I have had m.s. for a long time. Some years ago my middle daughter was dxd with m.s. Now my youngest daughter is having tests for what looks very much like m.s. My son-in-law (married to eldest daughter) has m.s. (dxd 2 years ago.) His sister also has m.s. (dxd 5 years ago.) That’s alot of m.s. for one family!
Wowsers that is a lot of m.s … have you been drinking the same drink 
only joking it is a lot though isn’t it? I have a lil boy and I really worry sometimes about him getting it. He said the other day his leg hurt … straight away m.s bounced to the forefront of my mind 
he’s only four but it still worries me. My grandad had m.s too xxx.
Hello Anon,that is a huge statistical blip and how is everybody? Is there Celtic/Irish/Scottish ancestry? Has a Doctor or anybody else who regards themselves as clever asked if they can do a study of you all?
I suppose the only thing of any value is that there is no shortage of empathy and help,
Good luck to all of you,
Wb xx
Is it just an urban myth or does MS pass through the maternal line?. My Mother had it and my brother has it. I really hope it stops there!. My Mother was from the North (Yorkshire) and was a smoker so that didn’t help my odds even though I am a Southerner.Also I get the impression that MS is on the increase. Unscientific I know but our local MS therapy centre is addind new members all the time. My best to you all, Peter.
Well thats just being lazy you know - there are all other conditions out there you can get!!
We have no history of it in our family at all - on either side. And being Irish I know a lot of my extended family and there is nothing even in second cousins, great aunts etc.
As Wb said at least you don’t have the problem of your family not understanding what you are going through but I will still keep my fingers crossed for your youngest daughter that she doesn’t have it as well.
Take care and good luck for your family
JellyBellyKelly xx
Top of the Mornnig JellyBellyKelly,your tribe are lucky that there isn’t MS floating about.My mother is half Oirish and has Lupus which has been in total remission for eight years.Allegedly the Oirish gene pool is riddled with Auto-immune conditions.Is there a research centre in Cork?
Oh, I do know that nobody from the Emerald Isle ever says,“Top of the milk to you”
Wb x
Oh crikey! Your family has certainly had more than it`s fair share of serious illnesses.
This genetic things causes me a helluva lot of worry, as my HSP carries a 50% chance of being passed down to my children and their children.
Innit a pig!
pollx
thats alot isnt it.
me and my sister have ms but we dont know of anyone else in the family thats had it. does make me think of my children. i worry myself sick sometimes if they will get it or not.
there is a family very close to me. four siblings, all have ms!
[quote=woblyboy]
Hello Anon,that is a huge statistical blip and how is everybody? Is there Celtic/Irish/Scottish ancestry? Has a Doctor or anybody else who regards themselves as clever asked if they can do a study of you all?
I suppose the only thing of any value is that there is no shortage of empathy and help,
Good luck to all of you,
Wb xx
It’s surprising how UNinterested the medics aree in families where there is more than one case of m.s. What are they frightened of finding?
I don’t think the medics are “uninterested” at all. There’s been a huge amount of research into this, and dozens of “risky” genes have already been identified. So it’s well-known that genetics play a big part in your risk of developing it. But it’s also known they can’t be the whole story, otherwise identical twins would always both have it, or neither. In reality, the risk for the other twin, if one has it, is only about 1 in 3.
So there isn’t a particular “MS gene”, that can be passed on (in contrast with, say, muscular dystrophy).
But we know lots of genes that are implicated.
When I was diagnosed (interestingly, not before) they took a full case history, including any other instances of MS in the family. We did have another case, but only quite a distant relative (a great aunt). Nevertheless, they wanted to know the exact relationship - which side of the family, and what happened to her (lived to 87, and only confined to a wheelchair in her final months, that anyone knows of), and it all duly went down in the notes. Whether they did anything with it after that, or whether it stayed at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, I don’t know. But I was certainly interrogated about it.
I’ve also given a blood sample for a genetic study. A bit odd, if they’re “not interested”, or scared of what it might reveal.
Tina
I wonder who is/will fund any meaningful study into the genetic component of MS.I can’t see Fat Pharma funding anything which may reduce their annual sales of £8 billion globally.Gene Therapy if that’s what it is called can’t be cheap,so who will pay and what about the Tax Revenue lost from not pushing drugs.
Wb
Yes, ‘risky’ genes have been identified in individuals with m.s. But I challenge you Anitra to identify a research project presently on the go which is researching familial m.s. involving male and female affected members of the same family.
Well, all I can add is that I have MS and so does my mother. Maybe the risk of MS is passed down in mitochondrial (mothers side) DNA but for now I’ll be keeping a very close eye on my boys…
Why should I waste my time and energy having to sift through research papers to refute the allegations of an anonymous coward? You are the person posting anonymously (at least, I assume it’s the same “anonymous” twice), with nothing to substantiate your rather sweeping generalisations. You obviously lack the courage of your convictions, otherwise why wouldn’t you be willing to put a name to them?
