I’m male, 64, semi retired and now have a confirmed diagnosis of Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis, instances of RRMS were not picked up or misdiagnosed.
My consultant told me that the only area of the brain that had identifiable areas of relatively minor damage was in the cerebellum which primarily affects balance and coordination of movement- viz walking. Nothing on spinal cord etc. Apparently I don’t have any active white blood cells in the wrong area causing mischief.
My symptoms of fatigue, balance, walking etc are as a result of past damage and subsequent wear & tear.
I’ve been a fish eating vegetarian (pest) for at least 30 years, no meat, goats not cows milk, but probably too much cheese.
Will cutting out more diary products bring any benefits with my SPMS diagnosis.
I am also 64 but I was diagnosed, finally, with PPMS in 2014. Like you I have been a fish eating vegetarian for almost 40 years, but I did change to a fish eating vegan diet about a year ago.
I was persuaded to do this having looked at the OMS website and consulting the free book that I obtained from them.
Jelinek, and Swank before him, believe quite strongly that reducing dairy and reducing saturated fat will slow down the progression; who am I to argue with them? Why not give it a shot?
In addition to taking Vitamin D (5000iu), Magnesium and Floradix, I do the following:
Take 300mgs of Biotin daily as experts believe it may help to rebuild the myelin sheath.
Take CBD paste daily. This has most definitely helped with reducing neuropathic pain, improved my sleep pattern and is good for general wellbeing.
I believe that the above regime is slowing the progression as I am still able to walk short distances and I feel that I am mentally alert. I do not take any prescription medication for any MS symptoms.
I wish you well with any decisions you make. If you have any questions about any of the above, please ask.
If your consultant says your MS isn’t active, then possibly there’s nothing that you’re eating that’s triggering an autoimmune response. Like you say, your symptoms may be a legacy of past damage, so what can you do to optimise the nerve function you have, and even reverse it.
I gave up all dairy 20 years ago. I already knew that I had an insensitivity, but a runny nose after eating cheese just seemed like an inconvenience, until MS diagnosis made me take it more seriously. Around 2 years ago, in an effort to up my fat intake in a tasty way, and since I had became aware of the A1 protein in most cows milk and its damaging effects on the central nervous system, I decided to try dairy again, but this time with goats milk products since it doesn’t carry this A1 protein with its neurotoxic peptide. Success! No reaction, and a later MRI confirmed no active lesions, so I took this to mean that goat dairy is OK for me. Right now, I eat goat cheese and goat butter. I also make yoghurt from goat milk.
I don’t know this to be the case, but this A1 protein may be why Dr Wahls directs us to avoid dairy. Otherwise, she directs us to take on good fats, including saturated fats.
You say you eat cheese. I only caution that it is goat/sheep cheese, since most any cow cheese in our supermarkets will be made with regular milk that has the A1 protein (loads of articles on it online if you’re unfamiliar).