Adam Rainer, the Giant Dwarf

Adam Rainer, the man, the legend, the dwarf-giant, maybe. Let's find out together!

First of all, what constitutes dwarfism?

According to the Mayo clinic:

Dwarfism is short stature that results from a genetic or medical condition. Stature is the height of a person in a standing position. Dwarfism generally is defined as an adult height of 4 feet, 10 inches (147 cm) or less. The average adult height among people with dwarfism is 4 feet, 1 inch (125 cm) for women and 4 feet, 4 inches (132 cm) for men.

I gotta cut in here. Why is it different between men and women? A 4 foot 2 inch woman is not a dwarf? Who decided this? Alright, whatever, let's move on.

Many medical conditions cause dwarfism. In general, dwarfism is divided into two broad categories; disproportionate dwarfism, which is when some parts of the body are small, and others are of average or above average size, and proportionate dwarfism, which is when all parts of the body are small to the same degree and appear like the body of average stature.

I love Hettie from CSI L.A.

Conditions causing disproportionate dwarfism are medical conditions present at birth or that occur in early childhood, which limit overall growth and development.

Some people prefer the term "short stature" or "little people" rather than "dwarf" or "dwarfism." It's important to be sensitive to the preference of someone who has this condition. Short stature conditions don't include familial short stature--short height that's thought of as a typical variation with typical bone development.

So, being kinda short doesn't make you a dwarf. I guess.... Mayo clinic is kind of rough. I've already had to modify the crap out of this article, but you can see the original. Anyway....

Most people with dwarfism have conditions that cause short stature with body parts that aren't the same size as one another. (Yeah, the disproportionate one). Usually, this means that a person has an average-sized trunk and very short limbs. Some people may have a very short trunk and short limbs. Those limbs are larger than the rest of the body. In these people, the head is large compared with the body.

Medical "science"; one thing means two things, but not a third thing, my God; please bear with me. I am trying to write a serious article about a real person.... Anyway...

You can have a regular torso and short limbs, but you can have a short torso and long limbs. I mean, I suppose both are "disproportionate" by definition of the word, but being a relatively not stupid, non-educated person, maybe there should be a term for all three; the regular torso with short limbs, the short torso with regular limbs, and the overall regular but tiny. Sorry, sorry, moving on.

Almost all people with disproportionate dwarfism have average intelligence. Rare exceptions are usually due to a secondary factor, such as excess fluid around the brain. This also is known as hydrocephalus.

What the Hell does hydrocephalus have to do with dwarfism?

Apparently, the most common cause of dwarfism is a condition called achondroplasia, which causes disproportionately short stature. This condition usually results in an average-sized trunk with short arms and legs, short fingers, often with a wide separation between the middle and ring fingers, limited mobility at the elbows, a large head in relation to the rest of the body with a prominent forehead and a flattened bridge of the nose, bowed legs that get worse, and swayed lower back that gets worse.

This sounds rough, and I don't know what achondroplasia is, but this article isn't about that. It's about a guy who was tiny for a long time, and then he got really tall. We'll get there.

What's important right meow is that we've defined dwarfism, at least according to the Mayo Clinic.

So, what the heck is gigantism or acromegaly? Everyone remembers Andre, the Giant, right? Sweet, fancy Moses....

Again, according to Mayo Clinic:

Acromegaly is a hormonal disorder that develops when your pituitary gland produces too much growth hormone during adulthood.

When you have too much growth hormone, your bones increase in size. In childhood, this leads to increased height and is called gigantism, but in adulthood, a change in height doesn't occur. Instead, the increase in bone size is limited to the bones of your hands, feet and face, and is called acromegaly. (Keep this in mind: A change in height doesn't occur.)

Because acromegaly is uncommon, and the physical changes occur slowly over many years, the condition sometimes takes a long time to recognize. Untreated, high levels of growth hormone can affect other parts of the body in addition to your bones. This can lead to serious, and sometimes even life-threatening health problems, but treatment can reduce risk.

