Symptoms of Turner Syndrome

 

By: James Madhok

Turner syndrome is a genetic disorder witnessed commonly amongst girls. Reports suggest that one out of every 3000 girl falls prey to this ailment. The symptoms associated with this ailment do not showcase a uniform pattern amongst all the sufferers. The symptoms can be really mild or extremely fatal. Once infected, the victim tends to develop a learning problem, despite being blessed with normal intelligence level. The most common symptoms include short stature, loss of ovarian function and webbed neck. Let’s have a deeper look into these symptoms.

Short stature

On an average, girls suffering from Turner syndrome do not grow over four and a half feet. These girls stay short for their entire livelihood. That being said, proper treatment can help the victim achieve a height of about four feet eight inches. Since it’s a genetic disorder, it’s very rare to find victims grow over this height.

Webbed neck

Besides short stature, webbed neck is an apparent feature noticed amongst Turner syndrome victims. The neck will look shorter than the average appearance due to folded skin layers. As such, it won’t be an understatement to claim that the webbed neck adds insult to injury as it contributes to the already existing short stature of the victim.

Ovarian infertility

Amongst most victims, the female hormones that play an active role in sexual orientation and growth get affected. The ovaries fail miserable in producing sex and growth related hormones. That being said, in some cases, the ovaries will function normally up to a certain age, but will cease to function as the girl grows older in age. This situation can be really embarrassing as most girls fail to develop breasts and other dominating female features.

Apart from the above mentioned symptoms, there are many other noticeable symptoms that a sufferer may showcase. Some of them are very lethal in nature. Let’s have a look at these symptoms:

-Normal external vaginal organs

-Lack of ovaries and testes

-Birth pattern defects

-Bone problems

-Broad chest

-Heart problems

-Primary dysmenorrheal

-Widely spaced nipples

-Failure to start menstruating

-Obesity

-Inactive thyroid glands

-Ear infection

-Eye issues

-Osteoporosis

-Dark birthmarks on body parts

As you can see that some of these symptoms are really jaw-dropping and can affect a person’s self-esteem and confidence in life. After all, not being able to lead a normal life can be a jeopardizing experience in itself. One would be surprised to know that more than 800 cases of Turner syndrome are reported every year. That being said, it’s not always easy to recognize the ailment based on the above mentioned symptoms as some of these symptoms may coincide with other ailments as well. A proper diagnosis is a must to ensure timely treatment so that the nasty effects connected with this ailment are curbed to the maximum. Many chronic issues such as obesity and diabetes can be curtailed, if the disease is detected and treated in the initial phase itself.

Source: healthguidance.org