Grant Brünner: Bassguy

Thanks to the DNA testing done with 23andMe, I know quite a bit about the things I’ve inherited.

For example, I am a known carrier of two hereditary diseases:

1. Hemochromatosis
2. Congenital Disorder of Glycosylation

I’m also at a high risk of type 2 diabetes and atrial fibrillation — both of which have been affecting my dad’s side of the family for generations.

I have a higher genetic basis for alcoholism and drug addiction, and that makes barrels of sense. Three of my grandparents were alcoholics, and the remaining grandparent abstained mainly because her father was a violent alcoholic.

Essential tremor, asthma, hypothyroidism, aneurysms, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and restless leg syndrome are all increased risks, and all of those have been expressed within the last generation of my family. Frankly, I’m pretty lucky.

Chemical imbalances are prevalent in my family as well. Both of my grandmothers were clinically depressed, both of my parents have taken SSRIs for different reasons at different times, I have a number of aunts who are depressed and have at some point been suicidal, and recently I had a cousin that damn near offed himself by drinking antifreeze. As I have said before, I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder in 2009, and I have been on an SSRI ever since.

I love knowing all of this as it gives me inspiration to rise up and overcome. Free will.