Ironic Sunshine

One of the frustrating things about the MonSter is that no one really, truly knows what causes it. While researchers and doctors don't know with absolute certainty what causes the disease, they study the people who have it and then try to draw some conclusions and correlations. There is some evidence that there is a hereditary factor to M.S. Not a single soul in my family has the dreaded disease though (not that I'm wishing it on anyone).

It's also been suggested that a viral infection, sometimes early in life, may cause a person to be predisposed to getting it someday. I had some sort of viral infection as a young child that led to pleurisy. Maybe that played a role.

I find it extremely interesting that new research is suggesting that even hormones may be involved. Pregnant women have reported that during pregnancy their M.S. symptoms abate completely. After giving birth, though, most women report that the M.S. symptoms not only return, but come back even worse than pre-pregnancy. There is growing evidence suggesting that hormones, including sex hormones, can affect and be affected by the immune system. "For example, both estrogen and progesterone, two important female sex hormones, may suppress some immune activity. Testosterone, the primary male hormone, may also act as an immune response suppressor. During pregnancy, estrogen and progesterone levels are very high, which may help explain why pregnant women with MS usually have less disease activity. The higher levels of testosterone in men may partially account for the fact that women with MS outnumber men with MS by 2-3 to 1″ (visit WebMD for more info).

It makes sense to me, then, that researchers should be able to find a way to simulate what goes on in a woman's body during pregnancy. Then, utilizing those hormonal levels, create some sort of medication that is given to non-pregnant women and men with M.S. Maybe there could even be a vaccine someday to prevent it. People make synthetic hormones all the time. But who am I? I'm not a scientist or a researcher.

What is most intriguing to me; however, is that M.S. seems to attack people based on where they live. Apparently theories suggest that people who live far from the equator get the disease. People in Scandanavia, Canada, and Northeastern parts of the U.S. seem to see the disease's prevalence. I live in Northwestern Pennsylvania where we all know we only have two seasons: winter and road construction. This environmental connection appears to be directly correlated with sunlight exposure and a deficiency of Vitamin D from sunlight. Lots of fair-skinned people, redheads like me, have M.S. And 70% of M.S. patients are women.

When I learned of this sunlight connection, I vowed that every day the sun is shining I will take at least 15 minutes (even if I have to wrap into a winter coat) and sit on the back deck outside my office building. I'll give winter sunworship a try if it means I can turn my face up to the sun, get some Vitamin D from the direct source, and load it right into my brain. Unfortunately, the sun has yet to shine in the last 16 days! If I sit outside now, I'm likely to end up as a giant pile of snow, with pneumonia instead of a tan. Perhaps Vitamin D tablets might suffice (great, another pill to remember).