Note, I do say “a” name - i.e. it needn’t be your real one, any more than mine is Anitra. But just something to know you by here, and reduce the confusion of whether “Anons” are several posters, or all the same.
What would be the value of the research you propose? We already know it’s not inherited. We don’t need further experiments to prove that. We also know blood relatives have more shared genes than random strangers. We don’t need new experiments to prove that, either. So if we know there are a few dozen “risky” genes, and that members of the same family have more shared genes than mutual strangers, we can see why the risk is higher for blood relatives.
There are already statistics (which I’m not going to start Googling for now - feel free to do so) which quantify the increased risk, according to proximity of the relationship - and yes, even down to male v. female. From memory (which I do not guarantee to be reliable - I have MS, after all) the risks for male relatives were slightly lower than for female, which reassured me at the time, as I have nephews but no nieces. But that’s not to say it ONLY traverses the female line. Our one existing known case in the family was on my father’s side. Nobody on my mother’s side is known or even rumoured to have had it. Not even a mystery illness or two that might have been undiagnosed MS. So I’m pretty sure my “marked card” came to me through my father - though he didn’t have MS himself, and neither did his parents. I think he passed me the potential, though.
Who knows what then happened to make the risk materialise, and not just lie dormant, as it must have done for most of the family. Then again, I don’t have a very large extended family, as both parents were only children. Had I lots of aunts, uncles and cousins, we might have seen more cases than just mine.
Tina
‘anonymous coward’ - strong words Anitra! I say the medics are ‘uninterested’ because no one as far as I can make out is researching familial m.s. where the male is involved. When the third member of my family was dx’d with m.s. I wrote to a Cambridge researcher who was researching families with m.s. His reply was that he was only interested in families where m.s. had possibly been passed mother to daughter. If I was asked to do a research project on the cause of m.s. I would focus on families where more than one member has m.s. – do they all have the same risky genes - what is the difference between those family members who have m.s. and those who don’t. I questioned why this line of research seems not to have been followed and the response from the MSS was that they don’t lead research projects but rather they consider applications from researchers and then decide whether or not to financially support them. And so I stick with my initial premiss which is that the medics, at the present time, are not interested in researching familial m.s. If indeed m.s. was caused by a ‘rogue’ gene the implications for the pharmaceutical industry and indeed the scientists involved in m.s. research are profound. And finally you say ‘We know it’s not inherited’ - any empirical evidence to back this statement up? My two daughters and I would be interested to see the evidence.
Well I know for sure mine wasn’t inherited. I’m one of five children and my mum was one of seven children. I have 13 first cousins and umpteen second cousins. There is no history of MS as far back as my great grandparents. Heart disease and diabetes do seem to be inherited but the heart disease is passed on through the male line so I am safe there. My father has a mild case of Parkinsons which is of course neurological but that’s the closest thing to MS we have in the family and, again, it’s an isolated case.
Tracey x
[quote=elmo]
Well I know for sure mine wasn’t inherited. I’m one of five children and my mum was one of seven children. I have 13 first cousins and umpteen second cousins. There is no history of MS as far back as my great grandparents. Heart disease and diabetes do seem to be inherited but the heart disease is passed on through the male line so I am safe there. My father has a mild case of Parkinsons which is of course neurological but that’s the closest thing to MS we have in the family and, again, it’s an isolated case.
Tracey x
Thanks Tracey – having done my family tree there doesn’t seem to be anyone who had m.s. But the fact remains that two of my children have it - is this coincidence or has some ‘rogue’ gene popped up. Could it be that both my wife and I are ‘carriers’ of some genes which in combination cause m.s. (cf Cystic Fibrosis) What concerns me is that there seems very little going on on the research field re the possibility of m.s. being inherited. (With apologies for the ‘Anon’ - I’m not English and my user name reflects this and so I may be easily identifiable by my family. The whole question of inherited m.s. being an extremely difficult issue at present.)
It must be a very worrying time for you. Do you have grandchildren too? If so you must all be watching them like hawks. Fingers crossed for your youngest daughter.
Tracey x
I am keeping out of the Anon argument.
There is a general theory that there are three components (factors) to the acquisition of several physical and mental illnesses:
Genetic, Environmental, and Situational. I have seen several instances of Cancer in my own family, sufficient to believe that this could be valid.
This could explain Anon’s statement:
“But the fact remains that two of my children have it”.
It is reasonable to expect that children would posess the Genetic factor, have been exposed to the same Environment, and probably the same Situational component.
The other question is that of why should a researcher study the incidence of MS within families? Researchers are like the rest of us - they expect to be paid for what they do.
The only way I know to get research done a) for free, or b) on the cheap is to get it done by a graduate student.
There are ways of getting this done (and I have suggested this in the past, on this forum) but this would need someone at the coalface to draft a proposal, that could be picked up by a suitable student, and put to their supervising academics.
The alternative is to draft a very,very, good proposal to put to the appropriate Research Council - and to have a figure of something like £1,000,000 in mind.
Geoff