I am new to this .... My other history is in my profile bit..so I'll not repeat it all .. but.. Oh my...my brain is working overtime...I think I need to calm down to a riot. I am sitting in Limbo land, reflecting on the conversation with the MS consultant earlier in the week....and as usual thinking damn 'I forgot to say this ...or that' So I will tell you instead. I am thinking about autoimmune issues.. I have had viral meningitis three times, each time is was put down to a rhinovirus..ie a cold virus that has triggered off the meningitis. The consultants decided that it was my immune system that was attacking my brain. I didn't get normal cold symptoms...it just went straight from that 'just before a cold' feeling to severe agonising headache extreme temperature and all the meningitis symptoms..(except the rash). In the last twenty years I can honestly say I have had no more than a dozen fully recognisable colds!! ....I just get a headache which I have learned to recognise as an early symptom and then I just lie down for a full day..and wait for it to pass. I have recently, 2 yrs ago, been diagnosed with a clotting disorder...my platelets don't function properly...they are there...just not behaving themselves..there was a suggestion that this may be immune related but the experts don't really know. I often get nose bleeds, and bruise very very easily... (this doesn't bode well considering that I now keep fall down and battering into doors and furniture :-0 ) My daughter, who is now 27, had ITP (Idiopathic thrombocytopenic Purpura) when she was 18 mths old..this is an autoimmune issue where her body attacked and destroyed her platelets, causing severe risk of bleeding etc. we were told his was caused by a cold virus...Her immune system has always over reacted to viruses she gets extreme temperature responses to infections..giving her childhood febrile convulsions.. Then when she was 17 she has the first two HPV vaccines and then ended up having a bizarre immune response. She developed Reactive Arthritis, and needed to have lots of fluid removed from her joints...it was so severe she couldn't even move her hands to her face to take a drink. When she was in hospital this reaction also affected her heart - she was in tachycardia. and her CRP elevated to 240..indication a massive inflammatory response. Unfortunately that then led on to FSGS (Focal segmental Glomerulosclerosis) about nine months later...again immune system was attacking the body, this time it was her kidneys..she now only has 25% kidney function.. Is there a pattern here? or am I making more of an issue than I need to?