I have a question about a disease called Amyloidosis. My mom died from this disease over 10 years ago.?

Question by Tareksgirl64: I have a question about a disease referred to as Amyloidosis. My mom died from this illness over 10 years ago.?
I have been performing some study on line about it, and I discovered out that there is a lot more than 1 kind of this, and I have no clue what kind my mom had, and I want to know if I am at risk. The physician said that it is extremely rare, and there is no cure. If there are any doctors or nurses here, I would appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks in advance!
I guess I require to mention that the physician who diagnosed her took a biopsy from her liver? Sorry I left that out. Thanks!


Finest answer:

Answer by lab rat
There are quite a couple of differenct varieties of amyloidosis, but the vast majority of them are not inherited. They are mostly very rare, and many have no cure, so it doesn't narrow it down truly.

Amyloidosis is caused by abnormal proteins. Proteins are like bits of string that fold up into 3D shapes - each diverse kind of protein has its own distinctive shape. In amyloidosis, a protein loses its typical shape and takes on an abnormal form that builds up and causes damage in the body. What kind of amyloidosis a individual has depends on what particular protein is involved.

Alzheimer's illness is the most frequent sort of amyloidosis, although this almost certainly isn't what affected your Mom, because it's normally just referred to as 'Alzheimer's disease', not an amyloidosis. Another well-known one is light chain amyloidosis (occasionally called primary amyloidosis)- this is caused by a protein that is part of antibodies. It can occur when somebody has a blood cell disorder like lymphoma or myeloma, or it can occur by itself. It tends to affect the kidneys and the heart. Another one is 'A amyloidosis' (at times known as secondary amyloidosis)- this tends to occur when an individual has some kind of chronic inflammation going on. It tends to affect the heart, liver and spleen. Then there are the much less common ones like lysozyme and transthyretin amyloidosis, which can rarely be inherited.

Your greatest option is to attempt and speak to an individual involved in your mother's care, or to see if you can access her medical record or death certificate. You could also speak to other folks in your family to see if anyone else has had the exact same condition - the hereditary ones tend to have a very strong family history. The problem with amyloidoses is that unless you are medically trained, numerous of them appear to have fairly comparable symptoms (e.g. heart and kidney issues), so it's fairly tough to work out which one it may well have been.

This web site has some excellent info:
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3377.htm

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