I know I sound crazy saying what I'm about to say but it is the truth as I understand it and I think it's important.
It appears to me that there is a certain modality of thought that occurs much more often in people with hEDS, specifically those with TNXB SNPs. If you're super deep into type theory the odds substantially increase that you have hEDS - it's how I found out that I had it. And this same group is far more likely to be trans than the general population. A link that would be far more obvious if hEDS wasn't so underdiagnosed.
Additionally, it appears to me that mental disorders are often caused by auto-immune conditions which is extremely common in those with hEDS. So with a strong selection bias on math ability and trans and you're gonna end up with a lot of hEDS people who are strongly predisposed to mental disorders. I know someone with hEDS who obsessively studies the link between hEDS and serial killers - not something I want to be associated with the stats were pretty convicting. I do think it is possible that two TNXB SNPs are sufficient to explain why I think the way I do, why I'm far more like Ted Kaczynski than I would like to be. Of note; Ted Kaczynski did consider gender reassignment back in 1966.
Which is to say two things, I think what people are observing is a real phenomena and it is not purely from personal biases, though I'm not denying personal biases play a part in perception. And perhaps with that in mind the solution is in fact in diagnosing and treating the underlying auto-immune conditions. And to put a hat on a hat on my 'crazy' I think people are going to find that GLP1-Agonists like ozempic, specifically at the lower doses, are quite helpful in managing auto-immune conditions, among other things.
In my experience, it can often be trauma that causes the auto immunes. Seeing everything from a chemical standpoint only looks at half the picture. It’s hard to find a not traumatized autistic person for example.
Here’s one - 90% of autistic teens w mood problems reported at least one trauma. 4x likelihood of having PTSD. Perhaps I exaggerated the totality but I do think the science is in on whether autistic people are more traumatized.
Thanks for sharing. That's an well written study and highlights a side of autism I didn't know about.
However, throughout the study they are very careful to point out both sides of the arrow of causality.
Direction one, autism causes trauma: autistic children and adults are more likely to experience traumatic events because of being autistic. This seems relatively well known known and, sadly, understandable.
Direction two, early childhood trauma causes autism: the study says that while there is data showing a link, there's not enough for it to be clear. It definitely seems that far from all children who experience trauma will develop autism, and also that far from all autistic children got that way via trauma. Obviously this is a tricky area to get data on.
This is not an extraordinary claim; it's an obvious one. Autistic sensory processing deficits make many everyday interactions traumatic, especially in childhood. It infuriates me that this isn't obvious to you and yet you posted a comment anyway.
I interpreted taurath to be saying that it is hard to untangle causality because autistic people are almost universally traumatized. Because we know autism causes trauma, it's very hard to tell if trauma causes autism. A slight variant on this is that we know that some of the symptoms of trauma and of autism are the same, and while these symptoms are often taken to be defining characteristics of the autism syndrome, it isn't at all clear that the etiology of autism causes them through any pathway causally independent of trauma. You'd need to find a lot of non-traumatized autistic people to be able to tell, and it's hard to find any.
I think it's circular, chicken and the egg. Especially if they were traumatized by their parents who themselves suffer undiagnosed auto-immune conditions. People without the auto-immune conditions can go through much more traumatizing conditions and not be anywhere nearly as adversely affected by it.
For a variety of reasons we prefer to stay anonymous. I just throw info over a wall every now and then to see if anyone will catch it. The serial killer aspect to me seems to be a simple function of mental illness/autoimmune and there is no doubt hEDS has numerous autoimmune comorbidities so it would stand to reason they would be overrepresented. No one would bother to look for a link if they assumed hEDS is as rare as medical researchers currently think it is. So the real question that needs answering; is hEDS even rare or is it just uncommon. I have my reasons for thinking it’s far more common than currently thought.
I think this could all be answered rather quickly with high quality Whole Genome Sequencing and a bunch of math so I’ve been going around evangelizing that idea and am working with some people who have independently come to the same conclusions.
could you please contact me on Discord or email (in my profile)? I have also investigated the connections between hEDS, being trans and a specific kind of autism, along with TNXB.
Will do, I was researching generic causes into hEDS + autism in general and came across a post you made on HN in 2021 where you mentioned TNXB. Noticed your technical background and I figured that was far too close to be random. I went from thinking that TNXB is just one of many possible causes of hEDS and super rare to thinking that most definitely I have it. A WGS confirmed it. Word about it is starting to get around it helps that we tend to have similar interests and hobbies. It is statistically blindingly obvious to me but it is surprisingly really hard to convince others. Most people understand the world through a lens of social proof and can’t imagine a world where something like this could remain undiscovered.
It appears to me that there is a certain modality of thought that occurs much more often in people with hEDS, specifically those with TNXB SNPs. If you're super deep into type theory the odds substantially increase that you have hEDS - it's how I found out that I had it. And this same group is far more likely to be trans than the general population. A link that would be far more obvious if hEDS wasn't so underdiagnosed.
Additionally, it appears to me that mental disorders are often caused by auto-immune conditions which is extremely common in those with hEDS. So with a strong selection bias on math ability and trans and you're gonna end up with a lot of hEDS people who are strongly predisposed to mental disorders. I know someone with hEDS who obsessively studies the link between hEDS and serial killers - not something I want to be associated with the stats were pretty convicting. I do think it is possible that two TNXB SNPs are sufficient to explain why I think the way I do, why I'm far more like Ted Kaczynski than I would like to be. Of note; Ted Kaczynski did consider gender reassignment back in 1966.
Which is to say two things, I think what people are observing is a real phenomena and it is not purely from personal biases, though I'm not denying personal biases play a part in perception. And perhaps with that in mind the solution is in fact in diagnosing and treating the underlying auto-immune conditions. And to put a hat on a hat on my 'crazy' I think people are going to find that GLP1-Agonists like ozempic, specifically at the lower doses, are quite helpful in managing auto-immune conditions, among other things.