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Genetics and Crohns?

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Crohn's Disease
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CD-89
Regular Member
Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 67
Posted 5/22/2011 4:54 PM (GMT -8)
I know that there has been evidence that Crohn's Disease has a genetic component. I think the article I read stated that about 25%-30% of people diagnosed with Crohn's have a close relative that also has the disease.

My identical twin sister and I both have been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, but there is absolutely no link in our family.
Has any one else been the only one in their family with the disease???

Another thing I am very curious about is the genetic link concerning children. I read that the chance of passing the Crohn's Disease "genetic component" to offspring is around 7% if you have Crohn's, and around 40% if both parents have Crohn's.

I want to have children one day, and I am just wondering if anyone has had children that were then diagnosed with Crohn's, or if anyone has any further information/experience with this.
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bloated
Regular Member
Joined : Jun 2003
Posts : 418
Posted 5/22/2011 5:03 PM (GMT -8)
The only one in my family with crohns is a great aunt and drs were doubtful of that connection. Also, I have 3 kids who do not have crohns as of yet. I still worry though because it didn't really hit me until about 20 yrs old. But so far they are fine.

On the other end a woman I work with has crohns and her mother has very severe RA. I think there is some genetic connection there . . .
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CD-89
Regular Member
Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 67
Posted 5/22/2011 5:07 PM (GMT -8)
I wonder because the genetic link was not present in your family, if maybe there is even less a chance that you would pass it on to your kids? This is my hopeful thinking, and I really hope that your kids will be Crohn's free!

Genetics are so strange really. Being an identical twin, and working in a medical lab, I see all sorts of unexpected things!
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sooper
Veteran Member
Joined : May 2003
Posts : 815
Posted 5/22/2011 5:16 PM (GMT -8)
I dont know any family that has crohn's. Just me.
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Endeavor08
Regular Member
Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 380
Posted 5/22/2011 5:30 PM (GMT -8)
I definitely believe there could be some kind of genetic link for some. Both my brother and I have it, and two people on my dad's side have it, but my father doesn't.

So much interesting information out there!
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CD-89
Regular Member
Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 67
Posted 5/22/2011 5:36 PM (GMT -8)
It seems so strange, how it sometimes skips generations and sometimes doesn't...hmmm. I am 21, and was diagnosed at 20. My twin sister and I started having symptoms right around the same time.
How old were you and your family member when diagnosed?

I do not know if this makes a difference or not, I am just curious as to how the disease looks in families.
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Endeavor08
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Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 380
Posted 5/22/2011 6:42 PM (GMT -8)
I was diagnosed at right after I turned 18, my brother is 15 months younger than me, he was diagnosed at 17. I was diagnosed Nov 2008 and he was offically diagnosed the spring of 2009, my mom had him tested because he had experienced similar symptoms when he was in 7th grade, so when I got really sick my mom wanted to make sure he didn't get to put that I did before I was diagnosed.

The other two members on my dad side I do not know well, one is much much older than me and the other is late 20's and was diagnosed as a kid.
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prof
Veteran Member
Joined : Feb 2003
Posts : 1195
Posted 5/22/2011 7:20 PM (GMT -8)
I believe there is a genetic link.. my mom was dxed the same age as iI was.. also, we were dx'd with breast cancer at the same age... freaky.. NO  genetic!!!

Prof

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RiddleMeThis
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2010
Posts : 269
Posted 5/22/2011 7:31 PM (GMT -8)
Apparently there is some type of genetic marker in families that carry chronic diseases. My Mother has that marker and she also had RA problems. I have Crohn's.

I also have a fraternal twin sister. When my colorectal (who diagnosed me with Crohn's) found out I had a twin sister, she was immediately interested if she was identical or not. My doctor breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing she was fraternal. So I am curious as to if there is a certain amount of likeliness in identical twins both having Crohn's Disease.

This could also be something but we haven't really thought about it: My paternal grandmother had colitis and my Father has Hirschbrung's Disease (destroyed that spelling!)
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CD-89
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Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 67
Posted 5/23/2011 12:16 PM (GMT -8)
It seems strange once you start to link the connections. So is this genetic trait responsible for most auto-immune diseases? So even if my children, or their children for that matter, do not get Crohn's, are they at a higher risk for another disorder?

My doctor said while she would not immediately expect twins to both have the disease, she is not surprised either. My sister and I have always been creepily similar, up to losing teeth on the same day as children, and having our appendix out only weeks apart, which the doctors did find very strange.

