[Richard Long]

... you got your own particular Multiple Sclerosis?

What I am asking is if anyone who's had this disease for more than two or three years, has some idea in the back of their mind, about what it was that triggered the demyelination process.

I'd really appreciate hearing from anybody.

Richard

Vancouver, B.C.

[Kitty]

I believe mine stems from Mono. I believe it all started with Mono (18), then I had chicken pox (25). I wasn't dx until 2005 (45) but believe I've had it much longer than that.

That's just my theory. I've had ignorable sx since 2000. Finally in 2005 I had double vision and HAD to find out what was causing it. Couldn't ignore it any longer.

After that I had a whole plethera of sx all at once. Double vision, L'Hermitt's, spasticity, numbness.

I could be wrong but I truly believe the EB Virus is the key.

[Erin524]

Same as Kitty. I had mononucleosis in late 95/early 96. Also had shingles at the same time, but didnt realize it was shingles till just a few years ago when I recognized the symptoms of shingles when reading another person's post about having shingles.

It was probably mid 1997 when I had my first experience with vertigo. (actually, I had vertigo one year when I was about 9 or 10...everytime I rode in the car for about a month or two, I'd get dizzy and sick feeling)

I was working in a telemarketing place (taking inbound calls) when I got dizzy at work one day. Went home early, went to the doctor and was told it was an ear infection.

So, for about the next 9 years or so, I thought I had a lot of ear infections every year. (3 - 5 bouts of vertigo a year!)


I really do think mono was the cause of all this. I had mono about the same time my former boss at a fast food job had it. She was diagnosed with MS in 2000 or 2001...and I've heard from another person I worked with at that same job that was also diagnosed with MS. I'm pretty sure that same person also had mono around the same time I did.

I think either the mono causes MS in people who might be genetically predisposed to getting MS. Or, the mono and some other illness work together to trigger the MS (and there might be a genetic component in that combination too)

[SallyC]

Hi Richard.. How are you doing?

I believe as the others that my particular MS was caused by the same Herpes Virus that causes Mono, EB, Shingles, CP...etc...

To me that is probably the cause and the triggers can very. My big trigger is STRESS!! There are different triggers for different folks.

What do you think, Richard?

[Snoopy]

Hello, Richard.

Yes, I have a viable theroy as to why. The question is am I right, the answer - I don't know.

I was 4 years old when I started having urinary tract infection - retention. I was cathed numerous times and even put in the hospital to have it done. It never made a difference. I lived off meds for a good portion of my childhood. I was abused as a child starting at the age of 2 1/2.

I had other symptoms of MS as a child but, my mother termed me a hypochondriac and never bothered taking me to a doctor. I believed I was a hypochondriac until I had my first severe exacerbation and a neuro who knew something was wrong. I had my diagnosis of MS when I was 25 years old, three months after my first neuro appointment.

This could be anyone's story with or without MS but, add in the theroy of predisposition and a history dating back to childhood of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and for me there is a connection.

I tend to look at it as - it is what it is for whatever reason and I believe when research finds more answers each of us will find a different cause or trigger.

I have never had the EBV (mono)

[Dejibo]

never had mono, never had EB, never had lyme or the other titers. I have always rung up negative. the best I can come up with was in 1990 we were required to have the Hep B vaccine. The first two went well, and no issues. The last one I had a horrible fever, rash, and just felt punky for a year. It was like it just smashed my immune system. I struggled ever since that vaccine. Now, did I have it, and that vaccine just triggered it? well, I will never know. That is the only incident I can point to that makes me scratch my head.

[Aarcyn]

I wish there was an actual VIABLE theory. If that were the case, maybe research could effectively work on a cure.

[NaeNae]

I had chronic Epstein Barr virus for 3 years it was then that my problems began.

[dmplaura]

I had mono, horribly, at age 19. Probably was my 'trigger' so to speak.

I think I kept myself in 'remission' of sorts for several years by smoking a lot of marijuana. No, I'm not joking about that. I stopped smoking it, about a year later I had my first visible/detectable symptoms of MS.

My neuro suspects I had MS for at least 5 years at my time of diagnosis (age 31).

[Desinie]

I think my MS was triggered by the Hepatitis vaccine. I started having symptoms of MS within 3 months or so of having the last of the 3 part series of injections. As a nurse, it's required that you get these vaccinations. I have read though that they( I guess the FDA) has said they found nothing to substantiate that the Hep B vaccinations can cause MS. I don't believe it though.