What are the ill-effects of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia?
Three main forms of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) exist: the severe salt-wasting and non-salt wasting forms, and a milder form. An infant with the salt-wasting form may have any or all of the following symptoms within the first few weeks of life: vomiting,poor weight gain, poor feeding, drowsiness, diarrhea, and dehydration. Blood tests would reveal a lower than normal level of salt in the blood. The infant may go into shock. Without proper treatment, this infant will die. Male newborns with the salt wasting form of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia will have no outward physical signs except possible increased pigmentation around the genitalia. Female newborns with the salt-wasting form of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia have ambiguous genitalia which may make the infant appear partially or very much like a male. The clitoris of a female newborn with the salt-wasting form is enlargedand sometimes looks like a penis, and the labial folds may be somewhat joined and wrinkled to look li
