Re: ms and headaches--To Shirley

[Guest guest]

Hi Shirley,

I understand how you feel. I am 41 years old and was always healthy

and never in a million years thought I would get MS. Nobody in my

family had it and I only ever personally met one person who had it---

prior to my own symptoms/diagnosis starting 2 years ago. Sometimes I

still can't believe it.

I think you will find that the large majority of doctors will

encourage you to take the MS meds, and ultimately it is your

decision, but the research apparently shows that in only slows

severity and frequency of attacks by 30% in the first year, and there

is no data about it working after that because of the high drop out

rates of studies. You doctor will most likely encourage you to stay

on and I would suggest you do your own research and make your own

decision there. We have been taught in our society to trust our

doctors, but it is better to do your own research and trust yourself.

Most of the people here are doing at minimum a diet called the Best

Bet Diet. This is the best link to describe it:

http://www.ms-diet.org/

I find the link called " the questions " on that website to be the best

as it tells you exactly what you can and cannot eat. I will tell you

it is difficult to follow, especially at first, and when you eat with

others. But there are so many people who are staying or becoming near

symptom free by doing this diet. I myself have only been doing it for

2 months, and I think it is helping. Apparently it can take some time

depending on the person. I am going to keep trying.

Other than the diet, many in this group take a medicine called Low

Dose Naltrexone, which is a small pill taken at night. There are a

lot of people that say it helps and has minimal side effects. I do

take it, but I'm not sure it helps or not.

Then there are supplements (for example in the BBD link above,

exercise, acupuncture, colon cleansing, filling removals, and so many

other things that people are doing. I don't mean to overwhelm you. I

would say start with the diet, if you are able/willing, as I think it

is the most powerful thing we can do.

Regards,

>

> Thank you Bruce for being so understanding. You see

> I've been very healthy all my life and I really don't know who to

turn to. My family is also very healthy and I haven't even told them

about my ms. So this was the first place that I found a bit of

comfort with and really had no idea that there were options besides

the Rebif. I still don't know how to begin to change my diet and get

off the Rebif. I never wanted anyone in the group to get upset with

me.

[Guest guest]

> Then there are supplements (for example in the BBD link above,

> exercise, acupuncture, colon cleansing, filling removals, and so

many

> other things that people are doing. I don't mean to overwhelm you. I

> would say start with the diet, if you are able/willing, as I think

it

> is the most powerful thing we can do.

Hi Shirley, I just wanted to second what said here. The diet

changes are probably the biggest and most effective things you can do

to start with. I added in acupuncture, some fasting, and some extra

supplements beyond what is recommended with the diet, but I feel the

diet has done more for me than anything else.

Don't feel like we're all so experienced here. For most of us,

this is trial and error, finding what works for us personally. It's

based on the experiences of others and what has worked for them.

Thank goodness for groups like this where we can learn instead of

starting from scratch with the research for ourselves!

Crystal