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this might seem like a left-field question but...

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    this might seem like a left-field question but...

    it seems like so many lesbian women i know have MS.

    i got to thinking about it awhile back and brushed it off as nearly my "lens" since i am myself a lesbian-identified woman. the thought again occured to me tonight as i was reading a thread posted by Zach Wahls (19 y/o kid with 2 moms who addressed the iowa congress, if you haven't seen this kid's speech, watch it. SO amazing). he brought up the fact that his bio-mom has MS. maybe i am completely off-base here, or maybe i am just trying to make sense out of this senseless disease, but i know SO many lesbian women with this disease. coincidence? correlation? what do you all think?
    dx: RRMS 9/8/11 copaxone 12/5/11

    #2
    i saw the speech as well when it first aired. it is amazing.

    anyway, i doubt it. there are so many straight women with it as well. i doubt that it has a strong correlation.
    Learn from yesterday
    Live for today
    Hope for tomorrow

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      #3
      ....hmmm.

      I would have to go with the I don't see a correlation but...at the same time, I'm not sure we could ever get a true/accurate picture knowing that people are stuck "in the closet" or actively maintaining fierce denial.
      Dx 4/02
      Brain & spinal lesions
      Current DMD: Betaseron (again)

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        #4
        That's an interesting thought but I don't know if there is any connection. If there was it might be stress as a trigger. One of my close friends is a lesbian and I know she struggles to this day ( in her 50's ) with her conservative family's judgements. Or it could just be that there are many more gay/lesbian persons in the population than we think and a certain percentage of the population will develop MS. Who knows, just throwing out some thoughts.
        I don't fall, the floor attacks me. The corner of the bed is in on it too.

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          #5
          Originally posted by meeegun View Post
          i know SO many lesbian women with this disease. coincidence? correlation? what do you all think?
          Hi Meeegun,

          Coincidence is my own personal guess.

          All MS friends I personally know aren't lesbians.

          At the same time, my gay and lesbian friends don't have MS.

          It's a crazy disease for sure.

          Thanks for your thoughts and ideas.

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            #6
            I have no idea if there is a connection or not, but I only know two people with MS, besides myself. They are my nieces, one of which identifies as a lesbian.

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              #7
              I would be inclined to think it's your "lens", as you said.

              For example, I know about 15 or so PwMS, all but 2 live within a five mile radius from where I live. Looking at my friends and me, you'd think there's something in the well water out here. Too many people around here with MS!

              In fact, only one of us is from here, a couple are from other states, most dx'd before moving here. Until I thought harder, my first reaction was the same...something in the well water.

              Female PwMS outnumber males by two to one. Chances are better your MS friends will be female and if you happen to have more lesbian friends or you're looking at a piece referencing both, like the Zack Wahls video (loved that video, I saw it last year through my church's virtual newsletter), it will look as if more lesbians have it. It's a matter of so many women have it, not so much that so many lesbians specifically have it.

              If you think of it, any set of stats will somehow coincide... brown eyes, people exposed to EBV or varicella-zoster virus (chicken pox), people who own Fords.

              As a side note, none of my LGBT family or friends have MS.

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                #8
                Since dx last year, I have learned of many others with MS both straight and GLBTQ. The vast majority of us grew up in more northern states (OH, PA, WI). That's the only connections I've encountered.

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                  #9
                  Oh, I'm so excited! My first post here, and on a topic I've actually thought about for years! This seeming abundance of lesbians with MS really IS all in our heads. It's because we all have many, many more women as friends than we do men, and because more women than men generally get MS than men anyway. We are selecting our friends from a group (women) known to get MS more often than the general population.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by MrsBones View Post

                    Female PwMS outnumber males by two to one. Chances are better your MS friends will be female and if you happen to have more lesbian friends or you're looking at a piece referencing both, like the Zack Wahls video (loved that video, I saw it last year through my church's virtual newsletter), it will look as if more lesbians have it. It's a matter of so many women have it, not so much that so many lesbians specifically have it.

                    If you think of it, any set of stats will somehow coincide... brown eyes, people exposed to EBV or varicella-zoster virus (chicken pox), people who own Fords.
                    Thank you for posting this, MrsBones. I was going to post the same thing, and was glad to see that someone else "thought of it, and posted it"
                    Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

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                      #11
                      What I noticed even more

                      Yes I noticed a lot of my lesbian friends having MS but what I noticed even more are the number of people who are getting their first dx between the ages of 45 - 65. For a young folk disease, there sure are a lot of us oldsters being diagnosed with it. Sure a few of us could have had it and just not dxed until now but did all of us fall through the cracks? Or is it rearing its ugly head in older people now too?

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                        #12
                        Didn't notice this thread until just now. How strange that this question never occurred to me even though I personally know of only two people besides myself who have MS, and both of them are lesbians. But yeah, I agree it's probably a coinkydink.

                        I also agree that the seems to be a lot of us Dxed later in life, including myself, and think that's a real thing.
                        PPMS
                        Dx 07/13

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