[HN Gopher] Vasopressin deficiency: driver of social impairment ...
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       Vasopressin deficiency: driver of social impairment and fluid
       imbalance in ASD? [pdf]
        
       Author : jbotz
       Score  : 124 points
       Date   : 2024-03-23 08:05 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (med.stanford.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (med.stanford.edu)
        
       | FrustratedMonky wrote:
       | Doing quick search, there is also interactions between
       | Vasopressin and salt and blood pressure. Could ASD be helped by
       | reducing salt? or increasing salt?
       | 
       | I'm not knowledgeable enough to untangle all of the studies where
       | these terms are also used, which I guess is part of the problem
       | this paper is pointing out, that the terminology/naming is
       | confusing.
       | 
       | Is this saying if you have blood pressure problems you might also
       | be at risk of ASD.
       | 
       | Or opposite, if you have ASD, you might have more risk of blood
       | pressure problems.
       | 
       | "The name AVP refers to the hormone's role in increasing vascular
       | resistance and regulating blood pressure (via AVP receptor"
       | 
       | "Given the emerging evidence for central AVP signaling
       | abnormalities in ASD, we would expect individuals with ASD, or a
       | subgroup of them, to be at increased risk of AVP-related medical
       | conditions and symptoms. "
        
         | notaurus wrote:
         | The article is proposing the latter. Low AVP could contribute
         | to symptoms of ASD. If this is true, they expect a positive
         | correlation between ASD and other better-known issues caused by
         | low AVP.
        
         | heyoni wrote:
         | You're almost there. It's saying that you're at risk for
         | central diabetes insipidus known to cause abnormal thirst and
         | urination in like the next paragraph.
         | 
         | What I find hilarious is that the whole first paragraph is
         | about things being named after scientists and then there's an
         | author named Gesundheit...now I need to look that up.
        
           | zelphirkalt wrote:
           | (Gesundheit = Health)
        
             | c0pium wrote:
             | Sometimes, and sometimes it's a name.
             | 
             | https://profiles.stanford.edu/neil-gesundheit
        
               | colloydi wrote:
               | And very occasionally it's a serendipitous name!
        
               | marginalia_nu wrote:
               | Nominative Determinism is a hell of a thing.
        
         | loceng wrote:
         | One thing I always found interesting is that inducing a fever
         | in autistic people, in some of them it will reduce the severity
         | of their autistic characteristics.
        
           | Solvency wrote:
           | citation.
        
             | meindnoch wrote:
             | Google. https://hms.harvard.edu/news/cracking-fever-autism-
             | mystery
        
               | sp332 wrote:
               | Your citation looks fine, but telling people to Google
               | for citations is just pointing them straight at spam.
        
               | Solvency wrote:
               | "...in mice."
        
               | loceng wrote:
               | Confirmed in mice, observed first anecdotally in children
               | with autism.
               | 
               | I'm blown away we still as a society don't have a system
               | where all of this information is quickly accessible in a
               | sorted way by various trusted organizations that follow
               | specific protocols that people determine how trustworthy
               | they are.
        
               | c0pium wrote:
               | That would require us as a society to develop concrete
               | solutions to determining who can be trusted. That's
               | obviously impossible, so we're stuck with the process we
               | have.
        
               | loceng wrote:
               | It's actually the individual's responsibility to develop
               | an understanding of how one determines what is
               | trustworthy and what isn't trustworthy, and they they do
               | their best to develop that. For example, if someone lies,
               | they are caught lying, the evidence is presented but a
               | person doesn't care or put any weight on that someone
               | lied - well, they are going to rank that person or an
               | organization they are running or still party to.
               | 
               | I'd argue it's bad actors who don't want such a highly
               | organized system that helps people discern easier, a sort
               | of societal wide "fog of war" to make knowing closer
               | towards the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
               | truth - harder; with AI generated images and video
               | coming, I don't know how society will cope with such a
               | thing - where "video evidence" could exist painting a
               | horrific reputation of someone to destroy them perhaps
               | not only economically but perhaps also weaponizing a mob
               | to kill someone.
        
