DID: Phisiological differences between alters

[Octandempus]

I just made an account here. What background I do have in medicine is pharmaceutical though I have a bit more general medical knowledge than most average folks as well as extensive study in psychology focused on criminal behavior. DID is a subject that usually brings up some heavy debate on whether or not it exists. That isn't what I care to have this turn into because no amount of facts on either side is going to really sway anyone. My questions pertain to anyone with DID that is part of a system. I am part of a system myself. The body is male (though a chimera due to VTS) and 25, Caucasian. The original of the body has Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis, Hypermobility, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Ictal Headaches, and a rather weak immune system. Obviously the body isn't in the best shape. DID first appeared when the body was 9. Now there have been reasonable differences in behavior, likes, dislikes, etc between the original and alters, myself included. One of the alters, who goes by Riley, is one who makes little to no sense. The original requires prescription glasses to be able to drive. Prescription is -4.25 -0.5 for the right eye and -4.50 -0.5 for the left eye. Anything maybe past two feet is blurry. Riley has better vision by far. Not perfect by any means but they can read print that wouldn't be legible to the rest of us from six feet away. Our body isn't very strong. The original can safely bench maybe 70 and I could do 85 on a good day. Riley can do 130lbs. In cases where the original has gotten into particularly nasty situations involving fights, Riley has come out and generally makes short work of others. Riley seems to be more focused as well as quicker and has generally faster reflexes than the rest of us. Now to me, if anything this all points to a 'mind over matter' deal and would suggest that Riley is the potential this body can be only the rest of us are limited by something. The original is the weakest one physically and mentally. Any alter naturally tends to be stronger in some form to some degree. So I'm researching various cases of DID systems and how alters may differ from one another. If I find anything good I'll just post it here. If anyone has anything of value to contribute I would gladly welcome it.

 

Octandempus

[DrKrettin]

Are we supposed to know what DID is?

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, DrKrettin said:

Are we supposed to know what DID is?

Dissociative identity disorder or multiple personality disorder. An 'alter' is one of the personality manifestations.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder#1

Edited August 26, 2017 by StringJunky

[DrKrettin]

Thanks - that helps me understand most of the rest. Why do people assume that acronyms are universally understood? VTS for example.

[HB of CJ]

Respectfully.  Shorter paragraphs.

[Octandempus]

3 hours ago, DrKrettin said:

Are we supposed to know what DID is?

DID is Dissociative Identity Disorder. It has also been called Multiple Personality Disorder as well. I apologize.

VTS stands for Vanishing Twin Syndrome. It is when one embryo absorbs another, sometimes resulting in in 'chimeras' or individuals who have two sets of DNA.

[DrKrettin]

Thanks - do you know for certain that this is your makeup?

[Strange]

Is there any research showing that different identities have different physiological characteristics?

Is there any research showing a relationship between DID and chimaersim?

[Octandempus]

On 8/27/2017 at 3:05 AM, DrKrettin said:

Thanks - do you know for certain that this is your makeup?

Yes. It was found out when I had a blood draw when I was still a newborn. I had both O+ and O- blood and needed a transfusion. Two different types of DNA still show up in blood work today.

 

On 8/27/2017 at 4:02 AM, Strange said:

Is there any research showing that different identities have different physiological characteristics?

Is there any research showing a relationship between DID and chimaersim?

I am currently researching the topic of physiological differences between alters. Much of what I have found has not been well documented and/or overseen by medical professionals. Much of the Psychological community still debates whether DID actually exists. I know for sure the physiological differences between myself and alters but it could be argued that because I believe I have DID and I believe myself to be weaker than my alters, it is so.

Chimaerism has no known links to DID although DID is often caused by PTSD and in some cases abandonment, which is known to correlate with Vanishing Twin Syndrome.

[Strange]

24 minutes ago, Octandempus said:

but it could be argued that because I believe I have DID and I believe myself to be weaker than my alters, it is so.

I am glad to see you are aware of these sort of biases. Good luck with your research. 

[Octandempus]

Though even if DID is nothing but a type of delusion. It doesn't make it any less real. I have a metal allergy as well as a avocado allergy. If I have something metal against my skin, usually silver, my skin becomes dry and itchy. If I eat avocado, my throat and mouth will swell. Two alters do not have those allergies. The mind is a very powerful thing. If I break my leg and feel it but an alter does not. Is that pain real? Yes, it is. No one can just just become aware and push the pain aside.

[DrKrettin]

46 minutes ago, Octandempus said:

If I break my leg and feel it but an alter does not. Is that pain real? Yes, it is. No one can just just become aware and push the pain aside.

Are you saying that one alter does not feel the pain of a broken leg?

[Octandempus]

1 minute ago, DrKrettin said:

Are you saying that one alter does not feel the pain of a broken leg?

