Autoimmuners - do you have a family history?

Starburst

There is no history of autoimmune anything in my family, well there wasn't until recently. My mum and cousin (mum's side) have both been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease within the last month. So, that's confirmed it is significantly less likely that I'm adopted. Anyway it got me thinking, so does anyone else have a history of autoimmune diseases?

dreamdaisy

On my mother's side it was eczema and asthma, on my dad's psoriasis. They both dodged those particular bullets but didn't have the manners to let me do the same. I have cousins on my mum's side who have mild asthma and eczema but cousins on my dad's side are all OK.

I decided aged 16 not to have children because I didn't want them (or any possible grandchildren) to go through what I did with the skin and the not being able to breathe. The arthritis is the foul icing plus rancid cherry on the rotten cake of my life. DD

jillyb1

Maternal grandparents both had auto immune illnesses ; nana had severe psoriasis and gramps had RA . Mum had RA , I have RA ( along with OA , sogrens syndrome and fibromyalgia ) , and our daughter has recently been diagnosed with interstitial lung disease which is an auto immune ; she is also ( as her consultant so charmingly put it ) beginning her own RA journey !
Needless to say , my 3 children and their spouses have all decided not to have kids so that it won't go any further in this particular family !
Jillyb

stickywicket

I know I should have but I don't seem to apart from my Mum's mild psoriasis. (They kept trying to make mine PsA on the basis of that but couldn't.

My Mum and Dad both came from very large families and I've never even counted the number of cousins I have but, to the best of my knowledge, no aunt, uncle or cousin had or has any auto-immune disease. My neices and nephews all seem fine too.

I have to take issue strongly with DD. Her life is not a 'rotten cake with foul icing and a rancid cherry on top' though it may seem so to her. For most of us I believe it's a source of great comfort, wisdom and understanding and I, for one, am very grateful for it.

dibdab

Maternal Grandma had RA- dodged the next generation and got me (my paternal grandma had twins-dodged the next generation and got me!!!! )- seems I'm just the lucky one who inherits the genes for stuff! I have several cousins with eczema/asthma-all on maternal line. The rheumy did say there's often a family link in autoimmune diseases, and who am I to disagree(sounds like a cue for a song ).

So now I'm hoping like crazy that my lovely children miss the genes- but by the time I got it the twins were in their twenties and it was too late to even consider options- and I wouldn't be without them, and medical research is discovering treatments and preventative measures every day.

Philosophical moment alert !- :roll: I guess we all get something in life to deal with, and this is my life- but then again there are others far worse than me, and maybe I just need to remember to keep counting my blessings and be thankful for them. Looking at all the suffering in the Philipines just now has kind of pulled me up short and made me realise how lucky I am.

Hope folks are having an okay kind of day.

Deb xx

mig

As far as I know I am the first one in my family to have an autoimmune disease ,my eldest son has asthma and his son has eczema whether that's from me I don't know it wasn't questioned with both of them as I wasn't diagnosed till about four years ago.
I'm with Sticky on the DD front a font of knowledge and wisdom . Mig

elainebadknee

Not as far as as I know. My dad years ago said he used to get huge hives on his feet that took up the whole of the sole of his foot and took days to go down but he couldn;t afford time off work. He went somewhere to get patch tested and was told he was allergic to a certian type of trees that was near our caravan in girvan. He doesn't suffer now its me who was diagnosed and went to immunologist at preston got told have idiopathic urticaria and angioedema but touch wood have not had a bad attack of the dreaded swollen face/hives for over a year now..
Our family recently seem to be diagnosed now with different spectrums of autism which seems to be quite a lot, years ago you hardly heard of autiistic people, at least where I have lived this has been the case...

Elainexx

Boomer13

Yes, mom has probable psoriasis, her sister had full blown horrible psoriasis. Cousin died at 14 from an autoimmune kidney disease.

Brothers both have mild psoriasis. Dad had a mysterious illness that was never diagnosed and died at 52 from lymphoma.

ELAINE55555

Its a yes from me too. My dad had severe RA. Housebound for the last five years of his life. Unfortunately, he did not get the meds we are all on now, otherwise life might have been a bit better for him. He had it in every joint in his body. He was a six footer, but by the time he died, I am sure he was only five foot. The RA had totally ravaged his body. His GP at the time did not refer him to rheumatology, my dad probably did not know such a place existed. He has been dead 10 years now, and if I knew then what I know now, maybe he would not have had to suffer the way he did. His granny was also in a wheelchair with RA at 40 years old. Thank god for mtx, hydro, sulph etc!!

