While Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and General Hypermobility Syndrome have many things in common, they are quite different.

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome consists of three major types:

Classic (Formerly Types I and II)
Hypermobility (Formerly Type III)
Vascular (Formerly Type IV)

Classic Symptoms include:

Skin hyperextensibility
Wide atrophic scars
Joint hypermobility
Smooth, velvety skin
Easy bruising
Molluscoid pseudotumors
Subcutaneous spheroids
Joint hypermobility
Muscle hypotonia
Postoperative complication (hernia)
Positive family history
Manifestations of tissue fragility: hernia, prolapse

Hypermobility Symptoms include:

Skin involvement (soft, smooth and velvety)
Joint hypermobility
Recurrent joint dislocation
Chronic joint or limb pain or both
Positive family history

Vascular Symptoms include:

Thin, translucent skin
Arterial/intestinal fragility or rupture
Extensive bruising
Characteristic facial appearance
Acrogeria
Hypermobile small joints
Tendon/muscle rupture
Clubfoot
Early-onset varicose veins Arteriovenous, carotid-cavernous sinus fistula
Pneumothorax
Gingival recession
Positive family history, sudden death in close relative

Hypermobility Syndrome symptoms include:



http://www.medicinenet.com/hypermobilit ... rticle.htm

Also note:
According to William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR



This means that while joint hypermobility is a symptom of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, they are not the same disorder.

Remember, it is important to review all of your symptoms with your physician. This information is not intended to provide diagnosis tools or medical advice, but to simply aid the members of this board. Further information can be found at the sources of the above info at:


http://www.medicinenet.com/hypermobilit ... rticle.htm
http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic654.htm

May I disagree slightly with the wording in the last quote from Dr. Sheil (i am not disagreeing with you in any way, i just dont like the wording)

I think it should be "Joint hypermobility is also a feature of a rare, but more complex medical condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome"

Sorry, but if I did not have a family member who has EDS, i would probably have been diagnosed as HMS since my skin involvement is minor. I dont like saying one disease is more significant than the other, because then you end up getting treated the way we are all used to having drs treat us - as if because you do not have a "significant" condition, you dont need "significant" treatment.


Again, I have no intention of offending you or anyone else, and I am not arguing with what you posted. Words like "significant" bother me (and i know that was not your word).

I agree with you and will make a minor change to the quote. Thanks for your imput!

*peeks head*

good quotation mod Kelli...MLA perfect!

I'm a stickler about that sort of thing...grammar too.

Thanks! I was hoping you wouldn't be offended. i hate when people play the "my disease is worse than your disease" game. my EDS is considered mild, because my joints roll, hyperextend, and sublux but do not dislocate by themselves... for some reason drs think that because it is mild it doesnt affect me!

thanks for the change

I like the wording change...because yes, I have full syndrome EDS, but no, at this time in my life it hasn't been that BAD. A few weird injuries but other than the occasional stupid subluxation most of what I deal with that BOTHERS me is bruising. When I get older this will change but for now, it's good.

On the other hand there are people with HMS who definately do NOT have EDS who have a lot more pain and total lifetime joint slippage equal to or greater than mine. And mine is "worse" because it's different letters, I bruise more, you can't get an IV on me to save your life, and I don't respond to ansesthesia?

Um no. Mine is more complicated. It isn't worse. At the end of the long race (when we're all 80), we're ALL going to have ergonomic mobility devices and gross out grandchildren by dislocating elbows on accident.

Kassiane

I am too... I used to be an English major!

And yes, it is not fair in saying that one disorder is worse than the other. Both disorders are disorders of degrees. Some people are severely affected by EDS or HMS and others hardly notice their symptoms.

cool...it's like any other disease/disorder...they each affect everyone a little differently.

I acutally had what is the closest to an HMS diagnosis..."hypermobile girl with instability and pain"...and ortho all set to do fusions...

Once i was diagnosed with EDS w/skin invovlement...everyone was like "hold up...this could get a little sticky"

so yeah it's definately more complicated...but i still feel the same...I HURT EITHER WAY looooooooooooooooool!!!

what's the GHS stand for? general hypermobility syndrome? is this an american term? as i have not come across it before...

here in blighty the connective tissue disorder specialist say: you are just hypermobile=you have hypermobility, you are hypermobile and have associated problems=you have Hypermobility Syndrome.
and as far as i know people who have AQUIRED hypermobility like gymnast, ballet dancer (as opposed to 'born with hypermobility', double jointedness) dont suffer from the syndrome.

In prof grahame's (CBE MD FRCP FACP) HMS book there is a list of 77 associated syndromes and problems that come with HMS (the same than come with EDshypermob ), as he has found them in peops WITHOUT the skin involvement JUST AS OFTEN as in peops WITH the skin involvement. So he reckons HMS=EDShypermob and that some peops dont have the skin involvement just like some dont have raynauds or POTS or eye or ear problems, cause we dont ALL have EVERY associated probs.

I think the HMS name is also due to 'new thinking whilst naming' as in away from calling something according to who first wrote a paper about it
(as in Ehlers and Danlos) to the 'it does what it says on the tin' naming approach hence hypermobility syndrome.

But hey the docs will argue until they'll be able to 'name' the exact gene, the exact collagen fault for skin/nonskin involvement, till then we'll have to live not only with a confusing condition but also it's confusing various definitions and names...

GHS = HMS = BJHS

I have the opposite of normal aquired hypermobility I didn't used to have many symptoms as I was so muscley but now I'm not I'm alot worse.

My pedi gave me a sit down...and talked to me about aquired hypermobility and BJH and EDS...and the differences.

I used to have the diagnosis of BJH (according to my rheumy still do...) but my geneticist said no, I have EDS because i have skin involvement and many of the complications that are linked to EDS.

Okie dokie, so my pediatrian told me that gymnasts and ballerinas etc are hypermobile because they practice, and some people are just born like that (my old rheumy told me this too) but they don't have problems with dislocations and pain...their ligaments etc are normal.

but she told me in EDS they stretch out...they're missing the elasticity. She said that's why despite PT, i'm still subluxing like a marrionette puppet...because i'm stretched.

HMS or EDS...it's still a pain!

I only have a Beighton of 1, but 8 joints sublux and 4 others are weak. I'm freaky! Subluxing without even getting to do tricks...sigh....

I know how you feel! I am the same way. Actually I score a little higher but the muscles in my legs are so strong and very tight that i cant do the knee thing or the bending over to touch the ground thing. let me tell you, explaining to someone that hypermobility and flexibility are different is not easy!

I can touch the floor and that's it. For years I thought I was just flexible with weak knees and elbows. It took my current fab physio to point out that b/c of my back issues, my back does not bend. being able to touch the floor easily without bending your back at all is not normal! I bend like 2 hinged planks.