Please do not use hermaphrodite and CAH in the same story... unless you
really define CAH!!! I would hate for people to be confused over what is CAH
and think that it is related the hermaphrodite in any way. CAH girls do not
have both sexual organs. NO WAY!! They are 100% female with no male organs
what so ever. They do not have male testes or a penis. They produce too
much androgens (male hormones) but they are produced from the ovaries
(ovaries do produce male and female hormones) and not from testes. They
have breasts, ovaries and uterus. The only problem may be enlarged clitoris
and narrow vaginal opening (some salt wasting CAH baby females may have
fused vaginal and clitoris that looks like a baby penis - but it will not
develop into a man's sized penis... the fused vaginal may look as if they do
not have a vaginal - and undecented testes).

You could do a story about non-salt wasting CAH females and the problem with
non-treatment and viralization. One parent told me that her three year said,
Mommy, I am turning into a boy (enlarged clitoris). Strange words to come
out of a three year old girl's mouth. Newborn testing for CAH is a must!!

Women do suffer from non-treatment. Suffering includes: infertility or
irregular menstrual periods, enlarged clitoris, too much male hormones,
facial hair, premature sexual hair growth and puberty, acne, height spurt in
young children but then short statue as adults.

Some non-salt wasting CAH people have it so mildly that they do not need to
take medication. The medication would help them feel better but they will
not die without the medication. If they are extremely ill or surgery ...
without extra cortisol (medication) they will die.

----- Original Message -----
From: <CAHsupport@yahoogroups.com>
To: <CAHsupport@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 6:45 AM
Subject: [CAHsupport] Digest Number 81


> There is 1 message in this issue.
>
> Topics in this digest:
>
> 1. Fw: Research on CAH for fictional story
> From: "Angi Strong" <jaade1@...>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 06:06:53 -0500
> From: "Angi Strong" <jaade1@...>
> Subject: Fw: Research on CAH for fictional story
>
> Here is the response I received from the author. I thought you might all
> like to see what he/she had to say!
>
> Angi
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "K Dorian" <kdorian@...>
> To: "Angi Strong" <jaade1@...>
> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2002 10:27 PM
> Subject: Re: Research on CAH for fictional story
>
>
> > Thank you very much for your response, and the
> > responses of the list members that you forwarded to
> > me. I'm sorry it has taken so long to get back to you;
> > no sooner had I sent off my request than I was swamped
> > on another project.
> >
> > It looks like I won't be able to do the story as
> > planned; it doesn't sound possible for an infant with
> > CAH to survive to adulthood without diagnoses and
> > treatment. Even assuming that salt wasting was not an
> > issue, adrenal crisis would be fatal for an untreated
> > child.
> >
> > I'm still investigating, and may end up reconfiguring
> > the story for a hermaphrodite, or some other medical
> > condition that causes confusion regarding gender. If
> > so, I will still be mentioning CAH (as part of the
> > research the main character does when finally
> > diagnosed), but it will not be a central part of the
> > story.
> >
> > Again, thank you so much for your time and effort. The
> > information you and your list members provided me was
> > able to clear up a great deal of the confusion I had
> > from contradictory information on different web sites.
> >
> > kdorian
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail!
> > http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>