Genetic condition confusion

[Ziggy1208]

Hi Ladies,

I have a genetic condition which I have a 50% chance of passing on to my potential child, while my condition doesn't really effect my life I was diagnosed at 24 and I didn't know I carried the gene until I was ill.

Has anyone has any experience in deciding wether to pass on a heriditary condition? It would be nice to get some advice and know I'm not alone.

Due to my condition I do have slightly below normal kidney function and high blood pressure which I receive medication for. This means I'm at high risk of pre eclampsia but the doctors won't quantify the risk so I really have no idea about the likelyhood of that happening!

Thank you xx

 

[BunnyN]

Sorry no personal experience. I can see how its a hard decision. Do you know if your experience is typical or can the symptoms be much worse?

 

[scn]

You could consider having IVF with pre genetic screening if available for your condition, worth looking into, good luck x

 

[Ziggy1208]

My experience seems to be typical, for many women pregnancy was the trigger so they didn't know they had s condition.

I have thought about genetic testing through IVF and I don't think I could do it, I'm not sure that they would let me medically and I think all my eggs would carry the gene and it would be a 50% chance on if the embryo had my gene or my partners. At that stage I couldn't personally decide not to have it.

Thank you both for replying to my post xx

 

[BunnyN]

I understand how you feel about embryo selection. I would feel the same.

It sounds like your condition doesn't stop you from having a relatively normal life. And that would hopefully be the same for any children you did pass it to. Is it likely to cause more problems as you get older? One way to look at it is that lots parents pass on health problems to their kids. No one has perfect genes so we are all passing on genetic defects. Its just that it is not usually so cut and dry as your case. It is a hard choice though and only you and your OH can decide what is the right choice for you.

 

[Ziggy1208]

Thank you, my OH says he's happy with whatever I decide which sounds great but makes me feel like it's all down to me and therefore would be my fault if we have regrets later.

My condition is rare and my treatment is only 10 years old so not much future data to go on, I think that's what I'm struggling with the most, no doctor will give me any real information for fear I'll sue them if it all goes wrong �� xx

 

[BunnyN]

Its hard being so on your own to decide.

Have you tried looking online for support groups and other experiences?

 

[poppy86]

Hi Ladies,

I have a genetic condition which I have a 50% chance of passing on to my potential child, while my condition doesn't really effect my life I was diagnosed at 24 and I didn't know I carried the gene until I was ill.

Has anyone has any experience in deciding wether to pass on a heriditary condition? It would be nice to get some advice and know I'm not alone.

Due to my condition I do have slightly below normal kidney function and high blood pressure which I receive medication for. This means I'm at high risk of pre eclampsia but the doctors won't quantify the risk so I really have no idea about the likelyhood of that happening!

Thank you xx

Just in case and latecomers are reading this thread, I inherited Chronic Migraine from my dad and IBS from my mother along with abnormally high cholesterol (yes they can be inherited) and often wonder is it worth passing that on to a child. Is it fair. My husband is also diabetic - we only found out a couple of years ago and it has been hard to deal with, but we just deal with it.

I suppose whatever conditions we have and the chances we could NOT pass it on to our children, who is to say they could or couldn't be perfectly healthy anyway? There's no knowing.

Gene inheritance is a lottery.