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oo

Something interesting was found in my spinal fluid which makes me think there ia a virus cause but I fear once it has passed the BBB its too late. I will explain: I have had MS for many years (sx numbness and fatigue and other issues that came and went) I had over those years many MRI's and LP's all negative do I remained undiagnosed. Last year I got the flu and then 4 months later had my first attack which was more severe than previous symptoms.
My MRI showed 2 small "insignificant" lesions and the LP came back positive but not for MS...in the report it stated that even though it was + the antibodies or whatever it is they check for were made outside of the nervous system and were not indicative of MS (so something had crossed the BBB into my spinal fluid). Anyway that "relapse" passed and 6 months later I had 3 more relapses in consession. MRI now showed a lesion on my spine and more on my brain and the LP came back positive for MS. Now once the nervous system has been infilltrated does it start producing its own antibodies so strengthening the BBB is a not going to work etc? Any ideas?

oo

I'm not going to give the answer Lyon is expecting.

Rather, I'd like to imply something different. Do viruses produce lipopolysaccharide or just bacteria? Ken

oo

I can trace symptoms back decades before diagnosis, and was never on the lookout for disease action that occured so long ago. I did have the usual stuff, Mono...
I can tell you that right now I am recovering from a viral turned bacterial infection and am experiencing symptom worse than I'd ever imagine.
I cant move, I'm in significant pain and spastic, and I've lost bladder control.
I never thought I could get so bad in such a short time frame, but a run of he mill infection did it. All of my co-workers lost 1-2 days, I've been out for 2 weeks..

oo

I've come to view the triggering of the MS disease process in terms of a car engine. In order to get the engine to turn over, you must have a sufficient amount of gasoline, working spark plugs, and keys to the ignition. Without all three of these things working in coordination, the engine simply won't start.

Relating this to MS, if you imagine the "keys" to be a genetic predisposition, the "gasoline" to be a viral or toxic trigger, and the "spark plugs" to the some other environmental factor/trigger, you need this combination of these elements working in concert to ignite the MS disease process. Once that process is running, though, I believe it takes on a life of its own, and can continue independent of any of the triggering factors, unlike a car engine, which, if the gasoline runs out or the sparkplugs stop functioning will cease to operate.

My own pet theory is that normally dormant bits of ancient retroviral DNA that have become part of the genome of susceptible humans (and many such bits of retroviral DNA have made their way into the human genome through the millennia) get switched "on" in the presence of a combination of triggering elements, and this aberrant active retroviral DNA gets recognized by our immune systems as an invader, and sets off the immune cascade that's come to be known as "autoimmunity". There was a very interesting paper out of Tufts University last summer that outlined just this postulate, and linked it to HHV-6...

Yeah I'm thinking relapse as well, but increase in severity I never expected.

This might be a really stupid question, but what is the protocol/expectation when a relapse occurs,
Do ya go to the ER, it's the weekend, and get a dose of IVSM
Call the neuro?
I hate not treating an obvious increase in inflammation, Also, does anyone care what's going on in the brainbox? At what point does a healthcare person do an MRI for comparison?

I actually have a coldsore, that's herpes simplex right, one of those things that lurks around till your immune system isn't looking.
I had them a couple of times when younger way younger 25 yars +
I alos had one during an exacerbation about 1 year ago.
When asked the neuro didn't think it was linked to an immune response
What do ya think?

oo

oo

Here is a free, recent research article that is relevant to this thread I think:

The Causal Cascade to Multiple Sclerosis: A Model for MS Pathogenesis

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0004565

I'm quite scared, there I said it..

forceful I can do..sometimes, I work in the er soemtimes, ans know the staff.

ED docors are not accustomed to high dose steroids, and are not comfortable with the 100mg thing, which means waiting for a neuro consult, I quite the group that works out of the hospital that I do when my guy told me to send him the forms and he'd get me out of work.
Who wants to get out of work???It really pissed me off at the time and he has the memory of an elephant...

So, i can get mt PCP, who does work in the hospital, to perhaps contact my neuro in northbrook and approve th steroids.
the other option is to drive (be driven) to evanstan hsopital, which is where my neuro group does work (BTW I was there last summer, it is REALL good idea to go to hospitals where rich people live).I've been at hotels with less amenities..
I digress, the upshot is that in my 'own hospital' I pay no co-pay for care, MRIs included.
So. it's probably worth having to deal with a pissy special specialist..
I'd really like to go to work on tuesday, maybe Sunday at the ER is a plan
This way it'll be kinda secret and won't hit the rumor mill by tues

I meant 1000, 100 I've got at home