               | Solvency wrote:
               | you mean like the "science" and "experts" paid off by the
               | sugar industry to promote sugar for 50 years while
               | demonizing fat?
        
           | roywiggins wrote:
           | The one that weirds me out is that sleep deprivation can
           | quite rapidly reduce depression, if only temporarily:
           | 
           | https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-
           | releases/2017/septemb...
        
             | salad-tycoon wrote:
             | I did this in my late young years. It worked. Got started
             | reading into "polyphasic sleeping " , we were deluded for
             | thinking it could be a long term healthy schedule but it
             | definitely seems to have given me a mood reset and cured my
             | insomnia.
        
           | aszantu wrote:
           | Some of them also respond to anti biotics
        
         | michaelrpeskin wrote:
         | > Could ASD be helped by reducing salt? or increasing salt?
         | 
         | Personal story here (N=1, not claiming anything other than
         | that). My dad is clearly ASD, and has battled high blood
         | pressure for as long as I can remember. He's now suffering the
         | consequences of 40 years of absolute salt avoidance. 1) I never
         | saw and reduction in the ASD over the past 40 years, 2) lack of
         | salt never changed his blood pressure, and 3) now he's
         | suffering other heath effects, but won't listen to me and only
         | wants to do more of the same.
        
           | naasking wrote:
           | Avoiding table salt thoroughly could potentially lead to
           | iodine deficiency. It was somewhat common in the past so most
           | table salt over the past century has had iodine added to it
           | to avoid this, but it's cropping back up a bit as people
           | avoid salt or prefer to use "natural rock salts" common in
           | fine cuisine, which are not reinforced with iodine.
        
             | hilux wrote:
             | Iodine is in a _lot_ of foods.
        
               | naasking wrote:
               | If it were common enough in available foods then they
               | wouldn't have added it to table salt.
        
               | hilux wrote:
               | IIRC this was added long ago, when Americans ate less
               | meat, dairy, and seafood and were more prone to
               | malnutrition.
        
               | naasking wrote:
               | And yet, levels have been measurably going down, and
               | Europeans are already fairly deficient since they don't
               | have as many iodine supplementation programs:
               | 
               | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9459956/
               | 
               | https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/iodine.htm
        
           | hilux wrote:
           | My prediction: in fifty years, "low-salt" will have gone the
           | way of "low-fat." Too late for millions of people whose
           | health was injured and lives shortened by these terrible
           | fads.
        
             | rafaelero wrote:
             | Improbable since reducing added fats is still as good
             | advice today as it was 5 decades ago.
        
               | hilux wrote:
               | Exactly right. Reducing dietary fats is "as good" advice
               | as it was or ever will be.
        
           | notrealyme123 wrote:
           | His BP could be worse with salt.
        
       | chris_wot wrote:
       | That's a fascinating introduction - they are concerned that dual
       | (!) name of the molecule might be hiding all of its functions!
       | 
       | It looks like naming thing is not just a problem for programmers.
        
         | tootie wrote:
         | When I was diagnosed with a neurological condition that was
         | having mostly physical symptoms, the first-line defense was
         | antidepressants. So-named because they were developed to
         | relieve depression, but really what they do is inhibit
         | absorption of serotonin and/or norepinephrine leaving more free
         | in the body to act on myriad different bodily functions. In my
         | case, it actually caused serious digestion issues. It really
         | clicked for me how everything in your brain is a physical
         | process. Not just motor function, but cognition and emotions
         | are all physical functions of how a very complicated mess of
         | molecules bounce off each other. Autism, Alzheimers, ALS are
         | all just misfiring molecules inside your skull. And it is
         | therefore a given that it is physically possible to realign
         | them back into order somehow. We just need to find the right
         | tool to do it.
        
