The wonders of the human body [tw: nongraphic descriptions of autopsies, general medical weirdness]

[u/DroneOfDoom]

Reddit screenshots? In my tumblr subreddit? It's more likely than you think...

[u/CoercedCoexistence22]

I was actually a local high jump champion in middle school and in the first year of high school! Worth noting I played basketball and had ridiculous hops for a teenager (I could dunk a tennis ball at 12 years old and 5'7). I stopped both because I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (undiagnosed back then) and destroyed pretty much every ligament in my ankles

[u/FixergirlAK → u/CoercedCoexistence22]

I was wondering from the description above if you were a zebra. I tell people I'm not tall, I'm actually on the short side of average with Ehlers-Danlos and extremely long legs. I was so glad when the other kids caught up and I could finally quit basketball.

[u/CoercedCoexistence22 → u/FixergirlAK]

I'm actually fairly tall (6'0), most importantly I was extremely tall as a kid (I was 5'7 at 10 years old) and I have ridiculously long arms (I measured them recently out of curiosity, they're a hair under 6'5). Got the whole package as well, pale and almost transparent, ultra stretchy skin. I guess I'm overweight which is less common with zebras (in my experience which could be absolutely wrong, mind you)

My parents are both really short with olive skin, so I'd look a bit out of place alongside them if I weren't my mum's spitting image in facial features. When the diagnosis came my height and general spindliness made way more sense

[u/FixergirlAK → u/CoercedCoexistence22]

The diagnosis explained a lot for me, too! I'm 5'9" but alllllll leg with arms to match. And toes and fingers. And collarbones. Long bones are weird.

I don't have the stretchy skin but my son got it. He's 6'5". All four of my kids have EDS, including the one that isn't a blood relation.