Cancer drugs treating autism?

[Dadamen]

I read some online articles about cancer drugs might treat autism. Because I had cancer these articles recalled my change in social behaviour after chemotherapy. First year or two after chemotherapy usually introverted and asocial I that avoids social occasions became extroverted and wanted to hang out despite being a little odd. But in the last year or two, it is back to old again, introverted asocial and with social anxiety. I wonder if the chemo really made a change in my brain that made me sociable. Or maybe just adolescence because I was 14 and 15 in this social phase (now I'm 17).

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

(I mean this in jest )

Great, now we can all have Chemo Brain!

 

[tree]

@Dadamen

Are you still taking the cancer drugs?
---------------------------------------------
"A low dose of a drug used to treat lymphoma may ease social problems in some forms of autism, a mouse study suggests.

Specifically, the drug might be beneficial for children with autism who carry mutations that affect chromatin, the coiled complex of DNA and protein.

The mice in the study lack part of SHANK3, a gene mutated in up to 2 percent of people with autism. The mice have several features reminiscent of autism, including anxiety, repetitive behaviors and social problems.

A low dose of the drug, romidepsin, alters chromatin and normalizes social behavior in young SHANK3 mutants for at least three weeks..."
Cancer drug shows promise for treating some forms of autism


“In the case of adults with the condition, ongoing medication would probably be required to treat symptoms..."
Reversing autism with a cancer drug

 

[Tom]

"...SHANK3 mutants..."

I kind of like the sound of that one. Better then Autistic, Aspie, etc.

 

[Dadamen]

Are you still taking the cancer drugs?

No, my last were in August 2018.

 

[tree]

No, my last were in August 2018.

The articles suggest that the effect of the drug is temporary, that to
maintain the effect, continued dose would be necessary.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

To be honest, I don't like the idea of cancer drugs treating anyone but cancer patients. I believe future generations will look back and remark that in the early 21st century we were still living in the dark ages of cancer treatment.

The benefits, in my opinion, do not outweigh the damage that could be caused by the drugs that are meant to poison and starve cancer cells. Cancer patients often have after affects of chemo.

I don't trust it. There's no cure for Autism. And some of the greatest scientists, musicians, politicians, warfighters, and athletes have harnessed the hyperfocus and self isolation of Autism to achieve greatness and new discoveries or records unseen by the world up to that point.

I wouldn't wish Autism on anyone, but a world full of nothing but neurotypical social butterflies sounds very exhausting. We need those strong silent types that Autism thrusts upon the world.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Keep in mind your brain is not fully developed until around 26 years of age you have a while yet

 

[Dadamen]

. And some of the greatest scientists, musicians, politicians, warfighters, and athletes have harnessed the hyperfocus and self isolation of Autism to achieve greatness and new discoveries or records unseen by the world up to that point.

And me best in school in biology

The articles suggest that the effect of the drug is temporary, that to
maintain the effect, the continued dose would be necessary.

My effect was temporary, lasting for 1 year or so more after chemo

 

[Ettina]

Even if they work, I seriously doubt they'd be worth using. Cancer drugs have awful side effect profiles, and the benefit only outweighs the harm if the alternative is death. They're literally poisonous, with a LD50 threshold similar to many snake venoms.