MS relapses

[woody4801]

hi, I'm new to this site and trying to figure this thing out so hoping I'm at the right place. I need to know how long do MS relapses last? I woke up Thursday with really bad dizzy spells, went to Urgent care, they gave me steroids and did a CT scan. Friday, I was somewhat better, Saturday and Sunday I was a lot better. This morning all of a sudden the spells are back, I can't even walk without meeting the walls. Hubby has to work today since he stayed home with me Thursday so I am staying in bed today. The safe place!! How long do these last? Do they come and go like this? This I don't think has ever happened since I was diagnosed 12 years ago. Please help me!!

Thank you


Patti

[jimmylegs]

hi there unfortunately ms is really individual. very hard to say how each personal situation will unfold.
may I ask what you have typically done over the last 12 yrs to manage your ms?
eg are you normally on a DMD? using any alternative/complementary approaches?

[woody4801]

hi, I've had 5 different nuerologists, insurance companies and them leaving to other areas but anyways they all have said the same thing, my MS is so minute, so small, I've been Blessed, I just have a few problems but nothing to major. I'm not on any shots anymore. I do have to make an appt. with my nuerologist now though to do another MRI and another Spinal Tap. The Dr. today at Urgent care said to follow up so either it is MS relapse or an inner ear problem.

[amberfer]

hi, I've had 5 different nuerologists, insurance companies and them leaving to other areas but anyways they all have said the same thing, my MS is so minute, so small, I've been Blessed, I just have a few problems but nothing to major. I'm not on any shots anymore. I do have to make an appt. with my nuerologist now though to do another MRI and another Spinal Tap. The Dr. today at Urgent care said to follow up so either it is MS relapse or an inner ear problem.

Hm, that's interesting...even "minor" MS progresses, which is why I'm surprised they didn't have you on a DMD despite your lack of symptoms for a while. And yes, everyone's symptoms are different. I hope your lesions aren't a lot worse now - good luck!

[jimmylegs]

heya could be worthwhile to make sure all your nutrients are topped up.
several well-researched nutrients are suspect in ms patients but less often addressed via mainstream care.
what are your diet and exercise like (that is, exercise when not dealing with a dizzy spell of course!)

[want2bike]

Take a look at Dr. Bergman recommendation for treating autoimmune disease. The key to treating all disease is the diet.

[amberfer]

Take a look at Dr. Bergman recommendation for treating autoimmune disease. The key to treating all disease is the diet.

This is a pretty bold statement...I just want to say to the OP, remember that everyone has different opinions about this. Not all diseases are curable, and certainly not all by diet!

[woody4801]

When I went into Urgent care last week, that Dr. told me that they (the Neurologists) should never let me off of my shots, he said once your on you should be on for life!!. Interesting and these Neurologists are from Loma Linda, which is supposedly supposed to the be best. Well today is another appt. with my Primary Dr, I'm going to ask him to help make the appts. I need for a Spinal tap and an Mri. Someone else suggested talking to him about my back see if that might be causing dizzy spells. Some days the spells are ok, others I'm not. I'm light headed and so dizzy when I move around. I'm so afraid of Spinal taps but I'm gonna have to make an appt. get it over with so I know if it was or is a relapse. I'm going to talk about shots again for the MS, which of course he will send me to my Neurologist for that which is going to be a long wait since their booked. Well today is the appt. for my Dr I will report anything if there is anything!! Thank you

[lyndacarol]

I need to know how long do MS relapses last? I woke up Thursday with really bad dizzy spells, went to Urgent care, they gave me steroids and did a CT scan. Friday, I was somewhat better, Saturday and Sunday I was a lot better. This morning all of a sudden the spells are back, I can't even walk without meeting the walls. Hubby has to work today since he stayed home with me Thursday so I am staying in bed today. The safe place!! How long do these last? Do they come and go like this? This I don't think has ever happened since I was diagnosed 12 years ago. Please help me!!

Welcome to ThisIsMS, Patti.

You say you were diagnosed with MS 12 years ago. Compare the investigation and path to your MS diagnosis back then with the following suggestions from the University of Chicago: http://peripheralneuropathycenter.uchic ... #bloodtest

Since MS is an exclusionary diagnosis, the recommended blood tests are a good place to start to exclude other common conditions that mimic MS:

Blood tests

Blood tests are commonly employed to check for vitamin deficiencies, toxic elements and evidence of an abnormal immune response.

Depending on your individual situation, your doctor may request certain laboratory tests to identify potentially treatable causes for neuropathy. These include tests for:

Vitamin B12 and folate levels
Thyroid, liver and kidney functions
Vasculitis evaluation
Oral glucose tolerance test
Antibodies to nerve components (e.g., anti-MAG antibody)
Antibodies related to celiac disease
Lyme disease
HIV/AIDS
Hepatitis C and B

Since you were diagnosed 12 years ago, do not recall similar episodes in the past, and have had numerous (5) neurologists tell you that your MS is "minute," I wonder if you were possibly misdiagnosed all those years ago. Medical science has advanced in a dozen years. Your recent dizzy spells may have an entirely different cause. As for the doctor at Urgent care and his comment that once you have started DMD shots for MS, neurologists should keep you on them for life, I doubt that HE is a neurologist, qualified to speak for those specialists. And he does not have the benefit of knowing all the details of your case.

