possible MS..scared..someone please read.

[breeeee123]

I am a 21 year old with a past history of hypertension. I've had two past episodes of having a "stroke" I've received two rounds of TPA for the strokes that they believed I was having. finally after the last episode my doctor is saying I may have MS. This whole thing is scary to me. The reasoning behind this possible diagnose. For starters, my brains scans do not meet the Mcdonald's criteria. Second, I have weakness/ numbness on one side of my body. Third, I'm constantly tired fourth, my memory is horrible. I can be talking mid sentence and just totally forget what i was talking about. And lastly my vision is blurred. When the doctor mentioned he believes its MS I saw the look on my mothers face(who is an RN) and it scared me. This is the first "research" so to speak that i have done. if anybody out there reading this can assure me that i can live a normal life if i am diagnosed with MS, or can just give me some sort of feedback I would greatly appreciate it. Like I said this is all new to me. I just need some reassurance.

thank you.

[NHE]

Hi Breeeee123,
Welcome to ThisIsMS. There are other things besides MS that can cause both neurological and cardiovascular symptoms. One of these is homocysteine which is a toxic amino acid that can build up when other nutrients are low such as folate, vitamin B12 and/or vitamin B6. It's also a risk factor for stroke. Have you had your homocysteine levels tested? If not, then it might be a good next step. The normal range is 4-12 µmol/L. Last Spring my homocysteine was at 16 µmol/L. I believe it was responsible for my high blood pressure, 140/90 (with some episodes as high as 150/100), as well as episodes of cardiac fibrillation I was experiencing. After several months of taking both folate and B12 my blood pressure is normal, 122/83, and I no longer experience any irregular heart rhythm or cardiac fibrillation. Anyways, if your homocysteine is found to be high, then you'll need additional tests to figure out why. These tests include folate, vitamin B12 and methylmalonic acid. I recommend the red blood cell folate test as it gives a better measure of long-term folate status and is less sensitive to dietary fluctuations. Note that it's important not to start taking any B12 or folate until after you get your blood tests done as it can mess up your results and delay your diagnosis (or lead to a misdiagnosis which might be worse).


NHE

[lyndacarol]

There are other things besides MS that can cause both neurological and cardiovascular symptoms. One of these is homocysteine which is a toxic amino acid that can build up when other nutrients are low such as folate, vitamin B12 and/or vitamin B6. It's also a risk factor for stroke. Have you had your homocysteine levels tested? If not, then it might be a good next step. The normal range is 4-12 µmol/L. Last Spring my homocysteine was at 16 µmol/L. I believe it was responsible for my high blood pressure, 140/90, as well as episodes of cardiac fibrillation I was experiencing. After several months of taking both folate and B12 my blood pressure is normal, 122/83, and I no longer experience any irregular heart rhythm or cardiac fibrillation. Anyways, if your homocysteine is found to be high, then you'll need additional tests to figure out why. These tests include folate, vitamin B12 and methylmalonic acid. I recommend the red blood cell folate test as it gives a better measure of long-term folate status and is less sensitive to dietary fluctuations. Note that it's important not to start taking any B12 or folate until after you get your blood tests done as it can mess up your results and delay your diagnosis (or lead to a misdiagnosis which might be worse).

Welcome to ThisIsMS, Breeeee123.

I would just add to the suggestion of testing vitamin B12: The "serum B12" test is often unreliable because it measures total B12 in the blood. Since the mid-1990s, Norway has discontinued using this test for total B12, and has used the newer, more accurate HoloTranscobalamin (a.k.a. HoloTc) test, which measures only that part of B12 that can reach the cells and be used there.

The US (in some places) is now catching up to Norway. If the HoloTc test is available in your area (cost is about $250), this test might be more useful in your investigation.

[jimmylegs]

hi bree and welcome. sorry to hear your story.

i was wondering what your back story might be where birth control methods, if any, are concerned? (if my assumption that you are female is incorrect, please forgive me!)

[breeeee123]

jimmylegs,

yes i am a female, so no worries there. i was taken off of birth control about a year ago due to having high blood pressure that the doctors were not able to control with medicine. after that they recommended i get a non hormonal IUD inserted because at my age with my high blood it was not a good idea to get pregnant. since being taken off the hormonal birth control my blood pressure is now under control with medicine.

