Multiple sclerosis: the facts and fictions

[MSUK]

Some researchers into multiple sclerosis believe they have found the cause of the mysterious disease. But the celebrations are premature, say Prof Peter Behan and Simone Hutchinson.

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is the most common neurological disease in young adults, and can interfere with their personal and professional lives. The greatest number of cases arediagnosed between 30 and 40 years of age, and it is more common among women than men.

Its causes are unknown, although there are many suggestions, ranging from abnormal copper metabolism to cosmic radiation. However, clinical and epidemiological studies strongly suggest the influence of genetics, environment and geographical location. ... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/2479

[rainer]

My summary of this article:

MS has some sort of genetic component.

None of the treatments work. It is not automimmune. CCSVI is too hard to understand. Whatever you do, it will cost a lot. Have a nice day.

[sou]

If the celebrations were because we have proven that CCSVI is the cause of MS, they would be premature, indeed. Personally, I celebrate because we have a brand new avenue of research which makes sense, unlike the useless. never-proven autoimmune model.

[HarryZ]

Dr. Behan and associates have written a number of papers pointing out the fallacy that MS is an auto-immune disease. Yet despite this, you only have to look at the current and constant introduction of new and even more powerful immune system altering drugs to see it has had little or no effect in the world of MS medicine. I have to give him credit though because he is going up against powerful MS big pharma which continues to have us believe their expensive and mostly ineffective drugs are the answer.

Harry

[tara97]

hey I believe that it is fallacious that even automimmune disease is called autoimmune disease. Its all a lie. there is so much money in keeping it a lie.

[Filmmaker]

there must be some auto immune component just like with any other disease but certainely we're not getting all the info... Have you ever heard about the act MS burns itself out after 25 years (well after damage is done already..) just like Meniere's?.... Hum interesting, I guess as we age the immuen system becomes weaker so we have less infammation, but maybe hwat causes inflammation is NOT what causes the permanent damage... As you all know, immune suppressive drgs do nothing against SPMS or PPMS, because they act on inflammation only not on the underlying cause, whatever that is...

[HarryZ]

there must be some auto immune component just like with any other disease but certainely we're not getting all the info... Have you ever heard about the act MS burns itself out after 25 years (well after damage is done already..) just like Meniere's?.... Hum interesting, I guess as we age the immuen system becomes weaker so we have less infammation, but maybe hwat causes inflammation is NOT what causes the permanent damage... As you all know, immune suppressive drgs do nothing against SPMS or PPMS, because they act on inflammation only not on the underlying cause, whatever that is...

Some researches believe that the patient's immune system is simply reacting to inflammation that is already taking place in the brain from whatever cause.

One such doc, Dr. Barrett in Australia, autopsied a young lady who died from a massive lesion in her brain that stopped her breathing mechanism. This kind of aggressive attack of MS is very rare and Barrett found no evidence of immune system activity in this person's lesion. So what caused this?

As always with MS, more questions and few answers.

Harry

[sou]

there must be some auto immune component just like with any other disease but certainely we're not getting all the info...

And the question is really simple: Why should there be any auto-immune activity in MS? The damage can be done without the immune system. Why do we need it? Just because this is what the scientists thought MS were in the last century?

[Filmmaker]

I do NOT believe MS is an autoimmune disease at all, I just said there is some auto immune component to it as if the immune system was trying to access the injury site but couldn't... So there is nerve inflammation but brain lesions are something else...

[sou]

We agree, filmmaker. IMHO, the immune system does what it would normally do in case of damage to any tissue: react to it. But this reaction is neither autoimmune nor necessarily catastrophic. It is just normal.