Woman is her own twin

[GeorginaA]

I haven't got much to add to this, but just read it and thought "wow!" - it's such an amazing story. Still trying to get my head around it.

When two became one in the womb

[Beccarollo]

wow!

[fio2]

I don't beleive it!

[popsycal]

oh my goodness!!
i didn't know that was possible!!

[popsycal]

oh my goodness!!
i didn't know that was possible!!

[CnR]

I have never heard of this ever. It's almost unblievable.

[Angeliz]

wow!

[fio2]

It's not true!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[popsycal]

fio2 - do you know its not true or are you asking?

[popsycal]

look at this
and this
dear me#1

[CnR]

Oh, those poor children.

[doormat]

wow that is amazing

[fio2]

I just think it's made up, sorry

[popsycal]

no - i have actually heard of it
a friend of mine teaches a boy who was born with this kind of tumour in his cheek and had to have it removed
same thing

[fio2]

isnt it one of those things that grows teeeth, hair and stuff- cant remember what they are called

[princesspeahead]

its called a terato- something, from the greek meaning "monster". that always creeped me out...

[fio2]

its like a fibroid isnt it? not really got a heart beating or anything........that story is just misleading

[boyandgirl]

There was a man with two penises on 'Tarrant on TV' (yes, I admit I do watch it...to my shame) a few months ago, and apparetnly he also had two bladders. I wonder whether he was also the result of being his own twin.

[hmb]

A teratoma, and yes they can develop tissue like teeth and hair, and move a little IIRC. Tetatomas are most commonly found in the testicle, where they are one of the two most commonly occuring cancers (the other being a seminoma)

[ThomCat]

There was a child at my junior school who wasn't quite all girl or all boy in the genital area.

My mum was friendly with this childs mother so knew all about it. The mother was asked to decide on whether when an operation was carried out whether they should work on making the genitals complete as a penis or a vagina! What a decision to have to make.

Just rang my mum to confirm and she said yes that was right and the mother decided to 'make' her a little girl. However apparently, years later it turns out that wasn't the right decision (!?!) and she should have been a he really.

[WSM]

I can't imagine having to make that choice for DD. I think that in cases of Hermaphroditism (sp?) in todays world parents can allow the childs personality to develop first before making a decision re 'correcting' their gender.

The idea of those hair/teeth tumours makes me feel v queasy

[steppemum]

There was a docu about this a little while ago, the parents (this was in 1960's)had to decide to make the child boy or a girl, they decided for boy and he was brought up as a boy, and was the source of lots of learned scientific papers about how gender behaviour was all learnt and not genetic etc. Except the boy was miserable and always felt as if he was a girl, and was desparetaly unhappy, no friends etc as he couldn't relate to other boys (he had never been told about the op as a baby) finally at about 13, he told his mum, who relised they had made the wrong decision, so they moved house and he started again as a girl (I think he had a sex change op years later, but was able to take hormone supplements through adolescence or something) Within a few months he/she was so much happier and settled down, and had a "normal" life. It was fascinating. I think nowadays, you would wait to see how your child developed, and choose a name that could be girl or boy etc wouldn't you?

[pie]

I would have thought that these days they would test the DNA of a child born on indeterminate sex. They could be a clear XY/XX and so I would have thought that this would lend itself to the decision. But then you get those who are XXY I think and there really isn't anything to do but see what the child feels like. Though being brought up without being one or the other until you make a decision would be very very hard I would think.

[roscoe]

Does anyone remember the case of the twin boys? One lost his penis in a freak circumcision accident and so the parents brought him up as a girl. He had a terrible time growing up.

[tamum]

Pie, it can be more complicated than that unfortunately. There's only one actual gene on the Y chromosome that is needed for maleness, so you can have what appears to be a completely normal Y chromosome but still be a female, essentially. Conversely, you can be XX but have a tiny bit of the Y with the Sry gene on it and be completely male. Someone who was XXY would invariably be a male, however many X chromosomes you have the Y always "wins".

Interestingly, there are hardly any genes on the Y chromosome, it's nearly all junk

[hmb]

IIRC the Y chromasome carries the gene for hairy ear lobes! Couldn't do without that one could they?