[jimmylegs]

hi ok. so did the strokes occur after they took you off birth control, or before? also, may i ask what meds you are taking to control bp? are you on any other prescription or over the counter meds at all? also curious, what else do you have going on in your life, typically? how active are you on a scale of sedentary to athletic? all these factors may play in.

[breeeee123]

jimmylegs,

the strokes occured after i was taken off of birth control. i had one back in October 2014, then again January 2015.three months to the day. i am currently on verapamil for my blood pressure, zoloft as an antidepressant and then im taking an aspirin a day. typically before all this happened i was working part time and going to school full time. i would go out on the weekends, typical 21 year old. no drugs at all just alcohol here and there. i tried to be active as much as i could given the circumstance of constantly being on the go with work and school.

[jimmylegs]

ok i looked into verapamil. ie what is its mode of action, and possible nutrient depletion issues.
it's a calcium channel blocker, and may deplete potassium.

magnesium is an essential nutrient and also a calcium channel blocker:
L-type calcium channels are involved in mediating the anti-inflammatory effects of magnesium sulphate.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19933511
"Magnesium sulphate (MgSO(4)) has potent anti-inflammatory capacity. It is a natural calcium antagonist and a potent L-type calcium channel inhibitor"

magnesium deficit can be a factor in the development of high blood pressure:
Role of magnesium in the pathogenesis of hypertension
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 9702000948
'...the fundamental hemodynamic abnormality in hypertension is increased peripheral resistance, due primarily to changes in vascular structure and function. These changes include arterial wall thickening, abnormal vascular tone and endothelial dysfunction ... Many of these processes are influenced by magnesium."

verapamil can be used to address problems specifically caused by insufficient magnesium:
Low magnesium-induced epileptiform discharges in guinea pig hippocampal slices: depression by the organic calcium antagonist verapamil
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 939290533F
"Low Mg2+ epileptic field potentials (EFP) were elicited in hippocampal slices of guinea pigs. Verapamil reduced frequency of occurence and amplitude of EFP untill EFP failed. The EFP reappeared if verapamil was withdrawn from low Mg2+ solution."

when potassium is low, it can have a number of unwanted side effects:
Hypokalemia-Consequences , Causes , and Correction
http://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/8/7/1179.full.pdf
"Potassium deficiency alters the function of several organs and most prominently affects the cardiovascular system, neurologic system, muscles, and kidneys"

also, due to interactions between essential nutrients, when magnesium is low, it can be difficult to correct potassium status:
Refractory potassium repletion. A consequence of magnesium deficiency
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1728927

specific genetic mutations can have a negative effect on magnesium's action re calcium channels: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15720454

if you are in fact low in magnesium and/or potassium (a pretty typical situation) it would be wise to work on that. your body is set up to use magnesium in hundreds of different ways and i don't think we can assume that verapamil can take over across the board.

so, might be an idea to review your diet for magnesium and potassium content so that you can tackle the problems from both the proactive and reactive side of the equation

here are some healthy food source lists for your review:
potassium http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid ... #foodchart
magnesium http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart

this will probably sound like a pretty random question but what are your monthly cycles like, pain and mood-wise?

[NHE]

Hi Breeeee123,
Please this thread as reference to my above post.

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/natural-a ... 24857.html


NHE

[jimmylegs]

hi again i started taking a look at possible zoloft impacts on nutrient status, but there isn't much even though the list of possible interactions is long:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=49kLK- ... 51&f=false

decided it would be more to the point to look at nutrient status overlaps with depression instead:

RESEARCH

search results: https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=moo ... _sdt=0%2C5
lots of research titles:

