Welcome to ThisIsMS, Michelle. You have found a circle of friends who understand the effects of this disease. One or more of us probably shares your exact symptoms and experiences. I know that many here have "gone from diagnosis to diagnosis" and most endure many years without the final diagnosis of MS.
As you probably know, there is no known cause for MS; and, in my opinion, there can be no real, effective treatment until the cause is known. If you like to read, I recommend 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. You may be able to get these through your local library.
MS may be a complicated condition: I believe excess insulin is one major player in MS, and I encourage you to eat a healthy diet - a diet that will not trigger insulin production. Many people find that diet can influence the symptoms of MS. In my opinion, this means a low-carb diet -- remove all sugar (including beer, wine, etc. which have sugar), remove all artificial sweeteners, including sugar alcohols like sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, mannitol, maltitol, lactitol, etc. (These promote insulin production, too.), remove all trans fats (These also increase insulin.), and white flour, white bread, white potatoes, white rice (in fact, all carbs so far as possible – even the "healthy whole grain wheat") from your diet. I am recently convinced that Intestinal Permeability (a.k.a. Leaky Gut) also plays a part in MS; and the elimination of wheat (and its gluten) is a good idea too.
My suspicion is that Fatty Liver Disease is also involved in MS, since visceral fat (belly fat) secretes cytokines (like poison to the internal organs), which lead to increased
insulin, which leads to inflammation which leads to more visceral fat… And the cycle goes round and round. Diet is important; in fact, you may find the account of Dr. Terry Wahls and her dramatic improvement in MS interesting (
http://www.terrywahls.com/). Her diet recommendation, along with others, is discussed in the Diet forum on this website. I saw no improvement in my symptoms with Betaseron, Avonex, or Copaxone; I am currently on no medications and think diet shows the greatest promise for those of us with MS.
We welcome your questions; we share our opinions and experiences, when asked. We are known to share the occasional rant and emotions, as well. Please jump right into our discussions.