This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

I am not diabetic but have PCOS and might start on this drug soon (depending on how it might affect my MS)
Anyone had any experience with this drug? Did it make your MS worse/better/no effect?

Thanks

L

My wife was in the exact same position - hard to know what effect it had - she was well the entire time she was on Metformin. I remember reading elsewhere that Metformin might be positive for MS.

For further reference to the possible positive effect of Metformin in MS, see http://www.thisisms.com/ftopic-15188-da ... sc-15.html
my postings of 31 Jan 2011 9:45, and of 1 Feb 2011 8:46 am and 1:28 pm

I have done some searching using the various search engines we have at our disposal. And indeed, I find several references about MS and Metformin, most of them concern fairly recent studies.

But all these studies seem to approach the issue from the side of suppressing the immune system or doing something with the immune system eg "the Metformin attenuated the autoimmune disease of the central nervous system in animal models of multiple sclerosis."

Now I ask myself:
Is the approach right? Is the angle right? Have they been looking into the right direction or mechanism? Or is the 60 year-old dogmatic believe in auto-immunity distorting the entire research question?

If Metformin helps the insulin to unlock the cells for glucose transport, perhaps it is the cells themselves that get more healthy, that wake up. And perhaps that is the primary mechanism. And the fact that the immune system gets more quiet (or -a view that is more wrong if you approach this from the believe of an auto-immune inflammation- is attentuated) is a just consequence of cells that are back alive and kicking putting the immune system to rest.

I would interested in your views.

Hi friend my name is seeva i have type 2 diabetic since dx my M.S 1998
since that time i am taking DIABEX which is metformin. no effect on my m.s.
but any opration you are going have you have to stop taking this tub 2days before the opration. this is i have done during the time of my CCSVI procedure. time my specialists for m.s and diabetic
regards
seeva

_________________
kandiah seevaratnam

thanks seeva. clearly, if you have stenoses, metformin alome will not be enough

Seeeva,

How are you feeling now? Sounds like you have had CCSVI and are still taking metformin? Is that the case?

I wish to elaborate a bit further on the above idea that perhaps the medical world has always looked at the problem the wrong way around.

We know that substances like cortisol dampen the immune system. Cortisol also counteracts insulin. This is how it is decribed in wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisol This seems to be the prevailing believe in medicin.

But perhaps the real mechanism works the other way around: that is that the immune system or whatever regulator is up there, when it sees these under-nourished cells, reduces the secretion of cortisol to raise the level of insulin which in turn would allow a better transport of glucose to the cells. Maybe this is just what the regulator inside us has learned over 700 million years of evolution.

This certainly strengthens the ccsvi / low-glucose hypothesis, e.g. see: http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-15188.html But it would also suggest that we have an immune system that is crying out for help, to nurture under-nourished cells.

And possibly, when MS further develops and the inflammation worsens, there is a point that the immune system goes over the top and can not regulate anymore. What Zamboni has shown is that there is a way back.

HI friend yeas i am taking daibexx now also i had2 CCSVI procedures in sydney i am walking without any aids now my last doppler cans reveals that me L/R JGULER VENIS are 100% clear after the second procedure.
no sideeffect at all due to diabex.
need any informations contact my PM.
regards
seeva:roll:

_________________
kandiah seevaratnam

I also have PCOS and MS.

I stared taking Metformin about 2 years before I started getting the MS symptoms that led to my diagnosis. I am still on Metformin today and it hasn't made my MS better.

With that said, it might be different for everyone.