Thought2Much Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Denyoz's post about his teeth got me to thinking about how many of us have been screwed by our genes in one way or another. Mine? I have a hereditary skin condition called icthyosis. There are lots of variations of this condition, ranging from disfiguring and fatal to mildly annoying. Mine is one of the mildy annoying variants (icthyosis vulgaris, and a comparatively mild case, as far as these things go), but it's something that I have to live with for my entire life. This condition shoots my self confidence to hell, because I never feel comfortable wearing shorts or taking my shirt off in public. It also always made me self conscious when it came to the potential of having sex with someone, because who would want to have sex with someone with skin that looks like a bad case of dandruff? Okay, that's my bit of TMI. What's your genetic defect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryper Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 "Mommy, Daddy snores like a jackhammer." "Yes he does" I know very mild in the grand scheme of things, but still. I think though I may be able to fix part of it with weight loss. Oh and legally I have been blind since birth but it is correctable with ridiculously thick glasses or contacts. Basically I can see, but anything beyond a 6-12inches in front of my eyes is blurred all to hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConureDelSol Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I inherited bad teeth, ADD, an abnormal curvature of the spine (kyphosis), flat feet, the inability of my intestinal membrane to absorb vitamin B-12 and worst of all Behcet's Disease. The Behcet's is a rare autoimmune disease that results in painful ulcers in my mouth and genitals, constant joint pain, overwhelming exhaustion, inflamed sores on my legs, etc. Often, when I have the mouth ulcers, I can't eat solid food and am sometimes restricted to drinking Ensure for weeks. All the water I drink has to be warm, otherwise it makes the ulcers hurt more. They come in flares and I will be lucky if I am not on disability by 40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I'm genetically perfect. I look like this, see? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stryper Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 My red hair, damn recessive genes. Both my kids have red hair and blue eyes. My wife thinks it's lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephie Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I got all of the throw back genes, pale skin, blue eyes, mousy brown hair. Meh. Nothing serious to mention unless I haven't found it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I inherited my mother's (and grandmother's) migraine disorder. The neurologist says, "It's just the way your head is wired" (transl: It's the way God made me!) Thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, no one knows how much I suffer except me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted March 14, 2012 Moderator Share Posted March 14, 2012 God gave me the fattest arms in the world. He meant them to be someone's legs and put them on my arms by mistake.....fucker! I have never wore a tank top in my life and have been self concious since I can remember. I am serious.....My arms at the top, are as big as some people's legs. A surgeon told me I would definitely need the surgury to make them smaller. Exercise will not do it. I actually considered it, but it was $5,000.00, 5 years ago when I inquierd. I will never let anyone take a picture of me side-on. It's not the worst thing that one can live with, that's for sure.... but it really, strongly affected my self confidence growing up and I have never owned a cotton blouse because my arms won't fit into that kind of material. I camouflage them very well with loose fitting sleeves, so you would never know. It's a bitch in the summer cause I won't let anyone see them. I say they were meant for huggin' now..... I also been going for b-12 shots, for years, every 3 -4 weeks. All my nerve endings started acting up a few years ago and I was in a huge depression. Learned that my body did not absorb b-12 which is sooo important for one's nervous system. I also grew up with a huge gap between my 2 front teeth. Made me ultra self concious growing up. That's cost a fortune to fix in my adulthood. Enough information for today.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Bad eyesight - I had to have glasses by age 6 and its severe nearsightedness with astigmatism. Although I spent hundreds of dollars trying to make contact lenses work, my vision sucks so bad I can't see as well with them as I can with glasses. So I gave up on them. Now I have trifocals. They are very expensive and the damn prescription seems to change every year. Yet I have been told my eyes are my best feature. Too bad you can't much see them. I realize many people have it worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I have a hereditary skin condition called ichthyosis. That means you were meant to be a mer-man! (You believe in mermaids, don't you?) OK, now I'm going to read up on it. Did this condition have any bearing on your loss of faith? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denyoz Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I don't feel so bad about my teeth any more. Thank you everyone for sharing those unpleasant intimate details about yourselves. My respect and appreciation for all of you grows by the day. As for my appreciation and respect for a perfect god who makes nothing but perfect creatures with perfect features, it decreases by the hour. No wonder he's hiding -- probably excommunicated himself from his own creation. My teeth are the part of my body I hate the most. All of them have needed repair. I don't know how many root canals I have endured, I stopped counting. Fillings, crowns, sealant, gaps, my mouth is full of them. Each time I see the dentist I have cavities. This morning I went for my annual check up. Result: I need two root canals, 3 new fillings and sealant on 2 molars. I wanted to shoot myself when I came out of there. Everyday I floss and brush after every meal and eat as little sweets as possible. Pfff, the more I brush, the more they decay, I think there is sugar in the toothpaste. