This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Hello Everyone,

I will be posting an introduction soon, but I wanted to ask if anyone else is always sick? I feel like I can't go more than a couple weeks without having something wrong. Either its an exacerbation or a cold, or my medicine is making me sick. My mom told me she worries every time I call because she knows it will be something. Does anyone else do this? I feel like I am going crazy with the amount of sickness I have.

Thanks.

i ALMOST got sick last week but fought it off with a few megadoses of antiviral stuff. basically all the ingredients in this, with extra zinc.

you could approximate what i did, with these products:

Carlson ACES+Zinc
http://www.carlsonlabs.com/p-32-aces-zn.aspx (a good blend, includes 15mg zinc)

Jamieson Zinc Lozenges
http://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/4962 (they say no more than 10 lozenges per day. you could take up to 20 per day while you are actually sick though. you could back off from that by a few lozenges since there are 15mgs in the other product. it would NOT be smart to take 100mgs of zinc long term. but for a few days to kill a cold can't hurt)

I saw an article that said a review of 14 studies found no benefit from zinc lozenges overall. I would be interested to see what the daily intakes were and whether any of the studies measured the changes in serum zinc levels. i suspect the studies were not set up for success.

I always thought it was ridiculous that MS is caused by an overactive immune system but my immune system couldn't fight off the simplest cold.

jimmylegs wrote:i ALMOST got sick last week but fought it off with a few megadoses of antiviral stuff. basically all the ingredients in this, with extra zinc.

My neurologist told me to not to take anything to boost my immune system, he said it would just make things worse. But I appreciate the advice.

yea the party line is pretty devotedly blinders-on when it comes to nutrition. if you want to feel better, you might want to read up on some of the known nutrition info for ms patients. you'll get the tip of the iceberg at best from the everyday doc or neuro!

relatively hot off the presses

on outright zinc deficiency in ms patients:

Serum level of iron, zinc and copper in patients with multiple sclerosis (2013)
http://jmj.jums.ac.ir/~jumsjmj/files/si ... 0187b3.pdf
Mean serum iron levels were significantly elevated in MS patients (127.04 ± 34.67) compared to these levels in the control group (103.95 ± 33.81). Mean serum zinc levels were significantly decreased in MS patients (10.92 ± 2.114) as compared to these levels in the control group (14.05 ± 3.2). Also, mean serum copper levels were significantly decreased in MS patients (88.58 ± 19.56) compared to the levels in the control group (110.37 ± 37.1).

I posted some information under the thread "Some Interesting Connections" on the MS disease process, which I believe the evidence shows originates with a lack of enzymes called protease and DNase 1.

One of the things that results from a lack of these enzymes is the activation of a tryptophan degrading pathway called the "kynurenine pathway."

Here is some of the information I posted on the thread about the kynurenine pathway and MS.

"The following study confirms that kynurenine pathway activity is involved in MS. The researchers found elevated levels of the toxic tryptophan metabolite “kynurenic acid” in patients with MS and concluded their data demonstrated the involvement of the kynurenine system in the pathogenesis of MS.

Acta Neurol Scand. 2005 Aug;112(2):93-6.
Kynurenine metabolism in multiple sclerosis.
Hartai Z, Klivenyi P, Janaky T, Penke B, Dux L, Vecsei L.

“…The concentration of kynurenic acid is elevated in the plasma of MS patients, and there is a tendency to an elevation in the RBC…Our data demonstrate the involvement of the kynurenine system in the pathogenesis of MS…”



Researchers in the following study stated that evidence has progressively emerged suggesting that the kynurenine pathway (KP) is involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, especially MS.

