Hey IM's, my partner has been diagnosed as a Cystic Fibrosis carrier and I have been cleared from being a carrier. Our IVF specialist wants us to go and have an appointment with a Genetic Counsellor regarding the risks and possibility of any children of ours also being carriers for CF. We already know that we won't have a child with the disease but there's a chance they could carry it and we would get them tested for being carriers as well. Does anyone have any experience with this and would you recommend going to see the counsellor?
4 Replies
Definitely go see a GC. Why wouldn't you want more knowledge? Knowledge is power.
Will it change your mind on having children depending what they say? Personally I wouldn't go myself, I would wait and let the children be tested if they wish to be.
I agree knowledge is power, but my hubby and I chose ignorance is bliss over the knowledge concept for us. We just didn't want that pressure.
It's a hard one though and very individual as some people would think it unfair not to, others think otherwise.
My mums a carrier, I'm not. I personally feel it makes no difference. My cousin had cf and died at 21 but he was the most amazing person regardless of the cf.
Hello, we found out my ex husband was a carrier after my son was found to be a carrier. I also had the testing and was cleared. At the time I was told that there could still be a chance that I could be a carrier as they didn't test for all strains (you may have had extra testing though). We were told there was a 1 in 600 chance of having a CF child. We had another daughter and she isn't a carrier. I am not sure that counselling is worthwhile in your situation. Maybe you can go for counselling if your child is found to be a carrier, otherwise it's not really a big deal :-)