SPD Support Forum

Hey guys, just checking to see if anyone else on here (or their child) has any sort of notable birth defects.

I was born with 12 toes, 6 on each foot. The small 5th and 6th toes on each foot were conjoined, so it only looked like I had 10, but there were actually 12. At times I've found it to be quite the burden, but I also embrace it as a part of who I am, as a person with polydactyly (extra digits).

I used to be at ends over it though, back when I didn't accept myself for who I was, and wanted to be just like everyone else so badly. I had one surgically removed when I was 13, leaving me with 11 toes. Part of me didn't want to do it, but I was also tired of not being able to find shoes, lol. That, and my parents were also pushing for it, as they were going to do it when I was younger.

I also have an unclipped tongue. Basically, I've got some extra skin between my tongue and the base of my mouth, so I've never been able to do certain things, like stick my tongue out very far. Thank God there are emoticons to compensate for that!

I've heard that a lot of people with SPD have some sort of birth defect, so I'm curious to see if anyone else here does. Post only if you feel comfortable sharing it .

I'm afraid I have nothing interesting to report. But I did want to say that I am glad that you are at a point in life where you are more accepting of yourself and the things about you that are "different" than the norm. As I would imagine that it takes some courage to share information like this, I applaud you.

Oh, and the unclipped tongue isn't as unusual as you would think; I have a friend who is a breastfeeding consultant, and she says they are not uncommon. Makes breastfeeding difficult, which is why she knows that. And emoticons do take care of things like that.

I did know there was one point when I was a fetus when all the doctors thought I was going to be a miscarriage. There were a ton of complications during my mother's pregnancy with me, after all.

No birth defects here. I did inherit an Autosominal Dominant Rare Disorder called Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis.

My main defect was that store bought diapers gave me horrible rashes. My parents had to do 100% cotton cloth diapers. To this day I mostly wear 100% cotton clothing because most anything else will give me a rash and burn.

I know this is an old post, but it struck my interest

I had a small surgery to disconnect my upper lip from my gums when I was 6... and until sixth grade I saw the world backwards... I even wrote from right to left, every letter backwards. So if a painting had horses running to the right, for me, they were running to the left. I still have to use great effort to write by hand, takes huge concentration. I also can write backwards as easy as forwards still.

Not sure if that is a birth defect, but it sure has given me lots of issues in other areas...

I have a hole in the roof of my mouth, it's very small but I can whistle through it with my nose plugged and my mouth closed, lol. I think its great to be different sometimes. Plus I like that it freaked people out when I was a young girl as every thing else about me apparently "looked normal". I wish you still had your toes, being like everyone else seems like it would be nice when I was younger but now I find people that "look normal" sorta freak me out. You know somethings gotta be wrong for sure! lol.

(11-12-2013, 01:47 PM)Laura Wrote: [ -> ]I have a hole in the roof of my mouth, it's very small but I can whistle through it with my nose plugged and my mouth closed, lol. I think its great to be different sometimes. Plus I like that it freaked people out when I was a young girl as every thing else about me apparently "looked normal". I wish you still had your toes, being like everyone else seems like it would be nice when I was younger but now I find people that "look normal" sorta freak me out. You know somethings gotta be wrong for sure! lol.

I was born with a bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate, so I had basically no hard/soft palate which meant I had no roof in my mouth. Even after several surgeries I still had a tiny hole in the roof of my mouth. People definitely thought it was weird with me as well.

Sorry to hear that.