I guess there is no real "rhyme or reason" to Crohn's, but it is interesting to speculate.
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Bane
Veteran Member
Joined : May 2007
Posts : 589
Posted 5/23/2011 12:35 PM (GMT -8)
My dad has RA and my mom has Fibromayalgia. I never stood a chance, haha.

I have always suspected that Crohn's is caused by a genetic predisposition or abnormality which is triggered by a wide array of environmental effects, which can vary per person.
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CrohnsPatient
Regular Member
Joined : Feb 2008
Posts : 314
Posted 5/23/2011 6:00 PM (GMT -8)
If you have one auto-immune disease, then your much more likely to get another auto-immune disease, I don't remember the percentage but for some reason I want to say 50% more likely to get another, I have 3, asthma, Crohns disease, and fibromayalgia.

So I would assume if you have an auto-immune disease then your children are going to be more prone to it automatically, it just might not be the SAME auto-immune disease.
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NY Veggie
Regular Member
Joined : Apr 2011
Posts : 280
Posted 5/23/2011 11:03 PM (GMT -8)
There is so much that medical science has not figured out.

I have no relatives that have Crohn's disease but my mother has several other auto-immune diseases all of which hit her when she was much older (RA, vasculitis, etc.. I too have several different ones (listed below).. none of the ones my mother has.

I think sometime in the near future they will find that these all come from a similar genetic disposition that perhaps changes the nature of the disease depending on other genes we turn on or off depending on our stresses and environmental factors
NY VEGGIE
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Nanners
Elite Member
Joined : Apr 2005
Posts : 14999
Posted 5/24/2011 6:02 AM (GMT -8)
I am the only one in my family that has Crohns. And I just found out my sister has RA. So while we don't have the same disease we both do have autoimmune diseases, and that could be the same in your family. Hugs!
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sudsmom
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2010
Posts : 167
Posted 5/24/2011 6:21 AM (GMT -8)
It is amazing how similar our family medical histories are NY Veggie! My dad has RA, and my maternal grandmother had colorectal cancer (verrry late in life).

I was told by my first gatro in the early 80's that he believed that Crohns has a genetic component that got triggered by some environmental event. He was way ahead of his time :)

I have 2 kids (18 and 21), and since I was diagnosed at age 23, I have been holding my breath. So far so good thank heavens.

One more anecdotal story to add to the list...
Sudsmom
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CD-89
Regular Member
Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 67
Posted 5/24/2011 11:18 AM (GMT -8)
Wow, lots of genetic history here. What sort of environmental triggers have you guys heard about? The only thing I could think of for me (and my twin) is when we were 18 months old, we were hospitalized for a serious gastro flu. Is this a possible trigger? We were in pretty bad shape, until one nurse got the idea to let us sleep in the same crib instead of separating us, off topic but weird twin fact.

I am almost positive no one in my family has any history of auto-immune disease, and I am close with pretty much everyone so I am sure I would know. There is of course the possibility that is was recessive and never brought out but any environmental triggers..... I hope that maybe my sister and I just had a weird genetic quark that will end with us.


I am happy to hear about people with children who (so far, and hopefully never!) have not been diagnosed with the disease. RA and Crohn's seems like to the most common link, and both disease's seem to follow similar patterns, and both even react to some of the same meds. I am actually one of the only patients at my Remicade infusions with Crohn's, the rest have RA.

Thanks everyone for opening up about your family history, it is nice to have some more insight into this disease.
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MikeB
Veteran Member
Joined : Mar 2006
Posts : 1169
Posted 5/24/2011 11:25 AM (GMT -8)
Genetic susceptibility to CD has been confirmed repeatedly, most prominently in a series of genes labeled NOD2/CARD15on chromosome 16. I think the last count of genes with a Crohns connection was in the low 20s.
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sudsmom
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2010
Posts : 167
Posted 5/24/2011 12:10 PM (GMT -8)
Well, I'm not sure exactly what my trigger was, but I was under huge stress at the time - some good, some bad. In 1980 I got a job, got a promotion, got engaged, got married, bought a house, went on a homeymoon to Cancun, and moved into our new (to us) house.

Unfortunately the bad stress was a huge fight/disagreement between the 2 mothers about the weddiing and after parties. Hindsight is 20/20 - we should have taken the money and eloped - lol!

