The Self-Cannibals

I have finished my book! I saved the best essay for last, The Self-Cannibals. It was so interesting and yet it was really hard to read about. It's about the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. The syndrome is caused by just one little change in a person's DNA. If a person has this syndrome their life is pretty much self-sabotage. They say no when they mean yes. They are nice to people they don't like and mean to the people that they do like. They only eat the food they hate. And the worst part of it all, they eat themselves. They are highly alert people and they know exactly what is going on, they feel pain just like the rest of us. They are terrified of seeing their hands because they know they will just try to eat them. Since people with this syndrome know what's going on, they constantly ask to be tied up or restrained when they are feeling nervous. If they aren't restrained in time, they will start to bite at their hands or anything else and be begging for help as they do it. They have no control.
This was very hard to read because I kept putting myself in their situation. What if I was a parent and my child had this? What would I do? How do parents actually deal with this and know what the right thing to do is? Or worse, what if I had this syndrome? The essay says that people with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome are very pleasant and interesting people.
Another thing that interested me was how easily they can die. Most people with the syndrome live to their mid 30's or 40's. A man with the disease can fling his head back with such force that his neck will break and he will die instantly.
I truly enjoyed this book! I love the way Richard Preston writes and I'm actually learning something as I read!