Can a child have CF without having many respiratory problems? My daughter has been seeing an endo for her growth delay and he is ordering a sweat test for her. She's never really had any breathing problems or other major respiratory things. She is VERY small for her age (10 1/2 years old, 49 inches tall and 46 lbs). She is also quite gassy at times. And she does tend to tire more easily than her peers, but I always assumed it was because of her size. I told the dr that I thought it would be found out by now, but he said that he has been burned several times by not doing the test, and then they end up having it.

What do you think?

-A very worried mom

It could be possible. There are different forms of CF --- some people have mostly lung problems with little problems with the intestines, others have a lot of problems with their intestines and little to no problems with their lungs. Some can just have diabetes, or just have chronic sinusitis. Most of it depends on what mutations they have.

Genetic testing can be done to also test for CF and this allow you to know what mutation they have if the test is positive. The best test is from Ambry Genetics in California. They can test for the most different mutations.

It is also possible to have some of the symptoms of CF without having CF. There are gene alterations called a polymorphisms. That is what my daughter has, Polymorphism M470V. My daughter's sweat test was normal but her doctor (who is a CF specialist) said the sweat test can miss about 2% of CF patients therefore she wanted to do genetic testing for both CF and any polymorphisms.

My daughter test negative for CF but positive for M470V twice (one she inherited from her father, the other one from me).

In our case she has chronic sinusitus and respiratory problems due to her asthma.

Good Luck

It is possible. CF comes in many variations. Although the only thing that has been linked to certain mutations is pancreatic insuffiency/suffiency

And lots of times respiratory problems develop overtime (and as I found out the hard way so can digestive problems!)

If in doubt testing is best! Preferrably sweat testing and DNA testing. Ambry and Quest are probably the two best places for DNA testing. Although its still not 100%

yes it is possible ... but does you family tree have a past of cf... cause it can only be inherited... so you or your husband would have to be a carrier for her to have it.