After reading Tattybear’s description of the cancer she has recently been diagnosed with, it reminded me of when I read that people with MS do not seem to develop some cancers. In fact, when I was first diagnosed (25 years ago) the doctor giving me the ‘good news’ mentioned this, as if it was some sort of a ‘perk’ of the complaint !?!? Does anyone on the forum know if this is still thought to be the case and if so, which cancers could we ‘lucky few’ avoid?
I have absolutely no idea, in fact it’s the first I’ve heard of it. Maybe, just maybe it’s just one of those things as we are not exempt from other things just because we have ms.
I don’t think I’ve read the research myself, although it’s not the first time I’ve heard it mentioned.
Personally, though, I wouldn’t put much faith in it as an insurance policy. “Protective effect” unfortunately doesn’t mean “guaranteed not to get”.
Quite a few bowel cancers have a genetic component. My father had it, so I know there’s a chance I have an inherited susceptibility. I’d love to think MS meant that’s cancelled out, but I don’t think I can afford to be complacent.
As an aside, another oddity is that MS seems protective against gout, or vice versa, as hardly anyone gets both. Gout is associated with excess uric acid, so it’s theorised that uric acid might have a role in preventing or treating MS.
These are all really interesting links but I agree with Tina that “protective effect” isn’t the same as “guaranteed not to get”. When I was diagnosed (1995) this wasn’t mentioned to me but I always thought , both at the time, and at various points since, that would I really be unlucky enough to be diagnosed with two different conditions, just from a statistical point of view. Of course people do get diagnosed with more than one condition and the older you get , the more likely you are to become ill. But I think going by statistics you’ll get, please don’t quote me on these statistics, I’m using them to make a point only, maybe is it 1 in 800 people who have ms and then you would find that maybe (I’m guessing here btw) that a fewer amount of people have ms plus another complaint so I’m not so sure about a protective effect but you would have to be pretty unlucky to have two unconnected conditions. Cheryl:-)
So this ‘no cancer’ promise seems a cross between hogwash and a smoke screen. It was ironic that you (Tina) mentioned that we are unlikely to get Gout, as I had this as a side effect of one of the water tablets I took, so (sort of) due to MS! Never mind, it will soon be Christmas!