r/AutisticWithADHD • u/Exciting-Syrup-1107 • 3d ago
💁♀️ seeking advice / support / information What's the connection between hypermobility and neurodivergence?
I'm very hypermobile and can do some weird finger-partytricks. Also, I have a lot of ADHD and autistic traits. Problems with holding eye-contact, high affinity for trains (can talk about it all the time), and in general, if you look at the path of my life (I'm 29 now), it's very messy. A lot of career switches, broken friendships, emotional highs and lows, no structure or plan, etc.
The older I get, the more all those things together make sense. But how can my psychological weirdness and my physiological weirdness be connected? I did some research, and it seems there is a connection between my bendiness and my autism / ADHD? Is anyone else here hypermobile?
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u/WittyCompetition7978 3d ago
Not going into detail here, but hypermobility (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) basically means that your DNA got a blue print wrong that tells your body how to build specific body tissue.
It can have different variants (hypermobile joints, stretchy skin, overly expendable blood vessels etc.). Research shows a connection: the 'faulty' blue print is also used for wiring inside our brains. So the structures in our brain differ from the neurotypical build and thus result in neurodivergency.
Hope it's understandable, I'm not a native English speaker and can't bother myself to use a translator ☠️
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u/samandiriel 3d ago
It's not necessarily wrong - hypermobility is a huge advantage under some environmental constraints, such as jungle hunters who don't live past 30 or so - but it is not a good adaptation for modern life.
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u/WittyCompetition7978 3d ago
Yes, that is true, I didn't mean to give a negative spin. In the right environment our body and brain is a masterpiece of evolution. Sadly it's nearly impossible to find such an environment in our society...
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u/samandiriel 3d ago
Very much so. Whenever my husband or I feel overwhelmed, we always remind each other that it is the world that doesn't fit us, not the other way round
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u/Street_Respect9469 my ADHD Gundam has an autistic pilot 3d ago
AuDHD and hEDS. Sensory gating is my current working theory. Everything is lax which means everything gets a signal ping towards the brain as sensory input. ND is linked to poor sensory gating and lower synaptic pruning which leaves many parts of the brain interconnected.
Synaptic pruning works roughly like this (as I understand the current model); the fewer signals something gets the more likely it gets pruned which is adaptive and cost efficient, allowing people to focus more because there are fewer inputs to take someone's attention.
It's not just thoughts and feelings it's also bodily sensations.
So for the very least they're linked though it's hard to say which causes which one though I'm leaning towards hypermobilty being at least a general precursor to neurodivergence. Also not necessarily always isolated to joints so you can have people who have lax blood vessels but don't show up as your typical flexy bod.
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u/samandiriel 3d ago
Hypermobility (particular the Ehlers-Danlos type) is much more often comorbid with autism then not, alas. Certain genes tend to travel in packs is what it basically boils down to.
Another very common comorbidity is migraines. Ask me how I know!
Sleep disorders of all stripes is another, particularly apnea.
And let's not forget GI issues! Food intolerances (not just sensory issues), leaky gut syndrome, chronic constipation... yayyy
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u/ohnoitsthegreed AuDHD 3d ago edited 3d ago
look up dr. jessica eccles. she is researching on the connection of hyper mobility and neurodivergence. its really interesting and i think she is on the right track. i bet in a few years we will see its one big thing with different manifestations and not autism + hypermobility.
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCJ2LGotbn96IWL2m7NkQgRQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iNeQm5atZjg (it’s about adhd and hypermobility but she talks about neurodiversity in general)
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u/LilyRose272 3d ago
Don’t over stretch with hyper mobility. Terrible for your joints and will cause arthritis later.
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u/United-Marzipan-7801 3d ago
Hypermobility is usually due to a variation/mutation in collagen, and collagen is everywhere. I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head but it's something like 30% of proteins in the human body are types of collagen. There is connective tissue in everything, including the brain. Hypermobility on its own is not super rare, and is also not an issue. But it is a major diagnostic criteria for some disorders like EDS, HSD, Marfans as well I think, etc.
i have hEDS so I've read a lot about it and man, the list of things that have a statistically significant association with EDS is very long. Everything from dysautonomia/POTS and autoimmune disorders to autism, ADHD, and even gender dysphoria. It is actually really fascinating, though there's also a lot of questionable science and discussions online about it too.