So... by the time January rolled around I started with some kind of illness, don't even remember what it was. My GP prescribed ampecillin and I had 2 weeks of severe diarrhea. Then I hemorrhaged and ended up in the ER, then ICU for 7 weeks, reg. hospital room for another 7 weeks. LOOONNNG story but I did end up being diagnosed with CD.

So what does everyone think my trigger was? LOL.

Sudsmom
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pb4
Elite Member
Joined : Feb 2004
Posts : 20577
Posted 5/24/2011 12:33 PM (GMT -8)
I became sick with CD in my early 20's a few years BEFORE my mom got sick with her ulcerative colitis while in her mid 60's...funny how the mind works, everyone assumes that if it runs in their family that an older family member should get sick with it before a younger (or themselves) do...it doesn't necessarily work that way with IBD because it boils down to 2 things; 1) being genetically susceptible to getting it and 2) it being triggered and so far researchers assume there could be hundreds (including hundreds of combinational triggers) and it's a matter of one's IBD being triggered in order for them to get sick...

Clearly I got it from my mom, but got sick with it before she did...had she died before hers was triggered I'd be assuming that I was the only one in my family with it (so far my 5 other siblings do not have IBD, they're all older than me but that certainly doesn't mean they won't necessarily end up with it).

some of the triggers for CD that researchers suspect; environmental, birth control pills, toothpaste, diet/food.

So much still needs to be learned....wish they'd hurry up already, mom didn't live to see a cure for her UC and I would sure like to see a cure in my lifetime.
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CD-89
Regular Member
Joined : Dec 2010
Posts : 67
Posted 5/24/2011 12:55 PM (GMT -8)
I hope we all live to see the cure :)
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Bane
Veteran Member
Joined : May 2007
Posts : 589
Posted 5/24/2011 9:59 PM (GMT -8)
My parents and I are convinced that I've had Crohn's since birth. I didn't have a major outbreak until I was 16, though. I don't know what could have triggered it.
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lady1012
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2006
Posts : 304
Posted 5/25/2011 5:46 AM (GMT -8)
My one brother has RA...my other brother has had psoriasis since he was a teen...I am 36 and was diagnosed 5 years ago with being symptomatic for 7.... I think autoimmune runs in the family...its like russion roulette on wich disorder your going to get...
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Nanners
Elite Member
Joined : Apr 2005
Posts : 14999
Posted 5/25/2011 5:48 AM (GMT -8)
I think in my case the triggers might have been childhood allergies, starting smoking at the age of 13 to name a few. Hugs!
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NY Veggie
Regular Member
Joined : Apr 2011
Posts : 280
Posted 5/26/2011 12:49 AM (GMT -8)
No environmental allergies here, no stomach problems as a child or teenager (except if I had a big test), no stomach bugs or flus .. well maybe one or two but they weren't memorable..also the usual revenge in Cozumel .. smoked on and off but never huge amounts of cigarettes

I wasn't Dxed until I was 55 (last year) I hadn't eaten meat, fish, poultry or eggs since I was 14.. so I never was exposed to a big mac or a whopper.
I did play near a chemical dump when I was a kid, and I have traveled a lot to strange places.. and have eaten dairy and cheeses from everywhere.
I did have mono really bad when I was 18 and had to be hospitalized for it but there are no traces of epstein-barr left in me..

My GI is convinced that I've had Crohn's for a long time just from the severity and length of my stricture..and because I have had very bad joint pain since I was a kid.

I have mentioned before that all my docs said that I would have had a much worse case had I not been a vegetarian for so long. SO all the docs are leaning on this fact.. so there must be indirect links to perhaps the huge amounts of meat western societies eat? I know that Crohn's is now showing up in countries like Japan that used to hardly eat beef but now eat it much more often. I'm sure there must be a study on this somewhere.
NY VEGGIE
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CrohnsPatient
Regular Member
Joined : Feb 2008
Posts : 314
Posted 5/26/2011 5:17 AM (GMT -8)
I just wanted to add and that for NY veggie mentioning meat being the cause or problem I dont really see that, if anything I would belieeve its the processed foods we western countries eat. All the dyes, and hormones, and antiobiotics in the cows and pesticides on the veggies. I think there would be some link there.

Also this might not be the way some look at it, but pb4...your mom had UC and she didnt live to see a cure you say, but if you think about it, isnt getting your colon removed a cure?

And Nanners mentioned child hood allergies, Im highly allergic to nuts it could kill me to eat them or peanut butter. But at the same time I've never had the measles, mumps, or chicken pocks.(spelling?)
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