"Letting go of the past and not worrying about the future is a small price to pay for all the happiness to be found in the present."
Living in the now is my motto. I can glance at the past for a few brief minutes, but I do not live in the past. I remember the past to smile, and sometimes to cry. Many memories of the past are happy and some of them are sad. Some of them I cannot even remember. The ones I cannot remember were at times when I was not present for anyone including myself. I used to live in the future. What if.... Maybe if I were richer... Maybe if I got the new job... I would fantasize about the future and what my life would be if I didn't.... Today, no more living in the future. Those expectations usually if not always brought me disappointment. I would rather get surprised once in a while without having so many expectations.
For those patients with a chronic, slowly progressing disease like Multiple Sclerosis, I must tell them the same thing about living in the now. More than 250,000 Americans are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) annually with women being affected slightly more than men. For some reason I have seen more men in my practice with MS. The most common initial symptom is sudden lost of vision in one eye or tingling or numbness in an extremity. There are other symptoms such as mental changes, slurred speech and difficulty holding their urine, but symptoms vary from patient to patient. Symptoms can disappear in weeks or months. There are some patients who do not have another attack for years. I have seen one patient who had an attack at 26 and did not have his second symptom until he was age 52.
While the care of a neurologist and conventional therapies are needed, there are some other tests that need to be done in patients with MS. I am not a MS specialist. The cause is still unknown. It has been postulated that MS is an autoimmune disease. Others feel it is caused by a virus. I do believe that the cause is multi-factorial. I believe that all the hypothesis are viable. I know that if treatment is started early for a newly diagnosed patient, can be quite effective. Other testing that I feel should be done is heavy metal testing, environmental testing, and food allergy testing--especially gluten sensitivities. This was research by Roger MacDougall who was affected by MS and bound to a wheelchair. His condition slowly improved when he eliminated all gluten from his diet.
A different dietary lifestyle must be sought. In 1948, Dr Roy Swank believed that a diet low in animal fat can arrest the progression and symptoms of the disease. I have seen a slower progression in patients whom follow the Swank protocol. Newer dietary lifestyles have been used since 1948 with better results, however these are basically all derived from the Swank protocol. Unfortunately, this compassionate doctor died in 2008. http://www.swankmsdiet.org/
The recommendations of the Swank protocol are as follows:
1. Saturated fat intake no more than 10 grams(1/2 ounce daily)
2. A daily intake of 40-50 grams of polyunsaturated fats (I suggest much lower and margarine, and hydrogenated oils are strictly forbidden)
3. One teaspoon to one tablespoon of cod liver oil daily
4. Normal protein intake (6-10 ounces daily- try leaner protein)
5. Intake of fish 3-4 times a week (no tuna, swordfish or crustaceans)
In addition to serum and provocative 6 hour urine testing, I recommend a IgG RAST serum allergy test. The conventional testing of all scans should be done with the guidance of a neurologist.
In my practice I utilize many supplements. These supplements can be powder, capsule and/or intravenous routes of administration. Good multi-vitamin and mineral formulas are essential.
I use both tumeric (Curcuma longa ) and Gingko biloba in MS patients. There are interesting relavent studies regarding these herbs. Serum levels of Vitamin D should be measured and high supplementation may be needed. I also use many oils as well as alpha lipoic acid.
At this point it is very difficult to know with any certainty which supplements, in what dosages, and in what combination(s) would be helpful for multiple sclerosis, if at all. We also have little idea how these supplements interact with medicines currently used for multiple sclerosis. My aim is to give the patient an alternative or integrative approach to treatment.
Until tomorrow..
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