The Orkney islands has the highest prevalence of MS in the world! The BBC website has the announced today.
Not a nice award though but somewhere has got to have it, unfortunately.
I really do think there are more and more people around with MS, though or is it better stat recording?
Marty
Hi Marty,
It also said on the news report that scientists think its gene related - my father had ginger hair, wonder if its Viking blood what done it? Believe they landed in Orkney first.
bren
Hiya Bren
Aaahhh. So it’s those pesky Vikings that are behind all this MS business.
I know who to blame now. Wait until I tell my MS nurse…
Oh and I used to like that old cartoon Vicky the Viking as well. LOL!
Marty
Hi Marty
I’ve often thought we all must have Scottish genes! Then I remember that the Afro carabbean, African and Asians who settle here seem to develop MS too.
Wendy x
Hello Marty,
I agree that there seem to be far more people with MS nowadays. My MS nurse thinks that this is just down to better and more thorough testing, but I am not so sure. When I was talking about this to my nurse, she then went on to say that there is also the possibility that MS is in fact four or five different diseases, all clubbed together. Now this makes things far too complicated for my poor perforated brain, so I think that I will call it a truce, and go and put the kettle on!
Have a great Christmas.
Moira
Funny you should say that my mum has ginger hair. Think we have found the gene responsible?
I don’t have and red hair genes, and I have blonde hair. Only one of my great uncles had red hair. Surely that isn’t enough to cause this naughty gene?
Moira
i’m to blame for my plight. used to have blond hair but i’ve been dying it red for 4 years.
on a serious note hair dye contains some heavy metal so i really shouldnt dye it any more.
My mother is half Irish(we’ve never established which),red hair and LUPUS, though at 72 it has been in remission for eight years(not unknown).I’ve got red hair,have been to Iceland twice,and fitted right in whilst in Reykjavik.Ginga,pasty,-issed and MS.My brother hasn’t got it,and doesn’t want it.
Wb
My mum had MS and she was half Irish half Scottish, with her family either blond or red hair and my dad is Italian and dark and I’m blond!
Jools X
I’m Spartacus! Sounds like one of those issues! 
i’m spartacus
Hi Moira, yeh and then there`s the ones who have been mis-diagnosed…like me!
luv Pollx
Hi Carole, I have also been dying my hair for eons. Aint gonna stop now…refuse to grow old gracefully. I now put dark red on all over, then pull lots of strands thru a cap and apply dark brown…well my care does! The effect is pretty good…not bad for a golden girl!
luv Pollx
Both my mother and my sister have a condition called Palmer Fascia.
It starts as you get older… the tissue of the palm of your hand thickens and gets shorter, making the fingers curl in. Can be operated on if it gets too bad.
But interesting thing is apparently it only happens to people with Viking blood… so maybe Viking genes gave me the higher chance of getting MS?
Pat x
And very lovely the Orkney Islands are too. Maybe it’s being overwhelmed by the beauty of some parts of the world that triggers MS. We’re travelling more, so more of us get exposed to this… OK, maybe not.
Back to the Orkneys, stopped off there a couple of years ago on the last leg of a cruise to Iceland (wow!) and the Faroe Islands (wow! wow!) and was fortunate enough to hire Bob’s Taxis for an island tour. Not only was our tour in a comfortable cab with English (quite an important point up there lol) commentary, but Bob himself (at least, I think it was Bob) was a jolly nice chap and his wife works/worked in the Orkneys MS Therapy Centre in Kirkwall.
I reckon there are more of us with MS these days AND more of us get diagnosed cos we whinge about our health more & have greater expectations of good health & a long life AND the stats are better too. But the Orkneys are still lovely - if you have to have MS, have it somewhere nice
Lolli xx