Neurological afflictions within families...

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DBowman

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DX UMND/PLS
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Virginia
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Harrisonburg
Does anyone who has this disease also have another family member that has had a neurological affliction as well...even another type? My mother got remarried when we were very young to a wonderful man who adopted us as his own. We never had contact with my original father, but I found out by some half-siblings that he ended up having Parkinson's. Another member had the same occurance with her mother having Parkinson's. There is also a theory that some family members have an inherent trait to be predisposed to a neurological condition that is "triggered" by an "event" such as trauma or perhaps surgery, as some of y'all have noted.
 
hi, my mum too remarried when i was 18mths old and have never had contact with my dad /family so im not sure. i had major surgery 10 mths before i started with pls and have wondered ofton if that was the trigger to start it off,hhhmmmmm very interesting those questions.
 
Family Ties

My brother was diagnosed a few years ago with Parkinson's. He was already in his 70's when the symptoms and diagnosis was made, so no one gave that too much thought. It seems a lot of seniors develop Parkinson's. His daughter (my niece) has MS. I have another niece with Lupus. Before this generation, no one that we know of in our family ever had any neurological problems. I had a genetic test done for HSP, but that came back negative.
As I mentioned in an earlier message, my symptoms came on after a bout of shingles. However, I also suffered from hyperthyroidism about 11 years ago which was treated with radioactive iodine. There has been some research into the relationship between hyperthyroidism and neurological diseases as well as a relationship between viral diseases and neurological diseases. For MS they say a cure is probably about 5 years away. (Of course, they said that about 5 years ago and 5 years before that.) Hopefully, if they find a cure for MS, it will open up avenues of cures for other neurological diseases. When and if they ever find a cure for PLS, I hope we are not so far advanced that the cure will do us no good.
 
Something interesting to consider . Ask yourself ? Did you get the flu more than others in your family ? Do you have Immune issues like autoimmune diseases (psoriasis etc ) I always was susseptable to Sinus related issues and Sinusitis ,this is my Ekilease heel so to speak . Im of the belief i got a virus in my Sinus and it found its way to my Brain causing my Bulbar symptoms first .why now you ask ? Thats the $64000 question . Maybe Age ? MY mother had ALZ at 82 yrs old but i think her and i were genetically susseptable
Geo
 
Family members with neurological problems

My great grandfather died from ALS and my first cousin has MS.
 
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
 
My dad was diagnosed with ALS. His father died in '67. At the time the family thought he had Parkinson's.
Starla
 
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