Birth Defects

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Sometimes I feel like a walking birth defect. I have, in my collection: curvey middle fingers, a somewhat large head, left-handedness, a slightly concaved sternum, a spontaneous patch of brown in one of my eyes, and a tail. Just kidding about that last one. Seriously, everything else looks great. Anyway, I was curious to know if the incidence of brith defects like these is higher in people with AS or if it's something everyone has to deal with, or if it's something just I have to deal with. Do any of you have "interesting" little facets like these?

Some of my vertebrae never separated properly, so I have a few vertebrae where the "dorsals" are fused together. That apparently predisposes me to scoliosis, which I was told I had a mild case of. It also means that my back is very inflexible.
Other than that (which I guess is a fairly major one?), I think I'm pretty defect-free. Barring stuff that came later, like bad eyesight and skin conditions.

I have a slightly concave sternum too. And flat feet.

Hmm, well, I have a total of two eyes, I was only born with one nose, believe it or not I've got a total of TEN toes, and to top it all off I have these things medicals call Irises.

I wish I had a tail. Not for any function, but because I like tails. I can't stop playing with the one my cat has.

My son (most likely AS) was born with webbed fingers on his left hand. Not as cool as it sounds. His middle and ring fingers were tightly webbed all the way up to the nails, so his hand wasn't as functional as it should have been. He also had a much wider, more aquaman-like web between his pinky and ring finger. Anyway, he had multiple surgeries to correct this when he was a year old.

Apparantly, there IS a high incidence of this.

I don't know about your curvy fingers or slightly large head, but....

The patch of brown in the eyes might be in the iris. If so, it is likely a variant of a similar thing I have.

The concave sternum is something I HAVE seen before, so I guess it isn't THAT rare.

Left handed-ness? A number of people, including my mother, have THAT!

As for the tail? From what I have heard, a number of people here may have that! NOT KIDDING! They aren't very big, so you wouldn't know. Ever see shallow hal?

And HEY, some birt defects seem to just come in groups. BESIDES, a could that you have may have been due to an early birth, or something similar.

Steve

Actually my curved, slightly curve small two toes on each foot are not related to being an Aspie. My mom has it (she's NT), my two children have it, many of my cousins (my mom's side and all are NT) have it... so really not sure what the incidence of birth defects common with AS where AS is neurological... now maybe some families just happen to have some other things that just seem to show up with it... *shrugs*

maldoror, your avatar is hilarious, it really cracked me up, especially having read your post before i noticed it...

I have a mild case of Spina Bifida. (For those who don't know, basically one or more vertebrae in the spine don't close completely, leaving the spinal cord exposed which allows permanent nerve damage to happen in that area. The higher the lesion is on the spine, more parts of the body will be affected.) It's a mild case, you wouldn't know by looking at me, but I've had surgery 3 times on my back because of it (to untangle and cover up those nerves) and abdminal surgery once for spina bifida-related bladder problems. I'm very lucky - a lot of people with it walk only with braces and crutches/walkers, or they're paraplegic.

That's my only birth defect. Everything else seems to be normal... lol except for the neurological nonsense going on in my head that we all have around here.

Very long toes. (If noticed, I curl them, and say 'they're prehensile, ya know.' Flat feet. Extreme scoliosis. Bad peripheral vision. (Always bumping into doorways.)

I would think that most birth defects would be essentially neurological in their origin too - a glitch in the messages being passed down from the brain or spinal cord during the baby's development in the womb. (I guess genetic/chromosomal problems wouldn't apply though.) Maybe I'm wrong, that's just how someone explained it to me once.

My 2nd toes are longer than my big toes and I have the family small toes ie. curled inwards. Everyone on mum's side of the family has them and all her children and grandchildren have them so it must be a very dominant trait. I wouldn't really call these things deformities though so I don't think they really count but I thought I would mention them anywhere.

I don't have any external birth defects. I have a seizure disorder, which is fortunately completely under control with medication.

Heh, thanks. Looking at it now it seems to juxtapose pretty well with the post. Emus can make pretty much anything seem better than it is, I think.

On a more serious note
A lot of minor birth defects are associated to autism. I read this in a book called "the biology of autism" by Christoffer Gillberg. The only one I can remember - because my son has it - are webbed fingers and toes. My son's 2nd and 3rd toes are webbed. There is no "scientific" explanation why, only the statistical facts.
Programmed cell death is supposed to unweb the webbed digits we all have in the second/third month of fetal life. I have speculated some gene variant may effect apoptosis more generally i.e. both digits/CNS causing too many cells - but its just my own little theory.

The only thing that I had was a form of epilepsy as an infant that went away when I was 2. Susposedly it was that which caused my brain's wiring to change to that of an Aspie's. What's unusual is that since the age of 2, I haven't had any seizures, which means that I was able to get a driver's license without having to prove that I had been seizure-free for 6 months like most people with epilepsy do.