Terry L Wahls, MD, Overcoming Secondary Progressive MS

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This is a story about an amazing recovery of a doctor with MS. Western Price

and his dietary discoveries are mentioned in this article. Enjoy.

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Dr. Terry Wahls is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Roy J. and

Lucille Carver College of Medicine University at the University of Iowa. She

has a joint appointment with the Veterans Administration Medical Center and

the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She sees patients in the

traumatic brain injury clinics and teaches residents and medical students in

their internal medicine continuity clinics

http://www.terrywahls.com/

Home Page

Author Doctor Mother Patient

Overcoming Secondary Progressive MS

In 2000 Dr. Wahls was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Unfortunately

within three years it was apparent she progressive multiple sclerosis and

was experiencingrelentless loss of function. She required a cane, andthen a

scooter. As her mobility declined, Dr. Wahls gave up being the medical

director of the VA Midwest Health Care Network to minimize the need to

travel out of town. She has continued to see patients, teach medical

students and residents, and conduct clinical research.

Through her own research into the clinical studies and basic science studies

of multiple sclerosis and the neurodegenerative diseases Parkinson's,

Huntington's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Alzheimer's, Dr. Wahls

designed a new treatment protocol for herself. In collaboration with her

physical therapist, Dr. Wahls began using neuromuscular electrical

stimulation to augment her physical exercise routine.

She researched the bio-energetic approach to improve her nutrition. She

focused on providing additional nutritional support to her mitochondria

and generation of neurotransmitters, gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) in

particular.

The result has been a dramatic reversal of her disability which has taken

her from dependent on an electric wheelchair or scooter, to walking through

out hospital and biking regularly. Dr. Wahls is working with a

multi-disciplinary team further investigate the use of electrotherapy and

nutritional interventions in the treatment and rehabilitation of progressive

multiple sclerosis and other disorders affecting the brain. She has

experienced remarkable recovery of her strength, and stamina. The level of

improvement has amazed her treating neurologist. These new interventions are

safe. They are not toxic and are well tolerated. Her interventions have led

to improved cognitive function, improved balance, strength and coordination.

As a result Dr. Wahls has overcome secondary progressive multiple

sclerosis, experiencing remarkable levels of healing.

On September 20, 2008 Dr. Wahls rode the 18 mile segment of the Courage

Bicycle Tour on her bicycle. It took her 3 hours. She was tired, and also

exhilarated that she could complete the ride, including pedaling up all but

one hill.

In 2000 she moved her family to Iowa to accept a position as the Associate

of Chief of Staff at the Veterans Administration Hospital and Associate

Clinical Professor at the Carver College of Medicine. She divides her time

among teaching internal medicine residents, seeing patients with traumatic

brain injury and doing clinical research in progressive multiple sclerosis

and traumatic brain injury.

Dr. Terry Wahls was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000, slowly losing

control over her body in the following years. A change in her diet and

physical therapy sessions in which her muscles and nerves were stimulated

through electricity boosted Wahls out of her scooter. She will participate

in the 2008 Amish Harvest Tour to Cure Cancer - also known as " The Courage

Ride " - on Saturday. Sept. 20.

The Gazette, serving Eastern Iowa, published a feature article discussing

Dr. Wahls remarkable recovery, using nutrition and electrotherapy.

The article is reproduced below.

HEALTH

" Progressive multiple sclerosis only has one path - downhill. "

Taking back control of body

Research results in diet, therapy that get I.C. doctor with MS back on bike

By Meredith Hines-Dochterman

The Gazette

IOWA CITY - Dr. Terry Wahls loves running into people she has not seen for a

while. Their reactions are always the same.

" 'Oh my God! What happened to you?' "

Those words were uttered a year ago, but in a somber tone. Wahls was in a

wheelchair then, the result of secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis.

Wahls was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000. The disease had

progressed three years later, forcing Wahls - an avid skier and bicyclist

with a black belt in Taekwondo - to rely more and more on her electrical

scooter and tilt-recline wheelchair. " Progressive multiple sclerosis only

has one path - downhill, " said Wahls, a doctor of internal medicine and

assistant chief of staff at the Iowa City VA Medical Center. She wasn't

ready to go that way.