Your primary care physician, or the neurologist he sends you to, can order the above listed blood tests and begin the process to confirm your MS diagnosis. Based on the information you have given us, I think there is cause to doubt the diagnosis. Please keep us informed how things go; we are interested; we hope the best for you.

[want2bike]

It is all about what you want to believe. I believe the body was designed to heal itself but you have to give it the vitamins and minerals it needs. If you eat the correct foods you can get the vitamins and minerals which allows your body to heal. Doctors are the third leading cause of death in my country and it is mostly done with the drugs they prescribe. They tell you this in their own magazine. If medical care worked why are we seeing all these sick people? Do you think our genes have changed or is it some evil spirit? People do get better when they figure this out. You will never get well if you let them keep injecting you with the neurotoxins. Let Roger MacDougall explain how healing is done.

http://www.healingdaily.com/Doctors-Are ... the-US.htm

http://www.direct-ms.org/rogermcdougall.html

[JeanDeEau]

Roger MacDougal woill have his work cut out to tell you his story since he died 20 years ago.
The "Roger MacDougal story" you get from the link above is an "edited version" and is published by the generous permission of a company that cannot be traced.
Go figure why a company in the UK should allow a website in North America to publish this story, unless it is because the non-existent company was a part of the world biggest maker of dietary supplements and the MacDougall story is heavy on the use of dietary supplements.
If diet can cure every disease, what do you suggest for HIV-Aids.

[jimmylegs]

there's a whole bunch of research out there on nutrition for HIV... scratching the surface:

Relationship of serum copper and zinc levels to HIV-1 seropositivity and progression to AIDS (1991).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1890606
"higher serum copper ... and lower serum zinc ... predicted progression to AIDS independently of baseline CD4+ lymphocyte level, age, and calorie-adjusted dietary intakes of both nutrients"

High risk of HIV-related mortality is associated with selenium deficiency (1997)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9342257
"When all factors that could affect survival, including CD4 counts <200/mm3 at baseline, CD4 levels over time, and nutrient deficiencies were considered jointly, only CD4 counts over time (RR = 0.69, p < 0.04) and selenium deficiency (RR = 10.8, p < 0.002) were significantly associated with mortality. These results indicate that selenium deficiency is an independent predictor of survival for those with HIV-1 infection."

Short Communication: High Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in HIV-Infected and HIV-Uninfected Pregnant Women (2013)
http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10 ... .2012.0384
"In resource-limited settings, vitamin D deficiency has been shown to affect HIV disease progression and mortality in pregnant women, and also increases mother-to-child HIV transmission and mortality in their infants"

[want2bike]

Roger MacDougall appears to be a real person and you can google his name and find many references to him. As the article suggest you must find the diet you need since we are all different. There are many books out there explaining the benefits of diet. I am not saying that everyone can cure themselves with diet but it is the only chance you have.

http://paleodiet.com/ms/

[DrGeoff]

want2bike wrote:

Roger MacDougall appears to be a real person ... I am not saying that everyone can cure themselves with diet but it is the only chance you have.

But of course Roger MacDougall WAS a real person. Surely you checked him out before posting the link.

I say WAS since he lived from 1910 to 1993. He spent his life a a script writer for the film industry, including teaching scriptwriting in Hollywood. Of course, dying some two decades ago, means that there is no way of establishing whether he did in fact just have a very long relapse. The MRI scanners of the early 1990s were not that good (only 1.5 Tesla at best, and most worse than that) so there was no way of knowing if he really had cured himself. I personally find it interesting that there is no Vitamin D3 listed among the array of supplements that he advocates - but we all know that D3 is essential (along with the magnesium to assist in its being absorbed.

Diet is not the only chance anyone can have - the SALK vaccine has proven very effective against polio-myelitis (for example) and it is only in those parts of the world without a good infrastructure for vaccine delivery (like Afghanistan) where polio still has a chance to flourish.

Of course a healthy diet is important, but consider this: There are several individuals who claim to have found a cure for MS, and a lot more who offer a treatment for MS, and most of these cures and treatments are different. They cannot all be right. If some of them are wrong, then the possibility must exist that all of them are wrong.

Geoff

[newmser]

DrGeoff and JeandeEau:

You both sound like reasonable people, but I have a feeling you're barking up a very wrong tree. From what I've seen on this site, want2bke feels that all disease is due to diet - or vaccines, or dental fillings, or mis-aligned spines, etc. Apparently he or she has never heard of poliomyelitis (caused by a known virus), or metachromatic leukodystrophy, adrenoleukodystrophy, or cystic fibrosis (all terrible genetic diseases).

Oh, and apparently HIV-AIDS shouldn't be treated with anti-retroviral drugs - it should be treated with vitamins and supplements.