This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

I've never had oedema in my feet or ankles except on long haul flights. The improvement is in the MS symptoms of my feet which include stiffness, pain, malcoordination, weakness. I've finished the steroids now so we'll see if this improvement lasts. Usually the steroid effect wears off after a couple of weeks.

_________________
3 years antibiotics, 06/09 bilateral jug stents at C1, 05/11 ballooning of both jug valves, 07/12 stenting of renal vein, azygos & jug valve ballooning,

Is there any evidence that the steroids could bring about the improvements you are experiencing in the mornings, like prior experience using them?

Has anyone on the forum found such improvements using steroids?

Andrew

Multiple Sclerosis Fits with Inclined Therapy.

Women have babies, having babies often causes abnormalities in the veins. Pressure changes in the veins due to the overloading of nutrients and minerals in the circulation might be a possible trigger for venous bulges.

Posture also plays a very important roll, having a baby also means the mother is going to take the weight off her feet. Advise is to raise the legs, or “put your feet up”.

According to many reports now, varicose veins can be rectified by avoiding poor posture by adopting a gentle inclined posture and definitely not sitting for hours with your feet up. Years ago plenty of flat bedrest was the order of the day following parturition. This error at least has been rectified. Mothers are now encouraged to become active sooner rather than later and with good reason. Not only varicose veins and oedema result from prolonged flat bedrest. Thrombosis is a serious threat from inactivity. Varicose veins are known also as chronic venous insufficiency.

Then there is the humidity factor. Several people with chronic venous insufficiency have reported that their varicose veins appear to worsen when the humidity is raised and this fits with my theory and research like a glove fits the hand! High humidity reduces our ability to evaporate water from the skin and respiratory tract. This will affect our circulation and induce lethargy. The Olympics in Atlantis provided an insight into how high humidity induces not only lethargy but reduces our ability to maintain our body temperature by evaporative cooling. Warm tropical air can hold more water than cold Northern air. Two studies were conducted in river valley areas in France to determine the level of ms found in the high humidity environment. The studies were conclusive! Then the elite team of soldiers who lowered themselves into a ravine in Borneo following a river. The humidity in the ravine was oppressive and this crack team of soldiers were reduced to severe lethargy and unable to get back out of the ravine or even walk more than a few paces. In fact malaria has been considered as a causal pathogen because it also follows the high humidity found in river valley areas. But Malaria would have to be present in other areas where ms is prevalent for this to be correct and it is not. But high humidity is!

Pauline, a lady with ms for many years took part in the first pilot study for Inclined Therapy and made a remarkable recovery as did others involved in the study. She regained normal vision and no longer requires spectacles to drive a car. She completed an open university degree and before we tilted her bed she could not make out the outline of the screen let alone conduct studies to gain her diploma.

But most of all, Pauline provided some insight into ms, by conducted experiments with a dehumidifier. Pauline lives in Paignton so experiences very high humidity at times living by the coast. In fact the area she lives in was once a bogged area and was drained, many of the houses on the estate still have a damp problem and water logged gardens.

During one of our conversations Pauline mentioned that some days her dropped foot problem would not be a problem throughout the day, yet other days it would be.

The answer came when several people began using a humidity meter and writing down symptoms during higher than normal humidity.

Multiple sclerosis appeared to rely on higher than normal humidity, so Pauline was advised to purchase a dehumidifier and use it ion the bedroom together with the inclined bed. The results were startling and proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the humidity factor was very important for maintaining the circulation and again fitted like a glove with my research.

Pauline recorded time and time again that when she used the dehumidifier during high humidity her dropped foot problem did not present itself throughout the following day! Yet when she deliberately did not use the dehumidifier the dropped foot problem was troublesome!

Andrew K Fletcher

Confavreux C, Darchy P, Alperovitch A, Aimard G, Devic M.
A questionnaire-based prevalence study was conducted in the Chalon-sur-Saône and Avignon areas, in the Rhône-Saône valley, France, to determine the frequency of multiple sclerosis. These areas are 300 km apart and lie on the 47 degrees and 44 degrees North parallels respectively. Age-adjusted prevalence rates on March 20, 1984 were 58.5 and 48.6 per 100,000 inhabitants respectively. There was no significant difference between the two areas. These preliminary data suggest that south-eastern France, as represented by Avignon, may fall within the high risk area for multiple sclerosis.

Pauline must be one happy lady!

