Multiple Scelerosis (MS)
As I write, no one knows the cause for Multiple Scelerosis. Furthermore, it remains a complete mystery why only certain people contract the disease. It is believed to be an autoimmune disease caused by some infection or environmental agent; and that people living in the Northern parts of the country are perhaps more susceptible to this degenerative disease. Some people may genetically be predisposed to this disease. There are varying degrees of MS, and so every individual experiences different symptoms and problems. However, basically. four types of multiple scelerosis exist:
- Relapsing-remitting MS
- Primary progressive MS
- Secondary progressive MS
- Progressive-relapsing MS
I, personally, have watched my step-daughter, Stephanie, battle this disease for the last 20 years. She from the onset was diagnosed as having the progressive-relapsing MS at about the young age of 23. Within this last year, her Dad and I have become very involved in assisting her and investigating how best to address and perhaps reverse this disease. You might ask why now? Until now we trusted the doctors and the medical profession, and Stephanie being a married/single adult (now 40 years old) respected her independence. Stephanie for years has talked about treating MS with a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables. She rarely eats meat and drinks very little pop since protein and sugar is unhealthy for her. She is also currently seeking out doctors within the wholistic community. Sadly, her husband abandoned her after 5 years of marriage — it being too taxing and demanding. So during that traumatic time of her life and divorce, we did refinance her home to prevent foreclosure, alleviate financial stress, and to allow her to remain as independent as she could knowing full well that she probably wouldn’t be able to work full-time or completely support herself unless, of course, she remarried or could build her MLM business.
Looking back in time, an inkling of the disease seems to have occurred when she was about 16 years old. She complained of not feeling well and subsequently diagnosed as having a thyroid problem. Two years later she contracted mononucleosis in college and it seemed to take her about a year to fully recover. Then once she graduated from college, she married. We hired her husband to paint a rental property for us. We were all helping to scrape the paint off the house when she suddenly fell. Her knees buckled outside by the cement porch and down she fell onto the ground. I helped her up, and within minutes it happened again. She said that she had experienced this once before, and so we encouraged her to go to a doctor. She was not fully diagnosed with multiple scelerosis until about 1.5 years after that. She had a MRI to confirm her doctor’s suspicion. Her disease is the progressive-relapsing MS. Each winter she gets sick and has an acute episode which causes her to become progressively worse and weaker. Of all the doctors and hospitals around Grand Rapids, Michigan, the clinic on the campus of Michigan State University seems to have had the best doctors for treating and understanding her MS. Steroids was the common therapy/practice to bring her out of her episodes.
Why did she get the disease, I can only speculate. As an infant she spent time in Fairbanks, Alaska while her dad served time in the military. They lived in a drafty apartment, and most likely did catch a chill. To this day, Stephanie hates the cold. As a young adult she always dreamed about moving to a warmer climate and actually still wants to move South. The only other thing I can think of is that Dyslexia and ADHD runs in the family. I am a reading teacher and I know that dyslexia and ADHD runs in families. Dyslexia and ADHD is in-part genetic in nature, and the genes responsible for these learning disabilities are closely related to people who tend to have asthma, phobias, and other auto-immune diseases. Stephanie has a strong phobia to enclosed places. She cannot ride in the back seat of a car, ride in an elevator, or have bedroom or bathroom doors closed. She even has a high degree of anxiety, because she feels trapped inside her own body. I share this history only as a means for maybe some scientist being able to connect the dots from an annecdotal perspective.
So this brings us to what I know today! Multiple Sclerosis is a label for describing what doctors do not fully understand. Her dad asked me, does Stephanie have MS? I guess or maybe it is my wishful thinking to say that the answer is no. The doctors don’t know the cause and don’t have a cure. There is evidence from all of her tests to show that she has lesions on her brain and spinal column and that certainly the mylein on her nerves is being eaten away from “something.” She can no longer walk and with help is able to stand for perhaps 1 minute on her own. Her legs do not bend on their own, her arms shake, her hands tremble, and her eyes shake. She is legally blind and qualifies for constant in-home assistance. She does have an amigo (electric cart) for mobility and fortunately lives in a neighborhood/community that supports the Go-Bus for transportation. So she is able to shop, keep a part-time job, and go to physical therapy, and doctor appointments. Stephanie also has a boyfriend who can lift her when she is completely immobile. Otherwise, she would need a harnness to get her in and out of bed. I can assist her if she has the strength to lift, stand and pivot. It takes about 1 hour to get her out of bed in the morning. She does have braces for her legs to keep her feet straight and flat.
Stephanie keeps abreast of all of the new drugs and treatments for MS, and joins in on telephone seminars to learn more about how to combat this disease. This last summer, she contemplated having an operation to have a baclofen pump so that medicine could automatically be injected into her spine so she might walk again. Her dad greatly discouraged her from having this done, because he believes all drugs are inactuality poisons and will gradually kill any person who takes them for any extended length of time. He fired his own doctor after being treated for type 2 diabetes for about 10 years. Although there are no clinical studies, he thinks he found the cure for him and so literally threw out all of the drugs he had been taking and treats himself through diet, minerals, vitamins, and exercise of a special kind. He has even ridden himself of arthritis and a pinched nerve in his shoulder. It was the pinch nerve that started his discovery and quest into health and wellness. He is so excited and truly believes he can help Stephanie conquer and reverse her disease through this system. I will be blogging about our trials and tribulations, and Stephanie’s successful road to recovery.