Mat48

Hi - not sure from me. I didn't think so until quite recently. Both my parents died of heart failure at the age of 73 and neither were particularly well. Between them they had gout (a kind of inflammatory arthritis I believe), diabetes, arhythmia, hayfever and high blood pressure (my dad) and undiagnosed angina plus something she called "my rheumatism" which seemed to attack her feet infrequently so that she could barely walk and once had to make the address at my aunt's funeral in airport bedroom slippers - to my uncle's disgust!

Mum also complained to me three weeks before she died that she was struggling to get out of the bath because of her wrists. She never got this checked out and died before I had a chance to ask her more very sadly.

My sister has just been referred to the rheumy with burning mouth syndrome and a high ESR plus chronic backache, my first cousin apparently has RA but doesn't like to acknowledge it and a second cousin on my dad's side has primary Sjogrens. Oh and my gran and grandpa died in a car crash when I was 11 but I remember my gran struggling with things because of pains in her shoulders - and she obviously took me with her to see a rheumy because I remember sitting in the waiting area of a hospital with her trying to fathom out how on earth to pronounce this long word, RHEUMATOLOGY :roll: -I must have been about ten.

Toots

Coincidentally a particularly interesting question for me today.

The only autoimmune family connection that I'm sure of is my father's cousin on maternal side, who has RA. That said, we never knew who her father was, so that kind of throws it for a loop since there appears to be absolutely no other connection on that side. On my father's paternal side, I have a second cousin who has alopecia, however his maternal grandmother had RA so that may explain his condition, but bears no blood connection to mine.

Last night however, my mum made a throwaway remark in the process of conversation and my ears perked. We had been talking about my paternal grandfather who suffered with awful arthritis. I knew this, but had always been led to believe it was OA. He walked with a stick and had bad ankles, but this was blamed on him having broken one (or both, not sure) of his ankles when he was a footballer. But I could clearly recall the state of his hands, huge gnarled knuckles, digit drift and I even remember when he had to 'give in' and get an automatic car because he was struggling with a manual. Last night my parents mentioned that, although they didn't know the full details, his death had been attributed to his 'arthritis medication'. Apparently the medication he was taking had caused his kidneys to fail. I know no more than that. I couldn't figure what it could have been because, to my knowledge, there is no 'medication' for the treatment of OA - other than painkillers, which made me wonder if ibuprofen or similar could have been the culprit? Bearing in mind Grandad died back in 1986 and he suffered with arthritis as far back as I personally can remember. I also clearly recall him having a nap every single afternoon, it was a given that he'd do this and he never missed a day that I can recall. It was the cue to be quiet in the house if Grandad was going for his 'forty winks'! This makes me wonder even more about an autoimmune type arthritis now that I can appreciate myself how much it can suck the energy from you.

So, that was a long convoluted way of saying, maybe but I'm not sure! I've requested a copy of Grandad's death certificate in the hope it might shed some light, but who knows.

lulubell69

Hi
My maternal grandad had RA from age 31,(1949) he suffered terribly without the modern meds we have today. He had 5 children and many grandchildren and, unlucky for me, 10years ago I was suddenly and very quickly struck down with severe RA. However, two years later my identical twin was also struck down by RA. Could it be coincidence?
Les

Boomer13

Toots, could your grand-dad have received gold injections? I think it was an early treatment but hard on organs like kidneys.

frogmorton

Yes Asthma and eczema all over the place and recently my bro has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, which I think might be too.

Very interesting reading this thread isn't it Sophie?

Love

Toni xxx

merri

definite family connection here on the maternal side:

mother - osteo
aunt - psoriatic (sorry about spelling!) diagnosed in 20s
cousin - reactive (diagnosed at 18)
me - RA from age of 18 ish diagnosed at 27

Kittkat

My dad has ulcerative colitis. My mum minor rheumatoid. I have psoriasis arthritis. Yay.

Toots

Boomer13 wrote:

Toots, could your grand-dad have received gold injections? I think it was an early treatment but hard on organs like kidneys.

Hey Anna, sorry it took a while ;-) Hugs!

I frankly have no clue whatsoever about what Grandad was taking, and neither do my parents. (long story short, Dad and he were estranged for 20 years after Granny & Grandad divorced).