Wahls hit the books, reading late in the night as her family slept,

researching neurological diseases andsearching for a connection. She found

it in mitochondria.Often described as the cells' power source, Wahls shifted

her focus to learning more about mitochondria health. Her research resulted

in a changed diet, with more micronutrients to supplement her body and,

perhaps, change her health.

The difference was subtle. Wahls still needed the scooter, but the speed in

which her body was declining had slowed. In November 2007, Wahls took the

next step - electrical stimulation. Working with her physical therapist,

Dave Reese of Performance Therapies, PC, Wahls' muscles and nerves were

stimulated through electricity. It hurt, but Wahls was already living with

pain.

" My hope was pretty minimal, " she said. " I was just hoping to walk a little

bit longer. " The treatments continued. Wahls began to feel different -

strong. She started walking the halls at the Iowa City VA Medical Center,

unassisted, in January. She retired her scooter in March. In May, she rode

her bike for the first time in six years as her family - partner Jackie

Reger and children

Zach, 17, and Zebby, 14 - followed behind.

Earlier this month, she signed up for the 2008 Amana Harvest Tour to Cure

Cancer - " The Courage Ride, " which will be held Saturday, Sept. 20. Wahls is

registered for the 18-mile route.

" I figure however far I get is quite dramatic, considering a year ago I was

thinking we'd have to modify our house to get the scooter inside, " Wahls

said. Wahls, with Reese, recently completed a case study about her illness

and treatment, which will be submitted for publication soon. She's also

writing a book - " Up From the Chair: Defeating Progressive Multiple

Sclerosis " - while sharing the benefits of nutrition with her patients and

colleagues. Jokes about kale, a highly nutritious vegetable, are common

throughout the hospital.

" I'm a little obsessive, but I have yet to meet a patient who hasn't changed

their diet and not feel better because of it, " Wahls said. " Our brains like

healthy mitochondria. "

Contact the writer: (319) 398-8434 or meredith.hinesdochterman@...

Courage Ride

The 2008 Amish Harvest Tour to Cure Cancer, also known as " The Courage

Ride, " is a ride to honor the courage of all those who have battled cancer

and to raise money for cancer research in the Holden Comprehensive Cancer

Center at the University of Iowa. The ride will have routes of 100, 64, 55,

27 and 18

miles. Family events and live music will be available all day in Hills City

Park.

Registration will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Hills Pavilion and 6 to

10 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 20, at Hills Pavilion. 100-mile riders begin at 7 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 20, while 64-, 55-, 27- and 18-mile riders have a staggered

start beginning at 8 a.m. For more information, visit www.courageride.org

1 of 2 9/14/2008 4:03 PM

Meredith Hines-Dochterman/The Gazette

What You Eat and Do Not Eat Affects Your Brain

Do you want to make it easy or hard for your brain to do its work?

The likelihood of acquiring a disease affecting your brain has steadily

increased in the last 100 years. Furthermore, the age at which these

problems are being diagnosed is steadily dropping. This includes the

neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Multiple

Sclerosis. It also includes psychiatric disorders like depression, attention

deficit, hyperactivity, autism, antisocial, and conduct disorders.

We are finding a variety of genes which are associated with each of these

diseases. Yet, not everyone with the incriminated genes, get the disease.

There a number of environmental factors, such as infections, toxins and

nutrition. Of the three, our nutrition is the one which the individual can

most easily control.

There is book Dr. Weston Price who studied 14 different primitive peoples

around the world with a multidisciplinary group of scientists. He studied

their diets, completing a biochemical analysis of the foodstuffs. He took

x-rays of their teeth and skull, and assessed their physical fitness and

mental fitness. He analyzed the effect of consuming a traditional primitive

diet by comparing those still eating the traditional diet with the first

generation consuming a western diet, and the second generation, consuming

a western diet.

