Family Members With MS

[Deb61]

How many of you (limbo or diagnosed) have close family members (sibling, parent, aunt, uncle, or grandparent) with MS?  My neuro told me when I was diagnosed it was just about as common as being struck by lightning.

Diagnosed 2008
Sister diagnosed 2006

[figuerpa]

My sister was diagnosed in 2001 and now I got diagnosed this year.

Paula

[Quixotic1]

As common as beng struck by lightening????  Does this neuro know ANYTHING about the epidemiology of MS.  In the US the overal likelihood of developing MS is about 1 in 800  (varies widely between the northern and southern parts).  If an parent has MS your risk rises to close to 1 in 50.  A sib or fraternal twin is between 1 in 20 to 35.  

I certainly hope my chances of being hit by lightening are not that high!  That's just what I need to complete my problems.

No family members for me.

Quix

[tonyad]

  I have an Aunt with Dx...My Mother's Sister (who is also a twin)  and she (the twin sister, other Aunt) does Not have MS.

~Tonya

[jujuminx]

I am first in family.  No family members current or past dx with MS.  Hope I don't start a trend.

Julie

[essdipity]

I've heard for years that the odds of winning the big lottery (here) are about 1 in 2 million, which supposedly are the same odds as being struck by lightning.

In the US, the odds of having MS are said to be 1 in 750 overall. But if you're female, etc., etc., those odds change against you.

That doctor needs an elementary lesson in probability. And if he really believes what he said, he's dangerously dumb.

ess

[COBOB]

According to the US National Weather Service, the odds off being struck by lightning in the US are 1 in 750,000.  The odds of being struck in the US in an 80 year lifespan are 1 in 6250.
The Odds you will be affected by someone being struck (Ten people affected for every one struck) are 1 in 625.

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/medical.htm

Bob

[starryeyes1]

My dad has had MS for about 30 yrs. I was diagnosed in 2009. I agree with Quix and Ess. Everything I have researched about MS says if you don't have a family member with MS, your chances are 1 in 750.
Sibling or parent 1 in 50, identical twin has a 1 in 3 chance.

I believe that genetically it is connected. Of course, they say that consuming dairy proucts and animal fats combined with whether or not a person had certain viral infections such as mono, rubella, roseolla,measles. herpes also increases the chances.

They have connected the geography to MS as well. Countries such as Northern Europe, North America, New Zealand and Australia have higher incidence of MS than countries in the tropics.

Its interesting. I unfortunately "qualified" under all of these factors. My family history, I had mono and roseolla, drink plenty of milk and live in the Pacific Northwest.

Oh well...(sigh)
Kristi

[JemmAus]

No one except me (that I know of at this point in time) has MS.

[Deb61]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I think my neuro must have been using hyperbole in regards to the lightning comparison.  He's actually a very good doctor and pretty well-informed, so hyperbole was probably being used in response to my mother's emotional question having the second child with an MS diagnosis.  

[Heather3418]

I was diagnosed with MS 15 years ago.  My 35 year old daughter was diagnosed with MS within the last year.

Lord how I pray that they hurry and find out what causes MS.  There has to be a gentic factor involved.  My daughter has just been told that she possibly may have Primary Progressive MS, I do not have true relapses anymore. I remain pretty stable 15 years after diagnosis. She has never come out of her first relapse.  I just ache for her, as her mother.

I cry for my daughter, that she has to endure this kind of course.  I am so afraid for her and would give my life to take this from her.

Thanks for the poll.  It's enlightening.

Heather

[poker247]

While I was in limbo-land my sister got diagnosed....then after 6 years of frustration I was diagnosed March 2009. Since then my cousin has been diagnosed as well.

3 people from the same family yet depending on the article you read they say it is NOT hereditary ....HHHHhmmmmmm

[essdipity]

It seems pretty clear that there is a genetic component to MS, meaning that genetics can be one factor. But that's certainly far from the only one. If it were, both identical twins or neither would have it, for instance. Although the risk would be high, in actuality it is far from 100%.

And what about all of us who have no MS in our families, but we do have it? Researchers are slowly slowly teasing out risk factors. It seems a perfect storm is needed, but no one knows for sure what that consists of.

ess

[meg321]

I have a cousin that had MS, but she is dead now.  She was all crippled up, thats how i imagined MS..but found out different.


meg

[Eyesnlegs]

I was dx December 2008 my sister in June 2007. She is 18 years younger tham me as was in limbo for 2 years, I was in limbo for nearly 20 years. So we were the same age when the sx started.

Pat

[Deb61]

I am shocked with the outcome of this poll.  I know it's not at all scientific, but I never would have thought that this many people on the forum have family members with MS.  I bet if the poll included autoimmune disorders, the numbers would be huge.  

Heather, my heart goes out to you.  It was harder on my mom than me the day of my diagnosis.  I was relieved to finally have a diagnosis, and my mother was devestated.  