           | chrisweekly wrote:
           | Yes! This! We are our bodies, and our bodies are biochemical.
           | I'm encouraged by growing awareness and acceptance of things
           | like psilocybin-based treatment for PTSD. Psychobiology is
           | fundamental to... everything a human can experience or be.
        
           | difosfor wrote:
           | Of course there will be lots of molecules involved, but that
           | doesn't make it any easier to understand let alone do
           | something about it. In medicine and especially in psychology
           | our functioning is a huge black box with only indirect
           | knowledge about interactions with certain things at a very
           | high level.
        
           | aszantu wrote:
           | Was an anti- inflammatory diet for me
        
       | hasty_pudding wrote:
       | You can get tested for this if you have ASD by getting a copeptin
       | test.
        
         | mdon wrote:
         | What do you change about your lifestyle with that test result?
         | I have a child with ASD, and also drinks mad amounts of water.
         | But I didn't see any treatment plan if this deficiency is
         | confirmed.
        
           | RobotToaster wrote:
           | Usually the treatment is desmopressin I believe.
        
           | amluto wrote:
           | Find a clinical trial, perhaps? There seems to be a bit of
           | study in this direction:
           | 
           | https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2019/05/hormone-
           | reduc...
        
             | mdon wrote:
             | Thank you for this link!
        
           | hasty_pudding wrote:
           | Essentially if this theory is accurate it kind of shares
           | similar patterns to diabetes insipidus which is essentially
           | vasopressin dysfunction.
           | 
           | So you can Google that and see how that is treated and tested
           | for.
        
             | mdon wrote:
             | Thanks
        
       | mchannon wrote:
       | I've theorized in my book _Fat Gas_ that vasopressin levels are
       | tied to elevated indoor CO2 levels.
       | 
       | Would not be at all surprised if these novel social conditions
       | stem from not going outside enough and from poorly ventilated
       | buildings (especially gyms and conference rooms) and transport
       | (planes trains and automobiles each routinely exceed 1000 ppm
       | from everybody's lungs).
        
         | Solvency wrote:
         | Or dense urban housing. But we're not allowed to criticize
         | that, right. Homes with yards and green space are evil!
        
           | paulsutter wrote:
           | CO2 levels are high in enclosed spaces, not in urban
           | environments
        
             | RobotToaster wrote:
             | People who live in urban environments statistically spend
             | less time outdoors.
        
               | jogjayr wrote:
               | Citation? Won't people who live in small apartments need
               | to go out more often for necessities? I know I did.
        
               | hombre_fatal wrote:
               | In US cities, going for groceries barely entails time
               | spent outside. You drive your mobile living room to the
               | store and back.
        
               | jogjayr wrote:
               | The person I replied was speaking specifically about
               | urban areas.
        
               | 0xcde4c3db wrote:
               | Did your source consider time spent in vehicles to be
               | "indoors", "outdoors", or its own category? It definitely
               | makes a difference.
        
               | SkyPuncher wrote:
               | Oddly, I've suspected the opposite. In my eyes, people
               | who live in urban areas walk for transportation far more
               | often than suburbanites.
        
           | chownie wrote:
           | This doesn't follow?
           | 
           | The co2 level indoors is decided far more by whether you have
           | the windows open (or perhaps if you're cooking) than whether
           | you have people living close by to you.
        
             | goosejuice wrote:
             | Many high rises in urban areas have few windows that open
             | and poor ventilation for cooking. There is a relationship,
             | although maybe not as large as parent is implying.
        
           | kiba wrote:
           | Actually, roads and parking garage and driveways take up
           | spaces that could be used for parks and greenery. You could
           | have tramways with grassy cover, for example.
           | 
           | Every time when I drive to anywhere, I am surrounded by five
           | lane stroads.
           | 
           | By removing all these spaces for cars, you could add back in
           | green spaces. Houses with backyards can still exists, but
           | they will be closer together. Parks will be closer and more
           | accessible.
           | 
           | Plus you can design buildings to have green spaces, or at
           | least support plants. Special consideration would be needed
           | to make rooftop of buildings green, especially when you have
           | to consider the weight and wind.
           | 
           | Space efficiency in urbanism is the key to reclaiming green
           | spaces in our urban context.
        
