Multiple sclerosis can be a scary and confusing diagnosis because so little is know about how it is contracted and prevented. It seems to strike suddenly and randomly and its effects on the body can.t be predicted. The best multiple sclerosis alternative medicine
is education. Not only learning more about the disease and how it works on a cellular and scientific level, but also researching alternative medicine.s view of the condition and treatments available.
Here are just some of the multiple sclerosis alternative
medicine therapies that have been tried by others. "A report in the Journal
of Holistic Nursing found that 56% of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis
had their mercury dental fillings removed, 50% tried homeopathy, 50% tried massage,
44% changed their eating patterns, 32% tried physical therapy, 32% tried psychological
counseling, 19% participated in aquatic therapy, 13% used shiatsu, biofeedback
or chelation, and 6% tried therapeutic touch or yoga. All respondents reported
that the severity of their symptoms decreased as a result of the therapies they
tried. There was a statistically significant improvement in symptom severity
following use of the complementary therapies." (www.bellaonline.com/articles/art21721.asp)
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How does MS do it's damage?
Here is some specific information on how MS does it's damage to the body.
"There are different types of neurons in different areas of the CNS. Those in the white matter tissue are the ones most liable to be attacked in multiple sclerosis. This type of neuron is a long thin cell which has a bulbous head (the soma) containing the cell nucleus and an elongated strand called an axon. The soma has thin, branched tendrils called dendrites growing out of it."
"The axon of one neuron joins to the dendrites of other neurons via a special connection called a synapse. Signals or nerve impulses travel down the axon where they are transmitted to other neurons via chemical signals (neurotransmitters) moving across the synapse. The axon itself, is coated with a sheath of insulating fatty protein called myelin which aids the transmission of nerve impulses. A good analogy of the myelin's relation to the axon is the plastic or rubber insulation around electric wires."
"Oligodendrocytes are the axon's maintenance cells. Their job is to create and repair the myelin sheath and to feed essential factors to the axon. Each oligodendrocye maintains several axons and each axon is maintained by several oligodendrocyes."
"Oligodendrocyes belong to a larger grouping of maintenance cells called glial cells. Their importance has recently become better understood and, as more and more is discovered about MS, the more central oligodendrocytes, or more accurately their death, has become. In some ways, it is fair to say that multiple sclerosis is a disease of oligodendrocytes."
So what does MS do to the CNS?"
"During periods of multiple sclerosis activity, white blood cells (leukocytes) are drawn to regions of the white matter. These initiate and take part in what is known as the inflammatory response. The resulting inflammation is similar to what happens in your skin when you get a pimple."
"During the inflammation, the myelin gets stripped from the axons in a process known as demyelination. The effect of this bears many parallels to the rubber insulation on wire perishing - some or all of the electricity in the wire will short out and the efficient conductivity of the wire will be reduced. When the myelin sheath is damaged, the transmission of nerve impulses is slowed, stopped or can jump across into other demyelinated axons."
"Additionally, the inflammation can also damage the underlying axonal membrane. This membrane is a sophisticated structure that enables the nerve transmission (the action potential) to travel along the nerve. It seems that the inflammation also kills the mainenance glial cells, in particular it seems to kill the myelin-producing oligodendrocytes, which are lost in great numbers. Almost no oligodendrocytes persist in the middle of chronic MS lesions."
"At least, this has been the prevailing theory for the past few years. Now, however, several pieces of experimental work have produced results which challenge this model. Inflammation and oligodendrocyte loss are both found together in multiple sclerosis but which comes first? Does inflammation cause oligodendrocyte death, does oligodendrocyte death cause inflammation or are they both caused by a third process, perhaps a virus?"
"Recent research has looked at the brains of people who have died in the very early stages of MS lesion development and found that oligodendrocyte death actually precedes inflammation. It must be emphasized that these are the results of a very small study which have not yet been reproduced. Although few would deny that the inflammation contributes to MS damage, this work has the potential to turn the world of MS research upside-down."
"It suggests that looking for an autoimmune cause for MS may be misguided. It also challenges the current anti-inflammatory focus of most MS therapies. Are we, by analogy, treating a broken pipe by sticking a bucket under it rather than fixing the leak? That's not to say that these therapies don't produce results, just that tackling inflammation may not be the optimal strategy. For people with MS, this is a space to watch eagerly."
As the disease progresses, axons are also destroyed though not necessarily by the inflammatory response. During the secondary progressive phase of the disease, inflammation becomes less and less common but still the axons continue to die. This degeneration of axons is known as Wallerian degeneration.
"One theory is that the axons are dying because there are no oligodendrocytes to feed them the essential factors that they need. Perhaps the most important of these is called, Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) so-called because it resembles the sugar-regulating hormone, insulin. Experiments on rats indicate that axons deprived of IGF-1 will eventually die."
Another factor, Brain Derived Neutrophic Factor (BDNF), has also been implicated in Wallerian degeneration. The absence of sufficient BDNF has also been linked to a variety of other degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, including Parkinson's disease and motor neuron disease. Interestingly, BDNF is naturally released by the body during vigorous exercise."
"Recent work using newer MRI techniques has shown Wallerian degeneration in the white matter that looks normal using the older technologies. Quite what this discovery means is not yet clear but it may be a further example of the disease process enduring without inflammation. All these processes, inflammation, demyelination, oligodendrocyte death, membrane damage and axonal death contribute to the symptoms of MS."
(www.mult-sclerosis.org/howms.html)
Trinity Clinic now has many feature content pieces, such as our section dedicate to Multiple Sclerosis Alternative Medicine,
Alternative Health Care, and Christian Health Care.
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