MS prevention...reversal early stages

[ArikaS]

Curious if Mutiple Sclerosis is reversable?  what is the best way to prevent?  i am in my late 20's not sure if I am experiencing a structural problem due to mutiple car injuries resulting with severe whip lash etc. but my legs have been numb feeling for months now. Chiropractic adjustments help a bit with lessening the sensation of numbness but not fully. Any ideas, reccomendations, thoughts.  Many blessings
 

[fleaf]

Hi, Arika:

No one can tell you that MS is "reversible."  Do you even have such a diagnosis?   Like most hyper immune conditions, skillful application of a spectrum of natural healing protocols may help keep symptoms in check, reduce the occurrence of "flares" and in the case of MS lengthen the "remitting" and minimize the "relapsing" times of your illness. 

The actual "causes" of these conditions are officially unknown. What we do know with increasing certainty is that they have multiple triggering factors, so thinking about "preventing" the onset on such conditions in advance is problematic. 

As a person who has experienced multiple chemical sensitivity and candida, eventually received a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis, as well as having had a number of falls, accidents, childhood abuse, etc...I can tell you that even the most skilled chiropractic care is usually limited in what it can do [unless the individual practitioner is including therapies in addition to classic chiropractic spinal manipulation].  My chiropractors kept me walking around and that was great. Once I began working with more nuanced body modalities that were broader in approach than chiropractic, I also began to reverse the downward spiral of increasing physical dysfunction that had been my pattern. 

In my case, I started to get miraculous results with people trained in Integrated Manual Therapy (IMT) work.  My practitioners have all had some measure of training in this, as well as Loren Barry and Frank Lowen bodywork. In general, what you want to find are one or more people who are experienced in bringing entrenched trauma out of the cells of your body.  As you release the trapped trauma, your symptoms will begin to mitigate.  It is my personal belief that when the problems are structural, the body work needs to have some hands on manipulation to fully succeed.  This may range from almost negligible to substantial manipulations.  Reiki and other hands off energetic work can be wonderful, but I have less faith in their ability to unwind the structural compressions and twists in our tissues (muscles, nerves and fascia as well as skeleton) that months and years of compensating for original damage can create. 

Best of luck to you on your healing journey.

Fern

[ArikaS]

Thank you Fern for the great adivice I really appreciate it. Many Blessings

[JudithSil]

Erika: I have had MS for over a decade, but before I answer your question, I want to urge you to see a medical doctor about your symptoms.

Numbness in the legs could be many things.

When I went in with my first symptoms the neurologist first ruled out lots of things like, just for starters, B12 deficiency and syphilis, both of which are easily reversed if you catch them early - and extremely harmful if you don't! Not to mention your history of physical trauma, which I imagine suggests other things that would need to be checked.

I tend to agree that it's best not to rely solely on allopathic (conventional) medicine to deal with MS - if that's what you have - but I sure wouldn't exclude it either. Especially not at the diagnostic stage!

Your question is controversial and the answer depends on many things. It is my personal belief and experience that one can have a great deal of control - though perhaps not total control - over the course of MS. My sense is that I & many others - though not everyone who tries - have succeeded in minimizing symptoms and even slowing the course close to zero, at least for long periods, through the kind of things we learn about at Bauman College. But that is a private journey for which I have no definitive proof. In part that's because MS is so different in different people; there is no way of knowing what anyone's course would have been like had they managed it differently. Any disease is somewhat individual that way, but MS is particularly so.

If you see this post and you'd like to know the specific things I've done, I'm always happy to share (ad nauseum, as my Bauman classmates know). After ten years I'm in pretty good shape (other than being obsessed with having MS, a common pitfall I hope you avoid) - better than a lot of supposedly healthy people I know. But how much is what I've done and how much is factors beyond my control I can't say for sure.

[JudithSil]

[forgot to add]: ... and what the future will bring, I cannot say.

May it turn out for the best, whatever it is!

[DaniL]

Hello,
Along your journey to figuring out your health, you may want to get your vitamin D level tested...
According to J Neurol Sci. 2009 Nov 15;286(1-2):104-8. Epub 2009 Jun 23:
Multiple sclerosis is an immune-mediated disease of the central nervous system caused by a complex interplay between several different genetic as well as environmental factors. Vitamin D is one of the most attractive candidates among various environmental factors suggested to be involved in the development of the disease. Epidemiological evidence combined with clinical and laboratory analyses, and experimental animal models, suggest a possible influence of vitamin D on MS susceptibility as well as clinical disease activity. Supplement with vitamin D may reduce the risk of developing MS. An intervention may also reduce the risk of conversion from a first clinical event suggestive of MS to clinical definite MS, as well as reduce the relapse rate among patients with relapsing remitting MS. More studies are, however, needed to determine optimal dose and serum level for vitamin D, as well as target populations and optimal timing for intervention.


...you can find a ton of information on vitaminDcouncil.org
In health,
Dani Little MS RD CLT

[KellyD]

Arika and all:

It sounds like you've been given some valuable information.  I just wanted to add, not that I am an authority on  MS by any means, my personal experience with it.  My cousin was diagnosed with MS about 4 years ago.  She was having similar symptoms as well as some problems with her vision.  She was not a very healthy eater, lots of sugar and sweets, bad quality meat and certainly not enough vegetables by any stretch.

Upon her diagnosis, she was told about a few medications she could go on.  She was not sold on any of them and decided to do some of her own research.  Upon completion of this, she decided that she was going to try to make her own changes through diet and exercise before she tried any of the meds.  She gave up sugar, dairy, meat and even gluten for a while.  She upped her physical activity and reduced some unneeded stress from her life.

In the last 4 years since her diagnosis and subsequent diet and lifestyle changes she has NOT HAD ANY MORE SYMPTOMS!  She has never felt so good, and this is at 47 years old!  I think it is quite incredible and speaks to your question about whether a diagnosis can be reversed.  It may not, but the power of what these changes did for my cousin is undeniable.  I believe we have so much more control than we think and that by practicing a healthy lifestyle on all fronts, we can often make miraculous recoveries. 

KellyD

[KathleenJ]

Kelly D, thank you for sharing this account, it is so important to share life's successes!  In fact I appreciate all information posted about this difficult topic.

in kindness
Kathleen J 

[ArikaS]

Thank you all for all of the great information and personal accounts. Kelly the story about your cousin gived me a great sense of hope. Eliminating those foods have been beneficial. It has only been a short while but I can tell the difference in my legs when i do not have wheat, gluten, and sugar. Thanks again!! many blessings Arika