His findings were that in each locale, the foodstuffs were quite different,

and well adapted to that region. All of the primitive diets were more packed

with micronutrients than the typical western diet of the 1930s (which had

more vegetables and fruit than we eat currently). His findings were that the

primitive peoples had no dental carries, straight teeth, better mental

fitness and better physical fitness. With each successive generation of

western diet the incidence of dental caries went up, dental arch more

abnormal, teeth more displaced, mental fitness, and physical fitness

declined further. His conclusion, the western diet, unmasks degenerative

changes in multiple different organ systems.

If his observations are applied to neuropsychiatry it is likely that

nutrition has a role in exacerbating or perhaps unmasking the deleterious

affect of the genes. If nutrition was as rich ( often 2 to 3 times the

recommended daily allowances that have been established) as the primitive

diets he studied the incidence of the neurological and psychiatric disorders

would probably diminish. Certainly there severity could be mitigated.

The brain is dependent upon mitochondria for energy. The efficiency of ATP

production and the burden of toxic free radicals created during the

generation of ATP are dependent upon the available B complex vitamins,

coenzyme Q 10 and antioxidants. In addition, the brain needs omega 3 fatty

acids for the cell membranes and to create healthy myelin, the insulation

around the nerve cells. If the mitochondria are not healthy, the brain is

stressed, and less healthy. If the myelin is not healthy, then thinking is

slower, and impulsivity greater.

Because the mother's nutrition while she was pregnant, and the child's

nutrition as the brain is developing, damage can occur to the brain due to

the deleterious affect of the genes coupled with inadequate nutrition.

The brain however is more plastic than we realized, and has more healing

power than has been appreciated. Providing intensive nutrition is unlikely

to be harmful, and will likely be beneficial overtime. While supplements

have been studied - and found to be helpful, it is important to note our

clinical understanding of nutrients is still limited. It is likely that

there are hundred and perhaps thousands of different compounds which are

helpful to our mitochondria and the trillions of cells which make up our

bodies. Therefore, foods, rich in micronutrients, are always preferable to

relying on vitamins and supplements.

The following provides the general diet recommendations followed by the

specific micronutrients important to brain health, and good food sources for

that nutrient.

General diet recommendations:

Eat a wide variety of fruits, and vegetables, Include red, blue, purple,

yellow, and green fruits and vegetables. Gradually increase the number of

servings per day, with a goal of at least 9 cups of vegetables and fruits

per day. Three cups should be dark green (spinach, chard or mustard greens)

or from the cruciferous (cabbage, kale, collards, broccoli) family, three

intensely colored (red, orange, blue, purple, black) and three others. Do

not count corn, rice or grain in the vegetable count. Eat fish two to three

times a week and organ meats once a week. For those who do not eat fish, you

can eat omea-3 enriched eggs ( from or chickens who have been fed flax meal,

or allowed to free range and eat bugs, crickets and greens). Other options

go get omega 3 fatty acids are fish oil, flax oil or hemp oil. One to two

tablespoons of flax or hemp oil daily would be comparable to 2 to 4 grams of

fish oil daily.

Books: Additional information on diet, micronutrients, cellular function and

health can found. Sources include books like Eat to Live and Eat for Health,

both by Dr. Fuhrman. Another is The World's Healthiest Foods by

Mateljan.

Audio lectures - more information is available on the audio lecture page.

Soon to be released

Protecting My Brain

The steps I took to defeat secondary progressive MS

This is the e-book version of the book which talks about why nutrition

matters so much to brain health. I review the electrical therapy, foods and

supplements which I used so effectively to restore much of the strength

which I had lost due to secondary progressive MS, how I went from scooter

and wheelchair dependent to riding my bicycle 18 miles.

December 9, 2008

Progressive multiple sclerosis and micronutrients - is raw food superior to

cooked food?

I am often asked whether raw food is superior to cooked food for

micronutrient availability for patients with MS. The basic guide I provide

is that food taken directly from the plant is the very best for you. If you

cook food, the lower temper in steaming or a very low (180 degree) roast is

the next best. The other key item is to eat any fluid or juice from the

cooking (which is where all the water soluble nutrients have gone.