Int J Tryptophan Res. 2010; 3: 157–167.
Understanding the roles of the kynurenine pathway in multiple sclerosis progression.
Chai K. Lim,1 Bruce J. Brew,2,3 Gayathri Sundaram,1 and Gilles J. Guillemin1

“…The KP is known to be involved in several neuroinflammatory disorders including Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, AIDS dementia complex, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, Huntington's disease and brain tumours…Over the last 2–3 years, some evidence has progressively emerged suggesting that the KP is likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases especially MS. Some KP modulators are already in clinical trials for other inflammatory diseases and would potentially provide a new and important therapeutic strategy for MS patients…”



The chronic activation of the KP affects the proper functioning of T-cells and results in immune deficiencies. Here is a link to a great slide show presentation on what the KP is and how it can result in immune deficiency.

http://www.slideboom.com/presentations/184613


As far as your reaction to your medications, MS patients also have a dysfunction in the cytochrome P450 enzyme system. The cytochrome P450 system detoxifies all sorts of different chemicals that we eat and breathe, including drugs, carcinogens formed in cooking, and poisonous compounds in plants (Guengerich, 2008). I discuss the reason for this dysfunction on the thread.

Hi DottedCanvass,

Can you give us some more examples of what "always sick" entails. Most of us have been there at some point but it doesn't hurt to compare notes. Not all of us are sick now so we can learn from each other.

By the way, I don't think very highly of the advice your neurologist gave you. If you heard him correctly, then I don't he will ever help you.

Regards

Scott1 wrote:Hi DottedCanvass,

Can you give us some more examples of what "always sick" entails. Most of us have been there at some point but it doesn't hurt to compare notes. Not all of us are sick now so we can learn from each other.

By the way, I don't think very highly of the advice your neurologist gave you. If you heard him correctly, then I don't he will ever help you.

Regards

It seems like every few weeks I have a cold, or a respiratory infection, or a flare up, or my medicine makes me violently ill (Tysabri, then Tecifedera). For example this last month, I had two colds (fever, cough, achy), I vomited three times due to Tecifedera, my eyes had a double vision like thing, and I had intense cramping due to Tecifedera again. This is all spread out over the month and this sort of thing has been going on for about 2 years (when I got diagnosed). I just wanted to hear if this was the case for anyone else, it makes me feel so alone.

My neurologist was worried because any increase in my immune system leads to flare-ups. Every time I get sick, I get M.S. symptoms because my immune system goes haywire. He is a highly regarded neurologist and was speaking to my case.

zinc is a fundamental requirement for healthy immune function and levels are known to be poor in ms patients. not one health professional mentioned zinc to me, before or after my diagnosis. when I asked for and got my first test, I was deficient. can't hurt to be informed!

Hi again,

Before he gave you Tysabri did he test you for anti-JCV antibodies as recommended? (see http://www.tysabri.com/pdfs/I61061-13_PI.pdf)
Did he conduct a test of your lymphocyte levels before he gave you Tecfidera? (see http://www.rxlist.com/tecfidera-drug/in ... dosage.htm)

Did he note that Tysabri should not be given if immunosuppresives are used when he decided that you should do nothing to stimulate your immune system?
Regards

Hi Again,

Sorry, I probably sounded abrupt in the earlier post.

Thankyou for providing more background.

The sort of things we might be able to provide some feedback on depend on how much detail you can provide. Did you suffer from a lot of illness before you were diagnosed and received treatment? Are those symptoms mainly focussed on flu like issues? Did you have tummy troubles before you received treatment? The answers to those sort of questions give us some colour and we know that sometimes it can be hard to remember and even harder to describe what your symptoms are. Sometimes it turns out you have been sick for so long it's hard to recognise what good health is.
I'm still uncomfortable with your neurologists attitude but you either have to work with what is suggested or seek another opinion. The only question you always need to ask is "is this person making me better or not?". If the answer is negative then seek another opinion. You are not there to stroke the neurologist's ego.

Regards

You may find this funny or even crazy, but I was catching colds/minor flus every 2-3 weeks until I stopped eating pork. I made some experiments later to make sure it is pork and every time I introduced it back to diet I got sick (runny nose, feeling like a cold, etc). Other meats are fine. So I guess there is sth with this leaky gut theory. Might be an allergy or sth?

Pawel

the pork angle is interesting.. from what I understand pork is the most difficult meat to digest and takes the longest to move through the gi tract. I am quite curious which resources are strained when pork is consumed. i am guessing that for some people digesting pork could place additional strain on an already weakened system. when i have more time i will dig into which enzymes are required for meat digestion and whether ms patients are likely to have sufficient ingredients handy for making said enzymes.