This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

On Tues. my wife and I took our daughter to see a specialist in Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. She has been experiencing some joint pain and her AnA test came back elevated. On top of this she also has shingles. All this and she is only 9 years old. Lupus was also a possibility. After checking her out physically, he said she didn't seem to have enough symptoms to diagnose either RA of Lupus. She did have an enlarged liver and lymph nodes which he thought were from the shingles. He ordered more blood tests to maybe see why the AnA was positive. As i've mentioned before, my wife has RA and I MS. After quizzing us, he kind of chuckled to himself. He said he was always amazed to see how many couples were made up of two individuals with autoimmune diseases, maybe not the same one but an autoimmune disease no less. I stated that since he was seeing alot of kids with AI diseases wouldn't he expect that to be the case? He said yes but his statement also applied to couples without children. Apparently he has done alot of research on AI diseases and mentioned a study he saw that seemed to backup his statement. He said researchers used mice, some with AI disease and some without and equal number of males and females. They turned them loose together in some controlled environment and watched as a high percentage of the AI mice, he didn't mention any exact numbers seemed to want to pair up with other mice with AI disease. On a whole this behavior seems disadvantageous to our species as a whole because recessive genes would seemingly have a better chance to pair up. This seemed interesting to me.

It may just be the fact that the AI mice couldn't catch the healthier, faster non AI mice.

gwa

Does being stubborn count as an autoimmune disease? That's what my mate has.

I hate it when doctors are so non-specific about what they are telling you. Is it because they just don't think you will be able to take it all in, or because they don't have the information themselves and are telling you something which is basically hearsay?

However, since many autoimmune diseases are showing themselves to be caused by an infection, it is not really surprising that many married couples have an autoimmune disease. In my case, I was genetically predisposed to develop MS and my husband fibromyalgia and atherosclerosis. They can both be caused by the same infection. I had MS when we married, with a reinfection of C Pn, my MS became aggressively progressive and my husband developed atherosclerosis and his fibromyalgia became so bad he might have been crippled within a few years had he not treated himself or died from coronary artery disease before that.

As a medical doctor himself, he was very good at ignoring what was wrong with him, but only when it became obvous that my MS could not be ignored, did he research what was now available and realise that the treatment being developed at Vanderbilt University just might work for him as well.

Carolew, we are both stubborn as well!

Sarah

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An Itinerary in Light and Shadow Completed Dr Charles Stratton / Dr David Wheldon abx regime for aggressive secondary progressive MS in June 2007, after four years. Still improving with no relapses since starting. Can't run but can paint all day.

Cute. At least you admit it.....have a good day. Carolew