Autism

Ugh. You guys know I'm on vacation right?

kingofras it appears in their enthusiasm to share first took a picture of the article he saw. And this unfortunately came off as AI and not a real article.

He did link to the actual article (I am assuming later).

This is a scientific article from a legitimate publication.

What I would like to see is the article posted as a normal link. Then we can all read it and give our opinions.

Correlation doesn't mean causation.

This appears to be the research paper in question: https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0

It's a lot to wade through right now, but it does suggest that this should be investigated further.

Given the highly genetic and heriditary nature of ASD and ADHD, I really wish studies for prenatal exposure included assessments of the mother at minimum and ideally both parents. This would help clarify two important points:

1. Does the child in question already have the genetic potential for ASD or ADHD and if so, does the prenatal exposure to certain medication increase the likelihood of it being exhibited?

2. How much of the correlation between maternal use of certain medications and ASD/ADHD diagnoses is a result of the mother being neurodivergent (but potentially undiagnosed) and hence taking medication for one of the many medical conditions that are statistically more likely to be comorbid with ASD & ADHD? (See https://allbrainsbelong.org/all-the-things/ for details)

Given how genetically complex both ASD and ADHD are (and are clearly multi-factorial in nature) I would expect both of the above points to explain the majority of any apparent link.

Much easier to blame drugs than look at the social structures that cause differences to become disabilities 🤷‍♀️

It looks like a photo of a news story ... in a book?

Yes, I see that other people have linked to what is probably the study being referred to here, so if you're interested, read that.

But the image posted here? This is how propaganda works. Do not just believe unsourced claims at face value, especially when they're presented with the veil of authority.

Are we still doing this? Haven't we already figured out that it has a partially genetic component that's more likely to be active when the mother gets pregnant later in life.

Edit: Anyone else getting AI vibes when zooming in on the image? The distortion is wierd and there's nothing on the page to the right.

I don't think Mom taking Tylenol while pregnant is responsible for my super powers

I wonder if the researchers checked to see if the parents were also autistic or even undiagnosed autistics since autism has a 92% heretibility.

https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0

This seems to be the research on which this article is based. Linking it so people interested in reading more about it directly can find it easily.

Firstly, I apologise for calling this AI earlier. It still looks strange, but it could just be your camera doing some fancy upscaling or something.

As mentioned elsewhere, there's a lot of misinformation about what causes autism, usually caused by shoddy research which is then pushed to easily swayed people. Sadly this seems to be the same.

Having a quick read of it, all 8 of the papers it cites for autism fall into the same trap of blindly trusting autism diagnosis rates from hospitals.

All this paper has proven is one of (at least) the following:

• Painkillers cause or trigger autism.
• Parents who use painkillers are more likely to seek an autism diagnosis.
• Parents carrying an autistic child are more likely to use painkillers.
• Parents carrying an autistic child are less likely to lie about what substances they use.
• Parents who have access to painkillers are more likely to have access to mental health services.

Why are so many people convinced that something “causes” autism? That’s just how my brain is, and I like it. Why don’t any of these horrendous substances “cause” sociopathic CEO syndrome? Or racism? It’s all malarkey.

I'm not going to debate whether or not this is true. I am going to tell you every substance taken into the human body has tradeoffs. It's up to each individual to self-advocate. I'm not saying it should be this way or couldn't be different. It's the way it is right now.

Hey, just one more thing I don't think anyone has mentioned yet.

In your title you refer to autism and ADHD as a "pain". This leaves a really sour taste in my mouth. Being autistic is not painful or a "tragedy" as some call it. Neurodivergence in itself is nothing other than a brain working different than the majority of brains. It becomes a disability only in an environment that is unfit or unwilling to accommodate those differences.

One of the reasons this post was so poorly received is that as autistic people we are confronted often with voices who say autism needs to be "cured" or "prevented". Which is honestly quite insulting. I hadn't had the time yet to dive deeper into the study but it seems to have been done with at least some scientific rigor, unlike so many others. And those studies have been used by well-meaning but also hostile voices to marginalize autistic people.

I'm sorry you've been met with so much hate but I would really advise you to think about where we are coming from and what kind of abuse we have to deal with Especially considering the current political climate. And lastly, please rethink your stance on autistic folk being a "pain" because that's just mean and more importantly actually harmful.

or maybe y'all are so disinterested in autistic people that you think anything causes autism because you refuse to actually diagnose it (and when you do you demonise autistic people)

(in case it wasn't clear the y'all is to the so-called "experts" in the article who are claiming this and not you all <3)

I personally do not care for this post

We know where Autism comes from. (It is purely genetic) I don't see any reason to waste time debating something that is already understood. People who choose to believe Autism conspiracy theories don't look for factual data. It is all about belief.