[email protected]

In a message dated 7/20/2003 8:53:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
amycats2@... writes:


> This is very interesting to me....I have a brother who has become addicted
> to
> everything he's touched (crack, cigarettes, alcohol, pot, you name it.) I
> would say that he has a very addictive personality. Thing is, no one in my
> family
> is addicted to anything, as far back as great-grandparents. It makes me
> wonder how it happens.

Genetics is a fascinating science.

Traits don't necessarily follow a straight line. They can skip generation
after generation only to resurface many generations later. Some traits are
sex-linked, some are recessive, some are mutations. There are MANY explanations for
why your brother is how he is.

There are NO blondes or green-hazel eyes in my OR my husbad's
families---going back "forever". SO why was our first born almost tow-headed? ( He's
brunette, now---go figure!) When the midwife said, "A Blondie!". My first reaction
was: he must not be MINE! <G>

You can get better and extremely in-depth explanations on some dog and horse
and cattle and rat breeding lists about genetics. But things don't always
appear as they really are: Phenotype vs genotype.

~Kelly



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[email protected]

In a message dated 7/20/2003 6:53:10 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
amycats2@... writes:

> Thing is, no one in my family
> is addicted to anything, as far back as great-grandparents. It makes me
> wonder how it happens.
>

Genetics can hang in there more than two generations, certainly, AND if the
grandparents never drank, alcoholism wouldn't kick in.

Lots of people abstain from things that would be bad for them. Others
wallow. Others think they can handle it and find they can't.

Sandra


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[email protected]

In a message dated 7/20/2003 7:52:27 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
kbcdlovejo@... writes:

> SO why was our first born almost tow-headed? ( He's
> brunette, now---go figure!)

That seems to be what tow-headed is, is late-appearing brown hair.

My mom was that way to ten years old.
Marty was that way.

VERY light hair.

But Marty also has a blond dad. So though his head hair is going dark, the
hair on his arms and legs is blond.

Genetics is really fascinating. You could read for months by looking up
anything you're slightly curious about at <A HREF="www.google.com">www.google.com</A>

Sandra


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Backstrom kelli

my dh and I were just talking about the origon of that expression tow head, everyone calls our little baby a tow head because she is very fair. Do you have to turn in to a dark haired person later in life to be one?
Kelli

SandraDodd@... wrote:
In a message dated 7/20/2003 7:52:27 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
kbcdlovejo@... writes:

> SO why was our first born almost tow-headed? ( He's
> brunette, now---go figure!)

That seems to be what tow-headed is, is late-appearing brown hair.

My mom was that way to ten years old.
Marty was that way.

VERY light hair.

But Marty also has a blond dad. So though his head hair is going dark, the
hair on his arms and legs is blond.

Genetics is really fascinating. You could read for months by looking up
anything you're slightly curious about at <A HREF="www.google.com">www.google.com</A>

Sandra


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Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley

> > This is very interesting to me....I have a brother who has become
addicted
> > to
> > everything he's touched (crack, cigarettes, alcohol, pot, you name it.)
I
> > would say that he has a very addictive personality. Thing is, no one in
my
> > family
> > is addicted to anything, as far back as great-grandparents. It makes me
> > wonder how it happens.

I am no expert on this topic, nor do I know if what I am about to say is the
slightest bit true (though I would be interested to know the facts if there
are any). Anyway, when I was pregnant with my oldest, I read about a
thousand scientific studies and hundreds of books on labor and delivery. In
one of the things that I read, it stated that they had found that the
mothers that had pain killers of some sort during their labor and delivery
were more likely to have children that grew up to be drug addicts. They
were saying that the drug entered into the baby's blood and created some
sort of "need" for more. I found this scary and interesting and I started
quizzing every drug addict that I personally knew (not many, actually) about
their births. My antidotal evidence found that all were born with some sort
of drug involved and most of their mothers had actually been knocked out
with the "twilight sleep" stuff that they used to do in the 50s. That
helped comfirm my desire to go as drugless as possible during my pregnancies
and childbirth. I've wondered how much of it was that the mother was
genetically predisposed to want drugs during labor (for whatever reason) and
therefore her children would have a higher tendency to want drugs for
control over pains, too. I definitely believe that there is something
genetically involved, but I'm not an expert on what it is precisely. I
don't believe that anyone alive today is.

-Lisa in AZ

Fetteroll

on 7/21/03 5:54 AM, Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley at cottrellbentley@...
wrote:

> My antidotal evidence found that all were born with some sort
> of drug involved and most of their mothers had actually been knocked out
> with the "twilight sleep" stuff that they used to do in the 50s.

