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Shayk wrote:Can Breastfeeding Reduce Multiple Sclerosis Relapses?

Women who began taking MS treatments within the first two months after giving birth had significantly higher risk of suffering a relapse than women with MS who did not start taking medications early, regardless of whether they breastfed.

The last part of that sentence caught my eye the first time I read it. It seems to contradict what they are presenting as their finding

This passage could be read that it was the starting of medication, after a birth, that altered their chances of a relapse, not the breast feeding?

wow - this might eb one of the best things I have seen in ages! I am determined that I want to breast feed for a good long time should I manage to have a baby but last time I was PG the MS nurse was talking about having to go straight back onto copaxone after giving birth! Now I have some food for thought.

I took copaxone during pregnancy and lactation. As copaxone takes a full 6 months to work, if you start it right after birth, I don't see how it could affect relapse rate within the first 6 months PP if you weren't taking it during pregnancy. Which CRAB were they referring to?

Sandy

Hi Sandy

I haven't seen any references to which CRABs were involved, but this article mentions the point you made and may also address Cure's question.

Breastfeeding may reduce a woman's risk of having a relapse of multiple sclerosis after giving birth

Women who didn't breastfeed exclusively and resumed their multiple sclerosis therapies within the first two months after giving birth had a significantly higher risk of relapse than women with the disease who did not restart their medications early (P<0.001).......

Dr. Langer-Gould said that the high relapse rate among women who didn't breastfeed could be explained by two factors: they don't get the protective anti-inflammatory effects of immune system suppression brought on by halted menses, and most multiple sclerosis medications take four to six months to take full effect.

So if women start treatments at two months postpartum, they lack both forms of protection, Dr. Langer-Gould said.

Sharon

Any mention in the article of the fact that prolactin is, I believe, the only substance shown in animal studies to be very effective in repairing myelin? Why aren't more scientists jumping at researching that one? Could it be that the pharmaceutical industries that fund research could lose out by the most effective treatment being completely natural and not so profitable? Sorry for being a cynic.

Sandy

Sorry the link to the article must not be working on your end, but no, no mention of prolactin in the article.

I don't know if it's "very effective" in repairing myelin, but progesterone (another natural substance) has also shown promise in remyelination.

Progesterone receptors: form and function in brain

Emerging data indicate that progesterone has multiple non-reproductive functions in the central nervous system

to regulate cognition, mood, inflammation, mitochondrial function, neurogenesis and regeneration, myelination and recovery from traumatic brain injury.

Progesterone: therapeutic opportunities for neuroprotection and myelin repair

Progesterone and its metabolites promote the viability of neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Their neuroprotective effects have been documented in different lesion models, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), experimentally induced ischemia, spinal cord lesions and a genetic model of motoneuron disease. Progesterone plays an important role in developmental myelination and in myelin repair, and the aging nervous system appears to remain sensitive to some of progesterone's beneficial effects. Thus, the hormone may promote neuroregeneration by several different actions by reducing inflammation, swelling and apoptosis, thereby increasing the survival of neurons, and by promoting the formation of new myelin sheaths

Unfortunately, I have no idea if progesterone levels stay elevated during breast feeding but I certainly share your cynicism.

Luckily, progesterone is being pursued (outside the US) in a "non" immune mouse model of MS.

17beta-estradiol and progesterone prevent cuprizone provoked demyelination of corpus callosum in male mice

These data show that sex steroids can protect the brain from demyelination and stimulate remyelination. It appears that only the administration of both hormones is fully effective.

Anyone know if progesterone stays elevated during breast feeding?

Thanks

Sharon

cheerleader wrote:Here's a doc who thinks oxytocin (available in a nasal spray) should be tested in MS patients...

I have been impressed by the dramatic clinical responses and concomitant metabolic effects to synthetic oxytocin--administered both nasally and parenterally. (2,3) These were the most noteworthy in patients with multiple sclerosis, (2,3) including the prompt reversal of Babinski responses and ankle clonus, and the normalization of altered diurnal water/urine metabolism. Moreover, these effects were predictably reproduced on re-challenge.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _n16675816

I sent an email to the guy who wrote the above, in the hope he would direct me to a copy of his article. He directed me to the original journals from 1966 at my local library, or the book he was selling.

Today it crossed my mind again, so I did another bout of searching and found the following Patent (ie not a published peer reviewed article) which does imply they performed some minor testing, including dosage. If your not pregnant, it sounds pretty safe to do a test.

Its not as "text" but a scan, so you can download it from:
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=40d4 ... f6e8ebb871
I don't know how long it will stay up there.

Thanks so much for finding that pdf, Cure.
Was interested to see that Armour was the company associated with the tests. (Armour makes my natural thyroid supplement- not chemical, but from pig thyroid.) Surprised that they did not follow thru with the research of the 60s...perhaps because they used frequent injections of oxytocin, and didn't think it was feasible to market.

Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum treats patients with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia with oxytocin, because he believes it helps restore function of the HPA axis (the hypothalmus-pituitary-adrenal connection.)
book link

I mentioned the HPA axis on the CCVI thread, because I realized that it uses the jugular vein as a hormonal drainage pathway from the hypothalmus to the base of the brain to the rest of the body...wondered if venous insufficiency would mess up the communication of hormones. May possibly explain why oxytocin helped so many with MS.
AC

cheerleader wrote:Surprised that they did not follow thru with the research of the 60s...perhaps because they used frequent injections of oxytocin, and didn't think it was feasible to market.

In the patent, it also suggests in-sufflation; and a nasal spray is also mentioned in the text that inspired my search. Also, from my understanding, this passage can be a more direct pathway into the CNS; where MS resides. I am actually chasing up if any of my local compounding pharmacies make a nasal spray version.

The one suspicious factor of this avenue, is that from my interpretation, the effects were almost immediate, and returned to "normal" after the drug wore off. ie it is simply a symptomatic relief; but who's complaining about that!

I am also wondering how this "patent" relates to the published article on its effects for MS? it features different names.