sub4hire
Posts: 3834
Joined: 1/1/2004 Status: offline
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You’re right it is an extra X chromosone. It was late and I was tired. The mere fact someone knew what I was even referring to here impressed me. Research is really just beginning on KS. Not a whole lot is known about it yet. They may not call it KS now. They try to stay away from that nowadays. The past few years that has changed actually. Regardless that is exactly what it is. There are different genotypes. It is treatable NOW. Just a few years ago a person would be 30 before being diagnosed and most of them were suicidal at the time. I’ve been to 3 national KS conferences now. Met well over 5000 KS patients. I live with one. I know several in the scene here. They develop breasts. Small penis size. Low self esteem. Learning difficulties. When they gain weight they do as a woman does, more so in the stomach. The ones I know in the scene are all cross dressers. Those whom I have spoken to with KS who have had the sex change operations usually tell you they have KS. So, no I am not saying all are feminine. However the charachteristics are there. Parents now are lucky. Simple tests before the babies are born can tell them they have KS. It really helps in teaching the child early on to where they can live a normal life. Testosterone treatments can be discussed at length. They have the ability to choose the right one for the child. By the way there are issues with every form of testosterone whether patch, shot or androgel. People have bad reactions. With the shot they get it all at once and become very violent until some of it wears off. Then become depressed nearing the end of the month when there is no more testosterone in their systems. The sticky on the patch causes reaction to many. The gel I have heard as many good things about as bad. Although most abandon it after trying it. I’m really not sure why that is. I was wanting to connect with others who have suffered with it for a while. The children today getting it can do much better. I think it is important to say not all KS patients have all of the symptoms. It almost as if the symptoms bypass some and not others. About the only thing I have seen that all have is low testosterone. Depression. Other than that they change from person to person. I know a 47Xxy man here, he cannot heal a cut if he gets one. It is the hyper-baric chamber no matter how large or small the cut started out as. I have never seen that in another XXY patient. It is however in the list of literature, as a symptom. I just want to learn as much as possible. That way I can help more people when we have our support group meetings. WHAT IS KLINEFELTER SYNDROME? In 1942, Dr. Harry Klinefelter and his coworkers at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston published a report about nine men who had enlarged breasts, sparse facial and body hair, small testes, and an inability to produce sperm. By the late 1950s, researchers discovered that men with Klinefelter syndrome, as this group of symptoms came to be called, had an extra sex chromosome, XXY instead of the usual male arrangement, XY. (For a more complete explanation of the role this extra chromosome plays, see the accompanying section, "Chromosomes and Klinefelter syndrome.") In the early 1970s, researchers around the world sought to identify males having the extra chromosome by screening large numbers of newborn babies. One of the largest of these studies, sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), checked the chromosomes of more than 40,000 infants. Based on these studies, the XXY chromosome arrangement appears to be one of the most common genetic abnormalities known, occurring as frequently as 1 in 500 to 1 in 1,000 male births. Although the syndrome's cause, an extra sex chromosome, is widespread, the syndrome itself-the set of symptoms and characteristics that may result from having the extra chromosome-is uncommon. Many men live out their lives without ever even suspecting that they have an additional chromosome. " I never refer to newborn babies as having Klinefelter's, because they don't have a syndrome," said Arthur Robinson, M.D., a pediatrician at the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver and the director of the NICHD-sponsored study of XXY males. "Presumably, some of them will grow up to develop the syndrome Dr. Klinefelter described, but a lot of them won't." For this reason, the term "Klinefelter syndrome" has fallen out of favor with medical researchers. Most prefer to describe men and boys having the extra chromosome as "XXY males." In addition to occasional breast enlargement, lack of facial and body hair, and a rounded body type, XXY males are more likely than other males to be overweight, and tend to be taller than their fathers and brothers. For the most part, these symptoms are treatable. Surgery, when necessary, can reduce breast size. Regular injections of the male hormone testosterone, beginning at puberty, can promote strength and facial hair growth-as well as bring about a more muscular body type. A far more serious symptom, however, is one that is not always readily apparent. Although they are not mentally retarded, most XXY males have some degree of language impairment. As children, they often learn to speak much later than do other children and may have difficulty learning to read and write. And while they eventually do learn to speak and converse normally, the majority tend to have some degree of difficulty with language throughout their lives. If untreated, this language impairment can lead to school failure and its attendant loss of self esteem. Fortunately, however, this language disability usually can be compensated for. Chances for success are greatest if begun in early childhood. Sections that follow describe possible strategies for meeting the special educational needs of many XXY males. http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/conditions/a/klinefelter_syn.htm
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"The dumbest people I know are those who know it all." Malcolm Forbes
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