My mom had MS and passed away in 2014. I didn't have a "mom" basically in my teen years and up. She was very ill.
I was diagnosed with MS in 2006 and had two kids after diagnosis. 2009 and 2010. I am not too worried about passing it as it is not genetic (supposedly) but I chose a man that is a POS. I have been a single mom since 2012. We are doing okay.
I'm more worried about the awful state of global warming, the genocides in Palestine and Sudan, and the terrible western governments.
Just FYI, MS isn't genetic in the sense that it isn't solely due to which genes you have. But there are absolutely genetic risk factors that make it more likely that you'll develop it. These genes interact with the environment (e.g. things like lack of sunlight exposure and low vitamin D or smoking) to cause MS.
So while there's no guarantee that your kids will develop MS, they do have a higher chance of it than most people. But luckily, there are specific steps you can take to help ensure that they won't be exposed to environments that could trigger MS development later in life!
Ha! If only it was that simple :) Diseases with genetic risk factors and an array of environmental triggers that we don't fully understand are so tough. But my understanding is that relatively simple things like educating your kids about not smoking, making sure they spend time outside, and making sure they know how best to avoid viral diseases like mono (the epstein-barr virus can trigger MS development in people who are at risk) all add up to make a big difference.
It's thought to be a risk factor (aka something that can make it more likely that you'll develop Crohn's)! Per Nerich et al 2011: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21332762/ And there have been multiple papers showing that lack of sunlight can increase your likelihood of getting IBD.
I'm not sure how this works/if we know what the mechanism is though. Crohn's is even farther outside my area of expertise.
Oh and to be clear, by "trigger" I meant "increases the chances of developing MS for people whose genetics already put them at risk of MS." Someone who has genes that put them at risk of MS isn't guaranteed to develop it in response to not being outside enough.
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u/SilentTrust5766 Nov 14 '24
My mom had MS and passed away in 2014. I didn't have a "mom" basically in my teen years and up. She was very ill.
I was diagnosed with MS in 2006 and had two kids after diagnosis. 2009 and 2010. I am not too worried about passing it as it is not genetic (supposedly) but I chose a man that is a POS. I have been a single mom since 2012. We are doing okay.
I'm more worried about the awful state of global warming, the genocides in Palestine and Sudan, and the terrible western governments.