Crohns and passing it to your children?

I'm not a mother, but I hope to be one soon although I am terrified to pass this disease to my children.

I've read that there is a 9% chance of passing it if one parent has an IBD and it's much higher if both parents haven an IBD.  Does anyone have adult 20 or 30 something year old children that don't have it?   I've also read that a woman in remission during pregnancy is less likely to pass the disease but will likely have a flare after delivery?   Can anyone confirm any of this?

Any stories, or personal experiences you guys can tell me would be great... or if you have any links to research.. those would be nice too.

Thanks

I do not know the statistics but I have friends.

 

One friend has a mom who has Crohn's but she does not.  She is 30.  Her brother who is slightly older also does not have it.

 

Another friend has Crohn's and she flared right after giving birth, though I don't know how long after.  Maybe a month?  I can get in touch with her if you want and find out what her pregnancies with Crohn's were like.  She has 4 kids.

Hello
My dad has crohns has got 3 children and 2 of them Inc me unfortunately now has crohns and our mother has no history of ibs or crohns.

Im also tryin for a baby so prayin to god I don't pass this on. X

I have two grown up sons 20 & 21 and also very thankful that neither of them developed this disease. Before I falling pregnant with my 1st son I was in the middle of a  flare but, as soon as i fell pregnant  with him those 9 months were the best ever as I had no real symptoms and was so well for the whole pregnancy but, a few days after the birth all symptoms came back and there i was back in a flare. Bev x

 

The chances of 'passing' Crohn's on are quite unlikely, tbh. I wouldn't even consider not having children for that reason. Most people with Crohn's don't have a first-degree relative with the condition.

In my case I do. A brother and a cousin, if you're interested. My mum doesn't have Crohn's, nor does my cousin's mother. My brother's and cousin's children do not have Crohn's, but they are still children and not adults.

I have two adult daughter and neither of them... have Crohns. I watch them like a hawk too!

Looking back at raising them there were many times I was in a flare. Didn't get dx until I was 36.  I would get very fatigued and didn't really get alot of help in raising them during those years because my husband and I both worked with not alot of family support.

I suggest absolutley having children. But, know that you'll need help now and then. If your family is supportive and willing to help out children are the best thing about a family. Worrying about passing something down is the risk you take for the Love of all time. Even if a Dr. said your chances are 0% ...a baby could be born with a heart deffect and you'd Love it all the same.

I have Crohns and my Brother has MS (Mulitple Sclerosis) both auto-immune. When asking my Dr. about the chances of me passing it down to my daughters he said 5%.

But, I do believe that getting an auto-immune is somewhat of a "melting pot" I believe it is situational, viruses, stress, yada yada mixed with the genes passed down.... Putting a real finger on WHY we get it actually hasn't been discovered yet. If it was we'd be cured!

I do know this about auto-immune. USually, usually getting pregnant a person goes into remission. not always but usually. Your body is going to do everything in its power to create a healthy baby. Now, afterwards....if your run down or have had to have a C-section...you could flare. Surgery can also cause a flare with auto-immune. This is why many Dr.'s just run antibiodicts after surgery with a dose of pred. 

 

I am one of 5 children. Neither one of my parents have it. I also have 3 children, 35, 30 and 27. None of them have it. Seems like I'm one of 3 cousins that have it.

This is one of my hot buttons. There are so many diseases that can be passed down and have genetic links and have much worse complications. Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, some cancers, to name a few.

My mom had CD but was not diagnosed until I was 1. I have CD but was not diagnosed until my older daughter was 1. I suspect that my younger daughter, who will be 20 next week, may have CD or be well on her way. She will be seeing my GI on Monday. Both my kids have always had tummy issues. HOWEVER, I would never have wanted my mother to not have had me, and I'm sure my kids would not have wanted me to not have had them. My mom set a good example for me, by finding a way to do most of the things she wanted to do without letting Crohn's get in her way. I have done the same. If my daughter's ever get the unfortunate diagnosis, I hope they will handle it the way they were shown by their grandmother and me. It is a rough bump in the road, but only a bump.