Everyone with MS has various symptoms and each case is unique. However, I am wondering what long-standing “baseline” symptoms/disabilities due to MS that Pauline had, which were diminished or completely resolved by the inclined bed therapy? Can you relate what they were, and how long a time frame was involved?

The change in her vision is very dramatic. Were her vision problems due to optic neuritis or nearsightedness, farsightedness, cataracts, etc.?

ForeverSpring

My bed has been tilted for about three months now.

In 1983 I spent about 6 months in the hot, humid Southeast U.S. Shortly after arriving there, I experienced a really nasty attack of neurological symptoms, accompanied by a breaking forth of red petechiae on my upper legs. I had never had petechiae before and did not even know what they were called. When I questioned two different physicians about them, the reply was, “Oh, that’s nothing.” I was certain that they were “something” due to their sudden appearing with the other symptoms.

Ever since that time, I have had petechiae -- for 26 years. They gradually increased in number and spread over the trunk of my body and then a few even on my neck and upper arms and lower legs. Sometimes there were less, sometimes more.

However, today there are fewer than there have ever been in the last 26 years! They seem to be darkening and disappearing from everywhere, and that can only be a good thing. I attribute this change to the inclined bed.

ForeverSpring

In February 1996 I began taking part in Andrew Fletcher's Experiment to assess what would be gained by sleeping at an angle.
As instructed I raised my bed by six inches at the head and expected to slide to the other end. Fortunately that did not happen. But after a few weeks I started to notice a change in my multiple sclerosis symptoms.
I first of all noticed a significant change in my circulation. The right foot was no longer uncomfortably hot during the evenings, and the signs of impending varicose veins in my legs disappeared.

Walking became much easier, especially after I tried using a dehumidifier in the bedroom to control the moisture levels in the atmosphere.

Another very pleasing improvement was in the use of my right hand, I began to write more legibly and to handle cups and cutlery with greater ease.

In September 1996 I mystified my optician when a routine eye test showed a marked improvement in the MS damaged right eye. Six months later more visual improvement was found.

This was an unusual occurrence and could only be explained by the action of a healing process in the optic nerve. The optician was very interested in Andrew's experiment and contacted him to find out more!

Other members of my family have also been involved in the experiment. We raised my teenage daughter's bed by the same angle in an attempt to alleviate a life long insomnia problem.
To our astonishment she slept soundly the very first night!

It goes without saying that we shall not be reverting to sleeping horizontally, but intend to continue using Andrew's healthier alternative.


Endnote from Andrew

Pauline's eyesight improved so much that she is now legally entitled to drive a car without wearing spectacles.

Pauline and Joyce both had supposedly iriversible optic nerve damage caused by long term progressive ms.

I will type out her hand written journal as most of the early reports were not conducted on the Internet.

The whole purpose of taking steroids is to improve the symptoms of MS relapse and this is standard therapy in MS relapses. Now that the steroids have worn off the bladder has returned to needing voiding once or twice a night which is slightly worse than what I was experiencing before this latest relapse.

_________________
3 years antibiotics, 06/09 bilateral jug stents at C1, 05/11 ballooning of both jug valves, 07/12 stenting of renal vein, azygos & jug valve ballooning,

Is this only a coincidence . . . Or not?

Two days before you posted about Pauline, the spring hinge on one of the side-pieces of my bi-focal eyeglasses broke. I had purchased the glasses last August, just before I moved 1500 miles to my current residence, so I could not bring them back to the supplier.

Since I have no spare bi-focals and am legally required to wear them for driving, I immediately took the glasses to the only optometrist here in town and asked him if he could replace the side-piece with anything that would work, which he graciously did. As he was repairing them, he showed me that both lenses were loose and then tightened them into place.

A few hours later, while I was working water into a bag of potting mix, one of the lenses in these glasses fell into the mix. I thought to myself, What is going on here? These are new glasses, and they are of good quality. What do I do now? I do not want to impose upon this optometrist again for repair of glasses that he did not even furnish to me originally. I am not due for another eye exam until August, and do not want to spend the money for an extra appointment and glasses right now.

I decided to pull out my old bi-focals and get by with them until August. When I put them on, I realized that I cannot read with them, but that’s alright. I can wear my current reading glasses for close-up work and the old bi-focals for driving and other long-distance viewing.

The next day I was out driving with these old eyeglasses, and I realized that I can see better with them than I could before I got the new ones last August. Is it only my imagination at work, or have I just become so accustomed to worsening vision that I have forgotten what it is like to see well? Or maybe there is a reason that these new glasses suddenly fell all apart on one day? It does make me wonder.

