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Cece wrote:

Stress releases the killer hormone Cortisol and raises blood pressure but I don't think it is proven that it twists your jugulars.

Pregnancy is also associated with an increase in the hormone cortisol and pregnancy is associated with a decrease in MS relapses.

We need a constant influx of fresh minds and new perspectives even if they dont fit to a tee, thats how we got here in the first place.

I agree with this.
With the winter vs summer, I wonder if there is any research on blood vessel size in people who grew up in a hot climate vs a cold climate. My thought would be that the vasodilation and extra demands of the year-round heat could cause jugulars and collaterals to grow to be over-sized in comparison to those found in people who grew up in cold climates.

I think in my case at least adrenaline (another fight-or-flight hormone) is involved. Maybe there is a third factor that makes some people sensitive, some not. But I think at least 2 of my relapses were coincident with drastic job stress (i.e. threat of layoff coming true), and one with 911 on TV before anybody knew what was going on (at the second crash). I also think I am seriously allergic to adrenaline. I went into clinical shock after a massive dose of dental anesthetic, which contains, as a rule, a large amount of adrenaline. I haven't had that at the dentist in many years.

If you ask (and not otherwise) they will give you straight novocaine. A lot of people think they are allergic to novocaine, but how many know it comes with adrenaline? The thing that happens when you get normal adrenaline from real stress, or artificial, from a dentist, (and the reason it is used) is it constricts blood vessels. This is part of fight-or-flight, because in a dangerous situation, even if you are injured, you have less of a chance of blood loss. Dentists like it because it is less messy.

The connection to CCSVI is obvious to me. Permanent damage less so, except that some of my adrenaline came over periods of days, time enough for collateral formation to start, if it was going to, and not if it wasn't. The constriction of blood vessels can't be good when you already have stenosis. The stenosis may be there for many reasons, I think in most cases congenitally.

Plus the freezing is injected into cheeks and gums, where it is likely to affect jugulars and brain vessels.

I still think the corollary to the hot-weather theories could happen, having not enough collateral drainage in colder areas to cope with occasional hot weather, or maybe a tendency not to be able to grow new collateral veins, in a pinch, as it were. The problem in my case is I came from a hotter climate, where I loved hot weather. Now that I live in a colder one, I have "MS".

In response to the stress study cited by CureIous (great video on your Stanford angioplasty by the way), the researchers definition of stress was much too limited. Food intolerances are stressful (people have been known to leave a wheelchair after stopping glutens), various toxins. Repeated colds and flus tense up the back neck and shoulders. Maybe menstrual cramps account for the large female incidence (that would be a fairly easy study). Look at Dr Wahls illness and recovery. I believe life stress and food intolerances triggered off her disease and medication worsened her condition by poisoning her. She stopped the drugs and detoxified from glutens and nourished herself properly and recovered. People have varied sensitivities, I don't know how all those variables can be studied but that research strikes me as fairly useless.