             | Solvency wrote:
             | when did I say anything about cars? I say to hell with all
             | cars, replace everything with bicycles and electric
             | scooters. Then we can use lightrail to connect larger
             | communities to one another.
        
           | klausa wrote:
           | You'll have lower CO2 levels in a dense urban housing with
           | windows open, than in a home in the middle of nowhere with
           | the windows closed.
           | 
           | The issue isn't the higher amount of CO2 in the ambient air
           | in the cities (AIUI it is; marginally; but it doesn't
           | matter); it's that CO2 is very good at concentrating in
           | enclosed spaces.
        
             | Solvency wrote:
             | literally only in the currently designed world dominated by
             | large cars, which is equally outrageous. Nuke the entire
             | nonsense system we have, let people have homes in yards,
             | and force everyone to get around on bicycles and electric
             | scooters and electric accessibility carts.
        
               | klausa wrote:
               | I'm confused; what changes to indoor CO2 levels do you
               | think that would bring?
        
         | tootie wrote:
         | I mean, it's cars. Fossil fuel combustion in general, but car
         | exhaust in particular.
        
           | pc86 wrote:
           | Cars don't lead to increased indoor CO2 levels.
        
             | tootie wrote:
             | Yeah, I'm disagreeing with you. It's not CO2. I won't say
             | it's impossible, but it's pretty implausible. We already
             | know how bad leaded gasoline was at poisoning an entire
             | generation. Modern cars are cleaner, but miles driven keeps
             | increasing and the amount pollutants being emitted are
             | poisoning people.
        
               | c0pium wrote:
               | So cars=bad[?]cars->ASD? Is that your argument?
        
         | polishdude20 wrote:
         | How would this be true for planes? They're constantly being fed
         | fresh air from the engines during flight.
        
           | pc86 wrote:
           | It's true for every other mode of transport but objectively
           | false for planes _in flight_. However, I 'd be curious to see
           | the average when including time sitting on the ground,
           | taxiing, etc., and how that much lower speed affects
           | circulation.
        
             | binoct wrote:
             | The refreshed air in the cabin is driven by engine bleed
             | air (or a dedicated pressure pump) so even at idle power
             | there is nothing preventing a high rate of cabin air
             | exchange. There might still be less air flowing on the
             | ground due to 0 cabin air pressure differential, but speed
             | of the plane isn't a relevant factor.
        
           | uranium wrote:
           | I carried a CO2 meter on a flight recently, to use CO2 as a
           | proxy for COVID risk. The levels were quite high for the
           | whole flight--over 1000 pretty much the whole time iirc and
           | worse on the tarmac.
        
             | c0pium wrote:
             | How did you calibrate the meter for the changing
             | temperature and pressure? Most CO2 meter designs are
             | extremely sensitive to pressure changes.
        
         | squigz wrote:
         | Could you elaborate on what you mean by "novel social
         | conditions"?
        
           | pc86 wrote:
           | ASD diagnoses have skyrocketed in the past few decades
           | (years?) with no clear cause. I'm just old enough to remember
           | a childhood without cell phones - we didn't have a computer
           | in my house until middle school but we were lower income than
           | most of my friends - and people are definitely inside more
           | and outside less than they were when I was 8 or 9 years old.
           | 
           | It seems like a plausible theory.
        
             | azinman2 wrote:
             | Lots of other things have changed, including, people are
             | having kids older (known correlate), the DSM definition
             | changed, and the general awareness has radically increased.
        
             | jplona wrote:
             | I've always understood the increase in diagnoses to be more
             | about increased awareness than about a change in human
             | behavior.
             | 
             | E.g. it looks like autism wasn't defined as a spectrum in
             | the DSM until either 1994 or 2000:
             | https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/evolution-autism-
             | diagnosis....
        
