This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

I'm a sucker for a good MS story and this was on the BCP site today.

Ian

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Nothing like an uplifting story to start the week off. Thanks Ian.

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Dunmann.

That's enough to make me jealous

oo

I hate being the cup-half-empty guy, but 50% of the patients did not improve.

I haven't done much (well, none actually) research on this treatment. However, from my understanding of this film, the chemo wipes out the immune system, and the body rebuilds it, without the auto-reactive cells.

Now, would that not also wipe out a persons built up immune responses to common viral/bacteria such as the measles?

Cure,



I think the aim of this small trial was to stop progression. Improvements were an added bonus. The same is true of the Bone Marrow Transplantation project in Canada - the aim was to stop disease progression yet some have got a bit better (and Jennifer Molson got a lot better). These treatments are at the extreme end but I'm sure many would go for stabilisation as a starting point - improvements an added bonus.

What would be interesting to find out is why some patients improve more than others - e.g. more growth factors created.

The woman in the video is pretty and active etc and I'm sure there is a certain amount of media hype - but it's still a nice story. I'm sick of the concept of 'slowing down' the disease - getting patients better is what the aim should be, and it appears that if you can knock out the disease the body has some ability to undertake some repair.

Ian

Ian,

You hit upon one of my pet peeves. It is impossible to prove that any of these drugs slows down the disease. I am not interested in being "slowed down."

Fortunately there are many researchers that are aiming for a decent treatment which will provide symptom relief.

The CRAB makers have slid over a decade now on the premise that their meds are slowing down the disease. It is time to replace these CRABS with something that makes us better.

gwa

Cure,

When heavy duty chemo drugs are given to anyone, it not only knocks the immune system for a loop but every organ in your body will feel the effect of this kind of treatment. Your entire system goes into "overdrive", especially if your immune system is being "changed".

It is not surprising that some MS patients react positively to this since their entire body is being turned upside down. Everything is working overtime and one may see some major improvements in symptoms. It appears to be like a roll of the dice as some people rebound and do well while others don't benefit at all. And to answer your question about losing your immune system's response to normal bacteria etc....yes, the patient is very vulnerable to this problem when the immune system is depleted by such a procedure. Only after the immune system gets built up again does the severe danger go away.

Harry

I have maintained--from the beginning--that MS is not just one disease...not the same disease. This has been proven out at least twice since my daughter was diagnosed.

Perhaps 50% responded well and 50% did not because they don't all have the same disease. Just a thought...

EEEEEEXXXXXXAAAAAAACCCCCTTTTTTLLLLLYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Harry,

When you said:


Are you just referring to the improvements or to the entire treatment? From what I have read there has been no evidence of further progression with anyone who has had this type of treatment.

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Dunmann.

Dunman,



That was a very generic comment that I made which generally refers to treatments used by MS patients...not the treatment that we are referring to in this thread. If you take a group of 99 MS patients and give them a particular medication, about 33 will see some benefit, about 33 will remain similar and the remaining 33 will likely progress. That's pretty much been the numbers for years on this disease. And the time lines for this vary all over the place.

It's still too early to tell any kind of long term benefits for heavy duty chemo/immune system changing therapies so far. Initially it looks better than average but with MS one never really knows!!

Harry