Will my cousins baby have tourettes if she does?

Question

My cousin just found out that she was preg. She is really excited but she is worried. She has tourettes syndrome and does not know if her baby will have it because she does. It is really weird because no one in her family has the disorder. He mom is my moms sister and my mom and my aunt come from a family of 8 children and not one of them have tourettes or ocd. I was diagnosed with ADD as a kid, but have since grown out of it. On her dads side of the family no one has any signs of disorders like tourettes and he comes from a family of 4 brothers and sisters. None of our younger cousins have tourettes either, however we do have one cousin that is autistic but we believe that was due to drug use during the pregnancy. It is really strange that my cousin has tourettes because no one in either side of her family shows any signs of it. It was kind of like a fluke... so does this mean that her baby will have it? Obviously it had to run down the gene pool some how and if it has skipped so many generations maybe it will with her baby? She is just worried because she remembers how embarrassing it was for her growing up. Another odd thing is that her tourettes is not the loud vocal kind. No cursing or screaming. Just the occassional twinge or twitch or her arm, or chomping of her teeth, small jerk of the leg, slight facial grimicing and finger flexing. When she was younger it was a little noticible but here of the last 5 years or so it has become almost as if it has dimished. I know that tourettes does not go away, but if you were a complete stranger and stared at her for an hour you would not think that she had tourettes.... maybe a nervous twitch but definently not tourettes. She has been going to school for the past couple of years and maybe she has supressed the ticks for that reason. Because her tourettes is not that bad does that make it less likely that her baby will have it?

Also, she has not gone to any type of specialist for a number of years. So could it be in fact possible that she does not have tourettes after all? She has not gone for over 15 years. She is 22 now and found out that she had the disorder when she was 6.

Answer 1

Tourettes is lifelong and there is not a cure.  Your cousin's symptoms may have lessened over the years (that happens sometimes).  

Her child may or may not end up with it.  I do not have it.  My husband does not have it.  No one in our immediate family has it.  However, my son has it.  My daughter does not.  There is just no way to know for sure.

I doubt that your cousin will love her child any less.  Ask any parent of a child with disabilities how much they love their child.  You will be surprised.