Hi Dani--

   I have a 3 year old SWCAH daughter. From my understanding the dex lessens or prevents the virilization- the degree to which the dex helps things depends on the individual (and by individual, I mean the fetus!).

   I’m currently weaning off the dex (found out last week we are having a boy) and found that the degree to how it affects people really varies. For me, weight gain and insomnia- really not all that bad; I could deal with that a whole pregnancy. But the other nastier symptoms, for example high blood pressure and nervousness that I never experienced, would have been pretty crappy to deal with. I must admit, tho, I’m looking forward to being able to sleep again without the help of benedryl.

   Remember that the majority of genital development occurs during the 7-12th weeks of gestation. I read something last week questioning if women at risk for children with children with CAH are ’overtreating’ themselves by continuing dex treatment beyond that point. There is also a case study out there with a woman who took dex for the first half of her pregnancy and then drastically reduced the dose of dex or completely stopped (I cant remember which) and still had a SWCAH girl with normal genitalia. I think that there is potentially a lot of wiggle room out there on how prenatal CAH is treated, but since there is already a proven treatment no one wants to alter how things are done for ethical reasons- kinda if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it mentality.

   If you do decide to ’do the dex’, always remember that you can stop at any time- that was kinda the attitude I went in with. My perinatogist was horrified that I would consider not taking the dex, but I told her if I’ve already dealt with one CAH girl, I could certainly deal with another!

    Good luck--

MarthaF