How many of us have family members with lupus?

I was curious to know if others in the forum had family members with connective tissue disease and if so, did they have the DNA for it.  My mother's side are lupus carriers: great-grandfather, cousin, myself and my daughter.  I do not have the DNA marker for it.  This is very confusing to me.  If you don't mind my asking, I would like to know your views on this topic.

Thank you all - Hugs - Kristin

Well I'm not sure of the DNA marker but I know that I have 3 family members with Lupus history and a couple more with rheumatic diseases.

My aunt (mom's sister) died from lung complications from Lupus when I was really young. I actually did not know that it was Lupus or maybe I did and it didn't click, but I didn't realize that she had Lupus until I was diagnosed. I knew she died from lung complications didn't know why at the time, very sensitive subject. Because of this, my grandmother took the news about me extremely hard. I also have two cousins on my mom's side that have Lupus.

My dad's side has rheumatoid arthritis. My grandmother had it since she was in her 40's and my cousin on my dad's side has it too (she is 39).

My mother had lupus. She died a year and a half ago from heart disease, not lupus. My 20 year old daughter has a positive ANA and raynaud's but no other symptoms and I pray she never gets lupus. She's as healthy as can be.

I don't know if any of us has the DNA marker. I have heard that lupus is passed on by the mother but that may be an old wife's tale. Do any of you know differently?

My dad's sister has lupus and there are a whole slew of people on my mom's side of the family with RA. My son (9) has juvenile arthritis and also very well might have had rheumatic fever. Docs are still trying to figure out his case. They now think that he might have a reactive arthritis due to rheumatic fever but that he may also have an underlying connective tissue disease since he has a positive ANA and always has an elevated sed rate. So far my daughter (5) is healthy, but I worry everytime she complains of fatigue or growing pains.

 I had two cousins on my dad's side of the family with lupus. My mom's side was mostly heart disease, cancer and diabeties. As far as I know, I'm the only living member of either side with lupus now.

                                                                   Babs

Hi Kristin,
I don't have the dna markers for it either. My rheumatologist thinks either my ai condition is secondary to another disease or I'm just working up to it. I read an article recently where the daughter of a woman with lupus was diagnosed with lupus with no markers and later in life developed the dna markers, so I guess it can happen that way.

As for family, my maternal grandfather had rheumatoid arthritis, my mom I think has a problem but wont get the docs to test her, she has numerous allergies and health problems, my paternal side of the family all have fatty liver disease with other AI conditions, my cousin has big lumps all over his body like sarcoidosis but was never diagnosed, my paternal grandmother had ai problems, but they were attributed to her liver disease, as are my dad's. Its obvious we have some type of genetic ai related disorder, but it seems to vary in each paternal family member.

My doc thinks I'm just coming in to my AI disease, just starting to get it, so he suspects that eventually the tests will become more clear. I just have speckled ANA. I do have tough skin and lots of scar tissue like under it. I've asked about it and he said something about mild scleroderma, but I didn't have the test results he wanted to see for that.

I hope you are feeling well and that this helps in some way!

Hi Kristin--
I was mistakenly treated with alpha-interferon (a very powerful immune booster) and had AI problems, so it made them worse. Alpha interferon, a substance found in our bodies that helps to fight infection (a cytokine) causes the production of ds-dna. They can create lupus in rats in the lab. There is also something called antiinterferon, an antibody to it that may someday be used as a treatment for lupus. It seems like if they know interferon causes dsdna and lupus, they should be able to treat it with the appropriate drugs.

Hi, Kristen. I don't know anything about those markers you speak of, but my father does have Crohn's disease which is also an AI disease. I figure that's where my defective gene came from to predispose me to this lupus. No one else in my family is affected.

My aunt (in her late 70s) has RA; my sister had Graves disease (an AI thyroid disease); our youngest daughter (27) has Hashimoto's thyroid disease; I have my menu of AI diseases. So that covers 3 generations in our family.

Bill, I hope you are right that specific treatments are on the horizon for our kids and beyond that my hope is cures for all future generations.

emmie

Wow, starting to get a visual pattern here. It doesn't seem genetic specific to lupus, but AI more so. A lot of cancer in my family too. Also, always wondered if there was a link with the cancer, but I'll torture you all with that another day :) - Thanks again - Kristin

My sister and I both have it, :-(

Thanks Barbra;-)