@artisus 

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artisus

The Hereditary Factor

Hi all! So I've heard statistics about parent-child and sibling-sibling (especially twins) MS frequencies but does anyone have any personal experience with a more distant relation to MS? I recently found out my aunt has had MS since the '70s. We look identical, though obviously are not. She's gone all these years with only 3 flares (just optic neuritis & numbness) and no treatment at all. I'm hoping my MS goes something like that (though I'll probably take meds)! I wonder if there is any current research into how far the MS hereditary link reaches?
@chueykooh

There is research in this and they say auto-immune diseases can definitely be passed down and there is also about 50 or so common genes that are found in people with MS. My experience is that I have MS, my mother has lupus and other auto-immune diseases, my good friend in California has MS and his mother also has lupus. There is a definite corolation in genetics and auto-immune diseases but more research is ongoing about genetic factors in MS. They are also looking into looking at your genetic markers to try to determine which course of treatment will work best for you in hopes people don't have to waste time on taking a drug that has less of a chance for working for them than other treatments. It's still in early stages but advancements are rapidly evolving.

@mmmark

This is the part of this disease that scares me the most. I'm fine handling it, but the idea that I have increased the chance my kids will have it makes me crazy. I think about it often :/