Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Autoimmune Disorders Anyone.

I have come across the reference to Autoimmune Disorders and giftedness a few times and was curious if anyone else's children, or yourselves, suffer with a disorder.

I first took particular notice of this observation after my DD was diagnosed with Crohns Disease in 2006. Now my DS has been diagnosed with CD. I personally have no doubt that there is a genetic link at work here although much of the literature is very hazy on this, but since they are also gifted I wondered how many others may also have this connection.

I hope not to offend anyone by asking this personal question and I apologise if I have done so.

My IQ was measured at over 4 SD above the mean. I have an auto-immune disease. My husband also has an IQ over 4 SD above the mean; he doesn't have an auto-immune disorder. Our HG son doesn't have an auto-immune disorder. Neither does his HG cousin. My *adoptive* mom, who was also HG, had Crohn's. Her HG brother and two sisters did not.

Both auto-immune disorders and intelligence have a significant genetic basis and high heritability. The fact that some gifted families also carry genes that predispose them to auto-immune disorders does NOT mean that giftedness predisposes you to auto-immune disorders or that auto-immune disorders make you gifted. It just means that both of those traits run in those families.

I have to chime in here, my son has an autoimmune disorder (which began as an autoimmune response to strep-- strep antibodies cross the blood brain barrier and attack his brain) it is called PANDAS and it seems that most of the kids who have this area also gifted, though there is little evidence of giftedness in our house lately.

I do feel that, from what I read about the common difficulties of 2E kids, autoimmunity plays a huge rule, but I have no scientific basis for this really.

I'm sorry, it was not my intention to imply that autoimmune disorders predispose you to giftedness or that they make you gifted. I was just curious as to their incidence amongst the gifted community.

I've long had a similar curiousity about the connection between allergies and giftedness.

DS has genes for Celiac - he's gluten-free, but without an "official" diagnosis.

I have Hashimoto's Disease.

I'd be willing to bet that a lot of crossed wires may be revealed in the next 20 years or so with all of the genetic testing and research that's being done.

Interestingly enough, all of the gifted people I listed in my post also have respiratory allergies, and some of them have food allergies. The majority of them also have red hair.

My biological and adoptive family members are out of the norm in many aspects of our genomes, I guess!

Matmum- we've talked about Crohn's in the past.

I'm MG-ish and have Crohn's. My hubby's uncle who is PG also has Crohn's. I have one gifted aunt (level ?) with ulcerative colitis and another gifted aunt (level ?) with type I diabetes.

So far no incidence of major auto-immune disease in our kids but they are still young. Allergies (and giftedness) are prevalent on both sides of the family (kids included).

Sorry about your son's diagnosis. I'm sure having been through so much with your DD will help your son get into remission quickly.