This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

I'm newly diagnosed and I really want to do all that I can to help my body recover. However, I'm not quite clear on exactly how to do that yet. There are so many diets already that I've found that claim to help relieve your symptoms (swank, best bet, ms recovery diet). I don't know where to start! I don't think I want to eliminate dairy completely or other drastic measures, but I can avoid eating red meat, avoid wheat, etc. I have always tried to eat healthy and maintain a healthy weight, now I am trying to eat more natural foods, avoid saturated fats, and I take a multivitamin everyday and now I've started taking a vitamin D capsule everyday as well because I've read so much about the correlation between MS and vit D. I've also read alot about taking other supplements like fish oil, vit C and E, etc but I'm also nervous about playing with too many vitamins. If I start all these individual supplements should I quit taking the multivitamin? I don't want to overdose. What do you find is the best approach that helps you recover? I'm currently very numb and want to try to help my body repair the best I possibly can. What should I do???

B12 for a start. I take the source naturals sublingual 5mg ones (I take 3 a day) I take 2 grms vitamin C (not pure ascorbic acid but a buffered form like magnesium ascorbate as it is kinder on the stomach). I take inositol as I heard that was good for us MSers. I take LDN (1mg) I take an adrenal cortex extract to help with fatigue. I take evening primrose oil and flxseed oil. I take Vitamin D 2000 iu (I found higher doses a bit too much for me) I also take a multi vitamin, I am on the Wheldon regime of Abx to. I take lifetream's spirulina as it helps with detoxing and stabilising my blood sugars, probiotics to help with digestion and NAC. I mix the Best bet diet with Swank. I try to keep my saturated fats to a minimum and I don't eat dairy/wheat or legumes. (I still eat small amount of red meat especially the low fat red meat and I eat lots of fish and poultry That is just my regime and it is working well for me but everyone is different x

hlm286:

For supplements, there are a few main ones that are recommended for MS patients. Vitamin D is a big one. There's been some work trying to link a lack of Vitamin D with the development of MS. Some of this is based on the observation that the incidence of MS is less in southern hemispheres (more sunlight). Also, researchers were able to prevent and stop the progression of EAE in mice (I know, it's EAE, not a good model), by giving them does of Vitamin D. I emailed one of these researchers, and her recommendation was 1000 IU/day of vitamin D, plus 800 mg of calcium. My D level was below the minimum healthy level (I was at 23 ng/ml, min. is 32 ng/ml), so I've been doing 4000 IU's /day. There are trials to start soon looking at the effects of high doses of vitamin D on relapse rate. All of this makes me think there is something to vit. D.

Another big one is omega-3 fatty acids, like those found in fish oil. At least one study showed some benefit to taking fish oil. This study used capsules that had specific ratios of EPA and DHA. I wasn't able to find oil with the same ratios, so I just got what the local grocery store had, and take 5 grams/day.

I also take a B-50 complex each day. A few months ago, I had an episode where I got some bad burning pain in my legs. I was ready to have the nurse call me in a prescription for Neurontin. After some discussion on this site, I started trying high doses of Vitamin B. After a few days, the pain started feeling better, and after 1.5 weeks it was gone. Coincidence? Perhaps. But the B complex is cheap, so I keep taking it.

As to other supplements like Quercetin, NAC, Alpha Lipoic Acid, etc., you might want to read through old posts. You'll have to make a decision for yourself on which ones to take. But given all these other supplements, I don't really see the need for a multi-vitamin.