My daughter has multiple sclerosis, also an autoimmune disorder. Her doctors think the autoimmune response was triggered by a Hepatitis-B vaccination she received about 18 months before the first MS symptoms appeared.
Fortunately, she doesn't have the severe form of MS and is symptom-free with weekly injections of the interferon drug Avonex.
The Johns Hopkins site says that for Churg/Strauss Syndrome, "Genetics may play a small role in the disease, but CSS is almost never seen in two members of the same family," but that's just one form of Vasculitis, which the site describes as a series of conditions, each of which has its own profile. For example, Churg/Strauss Syndrome strikes men and women equally, while Takayasu’s Arteritis strikes young women. So without knowing which type she has, and what her mom's disease is, there's no way to know whether genetics played any part.Originally posted by dizzydi
Thanks for the post Hockeyfan228. I wonder if perhaps this condition is hereditary. Doesn't Irina's mother have kidney failure. I wonder if the two conditions are related?
Dizzy
Thanks to HockeyFan, Piel, Dllks8fan for providing good info about vascualitis and autoimune disorders. I don't have anything to add except that I think when a doctor or someone says a problem is brought on by stress, a lot of people thngk it's somebody who just worries too much about things. This can happen, of course, but more often it's the body's response to situations or illness over which they have no control. Also, stress can be positive but demanding situations. For example, Irina came off the '02 season with a silver at the Olympics and her first World gold medal. This required her to do a lot of PR in Russian and she was quite frank about how exhausted she was in trying to get ready for her GP events and eventually dropped out. Then she was hit with the serious illness of her mother. She tried to get into training again but her body just could not respond. Having had asthma all her life it doesn't surprise me that as she gets older, more problems start to affect her.
I've love Irina from the first tme I saw her at Euros in '96. She had her own style and to me there was something so captivating and utterly honest about her style and personality. Like Piel, I don't feel comfortable speculating on someone's heatlth condition when I get the info only from the media. But I do think it's clear that her problem is serious. My heart breaks for all the problems Irina has gone through since fall '02. To me, whether you like her skating or not, she's such a bright light in the sport and I miss seeing her. I also admire her for looking ahead and having the attitude that health is the most imprtant thing and that she has to be healthy to be a good mother. In NYC, they cut off a lot of the piece to issue a weather storm warning. Couldn't they have just done a runner under the picture? They do under everything else. Anyway all my best wishes go to Irina and her family. Watching her skate both on TV and in person has given my much plesureover the years. You just wish you could do something for her.
Rgirl
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