Motherhood Uncensored

Gout, Glaucoma, and TB - Oh My!

The exciting part about checking my 23andMe profile is that things are always changing. One week I'll go in and find new research on breast cancer and Endometriosis. And on other weeks, like this one, I'll find a whole slew of diseases that I'm at an increased risk for!!!!!!!

Did I mask my anxiety with all those exclamation points?

Didn't think so.

But boy there is some interesting stuff happening, especially in my profile.

One look at you might think I was Courtney Love.

I've got an increased risk for Heroin addiction (who needs alcohol when you can go for the hard stuff?) and Tourettes.

DAMNIT!

(ha).

[Side note: Did anyone see that special last night on 20/20 about kids with Tourettes? Heartbreaking.]

Also, gout, glaucoma, and tuberculosis.

It's important to realize that these reports have varying levels of confidence, which 23andMe makes sure to notate (using a very friendly star system - only two stars of confidence on my heroin addiction propensity but three on TB - yikes). Additionally, they site the journal articles so that you realize it's not just some random shot in the dark.

Then again, it depends on how much you believe in the accuracy of scientific research, which in order to provide these numbers and risks, has to use samples. Are the samples completely representative? Probably not. But it's completely fascinating to me.

And at least now I have a bit of an excuse for my sailor mouth. (ahem).

I'm actually at a moderately increased risk for something that my mom has and is currently dealing with, which I'll talk more about next week. And if you're like "WTF is this?" go read my post about my participation in the 23andme Genome Project.

It's not as scary as it sounds

The biggest issue most people seem to have about the 23andMe genotyping is the fact that you're learning about diseases that you might have a propensity for.

That's not the sort of news most people want to hear.

Try "You're going to win the lottery." Now that I could get behind.

But when you really sit and think about it, and get an idea of what sort of disease they're talking about, and what "propensity" really means, you might have a different idea about it all.

Of course, this is not the first thing that runs through your head. You think that you'll open your account and you'll see a big flashing "PARKINSON'S" tab on your screen, and your life will be over.

In reality, the info is presented in such a friendly, scientific way, that it's more fascinating than scary.

When you look at your disease risk report, it's laid out with diseases that you are at high risk, decreased risk, and typical risk. Some of the diseases, like Parkinson's, are actually locked, so you have to click to open up the tab.

I have decreased or typical risks for most of the diseases, including Diabetes Type 1 and 2, Celiac's, Crohn's, and a few others. All that means is that I'm either below or at the average.

The two diseases that I'm at a higher risk for are Psoriasis and Age-Related Macular Degeneration. I definitely have skin and eye issues, though not yet to the degree of either of those conditions. Interestingly enough, my mom isn't at high risk for anything, so what we initially thought had to do with the Asian side of my family obviously does not.

Just another couple of things to blame on my dad, I guess.

[I'm actually at high risk for something that could have affected my pregnancies. I'll talk about that more next week].

I am a poor Warfarin stranger

I've not written much about my own mother here, mostly because anything she does is completely overshadowed by my in-laws.

But recently, she's been having a series of heart problems, all related to being born with a hole in her heart. It's probably not anything that would be a huge issue today, but when you're born in 1951, I'm guessing it is.

And so, she's found herself in the hospital for tests and on lots of medicine, including Coumadin, which is a commonly known blood thinner.

What's a bit ironic about this is that my mom is a nurse but hates everything to do with hospitals and medicine. She's the true definition of crunchy, in fact, I think she might have originated the term. And so although she inserts IVs for a living, she hates going herself.

This is all to say that a recent finding at 23andMe has been Warfarin sensitivity, which is Coumadin. And as it turns out, I have an increased sensitivity, meaning I might require a lesser dose than normal. I suppose this wouldn't really matter for me, because I was fortunate to have been born with a healthy heart.

But since my mom has been genotyped, this information is extremely valuable to her. And in fact, she is also increasingly sensitive to it, a result that she showed her doctor when she went in to have her meds evaluated. I suppose in a way she got a bit of ammunition to ask her doctor to possible decrease her meds (mostly because she hates to take them at all), but also because this type of information could help to inform her PCP about her dosage and what she needs for it to be beneficial.

[So, what diseases am I at a higher risk for? Curious? I'll reveal all next week. And if you're interested in learning more about 23andMe, definitely visit their website for more information].

All I'm carrying is an old ratty bag from Target

It never even occurred to me to get tested to see my disease carrier status when I was pregnant with my first. I suppose I was still in complete shock at being pregnant, so I was focused on figuring out how to tell my mom, let alone what to ask at the OB's office. In fact, I'd never actually been to an OB; I did all my gynecological care at Planned Parenthood, so I literally was starting from complete scratch.

My family and personal medical history didn't really warrant any extra genetic tests, so I never even thought about getting them.

That's not to say I wasn't curious to see what my carrier status would be when I got my 23andMe test results back. Many of the diseases they can test for don't necessarily affect pregnant women, but they're still very interesting - everything from BRCA Cancer Mutations (yes, about 5-10% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have a genetic predisposition to the disease) to Hemochromatosis, which my friend and fellow blogger Meagan found out she is a carrier for.

And while I'm not a carrier for anything that's been researched by 23andMe, I still am completely fascinated and now find value in what results they are able to offer you just based on your genetics. For some reason, it seems less scary presented in this manner as opposed to a doctor staring at you in an office. Maybe it's because it was my choice to spit in the bottle and get tested, or maybe it's just hindsight because I'm not a carrier.

But there's definitely something to taking back a bit of control that's lost in the whole pregnancy process. It always seems like you can never get the information you need. And then you rely on Dr. Google, which is never a good idea. At least in this case, I feel informed. And not by some random message board that does nothing but scare the heck out of me.

Next week, I'll be sharing my drug sensitivity status. Yes, they're actually researching that too.

[If you're wondering, whoa what is this stuff, why are you posting about this, then please read this first post explaining my 23andMe journey and these weekly Saturday posts. And then head over to their site, particularly the Pregnancy Community to learn more and share your own experiences]

I guess I'll never be a world class sprinter.

I was most nervous about opening the health and traits section of my 23andMe profile, mostly because I wasn’t really sure what to expect. But my curiosity got the better of me and I logged in and clicked through to see what it was all about.

The Clinical Reports page shows your disease risks, carrier status, traits, and drug responses, all of which are way less scary than you might think. Of course, I didn’t know what half of them were, but I figured if I hadn’t heard of them, then they couldn’t be completely terrible.

Even so, I decided to take it slowly and check out the traits section, which provides you with interesting information on physical attributes completely determined by your genetics. So, for example, my genetics determined that I don’t flush when I drink alcohol (which is a common trait in some Asians), I can taste bitter, I have wet ear wax, and I probably have brown eyes (which I do).

Perhaps I didn’t need to spit into a container to learn all that information about myself (especially since I already knew it), however, it just goes to show you how amazing this research really is. Amongst the more interesting traits include resistance to various diseases, like Malaria, Norovirus, and HIV Aids (none of which I have). And I’m sad to report that I’m unlikely to be a sprinter based on the lack of a gene that produces a special protein.

So much for that career change.

If you’re curious as to this whole 23andMe adventure, visit their new Pregnancy Community. Their continuing research (which I’ll talk more about next week when I share my carrier statuses) is amazing!