Angelman Syndrome: Autistic Empathy

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I think I must have Devilman Syndrome. Or Devilwoman in my case.

Symptoms and traits of DS include several or all of the following:

-Perpetually angry or annoyed facial expression, even when the person is feeling happy or just neutral, also known as
Resting B**ch Face
-Voice sounds unusually deep or overly high, e.g. demonic
-Hot-tempered, like a living firecracker, suddenly snaps or blows up without warning, often seemingly for trivial
reasons or none at all.
- Rarely smiles, and when they do it's usually a "Slasher smile".
-Shows obvious pleasure at other people's failures and misfortunes, which they may or may not be the reason for.
-Shows profound displeasure of seeing or hearing about other people's successes or activities that give them
pleasure.
-Grows long bangs or has very thick, unruly hair (as a way to hide the horns that will one day sprout out of their
heads)
-A dislike or avoidance of high heat (because that's where they're going to end up in the next life)
-Fascination with the color red, fire, rock music, video games, Harry Potter novels, Halloween, and the myth known as
evolution.
-Feels good or says good things about themselves because of their accomplishments, e.g. "I scored 98 out of a
hundred on my test today, I must be pretty smart!"
-Believes in donating one's blood or organs to people who are diseased or injured.
-Questions the Bible, Christianity, or religion in general
-Disobeys parents, or is a female who disobeys males, especially when told to do something that they know will bring
them great harm.
-Is LGBT, or even LGBT-friendly.
-Believes in or uses unnatural forms of birth control.
-Self-pleasure.

LOL, Angels and demons are all aliens.

Thank you so much Marybird!
I look forward to figuring this out.

Research uncovers mechanism behind epilepsy in Angelman syndrome

People with Angelman’s Syndrome tend to be friendly and happy people who can only say a few words, at most.

They also tend to not sleep well, and to have seizures....especially when young.

I wonder if a girl in my special ed class had Angelman's. She couldn't walk so she used a walker and then she was using crutches and she also had double incontinence so she wore diapers and she was very small for her age a lot shorter than me even though she was a whole year older than me. I had also never seen her cry and she never yelled or never got upset, she was always happy. It was as if she was incapable of getting upset and having negative emotion. I hear Angelmens are always very happy and are called little puppets. At the end of the school year she was using the stairs instead of ramps and wheelchair lifts. I also wondered if she might have gotten in a car accident and it left her unable to walk and left her with incontinence because she was getting better at movement. I have also thought of maybe she had spina bifida or maybe cerebral palsy.

My teacher had a great niece with it too and told me she only got diagnosed at 3 months because she never cried. She was too happy. She didn't start walking till she was 3.

Angelman also affects mobility movement and the ability to go to the bathroom. It can also affect intelligence.

There's an adult man on my block who has Angelman Syndrome. He is about normal adult height.

Not sure if it's helpful, but I put together some information on Angelman Syndrome, along with research, books and a few articles here ... http://www.aspie-editorial.com/angelman-syndrome/

Thanks, Sharon. Yes, there most certainly are similarities, and I too, have always been a remarkably happy soul, in spite of alot of trauma. I’m also VERY drawn to water... I should point out that the only reason I added it to my blog, was that acting is in the family and when Colin Farrell’s son was diagnosed with Angelman’s, I took the chance to learn more about it.

A number of symptoms of Angelman Syndrome are strikingly similar to those seen in infants and toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (Mayo Clinic):

Developmental delays in speech and movement
Intellectual disability
Seizures by toddler age
Unusual behaviors and/or repetitive such as hand flapping

Plenty of other symptoms don’t align, however.

Acting in a way that conveys an exaggerated level of happiness and excitement during the early stages of development can be a key indicator of Angelman Syndrome, but is not something seen in children on the autism spectrum. In fact, at one time, Angelman Syndrome was referred to as “happy puppet syndrome,” because of the characteristic of stiff puppet-like movements coupled with a consistently cheerful personality.

Though head size isn’t included in the diagnostic criteria for either syndrome, there are instances when it presents itself as a differentiating characteristic:

Children with autism may develop a larger head and, in fact, a larger brain. This won’t be evident in the early months, but later as they grow it is something that could present itself.
Conversely, Angelman Syndrome can cause a small head or microbrachycephaly, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The following is an interesting read, and highlights a case of a child who was mistakenly disgnosed ASD, when she in fact has Angelman Syndrome ...
https://www.appliedbehavioranalysisedu.org/how-does-asd-differ-from-angelman-syndrome/

A study on Comorbidity of Angelman and ASD:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15165432

And further information re autism in Angelman Syndrome:
https://angelmansyndromenews.com/2018/06/18/genetic-defects-maternal-origin-may-cause-autism-study/

Ha!: I'm an actress, although currently "acting" as an engineer (it pays well).

Do you wonder that you have Angelman "light"?

My mom say I was the happiest child until I entered school. As a teenager I had a year that was horribly traumatic and my yearbook was filled with the typical "you are the happiest person in the world".

Small heads over here (my daughter's birth weight was underestimated by over 1 lb b/c of it). Acid reflux, etc.

Back to OP about empathy. My ASD-like mom, myself and my daughter have strong empathy (sometimes "paranormal"). I can feel a person's feelings but it's amplified for me. My mom has said the same and I have seen my daughter burst into near-hysteric tears when her brother has a small upset. My mom, like me, isn't in social contact much, but we both have the uncanny "ability" to call folks the minute of a loved one's death, or within 24 hours after (or before) a significant life-impacting event. Just a few months ago my ASD-like 8-yo daughter announced to me one morning she would name her daughter "NAME" (which I thought was odd; she's and I received a text six hours later that six hours earlier my cousin had bore a daughter named "NAME" (albeit it's in the Top 50 of popular names, but not Top #25). What up with that?

Haha ... Sharon ... Star of Engineering , breaking all box office records ...

Angelman Lite ... Considering my history, who knows? Average sized heads here. Although, I was pretty much mute when younger, but was stereotypically autistic through and through in every way ... many children on the spectrum are drawn to water, as I am, something I'm very aware of, as a friend lost her autistic grandchild in a terrible pond drowning in Australia, as have many others I've read about, so I'm not really alone on the water front. Though, yes, it's definitely a major trait of those with Angelman Syndrome. No question about it. Also, I may have just been fortunate having the "happy gene" lol. My daughter's the same. We both were far too high functioning though, avid readers from the age of 3yrs, very empathic(your above posts are soo familiar, right down to the bursting into tears, oddly as a teenager(put this down to hormones and missing boyfriend at the time, but it was odd and I never forgot it)... I was happy, until my mother died just before I started Infants School, and then became a runner, the great Houdini escapee from school! Nearly sent my father grey, early! Ooh, my daughter also had terrible acid reflux, as yours did! Projectile vomitting as a baby! We altered feeding technique and incorporated a thickener. Interesting reading your experiences ... thanks.

"Star of Engr". Amusing.

Your Houdini experience reminds me of Superman flying around and around the world to get Lois back, except you ran and ran and your mom couldn't come back in body. And being as empathetic as I am, I'm all chocked up. For your losses, for mine. I am glad we've had "gains" also.

Your hyperlexia reminds me that in the world of heart failure, a heart can have an ejection fraction rate that is too low (long known), but interestingly also too high (more recently studied). I find moderation to be very difficult and find myself on the "too high" side of ASD. But then, I'm not failing, I'm struggling. We have a grasshopper at the house that has defied all the online life expectancy articles I can find and I have relatives who quickly succumbed to heart failure and others who have lived decades in heart failure. Time will tell for us.

I wonder that you still run and read to this day, in moderation.