Anyway, for the coming three months I will continue to work with my old bi-focal glasses for driving and the current reading glasses. When I have my next eye examination in August, we shall see whether or not there have been any measurable changes in the prescriptions and maybe get some new bi-focals -- or maybe not.

After personally witnessing a few measurable changes for the better, I am becoming inspired with all sorts of possibilities! I just need to be patient and wait. . . .

ForeverSpring

Thank you for reporting your eyesight changes. Only time will prove your sight changes are not a figment of your imagination but are following a predictable path. Sight improvements took place with people who do not have ms, although my wife's sight has continued to gradually deteriorate for reading and although a friend with pigmentose retinosa (deterioration of the cones at the back of the eyes (genetic) did not exhibit any improvements, many people with a range of sight problems did. The most dramatic were those relating to optic nerve damage in people with ms.
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/pu ... 03662.hcsp

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum ... c=18961.50
Petetchia was mentioned on the NS forum by R.D. in relation to vasculitis.

Although Alun who he thought might have vasculitis did not and the petetchia cleared up by the time the next set of photographs were taken.

I also do not have vasculitis, thankfully.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Methyl Prednisolone has an anti-inflammatory action, presumably the steroid used is designed to reduce inflammation. This action was pioneered by Dr Wise Young for spinal cord injury, administering the steroid greatly reduced the post injury swelling and prevented further damage from circulation breakdown due to the tissue injury.

So if this type of steroid is having an effect on ms relapse, the question why inflammation is occurring in a relapse might be worth considering especially in relation to a circulatory causal effect.

Inclined therapy assists the circulation, this is confirmed right here on this thread by Foreverspring who has reported a positive change in petechia after 26 years and attributed it to I.T. But is one persons changes in skin enough to convince people on the form to give this simple method a try?

Psoriasis & inclined Therapy
http://talkpsoriasis.org/showthread.php ... 197&page=6

Even when the evidence is provided, we still see the same old resistance to changing sleeping habits.

I must say that previously on much higher dosages of methyl prednisolone (1,000mg daily for 3 days) I don't recall such improvements in bladder control at night as I did a week or so ago on much lower dosages of steroid. I think the combination of inclined bed and steroids might be a great treatment for MS!

_________________
3 years antibiotics, 06/09 bilateral jug stents at C1, 05/11 ballooning of both jug valves, 07/12 stenting of renal vein, azygos & jug valve ballooning,

Soon you will begin to gain more improvements.

There may be some pain before gains. Not all the time with ms but usually shooting pains down legs and arms moving around rather than a persistant pain in one area, as nerve pathways open up. This is often the pattern, although some fortunately bypass the pain.

Many people reported sudden pain from cavities below the gum line from teeth that had been decayed and should have ben reporting decay back to the brain, but not just in ms, age also numbs the gums and a number of elderly people also reported a trip to the dentist to sort out nerve pains.

This was also the case with spinal cord injury, pain before recover in sci was viewed positively, as it meant that there was communication developing with the brain from below the injury site.

From my first post back on page 4 of this thread:



The pain in my lower left leg, described above, has not been present at all for the last three weeks or so -- although I have been busy with activities which would usually aggravate it.

ForeverSpring

Foreverspring

The pain you are referring to could be excessive venous pressure on a nerve, hence the blue hue to the skin. This makes sense with regards to your report about the pain improving.

But neuropathic pain as you are aware is quite different and does not readily respond to medication, yet Roger Kirk the very first person with ms to try Inclined Therapy reported that his neuropathic pain greatly improved over time using I.T. He stated that before he tilted his bed, laying down to sleep exacerbated his pain and discomfort and caused problems with spasm which were excruciating. Yet when he lay down on the sloping bed his neuropathic pain greatly eased, exactly the opposite to sleeping flat.
This should speak volumes about the different sleep models.

That said, Roger also reported at times quite severe pain suddenly taking hold, usually in his limbs rather than torso or head and after careful analysis by Roger he determined that this pain was different in that it felt different more like being jabbed with a cattle prod and the location of the pain moved around and changed in intensity. Then as it came, the pains eased and shortly after the pains subsided, Roger noticed changes in sensitivity or he regained the ability to move muscles and tendons that were previously unusable due to the progressive deterioration he had faced over many years of fighting multiple sclerosis.