A friend of mine just had a Grandson with Cystic Fibrosis, which is an inherited disease. Both parents have be carriers and pass on a certain gene, but even then I think there is only a 25% chance that their children might get CF. They have one healthy child already.

There is absolutely no history what-so-ever of Cystic Fibrosis cropping up on either side of their large families (even though both parents must have inherited the gene and been carriers).

Maybe MS is like that, and doesn't even necessarily need a trigger.

I think it's strange that Muscular Dystrophy and Multiple Sclerosis were both "discovered" in the early-mid 1800's. There is some speculation that MS symptoms might have presented a few times earlier in history . . . but they have been documenting illnesses/diseases/autopsy results since the beginning of time, and there is no evidence that MS was ever observed at autopsy until two independant doctors "discovered" it at virtually the same time in the 1800's.

Well, I suppose it might take me off the hook if they determine it's mostly genetic, but of course I worry for my kids.

Cherie

No one in Jim's family has ms. BUT, let's remember that way back they would pass symptoms off as arthritis or something like that. Who really knows? Look how hard it is to diagnose today.

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/abo...ics/index.aspx

It says there is a 1 in 750 chance of someone getting MS in the US.

It says there is a 1 in 40 chance of your child getting MS if a parent has MS.

When I was dx. in '92 the NMSS was saying there was a 1 in 1,000 chance of someone in the US of getting MS. They too said there was a 1 in 100 chance of passing MS to your kids. MS is on the increase and they don't understand why. The NMSS now says too it doesn't matter which parent has MS.

EDITED: to say I don't know if this has been brought up...I was going to double check and I accidentally hit the wrong key...

I have always felt that there was a genetic factor in not only MS but many other diseases as well. I know I have posted about this before but . . .I am a huge science buff and read and watch a lot of science type programs. I have seen a couple of shows on epigenetics. They were really interesting and, imo, explain why one twin gets MS and the other does not even though genetically, or so it was thought, they are the same.

As for me, I am the only one out of 10 siblings to have MS as well as my extended family including 3 generations.

As for the study, I plan on participating. I am sure it won't be hard to twist my parents arm about this as well as one of my sisters (they need a control in the study). It also would be interesting to include my DDs in that as well to see if they have some of the genetic markers.

thank you for that information.

do you have a link for that?

It was recent info from the NMSS but where I read it I don't remember; sorry. I do like to have a link that provides the information and in this case I do not for that statement.

EDITED to say I read on the NMSS site and couldn't find the answer. I e-mailed them with this question. Too, today I'm going to call our local chapter to see if they know the answer.

Take care.

Called our local NMSS chapter and was told that it doesn't matter which parent has MS in terms of your child possibly getting it. However, there are more women dx than men with MS.

I have it coming from both sides. My mom had MS and so did my grandmother (Dad's mom). So I've always figured there was a genetic element to it.

On the plus side, no one else in my family has gotten this. My dad and uncle, my brother, and my cousins have avoided it. I guess I won the lotto with getting it.