from Hacker News

Vasopressin deficiency: driver of social impairment and fluid imbalance in ASD? [pdf]

by jbotz on 3/23/24, 8:05 AM with 101 comments

• by grumpy-de-sre on 3/23/24, 5:37 PM

  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.

• by xhevahir on 3/23/24, 7:31 PM

  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.

• by mchannon on 3/23/24, 2:10 PM

  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).

• by chris_wot on 3/23/24, 12:18 PM

  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.

• by FrustratedMonky on 3/23/24, 10:39 AM

  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. "

• by paulmd on 3/24/24, 1:28 AM

  Oh, huh, I have always noted an odd ruddiness/doughiness as being common to certain ASD individuals I know. I always just attributed it to being overweight etc but I wonder if that’s the vasopressin fluid imbalance.

• by hasty_pudding on 3/23/24, 12:40 PM

  You can get tested for this if you have ASD by getting a copeptin test.