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Just learned that one of my former high school classmates was diagnosed with MS. Am now wondering if there could be any connections to exposure to poisonous plants or dangerous chemicals used in imported floral design. This is because:

1) His mother owned a floral shop. In fact, I paid her to do my wedding flowers years ago.

2) I would think that more females (on the average) than males, are exposed.

3) Is this what happens/happened in MS clusters? Such as the Faroes?

NHE?

--Minai

let me throw a wrench in the sprokets here... I can handle poison plants with NO side efffects from them, I assumed it had something to do with MS?

Minai wrote:Just learned that one of my former high school classmates was diagnosed with MS. Am now wondering if there could be any connections to exposure to poisonous plants or dangerous chemicals used in imported floral design. This is because:

1) His mother owned a floral shop. In fact, I paid her to do my wedding flowers years ago.

2) I would think that more females (on the average) than males, are exposed.

3) Is this what happens/happened in MS clusters? Such as the Faroes?

NHE?

--Minai

Hi Minai,
It's good to see you back on the forums. I'm not sure what to say about your poisonous plants theory. However, I've often thought that my exposure to organic solvents on a near daily basis in my prior career may have played a role. For the first year or two I didn't wear gloves. I know that they certainly affect brain function. When I was in college, I found that it was near impossible to do my calculus homework after working with the stuff so I finally started wearing a respirator. The solvents dissolve oils and fats which is what all of our cell membranes, including myelin, is composed of.


NHE

Bubba wrote:let me throw a wrench in the sprokets here... I can handle poison plants with NO side efffects from them, I assumed it had something to do with MS?

Bubba: Thanks for your input! Am probably focusing more on biology (my major) than I am on biochemistry...

--Minai

NHE wrote: Hi Minai,
It's good to see you back on the forums. I'm not sure what to say about your poisonous plants theory. However, I've often thought that my exposure to organic solvents on a near daily basis in my prior career may have played a role. For the first year or two I didn't wear gloves. I know that they certainly affect brain function. When I was in college, I found that it was near impossible to do my calculus homework after working with the stuff so I finally started wearing a respirator. The solvents dissolve oils and fats which is what all of our cell membranes, including myelin, is composed of.


NHE

Hey NHE:

I knew I could count on you for a professional response! Thank you!

Which organic solvents? Will ask a friend who has a PhD in BioChem about them.

A year or two before before diagnosis. I had a gift of a dozen roses sitting on my kitchen table. The girls and I's cat kept getting up there and nibbling on them. In the morning I found her, body still warm, dead on the floor.

One of my daughters had a doctors appt. Her doctor said it was probably chemicals from the flowers.

Maybe we with MS, have inadvertently been exposed to such solvents?

--Minai