Please tell me what natural methods you use to combat symptoms / relapses, anything you think helps you heal etc. I mean diet / supplements / natural remedies etc. I don’t mean homeopathy I don’t believe in that (sorry).
What books would you recommend?
I’ve been reading about MS diets and they seem so extreme. Is it really possible to go through life on such an extreme diet?
Grateful for any advice on this.
LL x
Meditation. And I mean proper meditation, like Vedic or transcendental. You have to be strict and practice twice a day for 20 minutes at a time and give it at least 4/5 months of practice before you start to feel any results. I spent £300 on a Vedic meditation course and it’s the best £300 I have ever spent. My fatigue got better, my stiffness disappeared and I now have way less ‘bad’ days.
I should say that I also take copaxone as I believe in a two pronged approach to fighting this disease. Find a drug that suits your lifestyle and also do the meditation/diet/vitamin protocol and see how it works for you.
Good luck x
Dear LilyLoo,
A good starting point would be the Swank diet and the link is below.
The diet was further enhanced by Jelinek and developed into the Overcoming MS programme, which includes exercise and lifestyle in addition to the diet. You should be able to obtain a free copy of the Jelinek book from the website below.
I follow the diet which is essentially a vegan diet supplemented with oily fish. I exercise regularly and use some mindfulness techniques. You might think the diet is extreme but vegan food can be full of flavour with different textures and colour. There are many ready made vegan products now available, if you don’t feel like cooking.
There is also a downloadable leaflet on diet available from the MS Society website.
Instead of using painkillers such as the hated Gabapentin for neuropathic pain, I use CBD oil and paste from the following supplier. You have to find the correct dosage to suit you by trial end error, but I find that it is very effective.
I am sure you have read about taking a high dose of Vitamin D, say 5000iu daily and Magnesium for any spasms and, of course, a high supplement of Vitamin B12.
I hope this provides you with a starting point and I am sure other people will have much more toad.
Best wishes
Alun
How much is 5000 iu? The bottles of vitamin D that I’ve seen have quantities in micrograms.
Cheerfuldragon,
Professor Google suggests that for Vitamin D 1iu = 0.025mcg. Therefore 5000iu is the equivalent of 125mcg.
Alun
years ago I when this place had a section in it for proffesionals too, I remember Prof Thomson saying that a low steady dose of linoleic acid may help to slow down progression, I found that hemp seed oil capsules have near enough the doses he talked about, Iv been taking them for years since i read what he said. Progression has been slow in me, could that have helped or have i just been lucky, who knows but il keep taking them anyway
Hi, I brought the book by Judy Graham MS NATURALLY I find it really useful, I follow the diet BestBet which I find really helps my symtoms, I also take lots of supplements and I don’t feel so well if I stop taking them.
mineral complex
Vitamin b complex
vitamin d 5,0000iu
starflower 1,0000mg
vitamin c 3,0000mg
chlorella
turmeric
Holy crap!
What a comprehensive and excellent reply!
Although i might not agree with consuming ‘ready made meals’, i think a better dose of good advice will be hard to come by.
Thanks everyone, some great advice and just what I was looking for.
Im going to sound very bratty now but I’m really finding it hard coming to terms with being on such an extreme diet for the rest of my life. No Easter eggs? No Christmas dinners? No romantic meals out or snacks in the pub?
I am definitely going to look into mindfulness - I’ve been quite stressed and anxious for a couple of years now and I know this won’t help my MS so I need to do something about it.
I need to re-think my supplements now that I definitely have MS but need to be careful they won’t affect any DMD’s I’m put on.
Thanks for the links Alun.
Thank goodness for this place!
LL x
To be honest, the Swank diet is no real hardship.
I was not too impressed with the restrictions to begin with…
my culinary treat used to be a fried egg set into the hole of a bagel, which then contained tenderloin beef, fried mushrooms and cambozola cheese with salsa. TWICE!
I am now down to no cow derived cheese. no cow derived meat. no fried foods. only a maximum of three eggs per week (not per meal).
But instead of cow i now eat venison or buffalo (which have next to zero saturated fats in comparison).
No drumsticks or wings perhaps, but i always preferred poultry white meat anyway and Ostrich is delicious.
I eat goat cheese not cow juice products (again, substantially less sat. fat)
I still have two or three eggs per week, but i look forward to them.
I no longer indulge in ice cream, but frozen yoghurts are just as good. And i can have a few squares of 70% choc each day.
The consequence of this, is that i feel much better. Have fewer colds and flus. Have a cholesterol level most would envy. And there are still feasts and treats to look forward to.
Ultimately, we all need to adapt to things in life and frankly, the restrictions placed upon you by making appropriate changes to your lifestyle due to an MS diagnosis, can be seen to be an UPGRADE!
It is not too perverse to suggest that MS can actually motivate a positive change, for the better!
I’m mostly vegetarian now too, they only oils that i have in my diet are fish body oil, hemp seed oil and extra virgin olive oil. I still have dairy but it’s half fat cheese a few eggs and skimmed milk. My cholesterol is usually around 2.8. i do have chocolate though, usually the 85% dark kind. Apart from ms IV never felt better. I take a good multi vitamin, a hemp seed oil capsule and a high dose fish body oil and a b propolis capsule every day
Oh and a Bcomplex everyday too
I know vegans who satisfy their chocolate cravings by eating good quality high cocoa content dark chocolate. Don’t know how that squares up with Swank but that wouldn’t be too much of a loss for me. And there is the advantage of eating far less of the brown stuff which does counteract the cost of buying high quality stuff rather than cheaper Cadbury/Mars/Nestlé stuff.
The Vegan society website is a good source of information about Vegan diets. Remember that there are millions of strict Hindu, Sikh and Buddist people in the World who are Vegan so there are lots an lots of recipes to explore. There used to be a chain of Buddhist run Vegan restaurants in London called Veg-Veg. I am not a Vegan or a Veggie but they were fantastic (and cheap!)
Hi Lisa,
I noticed you are on copaxone and I hope you do not mind me jumping in to ask you a couple of questions.
I was diagnosed with ms in 2008 and have not as yet started a dmd as to be very honest I have never had any relapse.
That unfortunately changed last year after I was diagnosed with breast cancer and awaiting to go in for my lumpectomy
the relapse happened. It scared the life out of me as I was left with no power in my right side and bowel/bladder etc went.
Sorry too much information I know.
I have only ever had mri’s of the brain but this year my neurologist wanted a spinal one also due to the way I presented during the relapse.
The scan showed no progression of the brain but there were lesions in the thoracic, lumbar and cervical area of the spine.
My neurologist did say that as they did not have another spinal mri to compare to he thought they were indeed new lesions due to the symptoms.
The trouble is that due to the drugs I have to take to prevent any return of the cancer I cannot take much for ms but neurologist has said that copaxone is fine and he advises to begin this to try and prevent any further progression.
The oncologist did originally say no to any dmd’s but neuro assures me copaxone is ok.
I know the worry of the breast cancer would have been a factor in the relapse but I really want to do all I can.
Has the copaxone been ok for you and is it a routine that you quickly adapted to?
Sorry for the rabble and thanks for reading.
Mary xx
Hi there, sorry to hear everything you’ve been going through. Copaxone for me is a total doddle. I was on the daily injections but I’m about the start the 3 x per week injections. The only side effect I had in the beginning was irregular periods but they soon sorted themselves after a few months. I don’t use the auto inject, it’s a bit of a contraption. I inject manually and apart from slight stinging for a few moments and the hard lumps I’ve found it to be fine. There was talk of me moving on to an oral dmd but we agreed that copaxone suits me and my lifestyle so I won’t be changing any time soon. I’m also 6 months pregnant and it’s fine to use when pregnant and breast feeding so now is not the time to change anyway. So all in all it’s been a positive experience for me.
Wishing you well x
Hi Lisa, thank you so much for replying.I am so grateful for any advice and I am going to start copaxone. I have breast clinic on Tuesday and once that is over I will contact ms nurse.
Thanks again, Mary xx
Have a happy,healthy pregnancy and all the very best for when your wee bundle of joy arrives. xx
I think the deal with Cadbury type products is that they contain far more sugar and vegetable fats than actual cocoa.
This in turn is reflected in the nutrition tables of the products.
However, from being a consumer of the Lindt bars of brown stuff… a higher cocoa percentage doesn’t guarantee a correlation with lower saturated fats (the key concern of the Swank diet) as the 85% cocoa choc has more fat than the 70%
do you take any ms medicines to help as well?
Hi. Apart from DMT, I also do as follows:
High disage of vitamin D
Folic Acid (I am trying to conceive)
Vitamin B6, B12
Iron
Also, any exercise and yoga I can do.
Finally, I treat myself to a 2 day spa retreat every two months. It saves my sanity.