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I Bet You Haven’t Heard Of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (Eds)
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I Bet You Haven’t Heard Of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (Eds)

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One in about 2,500 people has EDS and most people with EDS dont know it. How is this possible?…

How is this possible?

EDS is a connective tissue disorder that is almost invisible to even the trained eye. It presents as extremely widespread symtoms like chronic pain, gastrointestinal issues, partial and full joint dislocations, memory loss, comprehension issues and many more! Any given person has quite a number of symptoms and everycase is different!

As doctors cannot see connective tissue many EDSers get diagnosed with fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome.

It takes a very expensive, rarely available genetic test or a well versed geneticist to see EDS in a patient.

I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and im trying to help people with this condition to be properly treated and diagnosed.

Occassionally i am able to do some photography to show some of our invisible pain and raise awareness for all people with EDS.

I have been working on this for less than a year but hope that with awareness will come better research and treatment for patients with Eds. Please note the bruising is makeup to show the pain of an individual with EDS and while easy bruising is a symptom you don’t need to show such violent bruising to have EDS.

More info: Fb.com

90% of people with EDS are female

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EDS feels like living the day after a car crash every day

Our bodies efforts to hold everything in place can lead to pain and even hospitalization

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Winta Seiko

Winta Seiko

Author, Community member

Read more »

I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, i enjoy photography and long drives with the roof down :) fb.com/campaign.eds fb.com/tlc4pics

Read less »
Winta Seiko

Winta Seiko

Author, Community member

I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, i enjoy photography and long drives with the roof down :) fb.com/campaign.eds fb.com/tlc4pics

What do you think ?
Add photo comments
POST
Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cause apparently doctors who treat patients forget that literature contributes towards being adequately informed....thought I'd help out a lil bit ;)

Christie Ashton
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The comment about an eds place in australia.... do tell where that is as I live in australia and have been told to move YES MOVE to London no less as NO ONE treats eds in australia.

Jay Shadforth
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hi Christie, I attended an International Conference on connective tissue disorders in Australia a few years ago. There is definitely a specialist clinic in Australia but it is restricted to paediatric care in one state (cant remember which). Get in touch with the CTD Foundation. The conference was a great source of info from sufferers as well as geneticists, and all manner of specialists in autonomic dysfunction, physiotherapy, dieticians etc. Are you on any of the Facebook EDS groups?

Load More Replies...
Kari Russell
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

>goes on rant about how easy EDS is to diagnose >links to site that has an "it's our time" campaign because Ehlers Danlos patients have long been neglected >ignores that embarrassing faux pas yet criticizes every other link offered >claims to be able to test for hEDS yet can't back this up with sources >continues to criticize offered links I'm actually embarrassed for you.

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(1) i never claimed that we can test for hEDS, that would be nonsense to claim. (2) it is sad to see that a lot of you people with the disease did not get diagnosed in an appropriate time frame (3) i am angered by amateur kickstarter campaigns not linked with any medical association to back them up or to guide money where it should be. and it should not be in a private photostudio on the gold coast

Load More Replies...
Catherine Marie
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Since when is it wrong to also support our fellow EDSers and their projects? Ur full of ignorance, assumptions and judgement. Go to sleep.

Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The role of narrative medicine in the management of joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25821096

Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome-Hypermobility Type: A Much Neglected Multisystemic Disorder. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27824552

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

that is an article in the Rambam Maimonides Med J., that is a local israeli medical journal without relevance. the same scientific value as publishing in the huffington post.

Load More Replies...
Kristen Lucia
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a person with EDS, I wish I had known I had it when I was younger. Because of EDS I have had to go through 28 surgeries. 29 and 30 to happen this year. It would've been nice to hear I suspect EDS instead I get its inherited weakness or you're just double jointed or joint laxity. I fault physicians for this and those that train these drs. I didn't get diagnosed until I was 42. By then 10 ankle surgeries. 2 which were fusions. Now I'm going through joint replacements because of the early onset of arthritis. We are lucky in that my daughter was diagnosed at 6 but even with the early diagnosis and the work we do with her in PT and OT it hasn't stopped her from subluxing, nor has it stopped stomach issues but at least we know.

Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh and the entire March special edition of the American journal of Human Genetics....get reading kids....and stop killing patients ;)

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

what about it? do you want us physicians to implicate every new thing a journal publishes. be my guest and buy us the test kit. It would be amazing to have that. It is not a question of knowing, it is a question on how to pay for it.

Load More Replies...
Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Small fiber neuropathy is a common feature of Ehlers-Danlos syndromes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27306637

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

great, so you know how to use pubmed. and now show me guidlines!

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this article is titled "Psychosocial functioning in the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome." that has no relevance in the discussion here, on top: it is from 1994

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this article talks about "psychiatric disorders in ED", this is published in Rheumatol Int. - a journal with less than 3 impact factors. scientific value of a yellow press magazine

Load More Replies...
Zoe Vickers
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I appreciate you trying to bring awareness to EDS. However, there are some misleading, and even outright wrong things in this post. It is not seen in females 90% of the time. Also, it's confusing to use things like 'memory loss'.. memory loss, is actually not what is happening and isn't a symptom of EDS. Memory loss, is something like Alzheimer's etc. What people with EDS have, is sometimes problems with attention, which leads to a bad memory. It's not the same thing. I understand how it can seem like it is, but I can tell from a neuroscience point of view, it's not. I also think it's important for people to understand there are different types. You're writing from a hEDS point of view, and I think it's important to say that. The photos are lovely. Thanks for campaigning for us.

Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have classical, maybe the info ive seen has had more of a hEDS standpoint, im not sure. I do think youre right about memory loss, while common with EDS its not directly (as far as i know) related to the connective tissue, perhaps more of a symptom of a symptom, pain/attention issues. Anyways thanks for the input, i cant really edit the post. Maybe i can but im new to bored panda and dont know how.

Load More Replies...
Lizzy R
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was diagnosed with Fibro about a year ago and it took over a year to get my pain issue a name. We watch Simon and Martina on youtube and Matrina has EDS which is how I learned about it. After having learned what it was me and my hubby now think I mgiht have EDS as it better fits my symptoms than fibro. The only common simptom I dont have of EDS is the joint dislocation. For my size I have the hyper flexability, and my skin is pretty elastic. But sadly I cannot get the test done as there is no money for it and I currently live in Honduras and will be living here for the next few years. Until then I will take meds to manage fibro and pray that it will be enough to keep the pain away.

Melany Nicholas Éli Mégane
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually I can see everyone get pissed about Toronto'nian but he is pretty accurate on what he is saying. Before getting mad at him please see that he is giving you good advice and things to think about it. Yes here in Toronto they do the collagen test. Please watch Dr Scott Walsh video. http://www.theilcfoundation.org/resource-library/2016-conference-videos/

Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Update: 1 in around 2,500 is DIAGNOSED with EDS. 90+ percent of EDSers dont know they have it, around 1 in 100 people worldwide has EDS.

Zoe Vickers
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this isn't actually known for sure. It is best not to state things like they are facts, when there is lackinginformation to know, and when it's still being figured out. Also, with the name criteria, they are saying that many of the amount of people they thought had hEDS, would actually now have HSD. So it's no longer though to be that high, at all. It's important to stick to facts, and do proper research into something, if you're going to write about it. There is a lot of misinformation in this article. I appreciate the effort, but it really doesn't do us good to bring awaren ess, but with misinformation.

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

i have a confession to make - I trolled you all a bit. I made some (effective) inciting statements so that this article gets unusually high rate of comments and hopefully extremely high numbers of likes. Thank you all for playing along and for being so passionate about it. I hope you can all forgive me:-) i wanted to achieve over 50 comments for that awesome project. cheers and good night to you all

Erin Buhler
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are better ways to get to 50+ comments. Most of us already have enough difficulty with getting people to listen muchless understand. Perhaps you were trolling all of us, perhaps not. At any rate, as a physician, I would think that telling a whole group of people who struggle with such a horrible, dibilitating, and widely misunderstood by a majority of the medical community what you tried to tell us is potentially hurtful. If I could I would link the articles my geneticist sent me this week from the medical journals that were published in March. Which is very has very in depth information on EDS. Sadly Dr. V only sent me paper copies not a link.

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

https://ehlers-danlos.com that is the proper society for Ehlers danlos patients and physicians with the proper medical information!

