M.S. is rife in Scotland

[percy toboggan]

...the highest incidence of Multiple Sclerosis is to be found in Scotland.

Could it have something to do with a lack of sunlight? Vitamin 'D'
Affects mostly women - 2:1 agin men. One woman in 320 in Scotland suffers...and apparently Orkney suffers most of all. Why does this not get more publicity?... I wonder.

Nearer the equator, in Africa...one person in 29,000 is affected. One in 30,000 in Japan.

My Mother had MS...although since she died in 1980 it's possible it was something else altogether. She got the disease late on in life - fifty. Apparently most are diagnosed in their twenties and thirties but can be symptom free virtually, and can have long remissions.
If you have this disease or care for someone who does I hope you don't mind my mentioning its Scottish incidence on here, because it was totally new to me and came as something of a surprise.

[binbob]

yes i saw the documentary too...

[arana negra]

We also watched that documentry and found its statistics shocking, disturbing and sad that so many people are suffering from its symptoms with little support from the medics. The Islands are not high on the list of importance for the power that be.

[domino]

The areas with the highest incidences are Orkney, the Mearns and parts of Northern Ireland. A lot of research has been done in these areas looking at similarities. for example they are all fairly flat, have lots of livestock, etc. etc. but the research could prove nothing. There was a thught that the answer lay,literally, in the ground

[teenybash]

I know for a long time MS was known as the Scottish disease.....I also saw the prog and it is quite frightening that even today they don't really know the cause.
Some say it could be a virus measles, flue etc that attacks the sheath around the nerve....others say environment or even genetics......until more funding is put into the research, I fear the answers will be slow.
One of the saddest cases is that of Margo McDonald MSP. To see her now struggling with her condition and remembering her better days when she was an outspoken, feisty blonde...............such a sad disease.

[Invader]

I thought I saw Margo M. yesterday on TV saying she was suffering from the most acute form of Parkinsons? Never mind.

My wife has MS, was diagnosed a few years ago at 28.
When she first got symptoms, she started going to the Hypebaric Oxygen tank run by ARMS in Aberdeen. (I believe there was one on Braehead in Wick, is it still there?)
Although unrecognised by the medical profession, HBO worked wonders for her and her eyesight started to return after the first session.

The thing that struck me when I peered into the tank one day whilst waiting for her to depressurise, was that besides herself (She has VERY red hair) every single person in that tank was ginger.

If you recorded that documentary, watch it again, and you will notice that almost everyone in it was either ginger, or had reddish tones in their hair. (It is easy to spot someone with red hair who has had it coloured.

My wifes mum is very ill with MS, (Red hair) 3 guys I work with have a wife or a mother or mother in law with it (Red hair, all of them), and everyone else I have come across with MS has had reddish hair of some description.

I'm not claiming to have made the breakthrough discovery that they were looking for in that programme, but surely it must be worth some research.

[scotsboy]

I seem to recall a school of thought that it was genetic in some way, and that there are also enhanced incidence rates in places like Canada, New Zealand where many northern Scots had settled.

On the subject of "gingers" suprisingly a lot of gingers in Syria (and also been told Algeria), they are Tartars - be interesting to see if similar MS rates prevailed amonsgst them.

[Invader]

It's almost certainly genetic, but to totally destroy my argument, a lot of Scottish heritage comes from Irish or Norse, both have a lot of red hair, but we still lead the world in exporting it like you said to Canada etc.

[pat]

In the late 70s the researchers reckoned the incidence of MS was high due to the high level of salted/dried/smoked fish in our diets as the incidence of MS was much higher in Orkneys and around Buckie aea and their staple diet in years gone by was fish of all sorts.
Then the researchers said it was the aluminium in the coking pots (they then said that about Dementia too)
I have always said it is genetic in some way, skipping a generation occasionally but there in the background all the time.
Several members of extended family have MS.

[hobbes1962]

In the late 70s the researchers reckoned the incidence of MS was high due to the high level of salted/dried/smoked fish in our diets as the incidence of MS was much higher in Orkneys and around Buckie aea and their staple diet in years gone by was fish of all sorts.
Then the researchers said it was the aluminium in the coking pots (they then said that about Dementia too)
I have always said it is genetic in some way, skipping a generation occasionally but there in the background all the time.
Several members of extended family have MS.

Well, I don't think it is genetic as only one member of my family has ever had MS. Most of my family live(d) in England and none of them have MS. Not much dried/salted/smoked fish in our diet either as don't particularly care for it. Family all have dark hair too so that knocks the red hair theory out. Last I heard was that it could be higher in Scotland as we don't have selenium in our soil.

But hey, who the hell knows. If they actually knew what caused it then they would be able to find a cure to this awful disease.

