Emailing: Echinacea A Bad Bet for MS.htm

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Register | Sign In Newsletters [ ] [sEARCH] Join the conversation! · Product Sites:· Vitamin Advisor· Dr. Weil On Healthy Aging· Dr. Weil's Optimum Health Plan· Weil Juvenon· Vitamin Packs· MarketplaceQ & A Library Print this page |Send to a friend |Sign up for free e-bulletins | Bookmark This Page · Ask Dr Weil Home· Today's Q & A· Ask Your Question· Q & A Library FREE E-BulletinsFree HealthTips & Advice EmailEnter your email Q Echinacea: A Bad Bet for MS?Why should people with multiple sclerosis avoid taking echinacea? MS is an autoimmune disease and echinacea enhances the immune system. Am I missing something? A Answer (Published 3/13/2003)With MS and other autoimmune diseases the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's own tissues. In the case of MS, it damages myelin, the protective covering of nerves in the central nervous system. This interferes with conduction of nerve impulses, leading to such symptoms as losses of vision, motor strength, coordination and bowel and bladder control. Depending on what type of MS you have, symptoms may come and go or progressively worsen. Drug treatments for the disease suppress the immune system so that flare-ups of autoimmunity become less likely.Related Weil ProductsDr. Weil's Vitamin Advisor for Immune Health - Do you know which vitamins to take? Find out what is recommended for your optimum health with your free, personalized Dr. Weil's Vitamin Advisor Profile. Echinacea, from the dried root and leaves of the purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea and related species, stimulates the immune system. It is used to treat common colds and other minor infections. Some people take echinacea to enhance immunity in the absence of infection. advertisementWhen you have MS, getting a cold is more than an uncomfortable nuisance. Viral infections can trigger flare-ups of the disease so you have to be pretty careful about how you deal with them. I think it is okay for MS patients to use echinacea on a short term basis for the duration of a cold or other minor infection. But I wouldn't recommend using it on a long term basis - we simply don't know whether the way echinacea affects immune function impacts the potential for autoimmunity. (This same caution applies to other immune-enhancing herbs such as astragalus).You might be interested to know what the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has to say on the subject: " ...echinacea may stimulate the immune system. This is a theoretical risk for people with MS because their immune systems are already inappropriately stimulated. No study has been done to investigate this theoretical risk in people with MS. " Weil, M.D. Some Rights Reserved Creative Commons Copyright NoticeA portion of the original material created by Weil Lifestyle, LLC on DrWeil.com (specifically, all question and answer-type articles in the Dr. Weil Q & A Library) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Related TopicsAre There Natural Remedies for Multiple Sclerosis?advertisement · Sitemap· About Us· Press Information· Advertising· Contact Us· Terms of Use· Privacy Policy Copyright © 2010 Weil Lifestyle, LLCInformation on this web site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this web site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.