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Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 7:41 pm
by hijeenie
My husband (age 45)was just diagnosed in late Feb 2012 with RRMS. After the diagnosis from MRI and spinal he lost vision in 1 eye that came back a couple of weeks later. Then in mid-March the right side of his stomach and his right thigh have gone numb and still are. We are still waiting to get into the MS clinic (Hamilton, Ontario) as our appt is in July. He is complaining that his belly feels like someone is twisting it from the inside and is getting very uncomfortable. Family doctor said he can't help and can't get appt with regular nuero till end of May. Is there anything we can do to help him now? He is getting more uncomfortable by the day and crabbier. I already have begun to switch his diet and add suppliments. Any suggestions would be great.

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 4:07 am
by jimmylegs
hi :) you mean mac? that's my ms clinic too. i went there once for them to confirm the dx and never went back. good to hear you're working on diet and supplements. maybe see if you can get some nutritional bloodwork. always better than flying blind, imho. pm me if you have any questions about test details, supplement forms, dosages, timing etc :)
welcome to the forum

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 4:37 am
by want2bike
You didn't say what diet you have chosen. Dr. Swank has the easiest diet to follow in treating MS. When I look at all the evidence I believe a vegan diet is best but harder to follow. The diet is the key to healing.

http://www.overcomingmultiplesclerosis. ... gram/Diet/

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 5:28 am
by hijeenie
Yes we are waiting to get into Mac.I just wished the neuro had started him on something when she gave the dx instead of sending us home with a list of 4 meds and saying choose 1 and let them know at Mac. She made it sound like they would see us within a couple of weeks instead of 4 months. I did some reading and found the MSdiet from Anne Sawyer so we have started that. He is very resistant to giving up dairy, caffiene and sugar but so far I have him off gluten and beef/pork.I have to say he came from a family that didn't eat well and very family gathering focuses on food and most of it bad.
I have started him on Vit D,B's and fish oil. Any others we should use?
Do we just have to wait out this numbness and discomfort or is there something that can help him?

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 5:46 am
by DougL
hijeenie wrote:I...sending us home with a list of 4 meds and saying choose 1 and let them know at Mac.
unfortunately, that has been the standard line given to most pwMS.

however, there are a number of new options which offer new hope.

i suggest you spend some time (since you have to wait anyway) reading about MS here at TIMS and other internet sites. information is power.

drugs might be the best answer for your husband but it does not have to be the only answer.

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 12:24 pm
by jimmylegs
wow, disagree. i was vegan for 15 years up until dx.

Irreversible subacute sclerotic combined degeneration of the spinal cord in a vegan subject
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve ... ia=sd&cc=y

Subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord in a vegan
http://pmj.bmj.com/content/47/551/624.long

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 12:59 pm
by jimmylegs
here's something you can do easily to help him while you wait. go to google, and enter this search term: whfoods

followed by each of these terms, one at a time.
vitamin B12
vitamin D3
vitamin E
magnesium
selenium
zinc
omega 3 fatty acid

click through to each of these pages on their site, and read your heart out. really interesting stuff.

these are all known, researched, nutritional problem areas for folks with ms. most ms diets are about removing pro-inflammatory foods. i can't buy in, because for example, i had not had red meat or dairy or eggs in 15 yrs, but here i was with an ms dx. every nutrient on that list above is anti-inflammatory. turned out my vegan diet had not provided enough of any of it. so, now i enjoy my farm-raised beef and pork and eggs, for example, but i counter them with so much anti-inflammatory food that on balance, i have an anti-inflammatory score at the end of the day.

here is the web site where i get all my inflammation factor scores: http://www.nutritiondata.com
you can enter all the foods he eats, even change serving size to match up best to reality, and do the math. it's pretty cool
if you're sick with inflammatory illness, you're supposed to go for an overall score of +200 each day. (for some reason 'pro' inflammatory gets the negative score. seems backwards to me but whatever!)

b complex, d3 and fish oil are great.
you might want to add the other stuff on the list above, ie magnesium (glycinate) 400mg, selenium 200mcg, zinc 50mg (balanced w 2mg copper) (i take this much zinc because i eat gluten which places a high zinc demand on your system), and vit E8 complex 400IU.

but do boost good healthy whole food sources too, since we don't know all the synergies and interactions going on above and beyond the isolated nutrients in supplements.
for example, research has shown that eating salmon is better than fish oil for improving omega 3 status. have i taken my fish oil today? yep, but i'm having salmon for dinner. leaving no room for doubt :)

an epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) bath, per package directions, is one other way to boost magnesium. and fyi coffee is one way to lose magnesium fast!

if you click on my 'signature' links below, you'll find my philosophy on all this. if you decide to ask for nutrient testing i can help you come up with the list and interpret the results.

