Hello again berries. I am thinking about getting genetic testing done pre-TTC. Has anyone had experience with this or know of how to get it done? The only place I know of is 23andme, which is $99 for each person (seems reasonable).
Without a family history of genetic issues (or parents-to-be who are closely related, like first cousins) I wouldn’t imagine it would be worth your money.
I am a nurse at a children’s hospital, and while I do see a lot of children with genetic disorders, most fall into three categories: consanguineous parents, known family history of genetic disorder or random new mutation (which wouldn’t be picked up on genetic screening anyways).
Totally a personal choice though, and if you have the money and feel like it would give you some piece of mind, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Nothing against 23andme, but from the reviews I have read of it, it doesn’t give you very thorough information about your particular risk of passing on whatever condition. It is more like X percent of your DNA comes from Y ethnic group and Y ethnic group has Z risk of Q condition. Sorry, I am running out of algebra numbers.
Anyhow, if you want to get genetic counseling done, I would go to your doctor and he or she can probably refer you for this. My understanding of genetic counseling is that they can give you a lot more information about your risks of passing things on, while companies like 23andme give much more superficial information. I don’t think that most people go to genetic counseling unless you have specific concerns, like passing on cystic fibrosis or sickle cell or something.
If you decide to go with 23andme, look into their privacy policy as well. I read a review in which the author claimed that the company can and does share your information with life insurance companies and possibly other entities. They are not legally allowed to share your information with health insurance companies, but if they do share your risks with life insurance companies, it may be difficult to get coverage in the future. I would assume (but check first) that an actual genetic counselor would be subject to HIPPA and would therefore keep your information confidential.
I have not read the 23andme contract myself, I only just started looking into some of these companies and reading reviews.
I believe I just read that the FDA has ordered 23andme to stop operations temporarily while it measures its claims of accuracy.
I have debated doing this, but am very nervous. If you are concerned from the perspective of passing things on, they actually test you (and your partner, if need be) for many things during pregnancy.
I was going to mention this too…
If you have a “preconception” appointment with your OB, they can administer any tests that may be relevant. No, they won’t test all chromosomes, but they will test for things like cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, and tay-sachs, depending on which you may be likely to be a carrier of.
In school I had to study this topic, and birth defects, thunderbolt is right. Ask your OBGYN, and they will be able to test you for serious and the most common defects to see what you might be a carrier of, and I imagine they would test your partner as well. Also, they’d likely looking to your family medical history (if they can, your GP might do this part, I’m not so sure) to see if anything similar cropped up previously in your family.
I had a blood test to check for my risk for having the genes for cystic fibrosis since that was the only one that was an issue with our ethnicities. I’m not sure how much the test was because our insurance covered it 100%.
I should look into seeing if our insurance would cover testing! That is a great suggestion, thank you all! I also need to get hubby to find out his blood type, I have a negative rh factor so I think that can cause problems if hubby has a postive rh
Yes, that can cause Rh Disease: http://www.marchofdimes.com/baby/rh-disease.aspx
I never thought the things I learned in grade 11 parenting class would actually come in handy, but for some reason I kept my notes and the links I used.
My mom and dad had the Rh issue. It was not a big deal at all, after my sister was born (the first baby is not affected) my mom just got a shot each time that took care of it.
I was going to suggest 23andme but I see that some other already have however I think it’s pretty expensive.
Just echoing at this point, but you’ll be tested for the common inheritable issues during pregnancy (cf, tay sachs, sickle cell anemia, etc) based on family history and ethnic background. 23andme seems like it’s more for fun or to find out about your ancestral background than to diagnose anything. I have thought of having genetic testing because early onset Alzheimer’s is extremely prevalent in my family, but that brings up a slew of other issues about whether or not I really would want to know…
RH factor used to be a huge issue and risk (my grandmother lost two babies to RH disease). Today, they’ll just test for your blood type if you don’t already know it and if you’re RH-, you get the Rhogam shot in your third trimester or if you have any bleeding earlier on. They test the baby’s blood at delivery and if baby is RH+, you get the shot again. There’s very little risk of it being a problem as long as you get adequate prenatal care. I got the third trimester shot, but my daughter ended up having the same blood type.
I should add that even if your husband is RH-, they’ll still want you to have the shot. As much as you can insist to your OBGYN that it’s not an issue, they give EVERYONE the shot just in case you’re wrong about paternity (kind of awkward but a practical concern for some I suppose…). It doesn’t do anything if you and baby have the same blood type and they’d rather just be safe. 
@lineska - good to know!!! My mom and I have the same blood type (O-), but my dad is B+ so I talked to her about it and yeah, she had to get a shot when she was pregnant both times.