GAH!

I commented and the computer ate it!

I left a long, rambling comment about how Wallace doesn’t enjoy any fruits or veggies that are fresh and will only capitulate to fresh fruit on occasion. Everyone else finds this pickiness surprising in such a little guy, but I find it entirely sane because that’s how I’ve gone through my entire life.

I eat healthy things, when I do, because they are healthy and I should but not because my taste buds enjoy them. They all taste kind of grainey and chewy and ropey and weird in my mouth. Likewise anything goopy won’t go down, pretty much no matter how good it tastes. Wallace is the same.

I could feel guilty, but instead I feel all “My SON!”

His dad ordered a chicken byriani the other night and Wallace inhaled a plateful and then demanded more. Because he is also, undeniably, English.

This blog posting is definitely a life reality. This is another example why a patient who is under going genetic testing, or tested positive after a genetic test, should be seen by a genetic specialist. This will help with patients and families understand how inheritance works and what all takes place from intercourse (you know the sperm and egg production during meiosis), too embryonic development, post natal growth, and so forth. Of course the information that will need to be presented will vary for each case.

I think that we need to help educate the general public on the reasons why genetic disorders occur. We can focus on development, consanguinity, preventive measures, family history information, and carrier testing.

We also need do genetic screening for common disorders on a recommended basis. Pharmacetucal companies do it with their drug advertisements.

We can also do premarital and preconceptional testing.

Newborn screening needs to be widened (need for testing for more genetic conditions).

We also need to promote the research efforts for the development of the tools for genetic testing for disorders that are more prevalent in certain ethnicities. This can be achieved through increasing the funds allocated for research activities in the field of human medical genetics. Heck this could be widen to a global audience.
All of these efforts will only raise the guilt feeling if proper education is not done. We need to not only educate the parents, but we also need to educate the children who have the disorder when they grow up so they understand what has taken place.

I think you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head, as far as why some parents of autistic children continue to say that autism can’t be genetic and that other factors must be causing it.

One doesn’t pick one’s parents!

I did a literature search to try and find a study that deals with the impact of genetic self-knowledge for non-disease traits on self-concept or health perception. I was not able to find any studies.

I did a find a study from the journal European Journal of Human Genetics (2005, 13, 1047-1054) that talked about a study that dealt with carriers for sickle cell trait. They talked about the view that non carriers saw themselves to be healthier then carriers. The carriers reported being less happy, less healthy, and less active even though they were carriers for the sickle cell trait.

Blame yourself for passing on “bad” genes? That’s plain dumb! As if we could choose how our children would look like or we could choose who are parents would be.

[...] perfect pitch genes to the list of genes I hope I’ve passed on to my son. Stephen Shankland of Underexposed shares news of a recent study on perfect pitch. The trait [...]

What a great post. We actually have an exhibit here at The Tech that deals with the guilt a woman has for passing a version of APOE4 down to her kids that increases their risk for Alzheimer’s. And another one that deals with one sister who tests positive for BRCA1 and her other sister that doesn’t. The sister without the BRCA1 mutation struggles with survivor guilt.

Genetic testing is difficult stuff. Intellectually you can grasp that your parents aren’t to blame for something awful they passed down to you but emotionally you can still blame them.

When I was a child, I also don’t like vegetables. But as I understand how important and helpful they are, I began to appreciate and even like vegetables. It may be in the genes, but I believe that we can learn how to love it.

True. Parents don’t have to blame themselves for passing the bad genes. Instead, parents should be more resourceful by asking fellow parents, read books, or attend seminars regarding tips and tricks in convincing their children to eat vegetables.