shares a baby boomber, My birth defect: Pectus Excavatum

Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation

here is a picture of a boy whom has Pectus Excavatum. 

 Mine was 10 times  worse than his, my center Sternum bone was fused to my back bone.
Some of the things that stand out to me ... in what you share are the following:
  • "My mother had many Nervous Breakdowns when I was young, some when I was only 1 years old, and the others when I was 3 or 4 years old and another in 1971 when I was 11 years old. My mother had Electroshock Therapy"
  • "I am supposed to write a Life Story or a Good-bye letter to my daddy as I Never got to say goodbye to him when he committed suicide February 26th, 2003 due to cancer and Lou Gering's disease."
 
I had not heard of that birth defect before, and I found the web page reference very informative

I'm sorry you have to deal with it; yet it sounds like you are an overcomer.

By any chance does either parent have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

I am particularly interested in the types of birth defects, as the chemical I've studied causes birth defects, and a wide variety, too. It is 2-butoxyethanol and it is a teratogen. It is more common (since the 1940s to the present) than people realize.

It seems to be the primary chemical of harm for the Vietnam vet, from the study I did on it. I couldn't believe the 'match' Also I suspect it for the WWII vets, in that it was in use then ... but I don't know what happened to them.

Many times it shows up with an acute exposure as flu-like symptoms

javajane.com/forum/showthread.php?p=719428#post719428

You sure do have a lot to deal with.

And of course, none of this is your fault!

I was wondering if you heard you folks talking about a time when your mom was OK vs when this horrible depression came. What kind of work did she do? Did your dad do?

Now the chemical I've studied (as a lay person who has an interest in it, because it harmed someone in my family) ... is a teratogen. Meaning it does cause birth defects. However, whether or not it caused yours, I can not say. However, it is possible, because it affects so many parts of the body: joints, cartilage, blood, immune system, nervous system, could be any of the glands/organs, a lot of things.

Other things that would most likely show up with it, would be this for fatigue:

Chills
Fatigue
Pale color
Shortness of breath
Rapid heart rate * *
Yellow skin color (jaundice)
Dark urine
Enlarged spleen
Eyes burning & hurting (with initial exposure - flu symptoms, too)
Red blood cells immature
Blood in Urine (part of autoimmune hemolytic anemia)

In addition there are many times, off and on, Horrible Headaches!

The Central Nervous System damage gets the most attention, things like:

Difficulty Concentrating
Short Term Memory Loss
Difficulty Sleeping
Constantly Irritable
Depression
Suicidal Tendencies

You say that your mother was severely depressed. Did she have the rest of 'the pattern?' If not, dismiss this info. If so, and you wanted to check more, there may be enough information in her medical file to say 'yes' or 'no'

This girl saved the medical info on her mother from 1975. She was only 10 when her mother died of acquired autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

Pets can get it, too. Such as these

In general, if someone has been harmed by a chemical, it can be counter productive to take more chemicals ... as your body is maxed out. At least I've heard comments on that by those who are experts in the field of chemical overexposure. So, ask your doctor if there is anything that isn't working for you, so you can take the most minimal medications.

You say you are tired. Would you be tired without the medications?

How well do you sleep?

It took a long time to find this information. But I looked into it because someone in my family was harmed by 2-butoxyethanol (by working on the Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup) I am not a medical person or a researcher. I'm just an ordinary person who took an interest in what 2-butoxyethanol can do. And thus, I've come to recognize the bigger picture of what this chemical does.

javajane.com/forum/showthread.php?p=719532#post719532

Dad had ALS