A totally revised and updated edition of the first book to offer a holistic approach to slowing the progression of MS ⢠Provides guidance on special diets and nutritional supplements, exercise, alternative therapies, and the effects of negative and positive thoughts on MS ⢠Explains how to reduce toxic overload from mercury and chemicals ⢠Includes life wisdom and coping strategies from others who suffer with MS Judy Graham is an inspiration. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was just 26 years old, 35 years later Judy Graham is still walking, working, and has successfully birthed and raised a son who is now an adult. In this totally revised and updated edition of her groundbreaking Multiple Sclerosis, first published in 1984, she shares the natural treatments that have helped her and many others with MS stabilize or even reverse the condition. Beginning with the effects of diet, she explains that many people with MS have been eating the wrong foods and shows which foods are "good" and "bad, " how to recognize food sensitivities, and how to correct nutritional deficiencies using dietary supplements. She also looks at reducing the body's toxic overload, whether from mercury amalgam fillings, chemicals, or medications. She presents the exercises with proven benefits for MS she has found most reliable and appropriate, such as yoga, pilates, and t'ai chi, and explores alternative therapies that provide relief and support to the body's efforts to control MS, including acupuncture, reflexology, shiatsu, reiki, and ayurveda. Most important are the insights she provides on the effects of negative thoughts on MS. She demonstrates how a positive mental attitude can actually slow down or even reverse the progression of this disease. Judy Graham is living proof that, as devastating as a diagnosis of MS is, life can still be lived to its fullest.
Frequently asked questions
Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on âCancel Subscriptionâ - itâs as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time youâve paid for. Learn more here.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlegoâs features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan youâll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, weâve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes, you can access Managing Multiple Sclerosis Naturally by Judy Graham in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Medicine & Alternative & Complementary Medicine. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS, chances are your life is affected by MS in some way. Maybe youâve been told you have MS, or perhaps someone close to you has it. The good news is that MS can be controlled. Far from being all doom and gloom, the future can be joyous and productive.
A natural, drug-free way of self-treating is to use an all-embracing approach covering every aspect of your life and lifestyleâfood, exercise, thoughts, and emotions. In brief, it involves:
Getting tested for food sensitivities and giving up the offending foods
Dealing with gut problems, such as leaky gut and candida
Switching to the Best Bet Diet
Eating a diet high in nutrients for the brain
Taking many nutritional supplementsâvitamins, minerals, trace elements, antioxidants, amino acids, enzymes, and essential fatty acids
Exercising regularly
Cleansing your body of environmental toxins
De-stressing and rebalancing your life, and dealing with emotional and psychological hurts
Avoiding fatigue, resting as needed, and getting sufficient sleep
Shifting your thought patterns from negative to positive and making a decision to live life to the fullest
Having satisfying relationships
Maintaining your self-esteem
It may also mean receiving some complementary treatments, such as acupuncture, ayurveda, reflexology, shiatsu, or Reiki, all of which have been shown to help MS. Youâll find alphabetized information in chapter 13.
THE BEST TIME TO START IS NOW
The earlier you start this program, the better. Studies have shown that the people who benefit most from this self-help regimen are those who have been recently diagnosed. Donât wait until you get worse before you decide to try this program. Use it as an insurance policy to help prevent you from getting worse.
However, all is not lost if your illness has progressed. Some people have reversed their MS symptoms several years after diagnosis, and even in the secondary progressive stage of the disease.
It is not a cure, nor is it recognized as a treatment by the medical establishment (although there are elements in it that have had so much, and such good, scientific research that they deserve to be recognized as treatments for MS). This program can help you manage your illness. It gives you an opportunity to enjoy life fullyâeven with MS.
PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION
Most neurologists wonder why anyone would want to go on such a rigorous program as this when there are drugs to treat MS. Part of the answer is that the pharmaceuticals that have been used so farâthe âdiseasemodifyingâ drugsâcan help somewhat in reducing relapses but canât stop disease progression. Also, some people donât like having injections or the flu-like side effects of some of these drugs. Also, we donât really know the long-term effects of these drugs.
The next generation of drugs includes Tysabri, which is used to slow the progression of aggressive MS and is usually only prescribed for severe cases. Some people definitely do benefit from this drug. However, as of November 2009, there had been twenty-four cases of a brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and four subsequent deaths linked to Tysabri. Because of this, Tysabri was temporarily withdrawn from the market in 2005, but was reintroduced in July 2006 with stricter safety warnings.
