My sons dr. Is planning to try intranasal oxytocin for him in February to see if it helps socially. My son is 7 with Aspbergers & ADHD. Anyone have experience with it. Helpful?? Side effects? I m wondering how much fun it will be to get him to take a nasal spray! Ha!
Though lower oxytocin levels has been shown in ASD correlating to severity and there are number of ASD studies showing efficacy (and dozen more trials ongoing), it hasn't been studied for long-term use. There are two animal studies showing that long-term oxytocin had negative effect (despite the short-term positive effects) in males (who presumably didn't have any oxytocin impairment to begin with). However, it is unclear how that would translate into humans or in ASD context long-term. As such, I would only consider a very short-term trial and if it is really helpful, then perhaps consider a pulsed approach (series of short-term trials). Of course, talk to your physician about it.