Hi all, hope you are all doing as ok as you can. I need to get to the bottom of something please. When I was diagnosed my neuro told me that I was just as likely to get all other diseases as everyone else. Thanks mate, doesn 't he think this one is bad enough?! Could others please tell me what their neuros have told them. My question is Are our immune systems suppressed or heightened. If suppressed, how on earth can they combat other diseases we may get? Having just been in bed for five days with a nasty cold, I am amazed how the body can get over that, whilst fighting the body over MS . Or are our immune systems heightened (I can’t think of the medical term). If they are, are they so busy that we can succumb more easily to other diseases? I am really confused but I know a lot of you out there are not. I would really appreciate what your neuros have told you. May I say in advance. I hope you all have a healthy, happy, Christmas and New Year. Take good care of yourselves. Anne
Also could somebody please remind me how to have the replies sent straight to me. I can’t remember! Thanks
Hi Anne, I don’t think it’s strictly either - more like “misdirected”. Although I didn’t get this from my neuro - just from general reading around the subject. For some reason, our immune systems have got “sensitized” to something that’s not hostile - namely the myelin sheath around our nerves. It’s probably a case of mistaken identity: at some point our defences may have been exposed to a threat that looked a bit like myelin. Since then, they’ve been confused about what’s a legitimate target, and what’s not. We’re definitely not immuno-suppressed. More like a trigger-happy immune system - proper strength, but doesn’t discriminate properly about what it’s attacking. Tina
Hi Anne, I have sent you message which will show up on this forum as 1 message and if you have allowed it you will be notified by your own e-mail address. HTH.
That’s my entirely non-expert understanding too, Tina. Our immune systems have adoped a catastrophically misguided shoot-to-kill policy in one particular narrow range, so the myelin gets it (alas).
Hi Anne, interestingly I read some research stuff on this recently.
It is true that our poor ole immune systems have a shoot-to-kill policy (love that Alison!) and in recent research it does show that people with MS have a slightly lower chance of getting certain cancers… I think it said bowel & colon cancer… can’t remember the others). So that’s the good news.
The ‘not so good’ news is that people with MS don’t always recognise the early signs of cancer because they are so much like MS symptoms… eg fatigue and pain. So, according to the reseach, cancer may be more advanced by the time it’s caught.
Keep the ‘good news’ in mind and don’t dwell on the ‘not so good’ news… but also remember that this was only one bit of research done on a limited amount of people… so might not mean much at all.
It always interests me how some MSers get every bug and virus going, and others (me included) hardly ever get anything. Seems there is something going on there… but I don’t know what!
Anne, all I can tell you is I used to pick up every infection which came my way be it in the street, or son bringing something home, that was until I started taking vit.d3 and hey presto - none this year! Or should I say shush just in case.
Ive no idea whether our immune systems are on high alert or not, but whatever you do, make sure you get a balanced diet and listen to others experiences of daily life and try follow if possible. One mser told me about cod liver oil, and another evening primrose oil and hey presto again, my skin improved.
I reckon if we each do our best, doesnt matter about anything else, what comes our way we cannot necessarily avoid, but we sure as heck can fight.
Take care in your journey & best wishes, for we are all here to share, care and send love to our fellow msers.