Yes, that is correct. I have Osteogenesis Imperfecta so my bones are rather easy to break. I am more used to such things happening but always find broken bones extremely painful. My alter, Riley feels no pain and can usually move without any limitations even with broken bones.

[DrKrettin]

2 minutes ago, Octandempus said:

My alter, Riley feels no pain and can usually move without any limitations even with broken bones.

Does Riley feel any kind of pain? (I'm not leading to anything here, I'm just fascinated)

[Octandempus]

1 minute ago, DrKrettin said:

Does Riley feel any kind of pain? (I'm not leading to anything here, I'm just fascinated)

Riley identifies as robotic and so they feel nothing physical. I believe that dissociation from the physical is what makes them stronger as well. They cannot feel what they interact with physically. They often don't know their own strength and can sometimes hurt people by accident by shaking a hand too hard, patting someone on the back too hard, throwing an item at someone too hard, etc. I'd like to get brain scans of when Riley is out to see if the brain activity is different as well.

[softcubes]

If it's alright to answer I have OSDD-1b (Otherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder-1b) which is very similar to DID, only without as much memory loss. I know you asked DID systems but I thought that maybe our input could be helpful?

I'm fairly sure at least one alter is lactose intolerant, but we don't know who and it's, inconvenient to say the least.
We wear glasses too, but we have different prescriptions for the lenses, with our current glasses, an alter named Josh was fronting when we did the eye test so I tend not to wear our glasses since they hurt my eyes. 
We're also autistic, and I find that some alters are more sensitive to sensory overload than others. Also, our sense of taste changes, so an alter may love a certain food, and another may hate it. This is also a problem as we don't tend to tell people about the OSDD-1b, so sometimes one of us may have to feign liking a food so we aren't inconsistent with our presentation.

I've heard that through brain scans you can see that different alters have different brain activity, and also that alters can also suffer from specific mental illnesses that other alters don't.

[StringJunky]

1 hour ago, softcubes said:

If it's alright to answer I have OSDD-1b (Otherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder-1b) which is very similar to DID, only without as much memory loss. I know you asked DID systems but I thought that maybe our input could be helpful?

I'm fairly sure at least one alter is lactose intolerant, but we don't know who and it's, inconvenient to say the least.
We wear glasses too, but we have different prescriptions for the lenses, with our current glasses, an alter named Josh was fronting when we did the eye test so I tend not to wear our glasses since they hurt my eyes. 
We're also autistic, and I find that some alters are more sensitive to sensory overload than others. Also, our sense of taste changes, so an alter may love a certain food, and another may hate it. This is also a problem as we don't tend to tell people about the OSDD-1b, so sometimes one of us may have to feign liking a food so we aren't inconsistent with our presentation.

I've heard that through brain scans you can see that different alters have different brain activity, and also that alters can also suffer from specific mental illnesses that other alters don't.

Is an OSDD-1b individual more normal functioning in terms of interpersonal and everyday activities than one with DID?

[Octandempus]

16 hours ago, StringJunky said:

Is an OSDD-1b individual more normal functioning in terms of interpersonal and everyday activities than one with DID?

I think it really depends on the system. Our system is co-conscious and so we are all aware of each other's thoughts and actions and we can control when we switch for the most part.

17 hours ago, softcubes said:

If it's alright to answer I have OSDD-1b (Otherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder-1b) which is very similar to DID, only without as much memory loss. I know you asked DID systems but I thought that maybe our input could be helpful?

I'm fairly sure at least one alter is lactose intolerant, but we don't know who and it's, inconvenient to say the least.
We wear glasses too, but we have different prescriptions for the lenses, with our current glasses, an alter named Josh was fronting when we did the eye test so I tend not to wear our glasses since they hurt my eyes. 
We're also autistic, and I find that some alters are more sensitive to sensory overload than others. Also, our sense of taste changes, so an alter may love a certain food, and another may hate it. This is also a problem as we don't tend to tell people about the OSDD-1b, so sometimes one of us may have to feign liking a food so we aren't inconsistent with our presentation.

I've heard that through brain scans you can see that different alters have different brain activity, and also that alters can also suffer from specific mental illnesses that other alters don't.

It seems to be that alters or 'others' can have completely different brain patterns and if an EEG is performed on various alters the results can reflect different brain entirely. It's truly remarkable. Riley has depersonalization disorder and it's why they experience no emotion, but it seems to go beyond that since they also feel no physical pain or really feel physically. They don't feel textures. Their brain was more highly active in most areas where commonly in scans only a few portions are active at one time. This causes them to be overwhelmed after a few hours if out in public especially. This points to the possibility of being able to alter someone's neurological make-up to potentially get rid of certain conditions possibly. If we think about various illnesses and conditions, so often it's really because our bodies aren't working quite like they should when they could be. Perhaps further research into individuals who dissociate and have different physiological responses could lead to such advancements in medicine. I have been trying like Hell to look into available studies. I'm so curious what all can be documented about what all is different between my alters and myself.