genetic disorders
There is a saying "we are who we come from" or something like that. Unfortunately,
that is true.
As you know, first thing a physician will ask, "anyone in your family with neurological problems, diseases, etc." ?
There was a blood test that my husband had at John Hopkins and it showed that his PMA/ALS is not the type to be passed down to our sons. It took months to get results but we were blessed with the results.
In our family "no one" has ALS, MS, Parkinson or any other neurological disease that we are aware of. Just George. He also was diagnosed in 1996 with Hemochromatosis, (iron overload) and his parents were both + carriers, but neither had it. With iron overload he just has to get blood taken out every few months and has to have his ferritin, iron and iron binding tested. This disease is a silent killer as most people don't find out about it until damage from too much iron is deposited into a main organ; i.e. heart, kidneys, liver. Some people are misdiagnosed by doctors and given an iron supplement! It is a scary medical world. We need to always ask for copies of ROUTINE blood test and question the doctor if levels are way out of wack. Few points here and there is no big deal. My husbands ferritin level was 2,440 and the normal is under 100.
We had a great Internist that picked it up and knew right away. Other thing was it was setting detectors off at airport and it was his iron level in liver! After 1 year of blood lettings he was fine and liver healthy.
Neurologist all have agreed that the ALS has nothing to do with the Hemochromatosis.
Patty