             | Cheer2171 wrote:
             | When left handedness was seen as a disorder and students
             | who used their left hand were beaten, rates of this
             | disorder were a few percent. When the idea of left
             | handedness became mainstream, rates skyrocketed and we know
             | the base rate is about 10%.
             | 
             | Homosexuality was considered a disorder in the DSM until
             | 1974. Self-reported rates of homosexuality have skyrocketed
             | since then. Most likely explanation is that the true base
             | rate has not changed, just society's measurement of it.
             | 
             | Children with ASD in prior generations were labeled as
             | delinquent, troublemakers, retarded, or were abandoned by
             | their parents and communities.
        
               | naasking wrote:
               | You _think_. Let 's be clear about what's a hypothesis
               | vs. a confirmed fact.
        
               | hilux wrote:
               | I wrote a response that argues against your hypothesis,
               | and then I realized ... "do I really _know_ what I 'm
               | saying? Or are these my preconceptions and biases?"
               | 
               | > and we know the base rate is about 10%.
               | 
               | Sinister.
               | 
               | I think it would be cool to be left-handed in a country
               | where the language is written from right to left.
        
             | smolder wrote:
             | It doesn't seem plausible to me, based on my anecdotal
             | experience with an ASD child who played in the woods all
             | the time.
        
             | isoprophlex wrote:
             | Correlation, as the saying goes, does not prove causation.
        
         | Khelavaster wrote:
         | Vasopressin is tied to single-cell acid/base regulation, on
         | that chromosome 3/7/17/X major axis.
        
         | Khelavaster wrote:
         | This makes a LOT of sense explaining how wearing a mask
         | throughout the day observably changes behavior!!
        
         | electrondood wrote:
         | If elevated CO2 increases vasopressin, and if increased
         | vasopressin drives symptoms of autism, then wouldn't we see a
         | large population with autism symptoms in the Midwest or
         | anywhere that people are indoors all winter?
        
           | colloydi wrote:
           | I think it's vasopressin _deficiency_ that is claimed to
           | drive those symptoms.
        
         | callalex wrote:
         | My nephew is on the spectrum (fairly severely). His mother and
         | father are obsessed with air quality and used filtration and
         | forced ERVs for the entire pregnancy and upbringing. Please do
         | not make such strong medical claims without any scientific
         | backing, it is quite harmful to kids with autism and their
         | parents who are already overwhelmed with quackery.
        
           | waihtis wrote:
           | the guy wrote a book on it. so far his evidence far exceeds
           | yours, which is none.
        
             | atahanacar wrote:
             | I can write a book on anything and still have no evidence
             | or idea what I'm talking about.
        
       | grumpy-de-sre wrote:
       | Now that's some serendipitous reading.
       | 
       | I've been on the hunt for possible mechanisms (for further study)
       | as to why last year after trying an SSRI (escitalopram), to treat
       | an anxiety disorder co-morbid to my ASD, that I ended up in the
       | hospital in a hypertensive crisis. Was an all around terrible
       | experience and I hope one day I can figure out WTF happened to
       | me.
       | 
       | Interestingly the BP rise seemed to be mostly diastolic driven
       | and I had crazy excessive urination which made me think about
       | ADH/aldosterone/etc. Seeing ADH is potentially linked to ASD
       | definitely catches my attention! Some of the alternative theories
       | are, I am a MAO-A knockout (unlikely because of lack of
       | intellectual disability), or possess a hyperfunctional SERT (also
       | linked to ASD).
       | 
       | Really excited for the results of the whole genome sequencing I
       | ordered to arrive.
        
       | xhevahir wrote:
       | I was a guinea pig in a clinical trial for a drug that was meant
       | to help with social symptoms of autism, the mechanism of which
       | had something to with vasopressin (I don't know the details):
       | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9260643/ .
       | 
       | It didn't do anything for me and the study got cancelled after
       | I'd been taking the drug for some months.
        
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