Re: Genetic Scoliosis

[Guest guest]

Hi Carol...

I am one of 8 children, and the only one with scoliosis.

There were several interesting papers on the genetics of scoliosis, presented at last week’s Scoliosis Research Society meeting. They’re getting close to knowing which genes play a role in the development of scoliosis, and hopefully to a gene therapy.

--

On 9/23/06 10:12 AM, " Carol " <dcvaughan@...> wrote:

The thing is, even though I'm not adopted, no one knows how and why I

have scoliosis, either. They always say that it is " idiopathic " but we

don't know of anyone in my family that has it or had it. It is a

recessive gene, at least I've been told that, and it usually comes from

the maternal side of the family. My mom has only been diagnosed with it

recently, but I'm sure it's because she had osteoporosis. She never had

it when she was younger. My mom's parents left Russia (literally

escaped) and left behind all family and any records there, so we have

lost contact with all of that history, and we cannot document anything.

My mom has/had cousins and herself that have " back trouble " but it is

other things, not scoliosis. Then I found out several years back that a

distant relative--1/2 brother of my great grandfather was known as

the " hunchback " but he never married or had children. Then I wondered

if he had scoliosis, but then it would have had to be a very recessive

gene that never showed up until I came along? But I've said for quite

awhile that I seem to be the dumping ground of all the recessive genes--

I have other strange things wrong with me, too!!!!

Carol

[Guest guest]

What a coincidence you brought this subject up Carol, because I have

often thought about this with myself and I thought posting a question

to all of you about Genetic scoliosis and Idiopathic scoliosis. Here

the story with me: I have been diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis

at 14 no one in our family has had scoliosis that my mother new of,

but she found out she had a slight curve in her mid to late forties

she also has one leg shorter than the other and now in her seveties

she has osteoporosis like you're mom.

In my case what I have been questioning myself of is that at 14 my

mother noticed one breast was not developing,so when she took me to

the family Dr he told her most women have one smaler than the other

and if it seems bad it will catch up he did look at my back and had

me bend over and noticed nothing rong neither I or my mother new what

he was looking for since we nwver herd of scoliosis. 6month later my

mom noticed me leaning to the left my right shoulder was higher than

my left and my right blade was pushed out more than the other. She

took me back to the Dr and he looked at my back again and was

surprised how bad I looked and said I would probably need surgery.

One question I have often asked myself is how did I go from nothing

being wrong to needing surgery, and after x-rays at Newingtons

childrens hospital I had 4 curves and two were above 45 degrees. I'm

Sorry.

(This post is going to be too long so I will continue with a page

of my own)

The subject will be : Genetic scoliosis VS Idiopathic scoliosis.

Sorry all!

Carol I'm sorry I dont have ansers for you're question, but I cant

anser mine either, but maybe others now more.

>

> The thing is, even though I'm not adopted, no one knows how and why

I

> have scoliosis, either. They always say that it is " idiopathic " but

we

> don't know of anyone in my family that has it or had it. It is a

> recessive gene, at least I've been told that, and it usually comes

from

> the maternal side of the family. My mom has only been diagnosed

with it

> recently, but I'm sure it's because she had osteoporosis. She never

had

> it when she was younger. My mom's parents left Russia (literally

> escaped) and left behind all family and any records there, so we

have

> lost contact with all of that history, and we cannot document

anything.

> My mom has/had cousins and herself that have " back trouble " but it

is

> other things, not scoliosis. Then I found out several years back

that a

> distant relative--1/2 brother of my great grandfather was known as

> the " hunchback " but he never married or had children. Then I

wondered

> if he had scoliosis, but then it would have had to be a very

recessive

> gene that never showed up until I came along? But I've said for

quite

> awhile that I seem to be the dumping ground of all the recessive

genes--

> I have other strange things wrong with me, too!!!!

>

> Carol

>

[Guest guest]

Hi....

There’s really no such category as genetic scoliosis, although there may very will be such a distinction in the future. It is thought that all idiopathic scoliosis is genetic, but no one really knows that for sure.

Congenital scoliosis involves misshapen vertebrae, so if you had congenital scoliosis, I’m thinking that one of your doctors would have mentioned that to you by now.

Carol, I am one of 7 children born to my mother and 8 to my father, and I am the only one with scoliosis. I think there are actually more of us than there are of people who know of a familial link.

Regards,

On 9/27/06 7:34 PM, " crooked_dancer " <hadouni30@...> wrote:

What a coincidence you brought this subject up Carol, because I have

often thought about this with myself and I thought posting a question

to all of you about Genetic scoliosis and Idiopathic scoliosis. Here

the story with me: I have been diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis

at 14 no one in our family has had scoliosis that my mother new of,

but she found out she had a slight curve in her mid to late forties

she also has one leg shorter than the other and now in her seveties

she has osteoporosis like you're mom.

[Guest guest]

I had a family link. My mother's sister had scoliosis. She had very

severe curves and it was never resolved. It was the root cause of

her death in her 60's. My mother was on a sharp look out for it

in her 10 children. There are other minor cases in my family.