This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Just curious about the stats on me getting MS... I was reading about it now I'm becoming worried and paranoid.

Me:
- 19 years old
- Male
- White
- Living in Canada (Province of Ontario)
- No family history of MS to my knowledge
- No signs or symptoms as of yet
- Developed majority of major infections as a small child (i.e. chickenpox)

So? Can anyone provide me with some reassurance?

Nothing above has anything to do with getting MS. Its a random shot in the dark. There is no stats, that im aware of that determine whether someone could or could not get it. Its simply random. There are some studies that show close to the equator has a different size of people getting MS or not.

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Life is hard, buy a helmet.....

Um that's not factual what you said according to the book I just read written by a Professor and chief of Neurology down at UofT.

White people have a statistically higher chance of getting it then the majority of other races. Usually you get it between 18-40, genes have been found that its linked to, and there are theories present on viral invasions causing genetic mutations.

So everything is I just said does have some validity to it.

Sorry, your correct. whites do have a higher rate. I forgot about that. I was more thing along the lines of "did I do something to cause this" or "is it something that runs in my family". I guess, and I am just learning stuff myself, that there is nothing you can do to change it or predict it.

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Life is hard, buy a helmet.....

SB, what are your symptoms?

Silverberg,
What is your blood group (A1, A2, B, A1B, A2B, 0)? I invite you to discussion on possibility of preventing MS: http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-5728.html
Jerzy

I'd say slim to none at this stage.

If you develop symptoms of neurological nature, and have been checked out and a doctor can find no other explainable cause for the symptoms, and these symptoms last for a decent period of time (sudden onset not to be dismissed), then it may be time to explore neurologists.

Yes as Canadians we do have a greater chance than those in some regions, but I know many, many more without MS than I do with MS.

Chances of having the chicken pox as a child are quite great. It's a virus that is contagious. Versus MS which is a non contagious disease.

Children do not have the immune systems of young adults. They're overall more subsceptable to bacterial and viral infections.

Enjoy life!

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Dx RRMS March 5, 2008.

why are you asking this ?

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Had ms for over 19 years now.

It's called hypochondria, Robbie.
There's help for it, Silverberg
It's not normal to be worrying about a rare disease at 19 and going on message boards to discuss it. If you are spending too much time worrying about this, alot of people have found antidepressants to be helpful. Talk to your GP.

People with hypochondria are overwhelmingly convinced that even innocuous physical symptoms are an indication that they have a serious disease or illness. They aren't reassured by doctors or medical tests showing that they're in good health. Instead, they may turn to doctor after doctor and demand test after test in search of a diagnosis.

Although people with hypochondria have often been the butt of jokes and ridicule, this severe form of health anxiety is nothing to laugh about. Hypochondria, also called hypochondriasis, is a serious mental disorder that can sometimes consume the lives of those it affects, even becoming disabling.

respectfully,
AC

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Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
dual stents placed 5/09
CCSVI in MS

Good question... Why are you asking this? Unless you have had some sort of episode, or something else? Why would you even frequent this site?

Are you healthy now? If so, I wouldn't even think about it.

Brock

Ahh but that is flawed information. They say white people are more likely to get it from looking at the numbers but what they don't take into account is that most white people live in societies where they have (fairly) easy access to health care. Most of the world's population is non-white and living in abject poverty with little to no access to health care in any form. These people are far less likely to ever receive a diagnosis of MS if they start suffering an MS related ailment. It can be cast of as just something wrong with them(or maybe evil voodoo lol).

Then if you say "Well the percentage of whites in the US who get MS is much higher than the percentage of black in the US. Well most African Americans are from the same region of Africa so there is less genetic variety to choose from as well as the aforementioned fact that many poor people don't have access to health care.

I always like to pick at the "The further from equator argument." Most of the countries around the equator aren't "1st world countries" so they're not going to have a high incidence of REPORTING or discovering MS. Then take into account Native Americans living in the arctic. They've been there or thousands of years and I've never read anything about them having higher incidence of MS.

All in all every theory can be picked apart and so far as I'm concerned there is no definitive proof of what causes MS that can be shown in even a few cases of MS. Every case is different. Who knows, maybe 10 years from now MS will be an obsolete term and the people priorly thought to have MS will have 20 different things which can be treated as such.

Very good point!

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Life is hard, buy a helmet.....

In a nutshell - chill out. If there is no family history and you've never had any symptoms then it is unlikely. If symptoms do happen, see your Dr.

A diagnosis of meningitophobia might be more likely.