[binbob]

I know for a long time MS was known as the Scottish disease.....I also saw the prog and it is quite frightening that even today they don't really know the cause.
Some say it could be a virus measles, flue etc that attacks the sheath around the nerve....others say environment or even genetics......until more funding is put into the research, I fear the answers will be slow.
One of the saddest cases is that of Margo McDonald MSP. To see her now struggling with her condition and remembering her better days when she was an outspoken, feisty blonde...............such a sad disease.
margot macdonald has parkinsons disease ,not ms..

[teenybash]

margot macdonald has parkinsons disease ,not ms..

My mistake..........though having seen MS it is devastating............

[Invader]

"Family all have dark hair too so that knocks the red hair theory out"

Okay, that's one opinion against the 20 or so examples I have.....

I never said this was the answer, but for Christ's sake, you have the experience of 1 occurance, Please don't post again, until you get a liitle more educated in the subject you are venting about.

[Metalattakk]

I never said this was the answer, but for Christ's sake, you have the experience of 1 occurance, Please don't post again, until you get a liitle more educated in the subject you are venting about.

Who the hell are you to say what she can post about, and when?

I think you'll find she has just a little more experience of the subject than you can ever imagine.

Your hypothesis is fatally flawed, as hobbes1962 already proved (and which you have happily overlooked) - if MS was 'definitely genetic' the boffins would have figured this out and stated so. As it so happens, none of them have (except you, of course).

Pardon me if I believe someone other than you, of course. You are entitled to your views, no matter how absurdly wrong they are.

[Invader]

Metal,

There is a difference between a hypothsis and a theory.
Unless Hobbes is a sufferer, or a full time MS nurse, then I think it is unikely she has more experience of MS "than I can ever imagine", I which case I wholeheatedly apologise.

Get over your self.........

[Invader]

Percy,

Very interesting statistics.




<Invader has deleted the remainder of this post to avoid upsetting the inbreds of Caithness who can't deal with a bit of argument>

[horseman]

ditto again,I think the :inbred: strikes a chord.

[hobbes1962]

"Family all have dark hair too so that knocks the red hair theory out"

Okay, that's one opinion against the 20 or so examples I have.....

I never said this was the answer, but for Christ's sake, you have the experience of 1 occurance, Please don't post again, until you get a liitle more educated in the subject you are venting about.

Invader I find your comments (not just this one but the post further down too) pretty hurtful and makes me angry. You don't know me, you don't know my circumstances, you don't know how "educated in the subject" I am however I do speak from experience, a lot of experience at that, and I know maybe one or two peope with MS with red hair but I also know a hell of a lot more people with MS who have dark hair.

As I said previously, if they knew what actually caused MS then they would have cured it years ago so people wouldn't have to suffer not just from the disease itself, but also from the ignorant twats who think they know better than the sufferer.

[Invader]

Hobbes, thank you for replying.
My most sincere apologies if I upset you.

The only reason I went off on one there, was because someone who doesn't know my circumstances had a go at me. A bit like yourself.

I was merely making an observation, based on my experience of the curse that is MS.

My wife and I have come through some hard times due to this disease, and it is not helped every weekend when we go to visit her mum, who is so ill that she can't even speak, or lift her hand to change the channel on the TV.

Imagine what it is like to see your mum like that, and know that you have the condition that put her in that state........

Again sorry, but I can't stand the people who pontificate about MS sufferers without knowing what they're talking about.

[percy toboggan]

It's strange how a thread can deteriorate into a slanging match....for once I'm not responsible...which I find almost heartening.
It's also strange that sometimes the protagonists in these 'slanging matches' often bend a little and do end up seeing a little of the other sides argument. May this happen in this case.

I only posted this thread because I too, found the stats of interest. We have some bad genes lurking in our family from (alleged) MS to Muscular Dystrophy and a few other nasties. I was of course aware that some sufferers might read it, and their loved ones.
In this enlightened interweb age we 'll all have a little knowledge of diseases which affect us..but others might not have a clue (why should they?) so I posted this topic in the interests of public information.
Not usually one to light the blue touch paper and retire...I didn't mean to cause arguments, and hope these minor disagreements can soon be forgotten.I wish all involved every success in perservering against this disease.

[twiglet]

I saw the documentary too Percy. It was very interesting and raised the point that the government and health service need to investigate further. I thought that the journalist that presented the programme and is a sufferer did a good job but felt it could have been slightly more in depth. The difference between the care that the Canadian sufferers and the uk sufferers seemed very marked. Having seen MS at close hand it is not a pleasant disease and like all illness/disease there is always more that can be done for sufferers in the respect of treatment and research.

[percy toboggan]

Hello twiglet...I didn't see the prog. but merely heard a radio report on BBC 4.
It registered because of my Mother.
As one with interest in all (or most)things Scottish related I thought I'd mention it here.

Cheers.