I got his death certificate which shows primary cause as being gastro-intestinal bleeding, secondary cause as acute-on-chronic kidney failure and prostrate cancer. So it could simply have been NSAIDs that did the job. He died in 1986 so we're talking about a time when folks just didn't know the damage caused by these meds. Doesn't make anything clearer than mud, so I'm not sure whether to mention it to the rheumy or not. :roll:

maria09

Hi
Yes to the autoimmune in families
For the past 3-4 years my Rheumy kept asking me if anyone in my family had inflammatory bowl disease in the family I kept saying no he kept saying that's strange until last year when my daughter was so ill she needed 3 units of blood then we got her diagnosis of IBD she has colitis!
My auntie said her daughter had it when she was 18 again so poorly she nearly died and had to have a permanent stoma, as I was only young at the time I had totally forgotten about her illness
My Rheumy was so pleased with himself when I told him I said I'd rather he had been wrong than having my daughter suffer from this nasty disease
It's really strange though none of my aunties other 8 children have it and none of her grandchildren have it either so I wonder why it bypassed them and not my daughter.
After all that waffling yes it's related and it came from my maternal side of the family
Maria

stickywicket

Toots wrote:

Boomer13 wrote:

Toots, could your grand-dad have received gold injections? I think it was an early treatment but hard on organs like kidneys.

So it could simply have been NSAIDs that did the job. He died in 1986 so we're talking about a time when folks just didn't know the damage caused by these meds.

In 1986 they did know, Toots but I'm not sure they could do much about it.

I was on gold years before but taken off it because I got 'the gold rash'. I also remember my GP telling me, probably in the '70s, that the selling point on all NSAIDS was that they wouldn't affect the stomach. "That" he said "is because they all do." :roll: There were no stomach protecting meds though so it was Hobson's choice.

tkachev

my paternal Granmother had R.A . My Aunty told me she suffered terribly and this would have been 1930's-1950's so she didn't have the medication we have today.

Then my Mum had loads of what I now recognise to be arthritic pains, loads of shouts of pain when she moved about but as she had so many other health issues to deal with (mostly stomach, ulcers, hernia, then cancer) she never did anything about it.

My Sister had terribly arthritic hands in her teens but she says it went away and has never come back.

We also seem to have autism in the family, 2 of my children diagnosed, 1 undiagnosed but has many autistic traits, a Nephew,possibly my Brother and my partner and his Mum I'm certain they are both on the spectrum.

elizabeth

DebbieT

Hi,

It's a yes it's familial for me too.

My maternal Nan had mild Psoriasis (guttate)
Mum Psoriasis (guttate)
My 2nd oldest sister Psoriasis (Severe guttate since 5yrs)
& here oldest daughter has plaque & guttate along with undiagnosed PsA

I didn't know either of my Grandads & my paternal Nan I don't know much about.
My Dad had Gout.

Me = PsA, OA, Asthma, Severe chronic psoriasis most types & Eyeball blisters are all auto immune probs but these I don't think are? Fm, Latex allergy(?), brain cyst, complex migraines & Numbness/tingling that doesn't seem to be related to the migraines.

Steve = Hayfever & severe allergy to wasp & bee stings. His Dad had severe RA & they both have/had RLS.

3 out of 4 of our children are lactose intolerant. One of those 3 has asthma, another reoccurring polyps & the other scalp psoriasis!! Like someond else said, I coukdnf/wouldn't be without them.

A very interesting topic, thank you.xxx

Toots

stickywicket wrote:

In 1986 they did know, Toots but I'm not sure they could do much about it.

I was on gold years before but taken off it because I got 'the gold rash'. I also remember my GP telling me, probably in the '70s, that the selling point on all NSAIDS was that they wouldn't affect the stomach. "That" he said "is because they all do." :roll: There were no stomach protecting meds though so it was Hobson's choice.

Very interesting Sticky, thank you! I was thinking that if he'd been taking NSAIDs for 30/40 years leading up to 1986 that it was during a time where the side affects weren't recognised, but clearly I'm wrong on that. I also hadn't realised that gold salts treatment was the RA 'standard' going back 70 odd years! I love learning new stuff! I'm beginning to suspect that Grandad's arthritis was not OA alone after all....

lavenderlady

my maternal nan had OA and RA my mums got OA I've got the lot, type 2 diabetes under active thyroid, lupus, Sjogren OA and RA etc, my poor nan had both OA and Ra and was in a wheelchair for a while with it, mums got Oa and has had a TKR but manages well with her pain relief, 2 of my kids have got asthma my daughter was on a nebuliser most nights, she also had hypermobile joints which she has been warned arthritis will probably hit her bad

toady

None at all that I know of, mine was out of the blue - certainly nothing as far as parents grandparents siblings or cousins, & not even beyond that as far as I'm aware.

shandy4greenday

Nothing on my mum or dads side.That was the first thing they asked me.I never even knew what was wrong with me until a work colleague suggested what could be wrong with me.I never ever even give it a thought at the time.