Acromegaly may also cause gradual changes in face shape, such as a protruding lower jaw and brow bone, an enlarged nose, thickened lips, and wider spacing between teeth.

Because acromegaly tends to progress slowly, early signs may not be obvious for years. Sometimes, people notice the physical changes only by comparing old photos with newer ones.

Overall, acromegaly signs and symptoms tend to vary from one person to another, and may include any of the following: enlarged hands and feet, enlarged facial features, including the facial bones, lips, nose and tongue, coarse, oily, thickened skin, excessive sweating and body odor (it makes you smelly?) skin tags (I have one that I cut off with nail clippers, but it came back), fatigue and joint or muscle weakness, pain and limited joint mobility, deepened, husky voice due to enlarged vocal cords and sinuses, severe snoring due to obstruction of the upper airway, (or being a fatty like me), vision problems, headaches, which may be persistent or severe, (like everyone who's every worked in a kitchen), menstrual cycle irregularities in women, (but not men, because despite Kamala, men don't have those), erectile dysfunction in men, (but not giant women, who want more), loss of interest in sex, (because this can never happen to married couples, who get fat and gross).

For Pete's sake, let' move on. All I'm doing is joking now, and again; that's not what this article is about.

Acromegaly usually develops slowly. Even your family members may not notice the gradual physical changes that occur with this disorder at first, but early diagnosis is important, so that you can start getting proper care. Acromegaly can lead to serious health problems if it's not treated. (Like men with soft penises, evidently.)

Please, God, let's get on to the giant dwarf, Adam Rainer.

According to All That's Interesting:

When Adam Rainer turned 18 he was under four and a half feet tall. A little more than 15 years later he would be 7'1"-- tall enough to be classified as a giant. What is known has often become the stuff of legend, inadvertently exaggerated over the years, but Adam Rainer’s story needs no embellishment.

I already feel the embellishment. C'mon, man.

Adam Rainer was the only known person in history to have been recorded as both a dwarf and a giant, a medical marvel brought about by a combination of dwarfism and a tumor inside his pituitary gland that left doctors in shocked amazement. Unfortunately, this was also accompanied by several other serious health issues.

Not much is known about the personal details of the life Adam Rainer led, as it was his curious and unprecedented medical condition that dominated what’s known about it.

Okay, this is the stuff of embellishment; there was a guy who was tiny, and then he got tall, but no one knows anything about him. Be honest, if someone was under 5 feet tall at ten years old and was now 8 feet tall, wouldn't we know everything about him, including his favorite jelly?

You know I'm a skeptic, but okay.

When World War I broke out, Adam enlisted in the army, but his small stature led doctors to conduct a series of tests to determine his eligibility. Standing at 4 feet, 6 inches tall, doctors ultimately classified Rainer as a dwarf and deemed him unfit to be an effective soldier. The cutoff, according to IFL Science, was 4 feet, 10 inches.

The most striking and particularly unusual thing about Rainer’s dwarfism, compared to others, was the size of his hands and feet, which were far too large for his overall size. Despite his short height, he wore a size 10 shoe.

You've seen the picture above. Does it look like the dwarf had a regular shoe size? Damn, you can't tell there. Hold on, whoops. Guess what? You won't find a picture of Adam the dwarf with feet included. Oh well.

Just one year later, Adam had grown another two inches and tried once again to enlist with the army, but he was denied. Despite the growth spurt, he was still two inches too short.

As fate would have it, however, this would soon change. They say.

In 1920, Rainer was well below average height. Health records show that he was also relatively thin and underweight. (I can't find these records.) At 21 years old, when a person typically stops growing, most doctors and people in his life assumed that Rainer was also done growing and would remain a dwarf.

Then, something happened, Jesus said grow! Rainer didn’t just grow another two inches, he started to grow at an alarmingly accelerated rate without any sign of slowing down.

