MS and BABIES!

[simmaplease]

Hello all. Does anyone know much about MS and genetics?? Will my future children develop MS? Here's my situation:

I have MS and so does my husband. As far as I know, I'm the only person in my family to have MS. My husband has some other people in his family that have it. On his mother's side, his great-grandfather had it, and his aunt has it too. We just found out that his uncle on his father's side has been diagnosed with it also. So hubby has MS on both sides of his family. I've been wondering...if we have children, what are the chances of them developing MS, given their family history and them too having MS on both sides of their family? Has anyone here ever spoken with a genetic counselor? Thanks everyone!!

[ApVish]

I have read somewhere that the risk increases by 3% if parent has MS. But honestly even if the kid carries the genetic component that can later trigger MS, he/she also need the environmental trigger to develop MS.

So theoretically if you are not living in the same place where you grew up as kid, then there are chances that kid wouldn't develop.

Also, you can keep a close eye on your kid's Vit D, Vit B12 etc and make sure he/she is on track.

Plus my own thinking is this. Since MS often develops between 20-40 yrs , and we might stumble upon a cure/better management treatments etc. before then.

[Sequoia]

Hi [B]simmaplease[/B],

I've moved your thread to "The Ladies' Room" forum. That's where most of the discussions relating to MS and pregnancy are. You might want to look at some older threads on the subject.

[Jules A]

This is a very personal decision and I hope you are prepared for responses that vary as well as loose interpretations of statistics without sources listed.

I think we can agree that there is an increased chance in developing MS when a family member has been diagnosed so personally I think any increased chance of passing this miserable disease on to a baby is too much. For myself I would not even consider having a bio baby but would consider adopting if I had my finances and support system in order.

In addition to the genetic implications as mentioned above the other things I think that are equally important are the support system and especially the financial stability of the family in the case there becomes the necessity of hiring someone to care for both the person with MS as well as the child. Best wishes with whatever you decide.

Here is some information from a recent article: (Brain (2008) 131 (12): 3118-3131.
doi: 10.1093/brain/awn081)

***From the MSWorld Guidelines: Do not copy material from any other website and post it on the message board or use it in chat.***

[hunterd]

You might hear from some members who are very much against anyone with Multiple Sclerosis having children. I hope these members will be gentle in their responses to you. Please don't let the concerns of a few MSWorld members scare you. Your trusted doctor is the best person to help you make this important decision!

[simmaplease]

I don't know anything about adoption. It's too early to consider it but can a couple like us even be eligible? I figured with us both having a chronic illness we'd have a hard time being approved by an agency.

Originally Posted by Jules A

This is a very personal decision and I hope you are prepared for responses that vary as well as loose interpretations of statistics without sources listed.

I think we can agree that there is an increased chance in developing MS when a family member has been diagnosed so personally I think any increased chance of passing this miserable disease on to a baby is too much. For myself I would not even consider having a bio baby but would consider adopting if I had my finances and support system in order.

In addition to the genetic implications as mentioned above the other things I think that are equally important are the support system and especially the financial stability of the family in the case there becomes the necessity of hiring someone to care for both the person with MS as well as the child. Best wishes with whatever you decide.

Here is some information from a recent article: (Brain (2008) 131 (12): 3118-3131.
doi: 10.1093/brain/awn081)

***From the MSWorld Guidelines: Do not copy material from any other website and post it on the message board or use it in chat.***

[Jules A]

Originally Posted by simmaplease

I don't know anything about adoption. It's too early to consider it but can a couple like us even be eligible? I figured with us both having a chronic illness we'd have a hard time being approved by an agency.

If you are at all interested I would do some investigating before ditching the idea. I knew of one couple, wife with MS, that adopted a new born without much of a delay although I believe they were fairly well off financially. Not sure if that was a factor or not but I do remember her saying she had to get a note from her physician saying something along the lines of she was not expected to die prematurely and was able to parent a child.

I would guess that in the US the anti-discrimination laws probably help although for overseas adoptions I would imagine you are bound by their rules not ours.

