Can kids inherit IBD

[ravii_39]

With a heavy heart I am writing this post. I am a male in my 30's and I was diagnosed with crohns in 2016 since then my life is very uncertain. We only have one kid born in 2018. My wife is more interested to have second kid but I really scared about this IBD genetics since I heard from the doctor 1 out of 4 kids may inherit this IBD when one of the parent have crohns. I am interested in listening to other people's experiences. I don't know how to handle this feeling of not having kid when you really thinking about it. Please share your experiences. My mother also diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at her 50's. Please share your experiences. Thanks in advance

 

[my little penguin]

They don’t know for sure which genes cause crohns yet .
They have implicated more than a few genes but that changes every few years
If they knew the actual genes like they do in cystic fibrosis then you and your wife could go to a genetics counselor and have your blood tested.

crohns And other diseases can appear without a family history
My kiddo was dx at age 7
No family history of crohns
But plenty of autoimmune diseases
Siblings have a 33% chance of crohns
So far only one kiddo with it

there are-no guarantees in life
No guarantees of a tomorrow for anyone

my kiddo has three diseases including crohns ,juvenile arthritis and sweets syndrome
Not something anyone could have predicted
It just is
He doesn’t know any different type of life
Sure he takes meds
But he is like any young adult heading to college
There are far more concerning issues than his disease

kids with crohns are fine
Some have bumps in the road
But most don’t let it stop them from doing anything

 

[Pilgrim]

No known genetic diseases in our family. Seven children and 2 have Crohn's.
I would say also that sometimes a person can have a genetic predisposition, but not a trigger to turn it on.
I don't know why these 2 kids have it and the rest do not.

 

[Pangolin]

If it makes you feel any better, it's clear that there's a very large environmental component to Crohn's, given the increasing prevalence over time in much of the world. It appears that a substantial majority of Crohn's cases aren't determined by genetics. Shared family environment is not separated out from genetics when you hear about a stat such as a 1 in 4 chance of having a Crohn's kid. My guess is that the 1 in 4 stat is more due to shared environmental factors than genetics, but of course genetics do play some role.

 

[ravii_39]

Thanks for your replies. My case is different ever since I was diagnosed with crohns the disease was so aggressive with me. Recently I been to a surgery also. By looking at all these I just pray no other kid will not go through this.

 

[my little penguin]

I think your missing the point
My husband has allergies
We were told our kids roughly had a 1 in 4 chance of having allergic disease .
The odds are there but what type of disease they may or may not get
And the severity etc is all up in the air
What my kids allergies are vastly different from each other and different from my husband
Science doesn’t know enough yet

There is no reason to think your child or children will have crohns and if they do
That it will be as bad as yours
Add in if you find the right med combo which most do
You go in with life without even thinking of crohns
The right combo just takes time and trial and err

 

[kiny]

Crohn's disease running in a family does not mean it is due to genetic inheritance where a DNA variant was passed from parent to a child. It could just as easily be an environmental factor like pangolin said.

The large majority of people who have these NOD2 and ATG16L1 polymorphism never develop crohn's disease. Secondly, most people with crohn's disease, do not have differences in NOD2 or ATG16L1 expression compared to controls.

Nonetheless, the fact NOD2 and ATG16L1 are linked to crohn's disease (but not UC) is very interesting because they are involved in bacterial recognition and xenophagy, that's why it is of interest to research. But it is completely irrelevant as a preventive measure, every doctor will tell you it should have no bearing on the decision to have a child or not.

 

[Stressedmom]

I am so sorry to read you have dealt with an aggressive case. I know there are quite a few people in my local parent group who have IBDs themselves and one of their kids has it or a grandparent has and the grandchild has it. I do know of a few cases where both parent/grandparent and child/grandparent had severe cases, but that is not research, just anecdotal info. Obviously it's a skewed population and there are plenty of people with IBD in the family and kids who don't have it and people with severe IBD and no family history. The research is constantly emerging and I was also told there are cases which at first glance don't seem to have family history, but when you probe family history it does sound like there may have been undiagnosed IBD, but the technology was not advanced enough to go exploring for example the small intestine. With so many things genetics can load the gun and environment pulls the trigger. I would ask your GI doctor if there is genetic counseling for this sort of thing. The geneticist will ideally more aware of what research is out there, but has not made it through peer review yet and what research will be published soon. There is so much ambiguity, but perhaps a geneticist can break it down for you in terms of risk of disease and degree of severity. I know how hard this must be.