GDD and unusual underlying disorders. The curse/ benefits of genetic variants.

This is an email I just had with a well informed physician with GDD, that I thought worth sharing. Developing GDD may be a bit like opening a disturbing Pandora's box inside our bodies. Maybe many troubling little health issues that all of ur have are genetic- and some of them, through millenia may have had a survival beneficial effect. This would be along the lines of heterozygous sickle cell disease and survival from Malaria, and heterozygous Genetic Hemochromatosis and improved work capacity due to higher red blood cell count. But may rather than two uncommon genetic conditions and a few others that we are aware of, maybe there are a thousand genetic mutations that have been tweaked for survival benefit.

Here is the email:

An interesting thing it seems with GDD, is that it will also reveal an underlying disorder, that may have been a problem, or may not have been, before GDD. The other thing actually that your email saying hEDS, as you are aware many women are exceedingly flexible- no doubt genetically of help with child birth.... I wonder if hEDS may actually not be rare and seen just in you and a few others, but actually exceedingly common, and a genetic trait sought for because it made childbirth easier, and women over the millenia less likely to die in childbirth or neonates still born..

That is why I generally try to stay focused on just doing a decent job of removing the Gd atleast 5 often atleast 10 chelations, and then see what is left symptom-wise after that, before trying to treat whatever else someone has. I suspect that many of those whatever elses are some genetic issue - that may seem on the surface to be new and rare, because they have just recently been scientifically demonstrated/ reported on, but may actually be quite common. And things people lived with before GDD, they will have to go back and live with again after reasonable GDD treatment, along with the remnants of GDD. GDD may end up being like the Varicella virus, just living with everyone quiescently, but may at moments of stress rear its ugly head again... but no need to panic .. at that point go back to chelation - maybe just a series of 3 chelations (which may end up being with oral HOPO or oral DTPA-variant in the future).

Richard Semelka, MD