In the pipeline are âimmune modulatingâ drugs, such as alemtuzumab (Campath), which has had dramatically good results in trials, but also carries risks. It has been shown to stop MS in its tracks and is hailed as the most effective treatment yet for early relapsing/remitting MS, reducing attacks by 74 percent, reducing sustained disability by 71 percent, and in many cases restoring lost function. However, any benefits need to be weighed against the associated risks; doctors are hesitant to prescribe this drug except in patients in the early stages of the disease, not yet disabled, who have frequent bad attacks.
During the trials for this drug, three patients contracted a condition called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, in which low blood platelet counts can lead to abnormal bleeding. This was fatal in one case. Also, nearly a quarter of the patients on alemtuzumab suffered from a thyroid autoimmune condition, with a very high prevalence of Gravesâ disease. In addition, because alemtuzumab suppresses the immune system by seriously depleting white blood cells called T-lymphocytes, vital for fighting infection, patients on this drug have an increased risk of serious bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.
All pharmaceutical drugs have side effects, and you have to weigh whether taking them is worth it; the choice is yours. Some people do bothâthey take drugs for MS and follow this bookâs management program. However, one of the benefits of the program outlined in this book is the treatments do not have unpleasant side effects. Also, unlike many of the drugs for MS, they are intended to do the exact opposite of suppressing the immune system; they are designed to actually boost, or normalize, the immune system.
As to taking certain drugs for specific MS symptoms, such as pain or bladder urgency, that, again, is up to you. Many people with MS favor a natural approach to healing, yet swear by certain drugs for specific individual symptoms.
Personally, I have never taken any disease-modifying or immune suppressant drugs to treat my MS. On the other hand, I do take ibuprofen for pain and HRT for estrogen (see chapter 15, Hormones and MS), and I would not be opposed to taking tolterodine (Detrol or Detrusitol) or Botox injections if my bladder were to worsen.
A DARK CLOUD LIFTS
Many people with MS have successfully managed to control or even recover from MS by using techniques described in this book. When you see how effective these strategies can be, a great dark cloud lifts from your shoulders as you realize that MS doesnât have to be a life sentence, or a death sentence.
However, care is needed. This is not a cure, it is an ongoing, life-long treatment. If you go back to your old diet, lifestyle, and negative thought patterns, MS is likely to come back. The treatments, or management programs, may not all have been rigorously tested by scientific method, but there are enough studies to suggest strongly that the progression of MS can be slowed, halted, or even reversed. In addition to the scientific studies, there is also a huge amount of anecdotal evidence.
At the very least, this book suggests healthier ways to live your life.
2
What Exactly Is MS?
IF YOU KNOW what is happening in MS, itâs easier to understand why the self-help management program is relevant.
MS is described as an autoimmune, degenerative disease. The prevailing wisdom is that the body mistakenly attacks part of itself as if it were a foreign body. In MS, the myelin sheathâthe insulating layer that protects the nervesâis targeted and attacked by rogue cells in the immune system.
ROGUE T CELLS
In a healthy immune system, white blood cells called lymphocytes are the crack troops that defend the body against attack from foreign invaders. Lymphocytes are made up of three types of cells: T cells, B cells, and NK (natural killer) cells.
Receptors on T cells are normally able to differentiate between antigensâthose invaders that cause your body to produce antibodies, such as bacteria or virusesâand your own body. Once an antigen is identified, certain T cells, called helper T cells, trigger the B cells to release those antibodies. These are molecules designed to attach to, and destroy, the chosen target antigen, or foreign body.
In MS, the T cells in the immune system have a hard time distinguishing between a foreign invader and self. The T cells mistake the bodyâs own myelin as foreign and target it in the same way they would target a bacteria or virus.
In response, the deranged T cells set off a cascade of immune events, including the release of B lymphocytes, to rid the body of the perceived threat. These B lymphocytes fire off antibodies, and this destructive process perpetuates through a cascading series of events in which the B and T cells continue to interact, creating numerous different self-antigens.
Once the lymphocytes have launched a response to an antigen, they also release masses of other white blood cells to gather at the injured or infected site. The major players in this destructive process are called leukocytes, in particular, ones called cytokines. When too many are produced, it causes inflammation and damage.
MALFUNCTIONING NK CELLS
In September 2009, scientists at the prestigious Imperial College, University of London, published a paper in which they put forward the hypothesi...