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2Much Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 OK, now I'm going to read up on it. Did this condition have any bearing on your loss of faith? Nope. This didn't really have any affect on my faith one way or the other. However, before I was married, I sometimes wondered if maybe God gave me the condition to keep me from sleeping around before I found the "right" person who would accept me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denyoz Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I have a hereditary skin condition called ichthyosis. That means you were meant to be a mer-man! (You believe in mermaids, don't you?) OK, now I'm going to read up on it. Did this condition have any bearing on your loss of faith? This reminds me of my uncle who has this same skin condition. When I was young he used to say he was half fish half human. His house was on the lake shore, I thought maybe he swam too much and he was turning into a fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thackerie Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Multiple sclerosis. At least, I think it might be genetic because my aunt had it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2Much Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 Please note for future reference: do not look for images of icthyosis on Google. I don't think I'll be able to unsee some of that (and it makes me curse God even more if he exists, the fucking sick bastard)... Anyway, I had difficulty finding a photo that shows a case that's as mild as what I have. My lower legs look kinda like this. This also shows up on my back, and to a much lesser degree on my arms and chest. A good moisturizer can help (and I use baby oil on my face), but I keep having to reapply it, or use something like ammonium lactate lotion once a day (which can get expensive). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephie Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Please note for future reference: do not look for images of icthyosis on Google. I don't think I'll be able to unsee some of that (and it makes me curse God even more if he exists, the fucking sick bastard)... Anyway, I had difficulty finding a photo that shows a case that's as mild as what I have. My lower legs look kinda like this. This also shows up on my back, and to a much lesser degree on my arms and chest. A good moisturizer can help (and I use baby oil on my face), but I keep having to reapply it, or use something like ammonium lactate lotion once a day (which can get expensive). Too late. Saw pictures of baby's that had it. Poor kiddos. That sucks and I wish I could say more but words can't describe how sad I am for those kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thought2Much Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 Too late. Saw pictures of baby's that had it. Poor kiddos. That sucks and I wish I could say more but words can't describe how sad I am for those kids. I don't think Stephen King could come up with worse imagery in his worst nightmares, to be honest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephie Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Too late. Saw pictures of baby's that had it. Poor kiddos. That sucks and I wish I could say more but words can't describe how sad I am for those kids. I don't think Stephen King could come up with worse imagery in his worst nightmares, to be honest. I dunno. I watch Spartacus chop off a guy's face two nights ago and it was brutal. However, that was fake and these poor kiddos are real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 This is kind of embarrassing, but here goes: my penis is abnormally large. Damn it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 ... and worst of all Behcet's Disease. Ugh!! I'd never heard of it. I just looked it up. That sucks. I live in pain too, but for a different reason. Genetics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Fillings, crowns, sealant, gaps, my mouth is full of them. Each time I see the dentist I have cavities. This morning I went for my annual check up. Result: I need two root canals, 3 new fillings and sealant on 2 molars. I wanted to shoot myself when I came out of there. I go weak kneed just reading this. Terrifying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Positivist Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 OK, now I'm going to read up on it. Did this condition have any bearing on your loss of faith? Nope. This didn't really have any affect on my faith one way or the other. However, before I was married, I sometimes wondered if maybe God gave me the condition to keep me from sleeping around before I found the "right" person who would accept me. I used to always try to tie in my experiences with "God's will" too. Ugh. Skin stuff is no fun at all. One of the weirdest conditions I've seen is scleroderma. Yikes. Genes: not always our friends. Edited because I can't type when I'm in a hurry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 O.K., I'll be honest since everyone else is. I am nearsighted, just like Mom and all my siblings. I used to hate it so much I got contacts, but they make cool-looking glasses these days so it's all good. My Dad and my brother have atrial fibrillation, apparently linked to high stroke risk. I had an episode last fall that seemed like it. I've been nordictracking and eating better since New Year's, and there have been no recurrences so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I'm a short, translucent-skinned redhead diabetic. High school was fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugene39 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I inherited high cholesterol from my dad, even though people accuse me of looking a little anorexic. Since I tend to take after my mom's side of the family, I'll probably die of cancer, if something doesn't get by my weak immune system and get me first. But compared to some of the replies I've read, I feel like I've been lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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