This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

A possible explanation why wrong/unproven theories are used in medicine:
Quote:
Although the classical ideal is that scientific theories are evaluated by a careful teasing-out of their internal logic and external implications, and checking whether these deductions and predictions are in-line-with old and new observations; the fact that so many vague, dumb or incoherent scientific theories are apparently believed by so many scientists for so many years is suggestive that this ideal does not necessarily reflect real world practice.

In the real world it looks more like most scientists are quite willing to pursue wrong ideas for so long as they are rewarded with a better chance of achieving more grants, publications and status.

The classic account has it that bogus theories should readily be demolished by sceptical (or jealous) competitor scientists. However, in practice even the most conclusive ‘hatchet jobs’ may fail to kill, or even weaken, phoney hypotheses when they are backed-up with sufficient economic muscle in the form of lavish and sustained funding. And when a branch of science based on phoney theories serves a useful but non-scientific purpose, it may be kept-going indefinitely by continuous transfusions of cash from those whose interests it serves. If this happens, real science expires and a ‘zombie science’ evolves.

Have you heard how Gabe did with the venous procedure he had done in CA? The MS society just did a news piece on this idea based on recent info by Italian doc. The article said this basic idea had been looked at before and had not been able to be connected as a cause of MS.

Yes, on Dec 7th I'll have my veins scanned - if blockages are found, I'll get stents implanted the following day.

While the new research is similar to previous efforts to investigate the venous return system, the difference is in the new imaging technology we have now - before, we had good theoretical reasons to think that venous backflow might have been the culprit (ie "Dawson's Fingers" lesion patterns), but no means to show it - today with the newest doppler and MRV scanning, we can actually see flow disturbances and vein blockages ...

Every MS patient is presenting somewhat differently, but everyone tested so far has /some/ kind of blockage to their veins ... for example, here is one MS patient's recent MRV scan:

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd69 ... /oneee.jpg

- note that he has only one jugular vein (the bright white thing on the left) - and that one is blocked in two places (the dark spots at around the jawline and collarbone levels) ...

Here's a recent news report that is a little less biased than the MS Society's newsletter (they get an incredible amount of funding from Big Pharma (which is going to be out of billions in profits in useless MS drugs if this paradigm shift takes place): http://www.buffalo.edu/news/10562

And a couple good resources from which you can get to all the major research and news:

http://csvi-ms.net/en
http://www.thisisms.com/forum-40.html

Hope you're well, wish me luck!

Gabe

PS - Something short of surgery that some MS patients have found helpful is raising the head of their beds up several inches (with books or boards) - this lets more of the blood drain through the same channels as are used when we're standing (the jugular veins take the load when we lie flat, and if these are blocked, sleep is a rough time for the brain).

Interestingly, my GF's best friend's mom has MS and for years now she has only slept in a recliner ... she had no idea WHY it helped (or why laying flat made her feel awful), but it did ... and now we have an idea of why!

Michelle believes she is the last patient accepted into the second of Johns Hopkins clinical trials, and it may be the last. Dr. Kaplin says that although the first two trials were exceedingly promising, and no side effects were reported, outside of the usual reactions associated with Chemotherapy, there may be no more opportunity to test what could prove to be the cure for MS and other autoimmune disorders. “We need to do a randomized clinical trial, a much larger trial ,between 150 and 300 patients. It’s a very expensive process. We need 15 million dollars to get this done.”

Without the trial, there can be no FDA approval, and insurance companies will not cover the cost of the treatment. “We have gone to three different pharmaceutical companies and we have showed them the data, and asked them if they would be willing to get involved in this. We’ve had the same response from all of them. They all said it’s an amazing treatment, we have seen nothing like it, this might one day lead to a cure for MS, if we could refine it. They say its fabulous, but we don’t think we could recoup our investment, so it’s not for us.”

The problem Dr. Kaplin explains, is the drugs used in combination in this new treatment are decades old, cheap, and the patents have expired. This means, it is difficult for pharmaceutical companies to make a profit.

Johns Hopkins has started a grass roots campaign to try to raise the money.

Cheerleader wrote:The one bright spot in all of this is that it will be possible to get stent companies and interventional radiological technology manufacturers to give up some cash...but my heart tells me this is going to take some major grass roots fund raising.

CNClear wrote:One of the biggest pharma companies owns some of the biggest companies that make stents AND companies that make MS drugs...wonder how much of a dilema it will be for them?

Lisa, aka, CNClear