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Multiple sclerosis treatments
Category: Medicines
Type
Involuntary and voluntary
Introduction and description
Multiple sclerosis (abbreviated MS) is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring. The name multiple sclerosis refers to the scarring – scleroses are better known as plaques or lesions - particularly in the white matter of the brain and spinal cord, which is mainly composed of myelin.
It has many causes and these are explored in some detail in the page for Multiple sclerosis on this site. Very briefly, the causes can include heavy metal poisoning especially lead poisoning, mercury poisoning and leaky, old or poorly maintained Dental amalgam fillings.
Multiple sclerosis has been linked to both toxins and viruses. All the viruses within the herpes family - herpes simplex, EBV, CMV, and possibly VZV.
An extremely large number of pharmaceuticals are implicated in Multiple sclerosis. If you follow this LINK, you will be able to see a complete list from the eHealthme web site. There is a growing acceptance that some vaccines have the potential to cause MS. The reason is complex, and I urge you to turn to the vaccine section for an explanation.
Bacteria are implicated. The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, for example, induces inflammation and apoptosis in cells from dorsal root ganglia. And there are very specific parasites [not all] that appear to be implicated.
It is possible that in due course we may find that other pathogens and external toxins are implicated - radiation, and fungi. As yet, however, research has tended to focus on viruses and toxins as principal causes.
Multiple sclerosis is just one of a large number of nervous system diseases - for example
- Motor neurone disease
- Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS)
- Fibromyalgia
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)
and so on. Differentiating between them all by symptom may not be the best way to see the underlying patterns. Looking at the wider picture, may help us to realise that they are all caused by the same pathogens and it is simply a throw of the immunological dice that determines which disease we get.
The drugs
Given the causes, what is needed is one set of foods and plant based medicines to remove or fight and defeat the pathogens causing the disease. Then once this has been achieved another set of foods and plant based medicines to help repair the damaged nerves.
Cholesterol is an essential constituent of myelin. Myelin is about 40% water; the dry mass is about 70–85% lipids and about 15–30% proteins. This is why statins and the lipid lowering drugs are implicated in the development of MS.
But this is not what the drugs available from your doctor do. From what I can see on looking at the ehealthme website the drugs rarely if ever work and cause their own problems. This is but one example from the ehealthme site.
Linda (3 years ago):
My husband had MS for 28 years. He tried Avonex, Copaxone, Rebif, Provigil, Amatadine. The Avonex and Rebif, both made him deathly sick. Copaxone did nothing. Provigil gave him some energy, and the Amatadine seemed to help some. He also felt better on a long term dose of doxyclycline,if you can find a doc to prescribe it. He took Tysabri one time before they took it off the market. My observation from his experience is most of those very expensive meds don't work.
Here is a priceless quote from Wikipedia
During symptomatic attacks, administration of high doses of intravenous corticosteroids, ..., is the usual therapy..... Although, in general, effective in the short term for relieving symptoms, corticosteroid treatments do not appear to have a significant impact on long-term recovery.
I'm sure they don't. Given that the cause is a range of pathogens, giving immunosuppressants to someone is more likely to give the pathogen more opportunity to spread. An example immunosuppressant used is Prednisone. The link provides more details of immunosuppressants.
You will be able to see from the observations what the rest of the drugs given to people do. In addition to the drugs whose market is MS sufferers there also appears to be a considerable amount of off-label prescribing. Amantadine mentioned above is for Parkinson's disease. Linda also mentions Doxycycline, which is a medication useful for the treatment of a number of types of infections by bacteria and protozoa, which in some senses is a step in the right direction if that is the cause of the MS. There appears to be some prescribing of tricyclic anti-depressants like Amitriptyline/Elavel; anti-depressants like Duloxetine/Cymbalta; anticonvulsants such as Gabapentin/Neurontin, Lyrica or Pregabalin; whether the person realises they have been given a TCA or anti-depressant and so on, is unclear.
There is also an intriguing mix of people prescribed with opioid based analgesics such as Oxycodone, but with a number of people having been prescribed drugs to help them overcome the resultant addiction.
Many drugs intended for organ transplant patients are also being used off-label to suppress the immune system of MS sufferers. They may not actually realise they are having their immune system depressed, possibly being told their drug is for 'auto-immune diseases'. On eHealthme there are records for Cellcept and Rituximab/Rituxan.
And perhaps the most terrifying of all, there are records on eHealthme of the prescribing of benzodiazepines in the form of Xanax. I'm afraid this is inexcusable.
Another wonderful quote:
Over 50% of people with MS may use complementary and alternative medicine, although percentages vary depending on how alternative medicine is defined...... Regarding the characteristics of users, they are more frequently women, have had MS for a longer time, tend to be more disabled and have lower levels of satisfaction with conventional healthcare.
