Genetic links?

[ZoeH]

I was diagnosed with Fibro over a year ago, however i have been suffering with it full time since 2008. My mum has had a whole host of problems over many years, but like a trooper she has powered through everything. Never takes time off, never rests....pretty much what we all used to be like before the fibro!

Recently she has become quite ill and the symptoms she has been describing to me sound a lot like my early stages of fibro. Yesterday, she actually had to lie down after returning from the hairdressers. Something she would just never do during the day. Does anyone here have family members who also have fibro? I know a number of studies recently have been showing genetic links, but until you ask a community of fibro victims it can be hard to determine whether these links really have much value.

I really dont want my mum to have to go through the process i had to just to get a diagnosis,and your help could speed up the process.

Thanks for reading. All comments appreciated. xxx

[LindseyMid]

Yes, there is a genetic link so you having Fibro does mean that it is more likely that your Mum might have it. On the other hand, it is still important she gets thoroughly tested to rule out any other possible causes of the symptoms.

Encourage her to go to the GP with some information from the FibroAction website and/or the NHS website. Perhaps offer to go with her?

[ladysian]

first - advice to your mum, she must go and demand a referal to a rhuematologist ASAP because they are the only ones who can give the fibro diagnosis and if she doesn't get that she'll get nothing but fobbed off and accused of being lazy, she needs to tell first her gp and then the rhuematologist that you have been diagnosed with fibro and she has had these same symptoms for a long time but they are now getting worse to the point she can no longer cope with them, if she is too proud to say these things (as many of a certain age and above tend to be) maybe you could go with her and explain to the gp?

my sister suffered with it when we were kids but only mildly and mine got worse while hers mostly settled, my mother suffered from it and my grandmother (mothers mother) still suffers from it (she's 97) so i believe there is a genetic link - even though most dr's seem to think there isn't

thing is for our family this is a whole life illness - we suffer from earliest childhood with agonising joint pain and get nothing but condesention from most dr's by the time we actually get diagnosed it has become so bad we're crippled and as you know fibro never really gets better once it gets that bad

[Hidden]

One of my sisters has fibro - she was diagnosed a couple of years after me. I think my mum may have had it all her life, but not too severely. She's in her late eighties now, and almost crippled with things the doctors find hard to explain! Although she also has arthritis, and a spinal problem, and as had carpal tunnel in both wrists. However, she tells me that she doesn't think my sister is really ill! Not sure what she says about me. So how could I suggest to her that she maybe has the same thing?

[ZoeH in reply to Hidden]

You know my mum never thought anything was wrong with me, even after i was diagnosed, and she is a nurse so you think she would know better. Its only through her becoming ill that she has finally excepted there is a problem with me. She spoke to me about her troubles and i spoke about mine. As her symptoms increased i noticed the patterns and told her how similar it was to mine. My mum is only 45 though so she is more open to listening to possible causes. My nan is in her 70s and she has seen me at my very worst, collapsing, being paralysed, but she still says there is nothing wrong with me. I think with the older generation they seem to refuse these newer diseases so i can understand how difficult it may be. With my mum i was able to show her scientific studies from journals about genetic links, this has made her more open to believing.

[Hidden]

Hi

Your mum must get tested and get a diagnosis but my brother was diagnosed years ago, and i was diagnosed in 2010 although had the symptoms longer than my brother but then his life hasnt been quite as stressful as mine.

My sister has the same symptoms as well but she haas osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis as well.

For the last few years my siblings have been wondering if my dad has it as he has similar symptoms but he just gets told its his age (he is 72 now).

But when i asked the medical specialists they all said it isnt genetic. So it would be interesting if there is proof it is.

hugs to you x

[Kasha]

I saw my consultant a couple of weeks ago and she said there is definite sceintific evidence to prove Fybro is genetic. My mum died 5yrs ago, she spent the last two years of her life in severe pain and the last 5 weeks of her life in agony. This pain was always put down to diabetes,OA & RA, age! Now I have been diagnosed with Fybro I am SURE my mum had undiagnosed fybro.