Genetics and your kids ... do you worry?

[mellie4]

A lot of my pain issues are genetic.  I had two aunts on my dad's side who, despite being outstanding athletes, were crippled with arthritis to the point they were in wheelchairs.  (Apparently, bad arthritis is very common in the Irish, particularly those from the west of Ireland, where both my parents are from.)  My mother was crippled with it as well; she had it in every bone in her body.  All of these women were bad off in their fifties.  Mine started getting really bad in my late thirties, early forties.

Now I look at my kids and wonder who's going to get it this bad and what can I do to prevent it?  I'm thinking of talking to their pediatrician and asking if they should start some sort of preventative medication, like glucosamine.  (I was told my arthritis was really too far gone for that to help.)  I would hate for ANY of them to suffer like this.  I'm the oldest of three and my brother and sister have very mild arthritis; my brother in his hand and my sister in her knee.  Neither needs to take anything for it.  (They both, however, have been totally grey for years, and I missed that.)

[mellie4]

Thanks, Sherry!  I do know what to watch for and hopefully as medicine advances there will be more and more they can do for chronic pain.

[namnam46]

You can be WATCHFUL and at the FIRST sign of trouble you can intervene at that time and be SURE that you have them get to a Doctor that can HELP them EARLY so that they DON'T have to suffer like You and Your Mom did.

Don't worry - you will be able to HELP them when NO ONE was able to help you.  :)  After all that's what SUPER MOM's DO!!  And as far as I'm concerned YOU are a Super Mom. :)

More Hugs.......Mama Sherry

[mellie4]

I'm not even sure my kids would be willing to do anything preventative even if there is anything they can do.  You know how kids think they're never going to age.  Maybe the only thing they can do about the arthritis is watch and maybe catch it early.  I ignored it for a long time because when I'd take my mother to the doctor they'd always say there was no cure for arthritis, just live with it. I know now she could have had much better care than she got.

I definitely worry about EVERYTHING.  If it's not one thing, it's another.  I keep trying to not project.  I envy people that don't.  My cousin can get really worrisome news and totally put it out of her head.  She said she just pushes the thought out until she's forced to deal with it.  Probably not ideal ... somewhere in the middle would be better.

[namnam46]

I know for a fact that my Daughter has SOME of my problems.  

She has curvature of the spine - although it's not QUITE as bad as mine is!! She has problems with her knees BUT that began with an injury but has gone to arthritis.  I'm SOOO very glad that she didn't need a hip replacement at 28 like I did!!  So far there's NO arhritis in her hips that we KNOW of!!  She's NOT having any trouble with them.

When my Son was little he had to have corrective shoes just like I did. But after that his legs were nice and straight"!!!!

So from that I would say that SOME things are hereditary BUT maybe the arthritis part may not be as prominent as OTHER types of things!!!  Let's HOPE that's the case anyway!!!!

It's a VERY good idea to check with their Pediatricians as he/she would definitely have a REALLY good idea about that issue. :)

Hugs.......Mama Sherry