My 14 yr old sister likely has IBD

My sister and I both have UC. No other confirmed cases in our family, but our grandfather had GI issues. He apparently had a colostomy. Not sure why because he died when I was young and no one seems to know what was wrong with him. :-/

My grandfather has UC, never treated and he's 93, and my mom has "IBS", whatever you want to say that really is.

Also, of a row of six houses on my street, three of us have Crohn's disease.

Does she have a history of antibiotic use (or abuse)?

I don't think genetic susceptibility plays as strong of a role as we once thought. Given the rise of IBD rates, those without prior genetic history are developing it.

I have half brothers, and maybe a sister (not sure), and they didn't give a rats behind when I asked them about GI history of my other family. Didn't even care I had this disease. So they they got it, I couldn't care less.

But when it comes to true family, I would never want someone to have this. I'm worried about my unborn children.
My grams had issues with constipation, but no other symptoms. Plus, she was on a lot of drugs that can cause that. The same with my mom, but she has IBS.
No other GI issues, I believe, on this side of my family. But this side has always been hush hush on things.

I truly hope she doesn't have IBD. I'd rather have IBS than this. I wish your family luck and good wishes. Keep us informed.

Hey Conquer,

Sorry to hear that. It's sooooo hard hearing about another family member as we know what life is like with these diseases.

My nice is the same way. Over the last while she had been dealing GI issues which subsequently led to her having "D" about 10-20 times a day. She went through all the tests - Celiac, Gastro Scope, Colonoscopy, full blood work, stool tests and a few tests I had never heard of before. She came back with an official diagnosis of IBS-D and a prescription for Imodium. Was told to take as many as she needed up to 6 per day. Crazy.

I didn't know about any of this until my mom urged her to call and talk with me about it after her diagnosis. Of course I totally freaked out that night, drove up and and set her up with everything possible diet, supplement wise, yogurt maker and cook books etc etc. I could't stand the thought of her going through what I did. In actuality I had her do exactly what I did with the WOO etc.

Same thing, no pathogenic bacteria found, high CRP etc. She didn't have blood in her stool. Just lot's of "D" all the time. It kept her form being able to leave the house.

We're the only two in the family with something like this. Me with IBD her with IBS, which is now pretty much under control - she's down to 2-3 bowel movements a day.

Have you spoke much about it with your sister? Or given her any advise on what to do?

Thanks everyone for the support. I fear for her future if she really does have it. Atleast i was married and an adult when i got hit with this.

@ Guardian: no she very rarely used antibiotics. Like i think she had only been on 3-4 courses her entire life. And its amoxi or keflex none of the strong stuff. I on the other hand certainly used ALOT more antibiotics by the time i was her age. And by the time i was 19 i had used so much i was becoming resistent to amoxi clav. Come to think of it, maybe all these antibiotic courses were actually protective for me and delayed the onset of disease??!!! I never thought of it this way. But considering she used wayyyy less antibiotics than me.... Also now that i think about it: my disease started to show signs when i stopped using as many antibiotics for frequent rhinitis/post nasal drip and became resistent to amoxi.


@marauder: really are you sure calprotectin is a weak test? All i have heard and read about it is that it is a very specific marker for inflammation with "sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 96%" http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/725672

Anyway i pray that she really doesn't have anything.

Still everyone posting so far with similar clusters has atleast another family member with UC/IBD. strange that i don't . Im close to my dad's family and my mum's as well. And we all communicate and talk and they all know and are surprised by my health woes. So they would have said something if they had it too. I have heard some vague comments about how some peopel from my dad's side have weird bowels. But all these people lived up to very old ages without any bowel cancer or surgery. If they had active uc they would have developed some cancer or something.

The only other thing i can think of is that we emigrated to australia as little kids. Maybe the different foods are not doing us a favour.

ConquerUC -

That's interesting; however it is worth noting that sometimes all it takes is one course for colitis to rear it's ugly head in the future. For amoxicillin, colitis is now listed as one of the side-effects. Guess they aren't hiding it anymore. There are new warnings coming out every month for antibiotics and doctors are not taking heed.

Kamaya's daughter had colitis induced by amoxi and she is very young. She deserves to be living her life, not going through this bull. I strongly think doctors should be fined for giving antibiotics when they are not necessary (which the data shows to be 80% of the time).

Either way, I would pull a CanadaMark and get her on some anti-inflammatory / probiotic regimen. Maybe even do a FMT from a healthy donor so she does not suffer. An autoimmune disease is like a prison sentence.

Wishing her the best.

Calprotectin level isn't high, mine is 700, up from 86 for no apparent reason. I've read of ppl feeling their best with levels at 1000

Levi said...
My grandfather has UC, never treated and he's 93,

um...gonna need you elaborate...