You might even want to start another thread with this in the title as I think it is a very interesting topic and I bet you would get some first hand insight and advice.

[onlyairfare]

I did meet with a geneticist and high-risk pregnancy specialist years ago when there was far less knowledge about MS genetics. I was told my kids would have less than 1% risk of MS, as I am the only person in my family with MS and there is none on my husband's side.

Now the stats are closer to 3% risk for each of your kids (all 3 of mine are 20-something and healthy), and there are some families with multiple affected family members where the risk may be considered higher.

There are many here who are virulently against any MSer having children, while others feel there is no problem whatsoever. Were I in your situation contemplating childbearing with MS (and I once was), I would see a qualified professional who can take your personal and family history and tell you specifically what he/she thinks your risk is - not that of the population in general, or MSers in general.

[DancingPhalanges]

I have nothing to add other than good luck! We are currently TTC.

[Nanobaby]

Yay this question is right up my alley, thanks to a paper that I had to write in regards to MS and early childhood development.

MS is known to have a genetic component, but as for heritability, the rate of concordance in monozygotic twins (i.e. twins stemming from the same egg) is 25-40% (see Handel et al., 2010). These are people with the exact same DNA and yet, just because one of the has MS does not mean the other one will get it with 100% certainty. This shows that genes do not play the biggest role in MS development.

[Nanobaby]

Also - nobody else in my family, immediate or extended, has MS. This makes me wonder about the differences in the social and physical environments that I was exposed to, that my relatives were not.

At the end of the day - I'm not going to naysay having kids simply because one or both parents have MS. A lot of other factors need to be considered.

Hope all goes well for you

[aitch10]

My opinion on this is slightly different than PP's. While I definitely think there is a genetic component to MS(my mom and several of her cousin's have it as well as me), I think the risk is still small enough to brave having your own kids. So speaks a mother of 1 who's currently expecting.

I also think adopting is a viable option, however...

My main concern is that both you and your DH have MS.And that doesn't concern me from a genetics perspective, it concerns me from a care perspective.

About once a year my husband has had to go out of town for a week for business. I can get through the week, it's a struggle, but I manage. But it is haaaaaaard work. While I am not totally dependent on him I do depend on him to take up the slack for me the other 51 weeks of the year. He does more of the cooking and cleaning than I do and jumps right in with DS when he's done with work. I cannot imagine how we would cope if he was disabled, or had the possibility of degenerating to disability.

Yeah, anything can happen to anyone, but IMO at least one parent has to be healthy.

Sorry if that seems mean or doesn't make sense.

[Nanobaby]

Somebody else also mentioned adoption, which brings up another point - a lot of studies have established that children adopted from countries with low incidence/prevalence of MS that migrate to areas with high incidence/prevalence of MS before the age of 15 will take on the MS risk profile of natives to the new country.

In a nutshell, if adoption from overseas is an option for you, I would consider the risk of MS in your home country versus the child's country of origin and the things you may be able to do in order to prevent the child from developing MS in adulthood (again, goes to show that MS development owes more to the environment than simple genetics!). I have some primary literature that I'd be happy to share if you'd like to look this up

My sister and I are the only ones in our families that have MS. Im not in agreement with those that say dont have kids if you have MS. I have had 3 children and now they are married and having children. If I hadnt had the most wonderful experience of being a mom, I wouldnt be able to be expierencing the wonderfulness of being a grammy.

I look at it like this: There are bigger risks genetically that are proven. Cancer, heart attacks/issues, prostate, etc. Having a child while I have MS is not a guarantee that the child will get MS. The same can be said about the other conditions as well. There is never a guarantee in life. There is also no guarantee that an adopted child would be a health guarantee either. Good luck with your decision. Only you know whats best for you and your family.

[racingmom5]

I have 5 children aged 20 19 17 16 11. I had a doctor tell me when I was first Dx in 1984 not to have children. My answer to him was nobody knows what tommorrow will bring and I am living for today.Couples with no medical history unfortunatly can have children with disabilities too. None of my children show any signs of M.S. and 2 are older than I was when I was Dx. If any of them do develope it they can still gave a great life I know I do.