Single gene CF carriers

[anonymous]

I carry a single CF gene which traditionally means I don't have CF.
However I have congenital dual absence of the vas deferens meaning I shoot blanks AND have a sever tendency to aquire chest infections. I cough <u>productively</u> all the time and suffer severe gastric refux which I take medication to neutralise.
Is there any information from anyone about symptoms experienced by CF so-called <b>carriers</b>?
Wade

 

[anonymous]

Are you certain that you don't have cf? You may have a rare mutation or maybe even a mutation that hasn't been found yet - they're being discovered all the time.
Have you had a sweat test?

 

[anonymous]

I agree with the last post. Since you know that you are a carrier, I am guessing that you have had a genetic test done. Is this correct? The problem with the genetic test is that CF centers don't test for every mutation, they only test for the most common. I know this because I just had it done a few months a go. They found one of my mutations but the other one did not show up.

Get a sweat test done.

Dave 29 w/cf

 

[AbsintheSorrow]

When they did my genetic testing at age 5 (that was the year they discovered which chromosome caused CF), I had one Delta F508 from my mother... and the gene my father gave me didn't even have a name. It may by now, I don't know. All I know is that I do have two mutations and last we checked, the one from my father had no name. Get a sweat test done... and a piece of advice? Get the sweat test done AT A CF CENTER!!!!!!!! Otherwise, you're just asking for trouble because non-CF specific docs hardly know what they're doing with CFers.

 

[anonymous]

Hi Wade....I find your question very interesting because I, too, have wondered that myself many times. I am the parent of 2 kids with CF (both Delta F508 X2) so that's obviously what I carry. I have been approached more than once at CF conferences and asked when I was diagnosed. I have to argue to get people to believe that I don't have CF myself, that's it's my children who do. I have the thumbs that are typically thought of as CF related. I have asthma and when I get a cold or something it hangs on for much longer than normal, healthy people. I am still fighting a terrible cough from a cold that started more than 2 weeks ago. I've always wondered if there could be any "symptoms" caused by carrying only one of the genes. (Or possibly that I may have another mutation that just was never found but is a milder case than my daughters...) I have read a couple of articles that discussed some differences between single cf gene carriers and the general population. One particularly mentioned a higher incidence of asthma amoung carriers of the CF gene compared to the general population. I think there are some effects of the single gene that may not be well documented yet but who knows...I could be completely off base. As the other posters said, I'd most certainly have the sweat test if I were you. It can't hurt anything. I just wanted to respond and say that you aren't the only one wondering about this issue...I've done lots of research just out of curiousity and it's hard to find any info but it is out there...just few and far between...Hope everything works out well for you.

Renee

 

[kybert]

there has been research into this. i dont know the exact results but there was evidence suggesting that people who carry the cf gene can experience more health related problems that those who dont. try doing a google search on it.