The effects of nutrients on mood

Vitamins, minerals, and mood

i decided to copy in the abstract text for this one, since you had mentioned blood pressure and pregnancy before (more to come on that note in next post)
Nutrition and Depression: Implications for Improving Mental Health Among Childbearing-Aged Women
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 2305005858
"Adequate nutrition is needed for countless aspects of brain functioning. Poor diet quality, ubiquitous in the United States, may be a modifiable risk factor for depression. The objective was to review and synthesize the current knowledge of the role of nutrition in depression, and address implications for childbearing-aged women. Poor omega-3 fatty acid status increases the risk of depression. Fish oil and folic acid supplements each have been used to treat depression successfully. Folate deficiency reduces the response to antidepressants. Deficiencies of folate, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, and selenium tend to be more common among depressed than nondepressed persons. Dietary antioxidants have not been studied rigorously in relation to depression. Childbearing-aged women are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of poor nutrition on mood because pregnancy and lactation are major nutritional stressors to the body. The depletion of nutrient reserves throughout pregnancy and a lack of recovery postpartum may increase a woman’s risk of depression. Prospective research studies are needed to clarify the role of nutrition in the pathophysiology of depression among childbearing-aged women. Greater attention to nutritional factors in mental health is warranted given that nutrition interventions can be inexpensive, safe, easy to administer, and generally acceptable to patients."

more titles:

Effective mood stabilization with a chelated mineral supplement: an open-label trial in bipolar disorder. (i like this one because i had a roommate with bipolar disorder, and we broke her hospitalization cycle because i was right there to help tease out what was going on with her day to day routine, whenever she started to feel off)

Perinatal depression: prevalence, risks, and the nutrition link—a review of the literature

Nutrition and depression: the role of folate

Effect of nutrient intake on premenstrual depression

etc etc.

so, lots out there and lots of possible contributing factors to consider. when i was still looking at zoloft specifically, i saw a fair bit on omega 3s and chromium, with a nod to tryptophan:

lots of omega 3 research titles here: https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=ome ... _sdt=0%2C5

chromium research here: https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=chr ... _sdt=0%2C5

tryptophan studies: https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=try ... _sdt=0%2C5

FOOD INFO

you can put almost any single nutrient name in google along with the term 'whfoods' (for world's healthiest foods) and come up with a dedicated info page with tons of excellent dietary info for that nutrient, eg:

healthy omega 3 foods list http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart
healthy chromium foods http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart
some tryptophan info: http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=111

the cool thing is when you start to see the same foods repeated on a lot of the nutrient lists you're interested in. then you know that boosting a certain shorter list of nutrient dense foods has the potential to help you out on a much wider set of individual nutrient issues. can be very interesting!

[lyndacarol]

i am currently on verapamil for my blood pressure, zoloft as an antidepressant and then im taking an aspirin a day. typically before all this happened i was working part time and going to school full time. i would go out on the weekends, typical 21 year old. no drugs at all just alcohol here and there. i tried to be active as much as i could given the circumstance of constantly being on the go with work and school.

breeeee123 – I am not acquainted with the drug verapamil, but I know that many medications, including antidepressants (such as your Zoloft) block vitamin B12 absorption. According to the following information from the Mayo Clinic, two other agents in your lifestyle also reduce absorption and reduced levels of B12 in the blood:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplem ... b-20060243

From the Mayo Clinic on the subject of B12:

Use [vitamin B12 supplements] cautiously in people taking the following agents, as they have been associated with reduced absorption or reduced serum levels of vitamin B12: ACE inhibitors, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), alcohol, antibiotics, anti-seizure agents, bile acid sequestrants, chloramphenicol, colchicine, H2 blockers, metformin, neomycin, nicotine, nitrous oxide, oral contraceptives, para-aminosalicylic acid, potassium chloride, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), tobacco, vitamin C, and zidovudine (AZT, Combivir®, Retrovir®).

[jimmylegs]

meds aside, when i was at my most tired, it turned out to my low iron (low serum ferritin) and nowadays if i'm tired i can usually put it down to dehydration. when my memory was at its most atrocious, it turned out my zinc levels were deficient. i have neither problem today hope that helps you feel a little more positive - lots of things you can do with or without an ms dx!

check this out

7 Common Nutrient Deficiencies: Know the Signs
http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-re ... ncies.aspx

lots of commonalities between that list, and nutrients that are low in chronic illnesses, including MS

one more interesting title:

3.6 Neurological disorders associated with malnutrition
http://who.int/mental_health/neurology/ ... lenges.pdf

multiple sclerosis is mentioned more than a few times in that doc