Genetic Effects of hDEC2 Other Than Short Sleep

I come from a large family  of carriers of the hDEC2 modification and have noticed many effects of the gene that may affect medical care.   I have been referred to the Genetic Medicine group to discuss these effects as they have affected past procedures and may affect a current regimen.

Other carriers I have talked with have noticed similar effects the hard way by experiencing them themselves, and in this blog I am trying to gather data that may be useful for all carriers. 

For more information https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2018/03/410051/scientists-discover-how-gene-mutation-reduces-need-sleep

Types of Short Sleep Expression

Short sleep seems to happen in different ways for different short sleepers.  My family appears to have both forms.

• The well-known form is the (6Hr) form where the sleep time is regular "11:08pm" and the wake time is natural, and regular "5:00am" without alarm approximately six hours later.  Once awake the short sleeper is alert and productive for the rest of the day.  
• A less studied form is the (INS) insomniac form where the short sleeper sleeps 1-3 hours at a time and wakes naturally and is alert and productive for several hours and returns to sleep for another 1-3 hours waking naturally without alarm. The rest of the day the person is alert and productive.  In college I went to sleep at 10:00pm woke naturally at midnight, did my homework till 4:00 and slept until 6:00 waking naturally without an alarm so reliably that I had the house wake up chore. 
• I have heard of an irregular 1-3 hour form where alert intervals are irregular and may exceed 24hrs.  The sleep time when needed is regular.

A niece has a large three generation family where short sleep is the norm.  Grandfather was 6Hr.  Grandmother was INS from her grandmother.  "Another middle of the night letter, Dorothy."  Due to the strong reinforcement of hDEC2 most descendants carry the modification.  

Other Systemic effects of hDEC2

As those of us with the modification know, short sleep is only one of the effects of hDEC2.  Some of them affect medical treatment in a major way.  I am meeting with Genetic medicine shortly to discuss my issues, and would like to get feedback from other short sleepers to confirm and add other systemic effects of hDEC2.


In no particular order:

• AIR=Aggressive Immune Response.  Many hDEC2 seem to have little trouble with viral infections.  At the first sniffle or cough they sleep for the usual time and wake up symptom free.  Delaying sleep may allow some development of the virus and a couple of sleep periods may be necessary to reduce symptoms.  A side effect is auto-immune diseases like asthma.
• ILA=Ineffective Local Anesthetics.  Usually noticed in early dental work.  First injection does nothing, it may take several injections to produce any numbing at all.  In some cases the anesthetic may cause prolonged pain and inflammation.   
• HPT=High Pain Tolerance.   (The good news about ILA)  Due to inflammatory reaction which is particularly severe in my case, all dental work except extractions, all suturing of cuts, and routine local surgery like skin cancer removal is done without anesthetic.  I tell the doctor to tell me when to expect a particularly painful episode so I can be ready and immobilize myself with a firm grip on the arm rest.  I needed 4 Staples for a wound closure which the surgeon thought would be less painful than sutures.  It was but the removal was agony.  Go with sutures.  
• SR=Sedative Resistance. Routine procedures that may be painful are usually done under sedation of one form or another.  In general even a maximum recommended dosage does not eliminate pain.  It may reduce it some, but HPT may be the cause rather than the sedative. 
• SGA=Short duration General Anesthesia works fortunately, but warn the anesthesiologist that it must be monitored carefully through the procedure so early waking in the middle of the procedure is avoided.   
• GDR=General Drug Resistance.  Somewhat case by case but in general the recommend treatment dosage has little effect.  An acquired alergy to routine drugs is associated with this resistance,  routinely prescribed drugs should be avoided when possible. I developed an alergy to Heparin as a result of routine use during hospitalizations associated with Chemo recovery.     
• OFA=Odd Food Allergies.  Several members of my family have an anaphylactic esophagus closure to bananas. Others have a migraine reaction to fresh pork among other foods. These seem to develop over time and may not be hDEC2 related although 3 generations in the direct line are affected.
• AD=Achievement Driven.   When awake most short sleepers are always at work on something that is important to them. Usually their primary activity like school or work, but recreational activities especially reading, blogging, and art are spare time fillers.  "Taking a break" usually consists of a 9 minute "Power Nap" usually starting later in life.  
• RBS=Resilient Bone Structure.  Except for broken fingers and noses, I seldom hear of broken bones in the HDEC2 population in spite of several that were in high contact and dangerous  sports like collegiate football, gymnastics etc.
• AT=Alcohol Tolerance. Can drink alcohol heavily without ill effects either immediate or longer term. A grandson with the gene on herm 21st birthday was given 14 Tequila Shots in less than an hour.  He was able to thank all the donors afterward, and was at work an hour later.  Hesh suffered no longer term affects like a hangover or reduced capability the next day.   

Whats Next?

I will email the blog link to all the hDEC2s I am acquainted with.  It is strongly genetic so many of you will have family members that may be carriers.  If you will please forward it to any you suspect are carriers I would appreciate it.

Comments are open anonymous or otherwise.  If  anyone in the chain would like to help document the other effects of hDEC2 please do so in a comment of the following form:

Family ID - Type - Generation if known Maternal/Paternal helpful.  Eg.-

J'C - INS - 4M-INS/1P-6Hr  (As header.)

AIR, ILA, HPT, SR,SGA, GDR, OFA, AD, RSB

Feel free to make up your own effects particularly if they  seem to be genetic.  I will be tallying responses by header on the Other Systemics Post. I will add any new ones to that post.

Please post a new comment for other information about hDEC2 that you wish to share.

I hope you find this interesting and worthy of adding to.