My father has MS, could I have it too

[NMBC]

I just found out that my father was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) before my brother (who is 21) was even born. This got me thinking.... I was three years old I found out that one of my eyes was not working and I had to start wearing an eye patch, go through some tests, and nowadays I just wear a contact lens in that one eye. I and everyone I've told has always thought that it's weird I only wear a lens in one eye but I didn't think much of it until I found out my father has MS and started doing some research, realizing that loss of vision in one eye is a symptom - in fact, a symptom my father is experiencing. Since MS can be passed down from parent to child, could it be possible that my eye is an indicator that I've had a mild form of MS since I was a child? I've had a number of other health problems growing up, most of them mild, but I don't know if they are relevant to the question. If you're a medical professional and feel like they might be I'll share though. Thank you!

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

This community is not monitored by 'medical professionals', this is a community made up of people diagnosed with MS, going through the diagnostic process for MS, family members of MSers etc not professionals but collectively we do know a lot about MS...

Firstly, MS is not considered an inheritable medical issue, yes there can be multiple family members dx with MS but it is rare, it's much more common to be the only person in your family with MS. A first person relation as in parent-child only gives you something like 5% higher odds, which translates to you more likely not being dx with MS.

It is very very common in early childhood to have a lazy eye, one eye that doesn't work properly and turns in or out  "I was three years old I found out that one of my eyes was not working and I had to start wearing an eye patch, go through some tests"  eye patch, visual exercises, scripted lenses etc are standard treatment.  

Typically the issue is developmental and completely resolves without further visual issue but sometimes scripted lenses are still necessary, so whilst it may seem weird to wear 1 contact, it's probably just unnecessary for you to wear a contact in the eye with normal vision, the alternative to wearing 1 contact would be to wear glasses with the correct L/R script you need, which wouldn't seem weird, right?  

The type of loss of vision you'll have read about being associated with MS is called 'optic neuritis', it is typically a completely different type of visual issue to what is common in early childhood. It's highly doubtful that the visual issue you've had since 3 would be related to a neurological condition like MS, pediatric MS is one of the least common types of MS...

It might of come as a bit of a shock to not know your dad has had MS all your life but there is absolutely no reason for you to be worried that you could have MS too!

Hope that helps ease your mind....JJ