Multiple Sclerosis?!


Question: If my mom has it what are the chances I will inherit it?


Answers: If my mom has it what are the chances I will inherit it?

There are conflicting opinions on this subject. If you go to the NINDS site (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke from the National Institutes of Health) it says "In the population at large, the chance of developing MS is less than a tenth of one percent. However, if one person in a family has MS, that person's first-degree relatives-parents, children, and siblings-have a one to three percent chance of getting the disease." Please go to the link below and read the section on Genetics.

Then this from the NMSS (National MS Society) "Epidemiologic surveys have determined that an individual's risk of developing MS increases several-fold if a close family member has MS. While the average person in the United States has about 1 chance in 750 of developing MS, the risk for a person who has a parent with MS increases to about 1 in 40. MS. Thus, the risk increases significantly for a person whose parent has MS, but still remains relatively low. These risk estimates, however, are oversimplifications that can easily be misinterpreted. We now know, for example, that risk estimates can vary greatly depending upon the structure of a person's family. In families in which MS occurs in many relatives, the risks for any given individual are significantly higher than they are for an individual who has no family members with MS. Risk for MS is also affected in part by a person's ethnic background and other factors that haven't yet been clearly identified." For the full text on Genetics from the NMSS please check out the link below.

Here from Neuroscience for Kids "Susceptibility to MS probably has a genetic component. If a person has MS, there is an increased risk that a close relative, such as a child or sibling will have MS. The identical twin of a person with MS has about a 33% chance of developing MS. However, because this chance is not 100%, MS is not strictly an inherited disorder." That link is also below.

There is research that shows Vitamin D may help protect you from MS. I have read that family members of a person with MS should take Vitamin D every day and that may help prevent MS. I tried to find that link but couldn't. However, there is a lot of information out there on this subject. Here from the NMSS "Vitamin D has effects on the immune system that could be beneficial for people with MS. In studies of immune cells, vitamin D shows anti-inflammatory- effects. In an animal model of MS, vitamin D supplementation reduced disease severity and vitamin D deficiency worsened it. Additionally, a large, ten-year study found that women who took vitamin D supplements were 40% less likely to develop MS. However, since this was not a placebo-controlled study, the decrease in MS risk may have involved many other factors." The link for that is also below.

So you can see there are some great variations in the opinions on whether MS is "inherited". The best advice I can give you is to be as well informed as possible. That's the same advice I give to everyone diagnosed with MS. If you or your mother would like to join my Yahoo Group MSersLife to discuss things please know that you are welcome. The link for the group is also below.

I hope you don't develop MS but even if you do it isn't the worst thing in the world. People do live long, happy lives with MS. I was diagnosed over 10 years ago. Good luck!

Sharon

The jury is still out on this topic from what I read. My father had it for 30 years and his brother for 20. But, they both worked with chemicals that are said to cause the disease. So it is hard to tell.

Its debatable whether MS has a genetic component or not. Studies in some groups of people show a tendency for MS to run in families and studies in other groups show no family relationship. So, given these two different types of results, scientists believe that there are maybe several different genetic traits that must be present in one individual to make someone susceptible to MS, but the specific traits are not known. When several genetic traits are required to cause an outcome, the patterns of inheritance are somewhat unpredictable. To make things even more complicated, it appears that there could also be some environmental factors required to trigger expression of the genes associated with MS.

So, your chances of getting MS are greater than average, but the difference in odds is so small that the probability is almost random.

I was recently diagnosed & have done a lot of research on it to educate myself on what to expect. The many articles I have read says the children of a parent w/MS is more suseptible to getting it due to a gene that is passed on. It does not mean that you will definatly get it. I think I would just be more cautious. This was one of the first questions I asked my doctor. His reponse was that the chances were pretty low of me passing it on to my kids. Take some vitamin D, it's one of the key elements that they believe may be a factor to developing MS (lack of vitamin D) Hope this helps.

very likely





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