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 1:05 pm
by jimmylegs
here's one post with IF scores on meals http://www.thisisms.com/forum/regimens- ... ml#p170052

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 1:13 pm
by jimmylegs

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Thu May 03, 2012 3:46 pm
by lyndacarol
Welcome to ThisIsMS, hijeenie. Here is a standard action plan I recommend to the newly diagnosed:

First, take a deep breath. You will find many different ideas at this website--as a group, I think we agree on this one.

Second, work with the family doctor with whom you are comfortable, who is compassionate and who enjoys being a "disease detective." Begin with a thorough baseline examination including blood tests of your husband's cortisol level, glucose AND insulin levels, thyroid hormone levels (TSH, Free T4, Free T3, Reserve T3), etc. Ask for a copy of all his test results for your own file at home.

Third, if he does have MS, start your reading with two books: "Multiple Sclerosis: The History of a Disease" by T. Jock Murray, OC, MD and "The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book" by Roy Swank, MD, PhD and Barbara Dugan – a good second book to read or even have. You may be able to get these through your local library.

Fourth, from this day forward, I encourage you both to eat a healthy diet. Many people find that diet can influence the symptoms of MS. In my opinion, this means a low-carb diet -- removing all sugar (including beer, wine, etc. which have sugar), eliminating all artificial sweeteners (These promote insulin production, which I believe plays a great part in MS.), eliminating all trans fats (These also increase insulin.), and also eliminating white flour, white bread, white potatoes, white rice (in fact, all carbs so far as possible) from your family's diet. You may find the dramatic story of Dr. Terry Wahls interesting (http://www.TerryWahls.com).

All the best to you.

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 7:05 pm
by hijeenie
Wow, thanks everyone for your suggestions. About 2 yrs ago I started seeing a naturopath and made changes to our diet then. I just need him to "buy in" to this diet idea because he has always been a doubter.No sugar will be the hardest. We will certainly check out all the sites mentioned.

I will have our family MD do some more blood work checking all of these various levels. He is more of a pill pusher than anything. When we saw him this week he gave my husband some Lyrica to try for the numbness/discomfort in his side. It seems to be helping.

My husband has always been a sugar fanatic (his 3 sisters are each over 350lbs) as part of his upbringing. MAkes me wonder about the connections
Thanks again.

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 7:39 pm
by jimmylegs
hallo :)

how has your husband's diet been with respect to magnesium? mg helps control sugar cravings.

fyi re healthy food sources of magnesium:

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=nu ... oodsources

notice facts such as: if you were to eat 1 c. of boiled chard AND 1c. of boiled spinach *every day*, you could achieve about 76% of the daily requirement...

whole food sources are best, but if dietary magnesium is not great and serum levels are not above 0.90mmol/L, a supplement may be in order.

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 7:25 am
by scorpions
Please be careful with the information you receive via internet MS sites. While you generally may receive a lot of advice from many people who believe MS is caused by this or that the viewpoints you may find are often anecdotal and not backed up by a whole lot of scientific research. Welcome to TIMS and I hope your husband's symptoms gradually get better over the next few days/weeks! Remember often times MS symptoms wax and wane so hopefully what he is experiencing fits into this category!

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 8:09 am
by jimmylegs
that's a possibility, although at TIMS we don't tend to let folks get away without backing up their statements at least once.

from what i've seen and what i personally contribute, a lot of the conversation is supported with scientific research.

of course, research is always more or less controversial, in many cases a double-edged sword. for instance i use the SELECT study to point out the flaws in supplementing synthetic alpha tocopherol rather than natural ratio E8 complex, while others might use the same study to say vitamin E causes cancer.

not to mention that there are a variety of research agendas out there, not even the researchers necessarily agree. we have the same arguments using old and new research, ad nauseum sometimes, but as long as we stick to the forum rules, imho the whole point is to have the academic debate, which means diversity of perspectives is required.

Re: Just learned my husband has MS

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 9:06 am
by Taurus
I suggest starting LDN immediately and get yourself diagnosed for ccsvi. it is real,u will be amazed