her allergy testing results. She is now dairy free, gluten free.
She is currently taking Levoxyl (T4 only) and a low dose anti-depressant.
I saw this article of Ray's and it sparked an idea in me: Gelatin, stress, longevity
In the context of the excitatory actions of estrogen, and the inhibitory action of glycine, it would be reasonable to think of glycine as one of the antiestrogenic substances. Another type of amino acid, taurine, is structurally similar to glycine (and to beta amino propanoic acid, and to GABA), and it can be thought of as antiestrogenic in this context. The specific kinds of excitation produced by estrogen that relate to reproduction occur against a background of very generalized cellular excitation, that includes increased sensitivity of sensory nerves, increased activity of motor nerves, changes in the EEG, and, if the estrogen effect is very high, epilepsy, tetany, or psychosis.
Not only did the psychosis stand out, but she has also suffered from epilepsy since her teens.
So I asked my Mom if my sister had had her sex hormones tested. She sent me the results of a test she had gotten in January 2017:
Estrogen = 54.0 (reference range given: 27.0-62.0)
Progesterone = 22.0 (reference range given: 6.0-20.0)
Testosterone = 11.1 (reference range given: 4.0-14.0)
I was hoping to see a clear pattern of estrogen dominance, but that just doesn't seem to be the case to me. I was hoping that if I did see estrogen dominance, we could try a high dose of Progest-E for her.
Does anyone still think this is a good plan to give a try? Any other thoughts?
One side note: the estrogen seemed to also be a likely culprit because since she has been doing better the past few months with her new diet, she is still constantly cycling between her "good days" and "bad days". I asked my Mom how long she thinks these cycles go - she said about two weeks good and about two weeks bad. That sounds like a female hormonal cycle to me!! She said now that she thinks about it, my sister's worst days are the couple of weeks after her period (when estrogen spikes) and then she has a couple of good weeks (when estrogen lowers).
Every suggestion is appreciated.
My older sister is 28. She has always had special needs - she has a condition called Sotos Syndrome. Here is a basic description:
Sotos syndrome is a disorder characterized by a distinctive facial appearance, overgrowth in childhood, and learning disabilities or delayed development of mental and movement abilities. Characteristic facial features include a long, narrow face; a high forehead; flushed (reddened) cheeks; and a small, pointed chin. In addition, the outside corners of the eyes may point downward (down-slanting palpebral fissures). This facial appearance is most notable in early childhood. Affected infants and children tend to grow quickly; they are significantly taller than their siblings and peers and have an unusually large head. However, adult height is usually in the normal range.
People with Sotos syndrome often have intellectual disability, and most also have behavioral problems. Frequent behavioral issues include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), phobias, obsessions and compulsions, tantrums, and impulsive behaviors. Problems with speech and language are also common. Affected individuals often have a stutter, a monotone voice, and problems with sound production. Additionally, weak muscle tone (hypotonia) may delay other aspects of early development, particularly motor skills such as sitting and crawling.
Other signs and symptoms of Sotos syndrome can include an abnormal side-to-side curvature of the spine (scoliosis), seizures, heart or kidney defects, hearing loss, and problems with vision. Some infants with this disorder experience yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice) and poor feeding.
She has always been special, but otherwise very smart, has a great memory, very social, loves people, takes some social cues, etc.
A year and a half ago, it was like a flip was switched and she has not been the same since. She developed severe psychosis, was talking to voices, making strange jerking motions with her head, saying she saw people and things that we didn't see. You couldn't even get her to look at you; she couldn't hear us when we spoke. She was in another world. You had to yell her name to get her attention. For the first several days/weeks, she was barely sleeping. She was up at all hours of the night, going outside randomly, walking around. She was very aggressive and spoke of evil things and hurting people. My parents feared for her safety, as well as for their own. They had to admit her to the mental health ward at the hospital. Needless to say, that time was VERY taxing on my parents. They didn't feel the desire to go on in life anymore.
My sister has shown improvements since then. Some days now, she even seems to be back to normal. Other days, it's nearly as bad as in the beginning. They have done every testing you can think of. No doctors seem to be able to have any idea of what has happened to her so my parents have been left to do the best research that they can.
They have altered her diet extremely as per her allergy testing results. She is now dairy free, gluten free.
She is currently taking Levoxyl (T4 only) and a low dose anti-depressant.
I saw this article of Ray's and it sparked an idea in me: Gelatin, stress, longevity
In the context of the excitatory actions of estrogen, and the inhibitory action of glycine, it would be reasonable to think of glycine as one of the antiestrogenic substances. Another type of amino acid, taurine, is structurally similar to glycine (and to beta amino propanoic acid, and to GABA), and it can be thought of as antiestrogenic in this context. The specific kinds of excitation produced by estrogen that relate to reproduction occur against a background of very generalized cellular excitation, that includes increased sensitivity of sensory nerves, increased activity of motor nerves, changes in the EEG, and, if the estrogen effect is very high, epilepsy, tetany, or psychosis.
Not only did the psychosis stand out, but she has also suffered from epilepsy since her teens.
So I asked my Mom if my sister had had her sex hormones tested. She sent me the results of a test she had gotten in January 2017:
Estrogen = 54.0 (reference range given: 27.0-62.0)
Progesterone = 22.0 (reference range given: 6.0-20.0)
Testosterone = 11.1 (reference range given: 4.0-14.0)
I was hoping to see a clear pattern of estrogen dominance, but that just doesn't seem to be the case to me. I was hoping that if I did see estrogen dominance, we could try a high dose of Progest-E for her.
Does anyone still think this is a good plan to give a try? Any other thoughts?
One side note: the estrogen seemed to also be a likely culprit because since she has been doing better the past few months with her new diet, she is still constantly cycling between her "good days" and "bad days". I asked my Mom how long she thinks these cycles go - she said about two weeks good and about two weeks bad. That sounds like a female hormonal cycle to me!! She said now that she thinks about it, my sister's worst days are the couple of weeks after her period (when estrogen spikes) and then she has a couple of good weeks (when estrogen lowers).
Every suggestion is appreciated.
