Hereditary Disorder

[stevewend]

Three years ago, after years of attempting to ignore growing symptoms of pain and fatigue, and with increasing symptoms of twitches from my torso down, periodic pain in my right arm and hand, numb feet while running, uncontrollable toe-spreading, horrible nighttime nerve pain that made it nearly impossible to sleep for more than cat-naps at a time, and an overall feeling of regular "flu-like" exhaustion during the day,  I went to my family practitioner, who after examining me thought I might have MS and sent me to a neurologist.  The neurologist did a nerve conduction test, ordered a complete blood work-up, MRI of neck and brain, etc.   I had hyper reflexes in my knees, limited reflexes in my ankles, normal nerve conduction, and a normal brain MRI.  The neurologist, unable to determine what was wrong, chalked it up to idiopathic peripheral neuropathy and started me on Gabapentin at night.  Over the last few years that dosage has increased slightly, to a total of 1500 mg./night which enables me to sleep decently about 5 out of 7 nights a week, but doesn't deal with my continued body fatigue, twitches, and arm pain.

I wouldn't be one who would be overly concerned if nothing else could be done for me, except for a couple of important details.  First, I'm the fifth one in my family to have these types of symptoms.   My grandmother has had these symptoms since her late twenties but no one ever assumed it was anything but post-polio syndrome.  She's walked with a cane since her late forties and been wheelchair bound since her sixties--perhaps just post polio related.  My father, in his early thirties began suffering the same symptoms.  Again, doctors chalked it up to a different issue--he has degenerative discs in his back.  He now, at 58, spends more time resting in bed then upright and walks with a cane some of the time.  Both my grandmother and father are on thing/average weight and were very physically active prior to their symptoms becoming debilitating.  My grandmother is still alive (at 85) but has Alzheimer's now--which I'm sure isn't pertinent, but I thought I'd throw that in the mix.  My father's sisters were both diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in the past 10 years because of similar symptoms.  Neither is fairing terribly well.  

At the time of my first neurological visit, I never even considered my issues as hereditary.  I thought, at the time, that Fibromyalgia was a "made-up" disorder to comfort hypochondriacs, and I assumed, like the doctors had said, that my dad and grandma had other physical issues.  After my neurological visit, my dad and I talked and I was surprised that our symptoms were so similar.  Since then, my aunts and grandma, have also confirmed that their struggles are the same.  I still exercise regularly (about 45-60 minutes 5 times a week) mostly because I "refuse" to give in to whatever seems to be plaguing our family.  However, sometimes I literally feel like I'm running myself into the ground.  

My question is, are there hereditary disorders with these symptoms.  Though the MRI doesn't suggest MS, could it be, and is MS hereditary?  Hereditary neuropathy has been "thrown out" as an idea, but my neurologist seems surprised that we (our family members)  have no foot/leg deformities. Any thoughts?

[stevewend]

Thanks so much for your help.  I'll take a look at the genetics page!

[Karen99]

Found the genetics page:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Genetics/C677T-factor/show/984701

And she does take questions.

[Karen99]

Wow!  Your family is long overdue to see a genetic counselor.  Those docs can be smart cookies who can find elusive answers.  There is a geneticist doctor located within MedHelp somewhere.  I don't believe she takes questions but writes about syndromes/diseases that involve genetics.

MS is not hereditary per se, but it can run in families.  (that's what they say - doesn't make much sense)  If one family member has MS, other family members have up to a 50% chance of developing MS.  It is believed that certain factors come into play, such as the environment, viruses, location of birth.

I don't think I've explained this well re: MS.  There is also an MS page here at MedHelp
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Multiple-Sclerosis/show/41

Good luck and I hope you can find some answers.  If there is an answer to be found I would think a geneticist could make short order of it.