I'm wondering...

[mdlbear]

...what effect andropause might have on Asperger syndrome. I couldn't find any obvious references on Google; anybody know of one? It seems relevant to me these days.

Comments

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

With Asberger having been diagnosed so little in the past, it is possible that no studies have been done.

[mdlbear]

Andropause is a fairly recent diagnosis, too, of course.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, as a diagnosis. As a phase of life, I suppose it probably used to be called mid-life crisis, when it was noticed at all.

[mdlbear]

I think the classic mid-life crisis shows up somewhere in the 40's or 50's; andropause seems to hit in the 60's or early 70's.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

They used to say menopause hit in the 50s for most women; now they're saying that the earliest "perimenopause" symptoms can be noted by some women as early as the mid-30s.

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

Same as for most other men, I should think. Depression, etc. and probably some Really Interesting "red convertibles." Our Aspergian friends have enough to contend with in life, this is just one more cross to bear. Self-awareness and family support always help. With or without Aspergers, yes? "Growing Old is Not for Sissies!"

[mdlbear]

I was thinking more along the lines of "how does the decreased ability to concentrate affect the aspie traits of focussed attention and inability to multitask?" and "is my recent interest in relationships and increased openness somehow related to andropause".

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

1. Hmmm, maybe that could balance things out a little, ideally. A little less pinpoint focus could be good.

2. Sounds like "normal" male middle age to me, in other words Yes.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

It is my understanding that just as women in mid-life predictably gain in things like self-confidence, men in mid-life predictably gain in things like ability to notice and identify their emotions, and increased interest in relationships.

You see a lot of the same kinds of shifts in these sorts of personality things when transgender folk start taking hormones, and it’s my contact with people in that community that led me to paying attention to what kind of things can/may be related to normal hormone shifts in people over the course of their lifetimes.

So it does make sense to me that the things in your second question would be related to the hormonal changes taking place at this time of your life.

As a side note, all times of hormonal shift are associated with stuff like moodiness and forgetfulness, the two standards besides menopause being adolescence and pregnancy. I suspect the brain works best when the types and amounts of chemicals it has on hand for thinking with are relatively stable.

I do know that the ability to multitask seems related to gender, with most men being more single-task-focused than most women, but I don't know if that's related to hormones specifically. It would be interesting to see if male aspie's with the inability to multitask gained some ability to do so at about the andropausal point in their lives, though I suspect at this point, all we could find would be anecdotal.

Another thing to keep in mind is that more and more, it is being understood that menopause is a years-long, often decades-long process, not a moment in time, though the language used by most is complex (perimenopause, etc.) due to the history of the word menopause being used for that moment when the cycles stop (and never mind that it's not exactly easy to determine exactly when that moment has happened!).

I guess the only guarantee in life is change...at least until it's over.

[mdlbear]

Thanks! That's all useful, and also suggests that I shouldn't even consider hormone replacement therapy. I'm finding the changes mostly beneficial, even if they're frequently baffling and occasionally painful.