Hi there, a lot of questions. Im guessing that you are yet to see a neurologist to confirm a diagnosis of MS? When you do have an appointment he/ she is likely to suggest a few Disease Modifying Dugs for you to chose from. By a large the more recently developed Drugs are more effective than older ones but they all reduce the development of new lesions ( I.e damage!) in your brain or spinal cord ( generally speaking new lesions result in damage to abilities whether mobility, bladder control, cognitive abilities or whatever). Your neurologist will tell you about the level of effectiveness but the developing consensus is to go with the most effective first - rather than start with a lower effective one and move up if it doesn’t seem to be working I.e you get new lesions.
I was diagnosed around 19 years ago when there were only 3-4 available drugs and have been on Avonex since then. Until recently I didn’t develop any new lesions but my MS has developed from Relapsing / Remitting to so called Secondary Progressive I.e symptoms slowly get worse. I was offered one of the newish drugs for this (Siponimod) but an ECG suggested it would be too risky for me.
I’ve never had steroids but these can be given after a relapse/flare up new lesions in to speed up the process of healing the damage caused but - they don’t make any difference to the end result/ outcome. Once the brain has been damaged it can’t repair itself fully - with or without steroids - and we are left with e.g in many cases , some mobility problems.
To me it makes a massive amount of sense to take care of your body and your brain’s general health including through exercise, diet and reducing stress. There is nothing magic in all this - just like every organ in your body the brain needs taking care of. I use the general guide of ‘what’s good for the heart is good for the brain’ and personality follow the suggestions put forward in the Website of ‘Overcoming MS’ (as in dealing with MS not ‘curing MS’). Learning to deal with stress through exercise, mindfulness, meditation is definitely good!