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Here’s another abstract from the AAN.

Researchers found estradiol (form of estrogen) tended to be low in men with MS and correlated with disability. The researchers question whether men with MS might have a problem converting testosterone to estradiol.

They also found testosterone levels did not correlate with disability in men or women and that testosterone levels were increased in women (contrary to previous studies).

Serum Levels of Estradiol Correlate with Disability in Men with Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Clara Pelfrey, Robert S. Butler, Anne Cotleur, Cleveland, OH

RESULTS: Testosterone levels were significantly elevated in women with MS compared to female controls (p = 0.0005). 17 β -estradiol levels strongly trended towards lower levels in male MS patients compared to male controls (p = 0.06). Estradiol was significantly positively correlated with testosterone levels in all subjects except the MS males…..Testosterone levels did not correlate with disability in males or females.

CONCLUSIONS/RELEVANCE: Estradiol levels appear decreased in males with MS, which strongly correlates with greater disease disability as measured by the MSFC. Unlike previous studies, we observed that testosterone levels were significantly increased in MS females and did not correlate with disability.

Our findings suggest interference in hormone metabolism in males with MS, perhaps relating to conversion of testosterone to estradiol. These data suggest that sex hormones contribute to the clinical response in MS patients and that hormones may play different roles depending on the sex of the patient.

I’m glad there’s continued research into hormones and MS. As Dom said some time ago, we all do have the same hormones. Men taking estrogen? In the realm of wild speculation, it seems like it’s at least conceivable.

And yes, I’m still for everyone, men and women, having normal hormone levels. In the very limited research that’s been done on the topic it seems like it’s the high and the low hormone levels, such as this one which found a low level of estradiol in men correlated with disability, that may impact people with MS. More research is definitely needed IMHO.

Sharon

Sharon
Thank you for posting this. I, too, am becoming more and more convinced about the strong correlation between hormones and MS (and other disesases). Please keep posting anything you may find on this subject.

Lori

Lori

Thanks for your comment. I really appreciate it. It's been a fascinating journey to read about hormones and it's nice to know someone besides me has an interest in the topic.

Take care

Sharon

Shayk wrote:it's nice to know someone besides me has an interest in the topic.

Count me in that group too!

And me too!
I've always thought that hormones must play some part in why women, with their hormonal make up, account for the majority of ms sufferers.
muu

And here is another vote from the girl's!

Your hard work is much appreciated.

J.

I'm posting this link to a fairly lengthy article on PloS. It might be irrelevant to this discussion, (it's about hormone levels in women and it doesn't mention MS), but I've read it with MS in mind and it's intriguing me in a way which is, at the moment, a bit vague and unformed
The general thrust of the article: that environmental conditions during early life have a direct impact on later production of progesterone and oestradiol, and also the mention of a high infection load, struck me as being of possible importance. I wanted to ask the authors if the same conditions have an effect on the levels of testosterone in men, and what the incidence of MS is in Bangladesh.
I'd also like to find out if, so long as you consider harsher environmental conditions to be "normal" for the human animal, our baseline levels in the pampered, overfed West are distinctly "abnormal" and out of balance?
Anyway, this is the link:
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlse ... med.004016)
PS I find your information about hormones invaluable too, Sharon, and it was so refreshing to read a piece of research which actually tries to correlate its findings with real, concrete measures of disability instead of the usual vague, meaningless number-counting of lesions etc

A sincere thanks for your interest too—mjs, Muu, Jaded and Dom and my apologies for such a late “thank you” and response.

Dom—I haven’t been able to locate the Plos article you mentioned via that link. Is there another link I could try? I’m definitely interested in reading it (or, trying to anyway).

There really hasn’t been much news on the hormone front, although there are some summary presentations from the recent Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) Annual Meeting.

Both presentations (slide shows, pdf files) were by Patricia K. Coyle, who is one of the neurologists with an interest in gender and MS and hormones and MS. The first one is

An Introduction and Overview to Hormonal Perspectives in MS

It does have some interesting info on gender differences.

And, Hormonal Therapy of MS

Warning, most of this info is not new. I was excited to see info on progesterone presented by an MS expert--it might be a first. And, if you're interested in the immune system and Th1/Th2 response that was discussed recently, check out slide 13.

Take care all

Sharon

PS Dom—I couldn’t agree with you more about how refreshing it was to read about something real.

Hello Sharon,
I don't know what happened to that link because I always check them when I post, and it used to work, but I've emailed them and will let you know what they say.
The information in your links, though, is invaluable.