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Genetics Evaluations for Hope
Dr. Golder Wilson offers specialized genetic evaluations to help determine whether a patient may have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). Since many EDS symptoms—like joint hypermobility, fatigue, stretchy skin, chronic pain, anxiety, and gastrointestinal issues—can be subjective and easily overlooked, patients are encouraged to first explore the IHAVEDS acronym (available below) to reflect on their symptoms.
IF SYMPTOMS ALIGN
If the signs align, patients are provided with detailed self-assessment forms, including checklists covering 80 physical and 40 historical traits often seen in EDS. A family history form is also included to track how and when symptoms began, and whether similar patterns exist among relatives. These tools allow patients to compare their findings to known EDS cases, with evaluation tailored to individuals age 10 and older, since diagnosing younger children is often less reliable.
While Dr. Wilson focuses on identifying EDS-related patterns and guiding patients with general recommendations, he does not specialize in treatment for specific medical areas like cardiology, gastroenterology, allergy and mast cell issues, orthopedics, or pain management.
ONGOING CARE
For ongoing care, patients can connect with trusted resources such as patient advocate Christie Cox or APRN Katie Volkers of A to Zebra Health, who help coordinate care across specialties. See their partner websites at the bottom of this website.
RESOURCES
Additional guidance can be found through expert presentations on EDS Awareness.com and in Dr. Brad Tinkle’s Joint Hypermobility Handbook, a widely respected resource for EDS management. He also recommends those newly diagnosed enhance their knowledge through Christie Cox's book Holding It All Together When You're Hypermobile. It's a wonderful resource for maintaining EDS patient equilibrium and agency.
DR WILSON's MISSION
Recognizing EDS
Dr. Wilson's approach to understanding EDS as a spectrum of joint-tissue laxity, neuromuscular, and autonomic findings that result from central articular (joint)-autonomic (adrenaline) mechanisms produced by a network of gene changes. Learn more on our EDS Info page.
About Dr. Golder Wilson
Dr. Wilson earned both his MD and PhD from the University of Chicago in 1972 and trained at Boston Floating Hospital, NIH, and the University of Michigan. He has served as a full professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and continues to teach and provide clinical correlation of DNA results at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock.
His clinical focus on hypermobility and dysautonomia has led to an evidence-based model for recognizing EDS not just by genetics—but through thorough pattern recognition he defined in over 2,000 patient evaluations. Dr. Wilson’s clinical care blends clinical rigor with patient-centered insight, offering hope, clarity, and support to those often dismissed or misdiagnosed.
His scholarly approach is shown by his many contributions to the literature in this research profile:
A unique aspect of his EDS studies and scholarship is the documentation of an integral relationship between tissue laxity (joint instability, skin elasticity) and neuro-autonomic finding (muscle weakness, POTS, MCAS, and IBS). This reciprocal relationship between joint-skin laxity and dysautonomia is documented by their frequent, parallel occurrence in 1261 EDS patients and by their correlation with genes impacting connective tissue (e. g., COL I, II, III, V, VI, XI, XII genes) or neuroautonomic processes (SCN9/10/11A, POLG, MT-ATP). Action of tissue laxity to cause autonomic imbalance through blood pooling-adrenaline simulation is reciprocated by decreased tissue restraint by small fiber (autonomic) neuropathy.
This arthritis-adrenaline or articulo-autonomic dysplasia (AAD) process is characteristic of an arthritis-adrenaline disorder (AAD) category that includes EDS but also other connective tissue dysplasias (e. g., Marfan syndrome) or even developmental disability disorders with low tone and joint hypermobility (e. g., Down syndrome). The practical implication is that Dr. Wilson’s assessment forms include substantial attention to dysautonomia findings, among the most treatable of EDS when recognized by patients and physicians (hydration, salt, lower gluten-dairy).
Evidence for this AAD process is best documented in three recent articles:
Wilson GN, Tonk VS. Clinical-DNA correlates of anxiety in patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Open J Psych 2024; 14: 319-333. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojpsych.2024.144018.