I am Curious

[tyler911]

Hi Everyone

I am really curious as to why so many people are being diagnosed with MS, reading Lulu's wonderful post
she was saying there are 2 million people suffering with this disease,

Why is it becoming to prevalent now, or has it always been like this, and until I was diagnosed myself i had heard little about it,

I have two friends that were just diagnosed within a few months of each other about 4 months after I was, this is getting way to scary

There has to be something that is triggering this, to have so many people being diagnosed with it,

can you tell my brain is in overdrive tonight lol

Oh well Just curious, what does every one think, 2 million is a very high number, almost an unacceptable #

I do know that is you are of European decent particularly Scottish  that you are more likely to get MS, why would this be ,

thanks
Tyler

[jensequitur]

Oh yeah, and I have vitiligo - a non-life-threatening auto-immune disease of the melanin in your skin.  The immune system attacks the melanin, so I have a white patch on my cheek and forehead.  (Right about where the trigeminal nerve is, actually...)

[jensequitur]

My personal take on it is that there is an increase in auto-immune diseases - from eczema to Crohns to rheumatoid arthritis to lupus to MS, they seem to be getting worse in the last twenty years.

So the question that everybody's asking is: is it enviromental, or is it genetic?  They seem to have eliminated the genetic factors, and now they're researching environmental causes.

Who knows?  Could be something in our diet or in our atmosphere that's causing all this...

Here's a person who wrote a book about it:

http://donnajacksonnakazawa.wordpress.com/category/why-i-wrote-the-autoimmune-epidemic/

[RedFlame]

Hey Lu, I read your posts all the time, you are typically the voice of reason in a sea of emotions here, well, at least in my questions.

As far as the increase, I have heard that we don't get our vitamin d anymore due to use of sunscreen and the fact that kids are not safe outside like they were in my day.  Also, I have heard that immune diseases themselves are on the rise.  

And also what has already been mentioned, the ability to diagnose, ....

Red

[tyler911]

Hi

Yep me thinks the damned Vikings have a lot to answer for too, lol or was it the septs and the nords, darn i am gonna have to go back on my history lessons ha ha

I am also Scottish an Aberdeen lass no less, lol, I think i wanna curse my heritage

Yes Lulu I always read your posts, they are very interesting,  keep my brain kinda active hee hee,  

Well I am gonna go back into the nords and the septs lol and see what i can dig up,
i was also curious because I have been doing my family tree for near on 24 years, and the death certs i have been able to obtain, from 1855 onwards have been a real eye opener for me, a lot of the cause of deaths were brain and heart related, hmmmmmmm
makes one wonder, but then i did not think they done autopsies, I was not even aware that Asthma was a known thing in 1855, but i have  death cert that says cause of death Asthma,

Oh well here i go again, getting more curious by the minute lol

Thanks for your replies
Tyler

[sllowe]

I think they are getting better at diagnosing it too.....awareness and advocacy also, etc.

-shell

[Sumanadevii]

I think the numbers are higher because we have better tools to dignosis MS.  Many today (depending on what kind of healthcare they are receiving) will never dignosed.  They will go to their grave wondering what is wrong.  I told my husband numerous times over the years that there were no answers.  We just had to accept that and move on.

That was until I found this board.  Some have had 7 or 8 neuros not find it.  I ain't just gonna move on.  I am going to be vocal!!!!!  "Find another doctor" is my motto~

[Lulu54]

HI tyler,
It is nice to know some reads the stuff I post - sometimes I wonder if I'm on information overload.  :-)

The 400,000 in the US figure is from the 1970's.  It has not been updated for over thirty years.  In that time, a lot has happened in diagnostic technology as  Alex said.

Also, in that time the life expectancy of MS patients has increased, thanks to a lot of different factors.  It used to be we could expect 7 less years on this earth, but now it is about the same as a "healthy" person. That means there are a lot more people with MS hanging around a lot longer, and that will also bump the number.

I agree with the Viking thought - I know they are plundering my brain!  I wrote about them a while back

http://www.medhelp.org/user_photos/show/68208?personal_page_id=865800

BTW I am also of Scottish/Hessein descent.

-Lu

[HVAC]

I am thinking it is the new technology the MRI and more knowledge and MS Specialists. In the old days Polio was the main area for Neurology. Oh and the media and internet. How many people self check symptoms and go to the Neurologist who might of not been aware? Oh and there are more support group in person and on line. MS has been documented for Centuries.



It seems to me I hear of more women with breast cancer or men with prostate cancer. This probably because of more screening and awareness.

Blame it on the Vikings. Norwegian decent is a probablity so everywhere those darn Vikings went spreading there genetics. LOL.

Alex

[supermum_ms]

Hey Tyler,

I think the point was that he was questimating that there are 5 times the published number who are not dx, living with MS but not counted in the stats. I personally think the 2mil number is a none issue, It can't be verrified so not really a valid estimate, whats more important than the number is that he was saying there are many more people with MS than the recognised stats.

Cheers.......JJ