Do you have any relatives that also h... - St Thomas Lupus T...

St Thomas Lupus Trust

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Do you have any relatives that also have lupus?

11 Replies
11 Replies
Candycottonreel profile image
Candycottonreel

I don't have any relatives with Lupus, but there is a history of rheumatoid arthritis going back at least to my great grandmother and her mother possibly. My Nan (she's 95) also tells me there several relatives with what sound like kidney problems and blood clotting disorders. I also think my mum may have had Lupus but sadly she passed away before I was diagnosed so will never know for sure.

in reply to Candycottonreel

That's the same situation as me. looking back my mother clearly had symptoms that were pointing towards lupus but were being treated individually. I will also never know so she could have gone undiagnosed for years. Auto immune illnesses do seem to run in families.

Willow profile image
Willow

No one diagnosed with SLE but autoimmune diseases fairly common - arthritis, light sensitivity, premature births and pernicious anaemia appear in the last three generations.

crankyme profile image
crankyme

My mother had hereditory heamoragic telengetasia, which caused her to have an arterioveinous malformation on her brain that was successfully removed with surgery then a few weeks after she had a massive nose bleed which couldnt be stopped and she passed away as a result. She always had a rash of what looked like little purple pin heads all over her face and inside her nose and throat although she was not diagnosed with lupus i think that if doctors knew as much then as they do now she well might have been.

i was diagnosed with sle myself after my third bloodclot two p.es and several in my leg. And my elder sister was diagnosed a few years ago aswell so i think there is some evidence of it being inherited in some cases.

I have three grown up children who seem to be ok at present but always worry about them even so.

in reply to crankyme

Even though there's a small genetic link, it does seem to be that - small, I believe under 10% and obviously in males it's an even smaller chance. I have seen patients over the years who have family members with lupus - the most unusual were brothers - one with SLE and one with discoid lupus!

nanaber profile image
nanaber

My mother had lupus she died when I was 10 with complications from lupus. I had a hard time accepting that I had lupus when I was first diagnosed. I do think that a new survey would show that there is a higher chance of developing lupus if a close family member has it.

in reply to nanaber

I can totally see why you would have had a hard time accepting you had lupus if your mum died with complications of it. That must have been very frightening for you.

Research has advanced treatment so much from 20 years ago when it was pretty much a death sentence. This is why I am constantly pushing for more research - one day someone will find the trigger and how to reverse it I'm quite sure.

We're currently of the opinion that a family member also having lupus is under 10% but some families are unlucky and have a higher rate whereas other families have no-one else with lupus.

Ruthwenthome profile image
Ruthwenthome

Noone else diagnosed but my sister and cousin have diabetes, my dad & me are anaemic and my gran had "funny blood" which she was always getting checked. Another cousin at the moment is having a lot of medical issues which could be autoimmune related so I told her to let her consultant know about Lupus. Another cousins son had childhood arthritis too.

in reply to Ruthwenthome

The 'funny blood' is interesting did she ever find out exactly what that was? Auto-immune illnesses seem to run in families so to find arthritis is quite common amongst our family members.

ihateusernames profile image
ihateusernames

No relatives with lupus, but my grandmother has dematomyositis, her sister has Grave's disease and an aunt and a cousin has psoriasis. Autoimmunity seems to run in my dad's side of the family.

Katrina42 profile image
Katrina42

I'm diagnosed with SLE, on my paternal side my I have several relatives that have diagnoses on my paternal grandmother and father side. Rheumatoid on both maternal and paternal side. My youngest carry the gene for lupus

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