Hi Shanna,

I am a 31 year old female with CAH. I don’t know exactly when I was diagnosed, sometime within a month old. I am probably not the best person to respond to the question (because I have skipped my meds on occassion for large periods of time), but I’ll give you some info about what my life was like so far.

For most of my childhood I was put on Hydrocortisone and Florinef. When I hit the teen years, I was placed on Prednisone. I was prescibed Dexamethazone when I told my endo that I planned on becoming pregnant, which I am still on, although I’m not prego anymore. I gained weight after each med change. The largest gain was after the Dex, 30lbs plus pregnancy weight. I’m back down to a more normal weight now though.

As far as life went, my stepmother was (and still is) a hypocondriac. I didn’t get to sleep over anyone’s houses, didn’t get to go to the college of my choice, and didn’t get to go on trips unless a family member went with me...all "just in case" something happened. Because of this life was tough emotionally. I had alot of hobbies to keep myself busy. I was lucky enough to hardly ever get sick, only broke a few bones, and only got about a dozen stitches.

I had a huge amount of energy, aggression, and depression, but through it all I’m still here...and I haven’t killed anyone yet :)

My advice, let your son have fun but make sure he takes his meds!!

Amie