This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

A reading list compiled by TIMS members:

from tzootzi:

Multiple Sclerosis: A Self-Help Guide to Its Management by J. Graham

For people diagnosed as having MS, and for their caregivers, from an author who has been coping with the disease for more than twenty years. Includes information on promising natural treatments, diet, exercise, and more.

Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book: A low fat diet for the treatment of MS - R.L. Swank, MD, PhD, and B.B. Dugan

Hundreds of new recipes for dishes that taste terrific but stick to the diet rules so important for controlling M.S.--now completely revised to conform to the latest medical research.

tzootzi: "the classic diet book"

from LR1234:

The MS recovery Diet by Anne Sawyer and Judith Bachrach

...there is a treatment that can stop and reverse the ravaging symptoms of MS--The MS Recovery Diet... there are five common trigger foods that can set off the symptoms of MS--dairy, grains containing gluten, legumes, eggs and yeast... The MS Recovery Diet explains the background, science and development of this diet in one source for the first time, and shows readers how to pinpoint their specific problem foods and sensitivities. It also offers more than 100 simple recipes and strategies to improve digestion, balance the immune system, and repair the body’s myelin--crucial steps toward healing.

tzootzi's comment: "Ann and Judi's MS Recovery Diet is still the best (IMHO) diet related MS book".

Taking control Of MS: Natural and Medical Therapies to Prevent Its Progression by George Jelinek

...At the age of 45... [Jelinek] was diagnosed with MS. Professor Jelinek accepted the disease as a challenge, searching the medical literature and modifying his own life according to the findings: support for new, disease-modifying drugs, and sound evidence that dietary modifications and sunlight may help in controlling MS... the disease has also led Professor Jelinek to re-assess his life, relationships and spirituality...

from Jimmylegs:

BLACK PATENT SHOES Dancing With MS by Eva Marsh

"BLACK PATENT SHOES Dancing With MS" is my story of living with the symptoms of multiple sclerosis since age 8. Follow me, after diagnosis at age 22 and learn about decades old research that led me to challenge accepted perceptions and devise strategies for recovery from all the damage of many episodes of multiple sclerosis. No other book shares such a positive story of life after diagnosis, or reveals the research that forms the basis for my recovery experience.

Jimmylegs: "I took away that you need to make a physical effort to retrain and rebuild after relapse. I also learned from Eva's approach to assessing findings in research, and I enjoyed her determination to recover and to challenge mainstream thinking".

from patientx:

Curing MS: How Science Is Solving the Mysteries of Multiple Sclerosis by H. Weiner, MD

Dr. Howard Weiner has spent nearly three decades trying to find answers to the mysteries of multiple sclerosis, an utterly confounding and debilitating disease that afflicts almost half a million Americans. Curing MS is his moving, personal account of the long-term scientific quest to pinpoint the origins of the disease and to find a breakthrough treatment for its victims.

patientx: "Though the title is very misleading, and I found the author at times to be somewhat arrogant (just my opinion), it does provide a good history of the development of various treatments for MS. The author is a neurologist at Brigham and Women's hospital, and has been studying MS since the late '60s".

from Lyon:

McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis by Alastair Compton et al

Key Features
-Reviews the earliest clinical and pathological descriptions of multiple sclerosis.
-Offers a very strong section on pathogenesis.
-Includes more than 550 high-quality illustrations clarifying important scientific and clinical concepts.
-Uses a remarkably clear presentation to make complicated data as easy as possible to understand.
New to this Edition
-Presents the most recent information on genetics and epidemiology, with an emphasis on clinical relevance.
-Covers all of the latest approaches to diagnosis and management.
-Offers new chapters on treatment of the acute relapse, treatment of symptoms, and disease-modifying treatments.
-Includes contributions from four new world-renowned authors to reflect more international perspectives.
-Features a new, more user-friendly page design for enhanced ease of reference.

Lyon: "...McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis is usually considered the ultimate MS reference book and the list of contributors is admittedly a veritable who's who of MS research... I did read through about 95% of it but there are parts are so dry (labwork and genetics) that no human should have to suffer it. Most people won't want to invest $187 and my local University library had it."

Multiple Sclerosis: the History Of A Disease by TJ Murray

Scholarly and wide-ranging, this new, extensively-illustrated book provides a historical survey and social history of multiple sclerosis and is rich in sources and detail.

Lyon:"...is available online through "NetLibrary" which access is available through both my employer and the electronic portion of the State Library of Michigan and to my way of thinking this is the ultimate MS history book for the layman, although no sensible person is going to agree with every opinion of ANY author".

from sharon:

Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis- What You Need to Know by Dr. Jack Burks, Nancy Holland and Diana Schneider

is a comprehensive book that discusses the diagnosis of PPMS, treatment and research, rehabilitation, wellness, family and social issues, and life planning

jimmylegs comment: a brand new book, no online reviews found so far

from NHE:

Here are some books I would recommend as reading for someone newly diagnosed.

Books on healing the brain:
The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge
This book is a must read for anyone with a neurodegenerative disease such as MS. It discusses neuroplasticity. In effect, this is how the brain can change either adapting to new demands placed on it and creating new neuronal connections, or by adapting to repetition and stasis and pruning off unused connections. link to review

Update: While the principles of positive and negative neuroplasticity are valid, the PoNS device discussed in this book has not yielded convincingly positive benefits in MS patients.

Books on the pharmaceutical industry:
While many good things have come out of the pharmaceutical industry, I feel that it's important to view it through the eye of a skeptic. These books will help to illustrate why.

Selling Sickness by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels.
link to review

Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine by Dr. John Abramson. link to author's website

The truth about the drug companies by Marcia Angell.
Dr. Marcia Angell is a senior lecturer at the Harvard Medical School and former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. In this book she gives an inside look into the pharmaceutical business. link to review

from sou:

Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying by Derek Humphry

...this revised and updated third edition goes far beyond the original to provide new information about the legality of euthanasia and assisted suicide, and a thoughtful examination of the personal issues involved. It has become the essential source to help loved ones and supportive doctors remain within existing laws and keep a person’s dying intimate, private, and dignified.

sou: "Excellent reading for the disgusted ones. A must-read for every depressed soul thinking about putting an end to this. If it doesn't prevent you from doing it, nothing will."

Thanks Jimmylegs.

I think I'll add 'My Stroke of Insight' by Jill Bolte Taylor. She has a Ted Talk also. Her story of surviving a massive stroke at a young age and returning to work has many factors in common with, and I think useful for coping with what many of us experience. I admire her and go re-read, especially when I'm looking for hope.