Within a decade, as Rainer entered his early 30s, he was well above that 4' 10" cutoff; he towered over those around him at more than seven feet tall, and he became one of the tallest people ever -- allegedly.

Doctors were baffled. Two men, Dr. A. Mandl and Dr. F. Windholz, started examining Rainer in 1930. They began to suspect that Rainer may have developed a specific kind of tumor that caused an extreme case of acromegaly: a condition, in this case, caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland, that causes abnormal growth of the face, hands, and feet due to an overproduction of growth hormones.

(But not height as was mentioned earlier!!!)

The condition may be known to most through individuals like iconic wrestler Andre the Giant or “The Munsters” star Fred Gwynne (pretty sure Fred DID NOT have acromegaly. He was just kinda tall.). Symptoms of acromegaly include enlarged hands and feet, which doctors noticed in Rainer. Additionally, over time, Rainer’s face became more square in shape, as his jaw and eyebrows protruded more and more due to the condition.

Rainer was also exceedingly tired a significant portion of the time, another common symptom of acromegaly. (Crap sleep, poor diet, alcohol, and stress also cause fatigue.)

In a 1961 report by Oscar Hirsch, another doctor who studied Rainer, it was remarked that the man was unable to perform a “normal” bite due to the immense size of his tongue. The now-giant Rainer had also begun to lose his hearing at around 26 years old.

(Speculative)

As a result of his rapid growth, Adam Rainer also experienced issues with his spine, which had begun to curve sideways as each massive growth spurt made him taller and taller. Soon, the doctors discovered that their hypothesis was correct.

(What was their hypothesis? He was diagnosed as a dwarf. Maybe, someone thought he had a tumor, but why? Acromegaly, as defined earlier doesn't make you taller, and now this guy is a giant? allegedly?)

The tumor in Rainer’s pituitary gland had been growing for more than a decade, but Mandl and Windholz opted to remove it via surgery anyway. At the time, such a surgery was incredibly risky, as it would necessitate working closely with vital areas of the brain.

On Dec. 2, 1930, Rainer underwent the dangerous operation. Thankfully, the surgery, performed by Oscar Hirsch, was a success.

Several months passed, and Rainer returned to visit Mandl and Windholz once more for a checkup. They were glad to see that his height had remained the same.

They diagnosed him in 1961. It doesn't say when they operated, but 9 years after the diagnosis, he didn't get taller. I'm just saying here.

However, his spinal curvature was even worse, (because they could remove a tumor from his pituitary gland, but not fix his spine,) which indicated he was in fact still growing, which as was stated, is not what acromegaly does.

I don't believe any of this. Do you? Anyway....

Unfortunately, Adam Rainer’s health problems only got worse. He started to lose vision in his right eye. As he approached middle age, Rainer’s spine curvature grew worse, and his vision continued to deteriorate.

Some accounts would later claim that he was often confined to bed and incapable of taking care of himself because of the pain as he spent the last years of his life in a “home of the aged” in Austria.

He did live in such a home, but according to Hirsch’s report, Rainer was able to take care of himself and was never confined to bed.

“He was clumsy, but kind to his roommates,” Hirsch wrote he was told by Adam Rainer’s doctor at the home.

Adam Rainer eventually died at the age of 51 years old after undergoing surgery for “perforation of the large intestine and peritonitis.” No autopsy was performed.

At the time of his death, Adam Rainer stood, by most estimates, at a massive 7 feet, 8 inches tall (though some estimates put him at seven-foot-ten). He is still the only man in history classified as both a dwarf and a giant in the same lifetime.

Well, it's also possible there were two Adam Rainers, and one was short and the other tall. It's possible that there was no Adam Rainer. Just because it's on the internet, doesn't mean it's real.

I just don't know about this one, but it is most definitely interesting. It's very possible a man with a tumor on his pituitary gland had trouble with growth hormones, but for a man to be diagnosed as both a dwarf and giant and tried to enlist in the military, and there be so little information on him, leaves me skeptical.

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