Part of parenting is showing our children how to deal with tough situations, how we are human. My having Crohn's has taught my daughters compassion, strength, faith, and many more things that will get them through their darkest days in life, with or without a chronic illness to fight.

Crohn's is not a death sentence.

It is a life long manageable disease with periods of activity and periods of remission. I have had a wonderful life and so did my mother. Many diseases that have genetic components have death, paralysis, blindness, amputation as a possibilities. Crohn's is not one of them.

My son is 12, and thankfully no signs yet. It does worry me, but there is so much "fun" stuff in every family, so I wouldn't think twice about having kids just because I had Crohn's. Luckily I had him before my Crohn's started. After we had him my health went downhill (I had him at age 20). I've got so many things going on all my doctors say I shouldn't have anymore. So he's my miracle baby. :)

I do think it runs in families though. My Aunt I believe for sure has it. My great-grandpa used to talk about stomach issues all the time. He called it a "kink" in his intestines. He'd get pain and diarrhea frequently. So at least for my family it doesn't seem to always come down from parent to child, just kinda skips around.

I am 41.  I was diagnosed in 2000 with Chron's disease.  I have three children.  My grandfather had UC and I have an aunt with Celiac, a 2nd cousin with celiac and a 2nd cousin with Chron's.  My son is 12 and he has juvenile rhuematoid arthritis.  This is another autoimune disease and my understand from the many doctors we have been to is that children of parents with an autoimune disease are at a higher risk of developing an autoimune disease.  Not necesarily the same one.

IBD (CD, UC) can most definitely be inherited, doesn't mean it always will be and there's no way to determine if you will pass it on or have it passed on to you from you parent(s)/family members...There is actualy a -10 to 15% increased risk of developing IBD if one parent has an IBD and the % goes higher if both your parents have IBD.

There are some cases in which almost all family members have IBD, there seems to be a gentic factor for many IBDers but not necessarily all (according to science) but since how it can be passed is still unknown, that's not to say that any blood relative that has an IBD could be enough of a link for it to be passed (not just if the/a parent(s) have it).

My mom had UC and I have CD, she got sick with her UC AFTER I got sick with my CD (so I had it first before she did since I got sick in my early 20's and she didn't get it until her late 60's) so as you see, nothing is written in stone..my kids are not safe because of the obvious fact that it does run in my family....however I didn't know this before I had kids cuz neither myself or my mom had it yet.

Don't forget, one can only get sick with IBD if it's been triggered, most people don't stop to think they have family members around them that are very likely to be susceptible to getting an IBD but it does have to be triggered first in order to be "sick" with it. I'm the youngest in my family and I developed it young, all my older siblings are not out of the woods just because they haven't got sick yet doesn't mean they won't, afterall my mom was in her mid 60's when she got sick with it. Besdies which, IBD has ben around for ages, I highly doubt anyone of us knows our entire family's health history since that would likely be impossible to know, also consider the fact that the pooh subject has always been taboo and many yrs ago when ppl did complain to their docs about their guts, their docs would tell them that it was all in their heads..science has come a long way, but still has much further to go when it comes to IBD (let alone other illnesses).

Ever wonder how many past relatives you've had they could very well have ended up with an IBD had it been triggered before they passed away? I'm sure it happens.

One last thing, for crohn's there is a gene located on chromosome 6 that is "scratched" which causes it to malfunction allowing toxins in rather than keeping them out and it is linked specifically to crohn's (refer to Dr. Kathy Siminovitch).

There are many cases of IBD that are confirmed being hereditary...here's a good link...

http://www.healthtree.com/articles/crohns-disease/genetics/

I think this is why researchers may be struggling so much with the whole IBD puzzle, since it seems they can determine that a % of cases are infact hereditary but for some reason not all cases...much needs to be learned...I hope they find the cause so they can find the cure.

My father was UC..I have passed it on to one of my four children so far. This son also ended up with his bowels backward in his body. I was told you may not pass on CD, but your children have a higher chance of developing some kind of auto immune disease.