Can you ruin your genes?

Before kids my husband and I lead a party life. I excessively drank for 5 years while he experimented with drugs frequently for a decade. The minute we became pregnant it was a 100% turn around and we never looked back. We now have 2 children 28 months and 14 months. Our daughter was recently diagnosed with autism and our son is showing some developmental delays. They are both currently in different therapies. There is no history on either side of our families so is this just from our genes? Should we expect the same thing if we wanted to have another child? Did we ruin our genes?

The eggs and sperm could have been damaged by the drugs and alcohol. There is evidence that spontaneous mutations occur and these mutations are not found in either parent. Sperm are constantly being made so if drugs are no longer being used, the sperm could return to normal. Women are born with all their eggs so any toxins can have an effect. Both of your children are going to need all of your attention. I have only 1 son with autism and he needs both parents and therapists to function. There is also no autism in my family. I have a few high IQ but none with speech delay. The chances of having another child with delays in great. Did you see the family on TV with 5 or 6 kids with autism? Its your decision but I know families in the same situation. No history of autism and then 2 or 3 kids with autism. They do not regret their decision to have more kids but its going to be a rough ride. It is always possible that the drugs contributed to the autism but I wouldn't dwell on it. It doesn't matter anymore because both of you have changed your lives. Concentrating on getting your kids "normal" is more important. I focus on the present and stop blaming yourselves for having kids with developmental delays.
I did not drink or do drugs and I still had a child with autism.I planned this pregnancy and took prenatal vitamins for a year and had a full checkup before getting pregnant. Did my genes mutate? No one will ever know. We live in toxic world and this is contributing to the rise of developmental disorders in our children.
Glutathione decrease with alcohol or acetamenophen (Tylenol) use. Glutathione is an antioxidant responsible for getting rid of toxins in the body. The heavy drinking lowered your glutathione levels and allowed heavy metals and toxins to accumulate. This also weakened your liver. The liver is an organ that also stores toxins. Studies have shown that nearly all of autistic kids have lower glutathione levels. Whether or not this had an effect on your child is up to debate. I just thought you should know this because I am certain no one else would share this info. Research autism and you will find this theroy along with others.
I wish your family the best. Early intervention increases the chances of success . If only my pediatrician had recommended my son into speech therapy when he was 2, he may not be as developmentally delayed as he is now.

Different components of certain drugs can have negative effects on your sperm and eggs without having major effects on the rest of you. I don't think there's any real way to positively say that one thing caused the other here, but it's definitely a valid concern. I'd suggest you see a genetic counselor.

Autism isn't genetic and it isn't brain damage. There is nothing wrong with your genes. I don't know what touched off the autism, but it could be anything from caesarean birth to premature birth to fetal alcohol syndrome, but it's always caused by something traumatic during early infancy. If you want evidence, a lot of it is collected at this site:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/for...

Anyway, have you ever thought it was sort of naive for researchers to assume that being rendered speechless is a neurological defect rather than a natural emotional reaction to trauma exaggerated by the vulnerability of infancy? How about the normal impulse to avert one's eyes from disturbing sights? Wouldn't it seem more reasonable to assume that the autistic trait of avoiding eye contact is emotional rather than neurobiological? Test your children. Buy them a puppy and see if they can maintain eye contact with it.

I'm getting so sick and tired of politically-correct science--an oxymoron--reductionist, childlike, conventional crap.