Selma Blair Shares Her Multiple Sclerosis Journey

The beautiful Selma Blair revealed publicly that she has multiple sclerosis in 2018 and in sensational style, she arrived at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in 2019 with a stunning dress and cane for balance.  She acknowledges that her speech is slurred and her balance is off.  But that doesn’t deter her from going out on the town and doing interviews.  She is active on social media. After suffering from what she thought was a pinched nerve, she said she felt relieved to finally know what was causing the pain. Finding a network of other people with MS is invaluable for emotional support.  Selma Blair has chosen to publicly talk about MS and has given others hope.  

More than 2.3 million people around the world are affected by MS, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The condition makes the body’s immune system attack the brain and the spinal cord. Multiple sclerosis favors women over men by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1, and it strikes most often between the ages of 20 and 40. Caucasians are especially vulnerable, particularly those of northern European extraction, and there is a geographic preference for people living in northern latitudes. 

A study of the genes involved showed that MS is not inherited as a result of a single gene, in the way that conditions such as cystic fibrosis or muscular dystrophy are. Susceptibility to MS results from the interaction of multiple genes. Currently, there isn’t a way to predict MS but to some extent MS is hereditary. There is an increased risk in families who have a member with MS.  It is possible that the risk can be reduced environmentally.

Even if you are genetically susceptible to MS, those genes are not enough to trigger MS on their own. There are environmental factors that play a part.  Research continues but the following are environmental factors

Smoking

Lack of Vitamin D from sunshine (hypovitaminosis D)

Exposure to the very common Epstein Barr virus which causes glandular fever