There seems to be a consensus of opinion online that MS is not hereditary, in that you will not (necessarily) get it if a parent has it. They even go as far as to say that families do not present with more than one case of MS, though it is my opinion that this may not be too reliable. We need to have MS declared on death certificates, not as ‘cause of death’, but just as a current, prevailing condition.
However, there is also a great deal of research discussed online that investigate genetics. I find the genetics side so exciting, even before I was diagnosed with PMS… pending on getting another P at some stage, I suspect…
I have replied to another post, thus… “It must be some 30 years ago now when I had had a blood test, I think because I was unsure whether or not I was fully emptying my bladder. This was long before my ‘bad leg’ incident and any mention of MS. I was told by a newly qualified GP that everything was normal but that I did have a ‘predisposition for Rheumathoid Arthritis’. This was no surprise to me because my mother had had RA.
Anyway, now, having read far more, I realise that RA and MS are both autoimmune diseases.
That’s as far as I can go at the moment, but to add that my mother’s ‘old wives tale’ suggested that RA would skip a generation… Errr, it did…!!!”
MY PONDERINGS… It may be that a gene, which is amongst the many responsible for autoimmune diseases, was switched ‘off’ by my mother’s RA, so did not affect me, but maybe it switched ‘on’ one of the many genes that left me prone to MS…???
As far as I understand it, autoimmune disorders occur in people where a certain number of vectors meet at a given point. The place where they meet would / could trigger a specific autoimmune disease. The various factors which may influence the likelihood of getting a specific autoimmune condition might include: genetics (ie hereditary factors), age, gender, exposure to infections and viruses, other environmental causes, any number of other things.