Nationality

[stacdliw]

1/2 English and 1/2 Scottish

[sugartwin]

Black. And pretty much exclusively so. I donated bone marrow to a man whose family had lived in Nigeria (specifically, of the Igbo tribe) for generations, so my extraction is likely West African. I have an aunt who's very interested in family trees and she did my mother's side of the family clear back to slave records.

Although, food for thought, I have EDS. As does my mother and as did her mother, so it might simply be I got the "package deal" orthostatic intolerance that comes with that.

[Birdlady]

As far as I know I'm mostly German and Austrian.

[firewatcher]

for Naomi.

[cmreber]

Hmmm, definitely an interesting question, and reading through I had no idea about some of the nationalities that might not be at such high risk as others. I am 26, American Caucasian female, with mostly German, some Hispanic and a lot of other stuff thrown in as well.

[icesktr189]

22 year old year old female, I have german, french and irish in me

[CharmedLinz]

Very Very interesting question and extremely interesting answers!!!

This just goes to show me that more and more things seem to be linked up somehow.

I have been ill since birth, on and off things through teen years. Only got to the disabling unable to work point in June of 2009.

Have a Cousin on my Maternal side who is 2 years younger than me who was diagnosed at age 14 with POTS.

As things have been found with her and me, my Family has started to look back at my Mother as she was sick growing up, and now we are seeing that my Maternal Grandfather had eerily strange symptoms as well. Unfortunately he died in 2009 so we can't test him or ask anything we don't already know.

On my Paternal side I am 75% German and 25% Danish.

On my Maternal side I am 50% German and 50% Scottish.

So here's something new to throw into this question, how tall is everyone and their families???

What type of Connective Tissue Problems might be going on?

I am 30 and 5'11". I am the shortest of my affected Cousins. I have been told I have some type of Connective Tissue Disease but it is not believed to be EDS or Marfan's. My joints are not hypermobile, rather they slip in and out of place quite easily.

My Cousin with Dysauto dx'ed at 14 is 6'1" and her Brother with MVP is 6'6".

My Mother is 5'9" and we now believe she had and has Dysauto and POTS, though she can cope pretty well, we think her body adjusted as she grew up.

My Grandfather was 6'4" and we truly believe he probably had Marfan's. He became disabled in his early 40's and diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis. Had multiple heart problems but ended up dying from prostate cancer that entered his bones.

His Mother was pure German and was easily 6'2" was never healthy and died sudddenly and early in her late 50's.

Another question to throw out, what about the HLA-B27 gene associated with a bunch of autoimmune issues. My Grandfather had it, my Mother is positive for it, as am I. Anyone else???

Now for my Father's side of the family that is mostly german, again all very tall and spindly people. I believe my Mast Cell problems come from this side of the family, as well as my thyroid issues. There have been 8 females on his side of the family that have had their thyroids either biopsied or removed (most back in the 50's).

I think I got the double, triple, or quadruple whammy from all sides of my family. I happen to eerily look like the identical twin of my Maternal Great Grandmother who died in her 40's due to kidney problems. She bore 5 girls; one died at 25 for unknown reasons but was never healthy, the other 4 died in their 80's but respectively had.... Hashimoto's, Adrenal Insuffieciency, Diabetes and Kidney Failure, and Acute Pancreatitis.

Now go figure, looking at my Father's side with all the Women with thyroid issues, every single female that had/have thyroid issues lived or is still living into their 90's.

Well that was fun. Anyone know a genetic researcher we can forward all these answers too???

[louloutinks]

I am 42 yr old female, Caucasian from the UK. Also have EDS with marfanoid habitus so expect the pots comes from there.

[lissy]

my mothers family is polish and german

my fathers family is irish and indian

A few people on my mothers side had MS and Rheumatoid arthritis

My fathers side has genetic problems and kidney disease

My mothers mother died in her 40's and was sick unless she was pregnant, she had 9 children I have tried to get more info on her exact cause of death but all I have found out is her heart overworked and she was given some type of allergy med for what they thought was an allergic reaction and she died.

On my fathers side I have 2 people my great aunt and her son that have vasa-vago syndrome.( I think thats what its called)

SO could I possibly link my issues to being genetic or autoimmune and if so is there a specific test to determine that?

[brethor9]

HI

37yr old white female

Mother's side english/irish

Father's side norwegian/welsh/black irish (what my grandma used to call spanish-irish lol)

Bren

[Guest maia]

Very interesting. mostly caucasian female, 40. i was also extremely fit when this whammied me (though i think i may have had it in a milder version for years-if thats possible). half russian polish, other half a bit of a mutt... british, portugese, mi'kmaq... and tons more depending on how far back you go. Im a bit of a genealogy buff so ill stop at those few... for the sake of genetic argument though, i have no asian/Indian continent history that i have found or am likely to find, but the portugese side is dark and will most likely be traced to continental africa when i get into that branch a little more.

Interesting regarding height/connective comments/family history, etc. I think my grandmother has this also and she is in her 80's. many people in my family are tall though we are not. scoliosis and mvp run in the family as well as autoimmune issues and hyperflexibility/double jointedness etc.

[potsyturvy]

22 year old female. German, Irish, Scottish, and Native American. More German than anything else though.

[lgtaylor100]

I am of Eastern European ancestry so I guess that breaks the mold a little.

My maternal grandmother died at age 56 of a perforated stomach ulcer. I remember her as having low energy and spending a lot of time lying on the sofa so maybe she had POTS. No other familial connections.

[GingerA]

Irish and German here too. With a little bit of Native American.

Seems that is the norm. How much research is there about nationality and POTS?

[sandymbme]

I am Scottish, Irish, Dane, English, Austrian. (Also white female.) I don't know about POTS, but my GI doc told me my Irish heritage put me at higher risk for Celiac Disease. My POTS is caused by EDS, which came by way of my Mom's side of the family (the Irish, Scottish, English, and Dane are all her side, what can I say? We got around! )

[yogini]

I am 100% Asian, but South Asian (Indian). I've never heard of another Indian person with POTS before, but in a county of a billion people I'm sure they are out there! It's cool to read everyones' backgrounds and to hear that there are studies around the world. I've read that dysautonomia is common among people who are tall/fair skinned and also people who are Jewish. Familial dysautonomia is almost only in Jewish people.

As for the German/Irish, it may just be that those are the most common ancestries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maps_of_American_ancestries