Hi all,
I am looking for some answers and figured this might be a good place to start since most of you have probably done your research on this disease. My sister-in law developed a horrible rash on her face last weekend and her Dr. is running tests to check for lupus. I don't know what all of her symptoms are exactly but I know she has been trying to find answers for years and the Dr.s haven't come up with anything yet. I know for sure she has the raynauds. And I emailed her a symptom checklist that I found online and she said she has a lot of them but didn't specify what ones.
My question is about genetics. Is lupus genetic or does someone have a genetic predisposition to it if a family member has it? My husband is 29 and perfectly healthy but his sister is 10 or 12 years older than he is and just now possibly being diagnosed. I have Crohns disease and I know that your at much greater risk of developing it if a sibling has it. I come from a family of 5 children and 3 of us have crohns and 1 has ulcerative colitis. I have 3 sons and when I was pregnant with my 3rd the geneticist told me that there was about a 6% chance that my children could get IBD. I also have read that if both parents were to have it then the risk would be more like 39%. Does anyone know if the liklihood of my children developing one of these diseases would be increased since they are different diseases but both thought to be auto immune?
Also my other sister in law has had a couple of miscarriages and one healthy baby. After her last miscarriage the dr. ran some tests which showed that she had blood clotting issues which I read was one of the symptoms of lupus. Should she be checked for this as well or is it something that can only be diagnosed once you have begun having other symptoms.
Any answers would be helpful, thanks