So I was watching the movie X-Men II with my son the other day. I'm sure most of you know the story: The X-men have special powers because they are “mutants”. Their differences are pretty extreme and mostly useful (like the kid who has wings, etc). However they are facing a lot of discrimination and now there is a conspiracy to introduce new legislation to force them into “normalcy” by way of some magical vaccine (and where can I get me some of that?).
Well here’s the problem: Most of the X-man don’t want to be normal. They were born the way they are and are quite happy with themselves, thank you very much (OK there is that one token kid who would sacrifice uniqueness for mediocrity. But isn’t there always?). There are interesting parallels here with the Autism and Asperger’s community and those people outside that community who want to “cure” them -now that I think about it. But that wasn’t exactly what struck me at the time.
What struck me was something different:
As we were watching this movie, my son was talking about the mutants and how they were cool. He said he wanted to be a mutant, and I thought “Dude, you already are one” He has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which is a genetic mutation. He may have another couple of mutations, too. There is his autism, of course, and I know I have one of the mutations for hemochromatosis, which he probably has too. And God -knows what else might be found over the years. So though it may be a strong word, -and he definitely cannot fly- he is a mutant.
As am I.
And then I got to thinking about myself in terms of being a mutant and wondering if that might be the reason for some of the weird stuff that has been going on with me. I am genetically different than most people and maybe that becomes obvious is some subtle ways. Particularly medicine. -I mean actual medication. When I start a new medication, I very rarely get the common side effect. In fact, now when I research a new med before taking it (a lesson learned the hard way), I always scroll down and down until I come to the “very rare” side effects, because those are the ones I usually get. Or –even worse –I get the side effect which ends up on the official “very rare” side effects list a year AFTER I used that medication and had that side effect (and was not believed). Because it’s that flaming rare, the drug has to be out on the market for 10 years before enough people like me wind up in the emergency room, and some executive finally says "Oh. ...and put the screaming meemies on the side-effects list too, Mary-Jo. Apparently 0.387% of the population may get that one...."
I wonder if this weird medication thing is because I am a mutant? I was thinking about it and it makes sense to me because DNA is in everything. Every frickin cell in my entire body. A teeny change in DNA could have untold effects. –not just the ones in that immediate area and which are recognised as part of the mutation disease (condition... whatever), but there could be subtle differences in metabolism and body chemistry which cause drugs and other substances to just effect us differently.
And of course, none of this has ever been tested. Because let’s face it. Drug companies and medical studies do not account for genetic differences in their testing, except perhaps as a criterion for exclusion from the study.
It’s an interesting question, though. Isn’t it? Do people with genetic differences react differently to drugs? And it is a question that will only become more and more far-reaching as more of these conditions are discovered and uncovered. EDS is autosomal dominant, so the numbers are growing rapidly. There are many other much more common genetic disorders out there: Cystic Fibrosis, Down syndrome, Dwarfism, Hemophilia, Angelman Syndrome, -even color blindness! Add all of those into the mix alongside a growing recognition of mitochondrial diseases –which (in my mind anyway) are another genetic issue, - and you are dealing with a large and growing population who is not being adequately serviced by modern medicine. The only authority closely looking at us “mutants” is the health and life insurance companies. So they can deny us coverage.
Nice, huh?
I’m starting to think we mutants should get organized. Not into our respective diseases –although that is not a bad thing –but in addition to that, all the diseases/conditions/syndromes band together to as a powerful lobbying group, -(a SuperMutant group?). Together there must be millions of us, and voice in that number cannot be ignogred. We can take steps to ensure that we stop falling through the cracks in the health(ha ha)care system and start getting some airtime and respect.
Mutants of the world... Unite!
Who is with me?
*she looks around, sees no-one*
Oh well... Back to our regularly scheduled programming...
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