Micronutrients are critical for brain health. Unfortunately the average

western diet is deficient in most vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids

and amino acids which have recommended daily allowances. The reason for this

is the reliance on cheap sources of calories in grains which have most often

had the germ and husk of the grain removed.

Very few vegetables are consumed. The animals are increasingly raised in

high density farm factories with minimal exposure to green grass or

sunshine. The consequence is that the meat has minimal omega 3 fatty acid,

vitamin and mineral content.

Are nutrients lost with cooking? That depends on high the cooking

temperature and how long. Immediately fresh and still raw when you eat the

food means that cooking has not leached any of the micronutrients out of it.

But some of the micronutrients may not be available to you because our

bodies can't digest all of the cell walls in plants. If you cook below the

boiling point and drink all the juice - the food is generally more

digestible and you have not lost much of the micronutrients. However - some

of the compounds that are very helpful to us will gradually be lost with

prolonged cooking. Cooking above the boiling point of water, particularly

frying tends to oxidize many of the compounds in food. When that occurs many

of the anti-oxidants in food have become oxidized - and therefore their

anti-oxidant benefit to us is gone.

Bottom line - Raw retains the nutrients in the food. Cooking gently makes

the nutrients more available because the food has been partially digested by

cooking. Frying oxidizes many of the helpful compounds. Prolonged high

temperatures cooking likewise can breakdown micronutrients. My advice is to

increase your micronutrients through more vegetables and fruits. Eat them

raw or cooked according to your personal preference. But if you cook, always

drink the juice. Never throw it away.

Here you will find a few helpful links...

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

Direct MS

A link to non-profit organization which is devoted to examining the link

between diet and multiple sclerosis.

http://www.whfoods.com/

The Mateljan Foundation is a non-profit organization with no

commercial influence, which provides the website for you free of charge.

They are dedicated to making the world a healthier place by providing you

with cutting-edge information about why the World's Healthiest Foods are the

key to vibrant health and energy and how you can easily make them a part of

your healthy lifestyle.

http://nccam.nih.gov/

The National Institute of Health and the Center for Complementary and

Alternative Medicine conducts and supports research, trains CAM researchers,

and provided information about CAM to the public. Complementary and

Alternative Medicine includes health systems, practices, and products that

are not considered part of conventional medicine.

http://www.SHuggins.com/h/oth1/multiple_sclerosis.htm \\

S. Huggins' Refrigerator Door: Multiple Sclerosis Pages

This is another great site providing excellent information and resource

links for those with MS.

Author Bio

Terry L Wahls, MD

Author Artist Doctor Mother Patient

Dr. Terry Wahls is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Roy J. and

Lucille Carver College of Medicine University at the University of Iowa. She

has a joint appointment with the Veterans Administration Medical Center and

the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She sees patients in the

traumatic brain injury clinics and teaches residents and medical students in

their internal medicine continuity clinics.

Dr. Wahls has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Drake University in Des Moines,

Iowa, a Medical Doctorate from the University of Iowa, and a Masters in

Business Administration from the University of St. in St. ,

Minnesota. She completed her internal medicine training at the University of

Iowa. She spent a year doing volunteer medical service in Vieux Fort, St.

Lucia, West Indies and Katmandu, Nepal.

Following that she worked at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin

for thirteen years and was involved in patient care, clinical research,

teaching, patient care and physician leadership. In 2000 she moved her

family to Iowa at which time she took joint appointment with the College of

Medicine at the University of Iowa and the Veterans Administration Medical

Center in Iowa City. She has been the Associate Chief of Staff for

Ambulatory Care for the Iowa City VA and the Medical Director the Upper

Midwest Health Care Network (Iowa, Minnesota, N Dakota, S Dakota, and

Nebraska). She is currently the Assistant Chief of Staff for the Iowa City

VA.

Dr. Wahls is the author or co-author of approximately 60 publications and

abstracts. In addition to patient care she conducts clinical research in

patient safety and communication within the healthcare team.