Kari Russell
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From that same website: https://ehlers-danlos.com/itsourtime/ You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Your attempt to invalidate the struggle of thousands who have had a hell of a time getting the correct diagnosis angers ME.

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

STOP posting that s**t! We are very well able to diagnose Ehlers-Danlos. It is a simple test checking for collagen and fibrillin (to also check for Marfan) - you can even order it right after birth. I am very sorry that you apparently did not get diagnosed right away, but to conclude from your case to the general population and devalue our hard work to diagnose and help children angers me. And by the way, Ehlers Danlos is NOT combined with mental retardation.

Sharon Meyer
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Toronto'nian, if you are a physician (or a medical 'professional '), you sound like a very uncaring and unprofessional one, and I feel sorry for your patients.

Load More Replies...
Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cause apparently doctors who treat patients forget that literature contributes towards being adequately informed....thought I'd help out a lil bit ;)

Christie Ashton
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The comment about an eds place in australia.... do tell where that is as I live in australia and have been told to move YES MOVE to London no less as NO ONE treats eds in australia.

Jay Shadforth
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hi Christie, I attended an International Conference on connective tissue disorders in Australia a few years ago. There is definitely a specialist clinic in Australia but it is restricted to paediatric care in one state (cant remember which). Get in touch with the CTD Foundation. The conference was a great source of info from sufferers as well as geneticists, and all manner of specialists in autonomic dysfunction, physiotherapy, dieticians etc. Are you on any of the Facebook EDS groups?

Load More Replies...
Kari Russell
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

>goes on rant about how easy EDS is to diagnose >links to site that has an "it's our time" campaign because Ehlers Danlos patients have long been neglected >ignores that embarrassing faux pas yet criticizes every other link offered >claims to be able to test for hEDS yet can't back this up with sources >continues to criticize offered links I'm actually embarrassed for you.

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(1) i never claimed that we can test for hEDS, that would be nonsense to claim. (2) it is sad to see that a lot of you people with the disease did not get diagnosed in an appropriate time frame (3) i am angered by amateur kickstarter campaigns not linked with any medical association to back them up or to guide money where it should be. and it should not be in a private photostudio on the gold coast

Load More Replies...
Catherine Marie
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Since when is it wrong to also support our fellow EDSers and their projects? Ur full of ignorance, assumptions and judgement. Go to sleep.

Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The role of narrative medicine in the management of joint hypermobility syndrome/Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25821096

Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome-Hypermobility Type: A Much Neglected Multisystemic Disorder. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27824552

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

that is an article in the Rambam Maimonides Med J., that is a local israeli medical journal without relevance. the same scientific value as publishing in the huffington post.

Load More Replies...
Kristen Lucia
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a person with EDS, I wish I had known I had it when I was younger. Because of EDS I have had to go through 28 surgeries. 29 and 30 to happen this year. It would've been nice to hear I suspect EDS instead I get its inherited weakness or you're just double jointed or joint laxity. I fault physicians for this and those that train these drs. I didn't get diagnosed until I was 42. By then 10 ankle surgeries. 2 which were fusions. Now I'm going through joint replacements because of the early onset of arthritis. We are lucky in that my daughter was diagnosed at 6 but even with the early diagnosis and the work we do with her in PT and OT it hasn't stopped her from subluxing, nor has it stopped stomach issues but at least we know.

Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh and the entire March special edition of the American journal of Human Genetics....get reading kids....and stop killing patients ;)

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

what about it? do you want us physicians to implicate every new thing a journal publishes. be my guest and buy us the test kit. It would be amazing to have that. It is not a question of knowing, it is a question on how to pay for it.

Load More Replies...
Rouha Gol
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Small fiber neuropathy is a common feature of Ehlers-Danlos syndromes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27306637

Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

great, so you know how to use pubmed. and now show me guidlines!