Yes and the drug addicts were all born in hospitals. And they watched TV
growing up. And drank soda. And went to McDonalds. ;-)

If you'd taken the same poll of nondrug addicts of the same age, you'd have
found drugs were just as common in their births too. Just like the births of
most of the members on this list.

Joyce

Mary

From: "Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley" <cottrellbentley@...>

<< In one of the things that I read, it stated that they had found that the
mothers that had pain killers of some sort during their labor and delivery
were more likely to have children that grew up to be drug addicts. They
were saying that the drug entered into the baby's blood and created some
sort of "need" for more. I found this scary and interesting and I started
quizzing every drug addict that I personally knew (not many, actually) about
their births. My antidotal evidence found that all were born with some sort
of drug involved and most of their mothers had actually been knocked out
with the "twilight sleep" stuff that they used to do in the 50s.>>



Wow, that's interesting. I never heard of that before. If the drug addicts
you spoke with, even though not many, had moms who had meds, would you
assume that as coincidence if you knew a whole lot more moms who had meds
with kids that didn't do drugs? I can't honestly say anyone I knew addicted
to drugs but one had a mom who had meds. The others may, I just never asked.

I'm thinking of my own family. Everyone I knew in my family and my in laws
family, (women that came after grandma's) except one women during one birth
had meds. No one in the family has ever been addicted to drugs but one guy,
and he's been clean now for years. I was a 50's baby and my mom had the
twilight sleep. Never even knew I was born. I never had a drug problem. I
did them for fun, and stopped with no problem. Nothing heavy or for long. I
had meds with all 4 of my kids. So far so good!!!! I'll let you know how
they turn out! <BG>

Mary B

Pamela Sorooshian

On Monday, July 21, 2003, at 02:54 AM, Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley wrote:

> My antidotal evidence found that all were born with some sort
> of drug involved and most of their mothers had actually been knocked
> out
> with the "twilight sleep" stuff that they used to do in the 50s.

Probably almost all of us born in the 40's and 50's were born to
knocked-out moms?

-pam

Lisa M. Cottrell Bentley

> > My antidotal evidence found that all were born with some sort
> > of drug involved and most of their mothers had actually been knocked
> > out
> > with the "twilight sleep" stuff that they used to do in the 50s.
>
> Probably almost all of us born in the 40's and 50's were born to
> knocked-out moms?

Very sadly true! Like I said before, I really don't know whether or not
this study was accurate or not, and it seems to have many flaws that I can
see in my nonpregnant state. I wish that I could find it again. There was
something about exactly when the mother had drugs that made the difference,
some critical and crucial point. And, evironmental factors were not being
taken into account at all. They were correlating the babies from the 50s
with all the drug users of the 70s, without taking into account things like
the Vietnam war and the style in which that generation was generally
parented. My personal point being that there are a lot of factors that
determine one's propensity towards addictions. It would be nice if we could
determine the causes and flip a switch to turn it off (and that would only
work if it was 100% genetics). However, then that person wouldn't
necessarily fully be themselves anymore, who knows what other personality
traits would be turned off at the same time. Difficult dilemma.

-Lisa in AZ

[email protected]

In a message dated 7/21/2003 9:12:42 AM Eastern Standard Time,
fetteroll@... writes:

>
> >My antidotal evidence found that all were born with some sort
> >of drug involved and most of their mothers had actually been knocked out
> >with the "twilight sleep" stuff that they used to do in the 50s.

I would think that long term drug use by the mothers DURING the pregnancy
would probably be more influential than what was used during labor. Remember
that even into the 60s, doctors had no idea that most drugs could cross the
placenta. Tranquilizers were commonly prescribed, and some pregnant women were
actually TOLD by their doctors to drink brandy before bed. A fetus exposed to
that for his or her first several months of life could very well be predisposed
to addiction, especially if the right genes are also present.


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Sarah K. Groseclose

> Has anyone here had an alcoholic in their family or has been an
> alcoholic that fears that their child will be too or has actually
> turned out to be one?

I am an alcoholic/drug addict in recovery since 1-28-02. My wife has been
in recovery for 2 1/2 years. We bring our girls (both 12 1/2) to our
meetings...because they WANT to be there. We discuss our addiction openly
with them and answer whatever questions they may have. We realize that our
children are at a higher risk for addiction because of our addiction, but we
just trust that if they ever develop an addiction they will remember that AA
and NA are there for them. Most of our friends are from AA and the girls
know their stories and can ask questions. We don't keep anything back when
they ask about our days using alcohol and drugs. Some days I think about
the possibility of them developing an addiction and the only thing that
keeps me sane is that they know where to go if that happens. They have been
involved with Ala-Teen (off shoot of AA for children of alcoholics) and that
helps, too.
Peace,
Sarah

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