Interesting day at the VA

[Sailorsong]

Well I had my 6 months check up with the MS NP at the VA this morning. It is really just a formality as I get my real MS treatment from Vanderbilt MS Clinic. Mostly it was just checking my RX's and a Neuro exam. Most of my problems during the exam were in figuring out what the NP was asking me to do. You know which way is to the right. LOL

But the interesting thing was that a representative from the NMSS was there today. This is something that has never happened before that I know of. Maybe it is because there is an MS walk in Nashville this weekend? My understanding is that she spends most of her time at the Vanderbilt MS clinic where I get my treatment.  

As I talked with her I mentioned that there are 5 people in my family with MS and she countered that isn't surprising since 1 in 65000 people get MS, but it drops to 1 in 40 if someone in the family has MS. That is a lot different than the 3% increase I have heard of in the past. If my math is correct ( which is doubtful) that is a 6000% increase in odds. I was too shocked by her statement to question where she got that info from.

Dennis

[cjtmn]

That is terrifying news, Dennis. I have never heard the statistic that bleak before, and am already pumping my young kids full of Vitamin D in hopes of helping them dodge this bullet. I am the only one in my family, but my dad's side has many neurological problems (just not MS). However, I also know of another family where there are 4 people (all women in this case) that are affected - including 2 sisters and 1 of their daughters.

Here's hoping we can figure out what causes this thing in the near future....

[4happygnomes]

This is frightening to me, although I'm still in limbo...I worry a great deal for my children.  I've met a person who has MS, her sister and her cousin also have MS.  On another forum, there seems to be quite a few who have at least one family member...whether immediate or slightly removed...who also have MS.  Seems like they need to do another study on the correlation, I would guesstimate they are under reporting the connection.

Karen

[HVAC]

I have heard there are cluster families with many members with MS, but not that statistic.

Alex

[ConfirmedRachel]

I'm really surprised to hear that too, my mum had MS but I was told although there was a slight increase it wasn't more than about 5%

Any other peeps got more info on this one?
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