Are some predisposed to a more aggressive/mild form or ms?

[Chloe101]

I was wondering if some of us are predisposed to a certain disease path with ms.
Because symptoms are so different in so many of us I often wonder if there is something that is making lesions form only in sensory or motor areas.
Is there something genetically that is making some of us have a better or worse outcome than others?

What are your thoughts?

[Mynamegoeshere1]

predisposed

My Aunt was born and raised in the same place that I was and only moved away about 15 years ago. She has had MS for 35+ years. My MS is way more aggressive than hers. I am also in a "Self Help" group that has many people in it that have many different kinds, stages and levels of MS. I am not sure if where we live has anything to do with predisposing us to a certain kind.

[Chloe101]

I wonder more if we are genetically predisposed.

[Redwings]

Is there something genetically that is making some of us have a better or worse outcome than others?

Probably. It's already believed that the development of an autoimmune disease requires a genetic predisposition. Considering how complicated genetic expression can be, it's likely that the genetic predisposition also includes some degree of control over how well or badly a person does with MS.

The other requirement for an autoimmune condition is an environmental trigger. It's known that MS is influenced by environmental factors. Medications can influence the outcome of MS, but genetic factors determine who responds to medications and who doesn't.

When all things are considered -- genetics, genomics, epigenetics and epigenomics -- genetics probably has some influence over outcome, environment has an influence, and the genetic factors on the whole have an interplay with the environmental factors to determine which genes get turned off and turned on, resulting in different expressions of MS.

[CGMoonbeam]

Some people will have one symptom that will go away for years and may never return. Some will have a symptom that will go away and then another will pop up maybe years later.

There is no way that doctors can predict the course that MS will take.

When I was about 12 I felt symptoms that I now know may have been vertigo that lasted for a few months. When I was about 17, I had double vision that went away. When I was about 21 I had a double ear infection. After that, I had trouble with balance. I thought that it was from the ear infections, but now know it was the MS. It became much worse over the years. In about 2001 my feet hurt so badly I could barely walk. That pain became numbness. In 2006, I was dx. I could walk at the time, but now, I need a walker and cannot walk very far even with the walker.

I have two maternal aunts who were dx in the 80s. Both are in wheelchairs. One seems to be able to do more than the other who has had seizures in the past and who has trouble seeing and hearing.

This disease has many symptoms that vary in degree for each of the sufferers. I have read that researchers believe that it may be similar to cancer in that you have the overall disease, but different types like leukemia, ovarian, skin, etc.

[Jules A]

With the extreme different presentations it almost seems as if it is more than one disease.

Whatever it is I absolutely do believe that genetics plays a large part in who gets it, how they do and which medications will be effective.

I will never understand the staunch resistance of people with MS to accept genetics as a component. If we don't acknowledge and address it how can we move forward?