Thanks for everyone's participation!

[Ndobbins]

I had a cousin & she passed on last year.

[Deb61]

I sometimes wonder if genetics play more of a role in the development of MS.  I would love to see a more comprehensive study including as many people in the nation as possible with MS participating.  

My hunch is that genetics do play more of a role.  I suspect that of the people with no family members with MS that there is a great number of this population that has a family history of autoimmune disease.  In the past, these disease weren't diagnosed because of the technology of the time.

The environment of people with a gentic link of autoimmune disease or MS could also play a major factor, of course.  Two sisters living in the same place have the environment in common as well.  They typically share the same diet, the same amount of sunshine, the same exposure to chemicals/smoke, share the same childhood diseases, etc.  Perhaps the environment triggers the immune response.  Maybe it's even more of a problem when you're genetically predisposed.

If it's found that there is more of a genetic piece to the puzzle, this will give researchers more of a focal point in coming up with the cause, then the effective treatment, and possibly even a cure (which is a pretty far-fetched idea, I know).

I hope and pray that researchers and doctors continue to work as hard as the possibly can to find a cure.  I know I sound like an ad, but seeing my sister suffer with this amount of pain and being unable to walk has me going.

Thanks to people like J.K. Rowling who gave 15.4 million dollars to MS research!   We need more people like her.  That's a huge chunk of change--even for someone that is a millionaire!  

[Quixotic1]

Genetics play a definite, but not total role in MS.  However, there are known families where the genetic link is VERY high and they study the beejeebers out of them.  They have identified at least 15 genes that seem to be involved and it may be that which of combination of these genes are inherited may play a role in who gets it.

As for identical twins raised identically, the odds rise to 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 (I think).  If it were a pure genetic problem the ration would be 1 in 1.  Also, we must explain the majority of pwms (people with ms) who do not have a close relative.

Also, within families with more than one with MS, the type, the aggressiveness and the eventual age at disability do not follow, so all of that is determined by something else.

Of interest are the groups who have NEVER been observed to develop MS, like Hungarian gypsies and a couple tribes of (??) Inuit Eskimos.  Do they have a genetic protection?  MS is uncommon, tho not impossible in those of African descent and in Native Americans.  Latinos are affected less, even when they live in the higher lattitudes.

It's a pretty puzzle and the number of studies involving genetic studies is HUGE!

Quix

[Quixotic1]

I got to say - sontent-driven advertising, like they have here, is often funny.  Right after I wrote my post for this topic, I there was an "Ancestry.com" ad.  Another time some doctor was refered to as a jerk.  Immediately there appeared an ad for a recipe site with a recipe for Jerk Chicken.

q

[Lulu54]

I'm late to this one - my mother's sister lived with MS for about 50 years.  I have 4 sisters, we grew up in the same household, same diet, same environment, and I  am the only one dx'd with this MySterious disease.  

One another branch of the family (grandmother's cousin) there is at least one confirmed MS patient for 3 generations so far.  

If the odds are as great as your neuro purported, I think I should buy some lottery tickets.... maybe my "luck" will continue.  LOL

-Lulu  

[essdipity]

Although the poll response thus far is interesting, we really can draw no conclusions from it. Those who have family with MS are much more likely to read the thread and vote than others would be.

ess

[Mike_Shuswap]

I've got a bunch of relatives on my Mom's side with MS, 3 cousins, 2 aunts, 1 1st cousin once removed (Granpa's brother's son) 2 uncles. i think I remembered everyone...

I also have several relatives with undiagnosed symptoms.

Oh, and 1 cousin on my Dad's side was dx'd with MS, but for some reason her dx was taken away....and not replaced with any other dx...but that's another story.

I, as well as most of my relatives on Mom's side, are in a genetics study where they take a bunch of blood and your family and personal history and try to determine why the high occurance of MS.

I sure hope my daughter's don't end up with MS! Or my Grandkids!

I think the high number of MS patients in my family may have helped my neuro dx me.

Mike

[Ufrustrated2]

from grandparents to now, i'm the first as far as i know

[Pablo_Morphy]

In my case, nobody in my family has so far gotten MS.  However...

When I was diagnosed with CIS, I asked my mom if she knew anybody in the family with MS.  She said no, but then told me that she heard from her mom that her grandfather had been sick with a 'mysterious illness' that had left him half-paralyzed in his late 30s, 'after being working in the backyard in a hot afternoon'.  This was in a small town in pre-WWII Latin America, so people thought he had been cursed or was just making things up.  He improved and got worse over time now and then and, after a few years, passed away.  I checked the story with my mom's uncle, who is 80 years old, and he said he remembered his father as a child, in a chair, with little leg mobility and 'always weak'.  On the other hand, my grandfather used to say that he wished none of his sons or grandsons got the 'awful illness that his father-in-law had suffered, whatever it was'.

So, go figure...