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this article is titled "Psychosocial functioning in the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome." that has no relevance in the discussion here, on top: it is from 1994

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this article talks about "psychiatric disorders in ED", this is published in Rheumatol Int. - a journal with less than 3 impact factors. scientific value of a yellow press magazine

Load More Replies...
Zoe Vickers
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I appreciate you trying to bring awareness to EDS. However, there are some misleading, and even outright wrong things in this post. It is not seen in females 90% of the time. Also, it's confusing to use things like 'memory loss'.. memory loss, is actually not what is happening and isn't a symptom of EDS. Memory loss, is something like Alzheimer's etc. What people with EDS have, is sometimes problems with attention, which leads to a bad memory. It's not the same thing. I understand how it can seem like it is, but I can tell from a neuroscience point of view, it's not. I also think it's important for people to understand there are different types. You're writing from a hEDS point of view, and I think it's important to say that. The photos are lovely. Thanks for campaigning for us.

Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have classical, maybe the info ive seen has had more of a hEDS standpoint, im not sure. I do think youre right about memory loss, while common with EDS its not directly (as far as i know) related to the connective tissue, perhaps more of a symptom of a symptom, pain/attention issues. Anyways thanks for the input, i cant really edit the post. Maybe i can but im new to bored panda and dont know how.

Load More Replies...
Lizzy R
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was diagnosed with Fibro about a year ago and it took over a year to get my pain issue a name. We watch Simon and Martina on youtube and Matrina has EDS which is how I learned about it. After having learned what it was me and my hubby now think I mgiht have EDS as it better fits my symptoms than fibro. The only common simptom I dont have of EDS is the joint dislocation. For my size I have the hyper flexability, and my skin is pretty elastic. But sadly I cannot get the test done as there is no money for it and I currently live in Honduras and will be living here for the next few years. Until then I will take meds to manage fibro and pray that it will be enough to keep the pain away.

Melany Nicholas Éli Mégane
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually I can see everyone get pissed about Toronto'nian but he is pretty accurate on what he is saying. Before getting mad at him please see that he is giving you good advice and things to think about it. Yes here in Toronto they do the collagen test. Please watch Dr Scott Walsh video. http://www.theilcfoundation.org/resource-library/2016-conference-videos/

Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Update: 1 in around 2,500 is DIAGNOSED with EDS. 90+ percent of EDSers dont know they have it, around 1 in 100 people worldwide has EDS.

Zoe Vickers
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this isn't actually known for sure. It is best not to state things like they are facts, when there is lackinginformation to know, and when it's still being figured out. Also, with the name criteria, they are saying that many of the amount of people they thought had hEDS, would actually now have HSD. So it's no longer though to be that high, at all. It's important to stick to facts, and do proper research into something, if you're going to write about it. There is a lot of misinformation in this article. I appreciate the effort, but it really doesn't do us good to bring awaren ess, but with misinformation.

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

i have a confession to make - I trolled you all a bit. I made some (effective) inciting statements so that this article gets unusually high rate of comments and hopefully extremely high numbers of likes. Thank you all for playing along and for being so passionate about it. I hope you can all forgive me:-) i wanted to achieve over 50 comments for that awesome project. cheers and good night to you all

Erin Buhler
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are better ways to get to 50+ comments. Most of us already have enough difficulty with getting people to listen muchless understand. Perhaps you were trolling all of us, perhaps not. At any rate, as a physician, I would think that telling a whole group of people who struggle with such a horrible, dibilitating, and widely misunderstood by a majority of the medical community what you tried to tell us is potentially hurtful. If I could I would link the articles my geneticist sent me this week from the medical journals that were published in March. Which is very has very in depth information on EDS. Sadly Dr. V only sent me paper copies not a link.

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

https://ehlers-danlos.com that is the proper society for Ehlers danlos patients and physicians with the proper medical information!

Kari Russell
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

From that same website: https://ehlers-danlos.com/itsourtime/ You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Your attempt to invalidate the struggle of thousands who have had a hell of a time getting the correct diagnosis angers ME.

Load More Replies...
Toronto'nian
Community Member
7 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

STOP posting that s**t! We are very well able to diagnose Ehlers-Danlos. It is a simple test checking for collagen and fibrillin (to also check for Marfan) - you can even order it right after birth. I am very sorry that you apparently did not get diagnosed right away, but to conclude from your case to the general population and devalue our hard work to diagnose and help children angers me. And by the way, Ehlers Danlos is NOT combined with mental retardation.

Sharon Meyer
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Toronto'nian, if you are a physician (or a medical 'professional '), you sound like a very uncaring and unprofessional one, and I feel sorry for your patients.

Load More Replies...
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