Fetal Alcohol Syndrome FAS: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Children with FASD are nutritionally and socially vulnerable and may benefit from nutritional education and support. A child with FAS will not necessarily have all of these symptoms. Additionally, many of these symptoms can occur due to other conditions. A healthcare professional specializing in FAS can help determine the cause. If you are having unprotected sex and not using birth control, you must abstain from alcohol.

If you’re a woman with a drinking problem who wants to get pregnant, seek help from a doctor. If you’re a light or social drinker, don’t drink if you think you might become pregnant anytime soon. Remember, the effects of alcohol can make a mark during the first few weeks of a pregnancy. Visit these blogs for more tips and information about fetal alcohol syndrome.

What is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)?

Therefore, people who are trying to get pregnant may be pregnant for 1 month or more without knowing it. Most people with an FASD have most often been misdiagnosed with ADHD due to the large overlap between their behavioral deficits. For instance, friendship training teaches kids social skills for interacting with their peers. Executive function training may improve skills such as self-control, reasoning, and understanding cause and effect. For example, a math tutor could help a child who struggles in school.

In some cities, there are clinics whose staffs have special training in diagnosing and treating children with FASDs. To find doctors and clinics in your area visit the National and State Resource Directory from FASD United (formerly NOFAS). There are many types of treatment options, including medication to help with some symptoms, behavior and education therapy, parent training, and other alternative approaches. Good treatment plans will include close monitoring, follow-ups, and changes as needed along the way. Diagnosing FASDs can be hard because there is no medical test, like a blood test, for these conditions.

What are the treatments for fetal alcohol syndrome?

It is also important to consider the overall drinking pattern just before pregnancy recognition, as it is common for the drinking pattern before 3 months of pregnancy to continue into the 1st trimester [12]. Once maternal alcohol consumption is confirmed, physicians should provide objective information on FAS and educate patients on neutral grounds [52]. Above all, it is important for women to be aware of their overall drinking patterns.

• There can also be mental and emotional challenges throughout the person’s life that can impact their social life, education and work.
• After delivery, you should continue to pay attention to when you drink alcohol if you’re breastfeeding your baby.
• FAS is a disease in which differential diagnosis is important.
• FASDs happen when a mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy.
• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person who was exposed to alcohol before birth.

Over time, a number of secondary effects can happen in people with FAS, particularly in those who aren’t treated for the condition in childhood. These are called secondary effects because they’re not part of FAS itself. Instead, these secondary effects happen as a result of having FAS. Damage from alcohol can happen at any point during pregnancy.

Preventing fetal alcohol syndrome

It can cause problems with learning, behavior, and mental and physical health. A doctor may also look at physical health and signs of FAS, such as smaller-than-expected head size and height and abnormalities in facial features. Pregnant women rarely participate in randomized studies on alcohol or other drugs, so there is a lack of data on the safety or prenatal drug exposure itself [46]. Moreover, there are clear limitations to animal experiments https://ecosoberhouse.com/ because alcohol metabolism is species specific. Therefore, new research methodologies have been investigated recently to verify the negative effects of substances by organizing and analyzing sporadic big data through machine learning [50]. An estimated 50–90% of people with FASD are also diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and many other people have secondary mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

The Department of Neurology cares for infants, children, and adolescents with all types of neurologic and developmental disorders. Rivkin and colleagues at Boston Medical Center used volumetric MRI imaging to study the brain structures of 21 young adolescents with prenatal substance exposures and 14 with no exposures. Adolescents exposed prenatally to cocaine, alcohol, or cigarettes showed reductions in total brain volume and in gray matter in the brain’s cerebral cortex, important in many cognitive functions. More than 1 million babies born annually in the United States are exposed to cocaine, alcohol, or tobacco before birth. A National Institutes of Health-funded study led by Michael Rivkin, MD, of Neurology, suggests that such exposures may have effects on brain structure that persist into adolescence.

Quantity of Alcohol Linked to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

There are no medications to treat fetal alcohol syndrome specifically. But certain medicines can help with symptoms like hyperactivity, inability to focus, or anxiety. FASDs can occur when a person is exposed to alcohol before birth. Alcohol in the mother’s blood passes to the baby through the umbilical cord. The more alcohol you drink during pregnancy, the greater the chance of problems in your baby.

There is no particular treatment for FASD, and the damage to a child’s brain and body cannot be reversed. But an early diagnosis and support can make a big difference. A doctor, counselor, or therapist can create a harm reduction plan and support system to help the person start to reduce their alcohol consumption in a healthy way. https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/fetal-alcohol-syndrome-overview/ Sometimes, this means that people drink alcohol without realizing that they are pregnant. Alcohol is a teratogen, which means that it is toxic to developing babies. Teratogens can interfere with a fetus’s growth and development, particularly that of the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord.