I have a question after reading a post...I have Beckers. I received this lovely thing from both of my parents. The genetic counselor told me that one gene is mild and on its own would likely not cause symptoms. The other she described as moderate/severe. We tested my husband and he doesn't carry it. She suggested to test my kids in case they they have the more severe form from me. But in a posting a read it seemed to say that my kids couldn't get it at all if one parent doesn't have it. Did I understand that correctly? I am nervous to test my 3 children because they are so young. Ages 3 and 5. But the counselor thought it should be done. Our insurance pays 100 percent so that is not the issue. Thank you for all your help

Jessica,

Your children will never have symptoms but they can still be carriers...maybe that's what the geneticist is talking about. However I don't see any reason for them to worry about that until they are ready to have children or at least are old enough to make the decision themselves.

I don't have the link right now, but if you do a search for myotonia congenita there's a good chart on inheritance. In the recessive form it does take two mutated genes (they can be different or the same) to cause symptoms.

Jan

Hi Jessica - You understood correctly. Since you have the recessive form, as I do, it means that a gene from each parent is needed to have the condition. Whatever the mutation may be, if it is a recessive form, the most your kids can be are carriers. The point of genetic testing and counseling when they get older would just be to check if they are carriers or not, to know both for consideration of having children (though the probability of pairing with someone else who's a carrier is very small - but it's also good to know because, as Jan has noted, even carriers have the potential to have anesthesia reactions, and it's good to alert doctors, so they can take appropriate precautions for any possible surgical procedures. Lois