12-year old diagnosed with MS

[Marco]

Ugggh! Normal dx is between 20-50, but not 12! The little girls name is Lynsey and her mom is Amy from New York. I know much older people that struggle ... how is a 12-year old supposed to deal with this?

[Thinkimjob]

Poor little girl. Probably even worse for her parents, who will soon know exactly what this means for her future.

Plus side, maybe getting on the dmd/ts early will help. I hope so, though I wouldn't wish any of them on a child.

I'm sure my first symptoms were when I was aged about nine, after I had glandular fever.
My hands felt like skeleton hands. I can remember lying there in bed, literally wringing them, wondering why they felt so weird.

Went away. Came back, aged 27.

[KatieAgain]

My previous MS Specialist had a 3 year old patient. The mother of an 11 year old diagnosed with CIS and is on Avonex is a member of MSWorld.

Only my observation...Children are resilient and very pliable. They deal with illness and disease so much better than adults. As a parent...I would be a basket case.

A lot can be learned from a child....

[SNOOPY]

Unfortunately, there is no longer an "average" age for MS

There are Pediatric MS Centers and children as young as 18 months old who are receiving a diagnosis of MS

There are those of us who had symptoms of MS as children, myself included.

how is a 12-year old supposed to deal with this?

I truly hate to see anyone, especially children, diagnosed with MS. One thing I do know for sure is children are very resilient.

[hunterd]

my heart is bleeding. It is just not fair that a 12-year-old is to deal with this. I hope that starting medication this early will be of a huge benefit to her and that she did not progresses past a mild point.

[bree2013]

Children should not have to deal with any serious illnesses/ diseases. I hope a dmd helps stave off progression and she can enjoy her childhood.

I pray she and her parents get the strength they need to deal with this.

[kelm10]

local

We have a 9 y/o in our area, or she is probably older now. Her team is one of the biggest at the MS Walk every year.

[MSW1963]

I hope it's a RRMS dx and not more aggressive/progressive at her age. My neuro sx's started at puberty, plus I was an early 'bloomer', lots of exacerbations, w/dx many decades later. Hoping she has a full life and able to live it as normal as possible.

Hoping it's a mild course for this young girl with full recovery and the benefit of DMDs.

[pennstater]

My boss has a cousin whose son was diagnosed at 2. He is now 10.' He has an aggressive form and missed all of his 3rd grade. He could not attend as he was on experimental treatment and his immune system was wiped out.

When I hear of young children, I sometimes think risk factors, and othet theories on MS are so off the mark. This little boy never had Epstein Barr virus, normal vitamin D, not stressed, wasn't overweight, eating fatty foods, sugar, or drinking soft drinks or diet foods, not on the pill, etc...

Sorry, guess I am a little pessimistic today. My heart goes out to anyone diagnosed, but especially to these kids.

[als5445]

I've had MS since I was 15. During my process of being diagnosed there was a 13 year old that had also been recently diagnosed. She was pretty upbeat about it (can't say the same for me).

Minus the last relapse I had before starting Tysabri, I was always able to bounce back from relapses pretty easily after getting steroids. I attribute that to partially to my age at the time. Yeah it sucks, but who knows how her MS journey will unfold.

[Zuzus11z]

That's terrible.

Yeah - children are resilient...physically. But what about emotionally and mentally?

I'm not sure that the holes shot into existing MS origin theories completely down those theories. Especially with respect to viruses....whose strategy is survival and replication at all costs.

[SNOOPY]

/
Yeah - children are resilient...physically. But what about emotionally and mentally?

Yes, children are resilient, even emotionally/mentally

Unfortunately, there are many children who deal with adversities in their young lives. Many of those children show more strength (physically, emotionally, mentally) than some adults.

I happen to have watched this video this morning and thought of this thread.
http://www.today.com/video/today/54583819/#54583819

[MrsBones]

My girlfriend was dx'd at 6, approximately 40 years ago. Initially, they suspected MD, until she started to get better.

It's not a new phenomenon. We're just getting better at diagnosing earlier, so we'll see younger patients being dx'd, which, really, is a good thing. The earlier you know, the earlier treatment can be decided. I wish they'd been willing to dx me when I lost use of my arm at 13.

She has actually done very well. She used a wheelchair off and on throughout childhood (I remember her mom yelling at us for playing sheet forts on the bunkbeds because she was pulling herself out of her chair and up the ladder with her arms alone), but now, in her forties, she's walking without aid. It didn't stop her. It was what it was, just part of growing up for her. When you're dx'd that young, it's almost normal to you...you don't know or remember anything different.

BTW, when treatments came along, she opted not to take them. She has used steroids occasionally, but not often.

[Shebjo]

My previous MS Specialist had a 3 year old patient. The mother of an 11 year old diagnosed with CIS and is on Avonex is a member of MSWorld.

Only my observation...Children are resilient and very pliable. They deal with illness and disease so much better than adults. As a parent...I would be a basket case.

A lot can be learned from a child....

Hi as Katie posted, I am the mother of twin girls, age 11 and for which one daughter is diagnosed with CIS .... At high risk of getting MS. Please tell your friend to hang in there and to keep positive and to keep her daughter positive. Kids are resilient. My daughter is taking avonex and doing well- I hope this drug helps her - and she has gad no major issues - either physically or mentally. In fact tomorrow- she is getting an award at school for being on the honor roll. I am in NY too ... In NYC. I too was surprised at her diagnosis - I thought it affected 20- 40 year old white females and my daughter is 11 years old and black ... So go figure. Anyway - this site is great and I do find comfort in it.
In a couple of days, I will post more details regarding how my daughter is doing, etc- tired now.

[Shebjo]

Hi as Katie posted, I am the mother of twin girls, age 11 and for which one daughter is diagnosed with CIS .... At high risk of getting MS. Please tell your friend to hang in there and to keep positive and to keep her daughter positive. Kids are resilient. My daughter is taking avonex and doing well- I hope this drug helps her - and she has gad no major issues - either physically or mentally. In fact tomorrow- she is getting an award at school for being on the honor roll. I am in NY too ... In NYC. I too was surprised at her diagnosis - I thought it affected 20- 40 year old white females and my daughter is 11 years old and black ... So go figure. Anyway - this site is great and I do find comfort in it.
In a couple of days, I will post more details regarding how my daughter is doing, etc- tired now.

Just wanted to give a little more info on my 11 year old who was diagnosed with CIS at high risk of developing MS. She is doing well - she hates those avonex injections but she is a real trooper and handling well. So far no major side effects - headaches here and there and some muscle aches but Advil seems to help. Without a doubt this is scary or me - I worry about her future.... But you have to try to live for now. She has great doctors, doing excellent in school and have no restrictions . This site has been both informative and supporting. Tell the mom of the 12 year old - to read up on MS especially info from this site - so she is aware of things, get good doctors, be an advocate for her child - with the doctors and at school and hopefully because they are so young perhaps they will find a cure in their lifetime.