Family Members with MS

[Aspyre]

I am wondering who all has a family member with MS - specifically a sibling.

[Jules A]

First cousin

[andi b]

3 relatives

a younger sister who was diagnosed in her 20s and two cousins (who are sisters), one diagnosed in her early 40s and one in her mid 50s. I was diagnosed at age 60. As my neuro said, "you've hit the jackpot with autoimmune diseases in your family."

[Aspyre]

Thanks for the replies. I was diagnosed at 24 in 1988, and my older sister (8 years older)was diagonsed in 1994 at the age of 40. My symptoms go back to Jr. high - 15-16 years old.
We have one older sister and three brothers - no autoimmune issues with them.
We both lived and grew up in the same home/farm/family (we never moved around), and we have different symptoms and "types" of MS.
Just curious and find it all so very odd.
Thanks again...

[Mamabug]

I had a paternal great-grandmother with MS, I am told. My mother had numerous cousins with Type I diabetes. Some of them were too poor to afford medication and needed to make the heart-breaking choice of allowing them to die.

But, in terms of siblings and other more closely related family, we have a lot of auto-immune diseases in my family. If a family member has an auto-immune disease, you are more likely to develop one. And, if you have one, you are also at higher risk to develop another.

In this study, http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/O...BeRelated.html, eight core auto-immune diseases are mentioned.

Between myself, my two siblings, and the total of 5 children that the 3 of us have, we have 6 auto-immune diseases. Me and my siblings are all in our early 50's now.

Me: MS, developed at age 39
Sister: Type I diabetes, developed when she was age 10.
Brother: Type I diabetes, developed when he was 11.
Niece (sister's daughter): Thyroid stuff, developed when she was a child. She is 19 now.
Nephew: Type I diabetes, developed when he was 12. He is 17 now.

My two children (ages 23 and 24) and my niece (age 14), as yet, do not have any auto-immune diseases.

~ Faith

[Tawanda]

Bad genes are coming from my maternal side. Besides me and my mother, I have 3 first cousins with MS, 2 cousins being siblings (brother and sister).

What's done is done, but I freak about the upcoming generations. I hope the family curse ends with us, but I think that would be naive.

[Marie12]

My daughter is twenty years old and starting with the symptoms

I really didn't know it is hereditary. I've dealt with all this pain/stuff you all know what I'm talking about. I really didn't know it is hereditary. She is twenty years old and is dealing with so much pain and lack of energy that she has dropped out of college.

I am now personally enduring more pain than ever. I could deal with all this me stuff, but I never guessed I would be dealing with trying to help her. But of course she already knew what I'm dealing with, and she won't let me help her.

Sorry to be so down, but this has overwhelmed me.

[marti]

One of my uncles passed away from the results of his MS last year. I was dx in 2001.

[mac1ntosh]

My sister and I are both diagnosed. Two brothers are not.

Although our courses are vastly different.

She's not on any meds, seemingly no symptoms, although she's got the dizzies... Me, I use a cane, take Betaseron since 2005, trying to get disability.

[Thinkimjob]

Not a one. Then again, in ye olden days, especially with women, strange have to stay in bed stuff was all put down to hysteria.

[zoysia]

brother, younger than me, SPMS, avonex
me, same age as me, RRMS, tecfidera
AND!!! no other relative dx'd with MS
BUT!!! so many of the auto-immune diseases are represented within our family it is impossible to list (at least 4 generations present with some sort of disorder)

I believe we both have had it our entire lives. It only took the major symptoms to show up before we bothered with doctors and full diagnoses. He and I show two completely different presentations of MS symptoms -- he? ON, me? tingly numb leg foot and hand -- he had more lesions at dx, i had only one -- we are both on slippery downward slopes, but with medicines it seems to be slower declines

[Diamond57]

Two 2nd cousins (sisters). One of them passed away last year at 70 yrs. of age. And one 3rd cousin.

[CatMom0001]

My maternal grandmother had MS. No MS in my mother, aunt, or uncle; nor my sister.