"In the third trimester, a woman's risk of relapsing can decrease by about 70% compared to the year before," Dr. Krieger explains.
Three months after pregnancy, the relapse risk returns to normal, he says.
Myth #7: MS is always an inherited condition.
If your parent or sibling has MS, your risk of developing the disease is 20 to 40 times higher than that of the general population, Dr. Krieger says.
But your family history isn't all that matters.
"The cause of MS is still unknown, [and] a number of other factors may be involved," he notes.
Researchers are examining a variety of potential triggers, including vitamin D deficiency and infections such as measles, herpes virus-6 and the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mononucleosis. But none has yet proven to be the culprit behind MS.
Geography may also play a part, Dr. Blitz says.
"People who live closer to the equator get the disease less often than people living farther away," she says.
That might be because exposure to greater amounts of vitamin-D-producing sunlight provides some protection, according to the National MS Society.
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