Side-effects
Using the reports of adverse drug effects on the ehealtme site submitted by doctors to the FDA and SEDA, the sumary table below shows the most frequent side effects for a variety of drugs. We have juxtaposed them so you ca compare a little better
Most common Ampyra side effects: Convulsion (455 reports) Fall (414 reports) Weakness (396 reports) Multiple Sclerosis Relapse (371 reports) Gait Disturbance (362 reports) Urinary Tract Infection (347 reports) Fatigue (341 reports) Dizziness (288 reports) Balance Disorder (263 reports) Headache (213 reports) |
Most common Avonex side effects: Influenza Like Illness (7,619 reports) Fall (7,503 reports) Multiple Sclerosis (7,031 reports) Multiple Sclerosis Relapse (6,781 reports) Weakness (5,550 reports) Fatigue (5,364 reports) Urinary Tract Infection (3,628 reports) Pain (3,537 reports) Pneumonia (3,496 reports) Gait Disturbance (3,489 reports)
|
Most common Azathioprine side effects: Fever (1,049 reports) Crohn's Disease (571 reports) Pneumonia (525 reports) Diarrhea (522 reports) Drug Ineffective (516 reports) Nausea (511 reports) Fatigue (433 reports) Weakness (432 reports) Anaemia (431 reports) Blood Creatinine Increased (388 reports)
|
Most common Baclofen side effects: Weakness (1,794 reports) Fatigue (1,506 reports) Pain (1,405 reports) Multiple Sclerosis (1,381 reports) Fall (1,349 reports) Nausea (1,334 reports) Urinary Tract Infection (1,220 reports) Headache (1,072 reports) Fever (1,067 reports) Depression in Bacloen (1,030 reports)
|
I think you can see they are not working, and in some cases are producing the symptoms of poisoning.
Death
Ampyra [released 2010]
- On Aug, 14, 2015: 3,356 people reported to have side effects when taking Ampyra. Among them, 43 people (1.28%) have Death
Interferon beta 1 alpha and its trade names
- On Aug, 14, 2015: 103,408 people reported to have side effects when taking Avonex. Among them, 2,692 people (2.60%) have Death
- On Aug, 18, 2015: 32,040 people reported to have side effects when taking Rebif. Among them, 265 people (0.83%) have Death
Azothioprine and trade names
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 110 people reported to have side effects when taking Azasan. Among them, 3 people (2.73%) have Death
- On Aug, 25, 2015: 14,262 people reported to have side effects when taking Azathioprine. Among them, 162 people (1.14%) have Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 743 people reported to have side effects when taking Azathioprine sodium. Among them, 6 people (0.81%) have Death
- On Sep, 5, 2015: 9,579 people reported to have side effects when taking Imuran. Among them, 116 people (1.21%) have Death
Baclofen and trade names
- On Aug, 28, 2015: 20,431 people reported to have side effects when taking Baclofen. Among them, 359 people (1.76%) have Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 5 people reported to have side effects when taking Gablofen. Among them, 1 people (20.00%) has Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 11,921 people reported to have side effects when taking Lioresal. Among them, 449 people (3.77%) have Death
Betaseron and its trade names
- On Aug, 15, 2015: 15,006 people reported to have side effects when taking Betaseron. Among them, 622 people (4.15%) have Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 2,019 people reported to have side effects when taking Extavia. Among them, 15 people (0.74%) have Death
Copaxone
- On Aug, 28, 2015: 10,177 people reported to have side effects when taking Copaxone. Among them, 174 people (1.71%) have Death
Fingolimod
- On Aug, 15, 2015: 10,370 people reported to have side effects when taking Gilenya. Among them, 113 people (1.09%) have Death
Tysabri
- On Aug, 16, 2015: 97,552 people reported to have side effects when taking Tysabri. Among them, 731 people (0.75%) have Death
Tizanidine
- On Aug, 25, 2015: 1,223 people reported to have side effects when taking Tizanidine hydrochloride. Among them, 13 people (1.06%) have Death
- On Aug, 12, 2015: 6,741 people reported to have side effects when taking Zanaflex. Among them, 73 people (1.08%) have Death
Summary figures
Using the figures of death from eHealthme summarised from Adverse Drug Reports submitted by doctors to the FDA and SEDA, the total as of early September 2015 was
5,837
this figure is only for the USA and thus excludes the deaths for the rest of the world.
References and further reading
I have a dear friend called Jenny whom I met on a trip to Antarctica. She has MS and she has had it for years. She is on no medication, no doctor has helped her find the cause, but she soldiers on and has been on holiday to some extraordinarily out of the way places. She is brave and uncomplaining, sociable and friendly and keeps going by bolstering her immune system with love, friendship, good food, relaxation, music and laughter.
The photos on this page are of all the places she has been.
All hail Jenny.
Observations
The figures for the hallucinations caused by this class of drug were taken from the eHealthme web site, whose figures are derived from doctor submitted Adverse drug reports to SEDA and the FDA. The links take you to the eHealthme web site where an up-to-date list of side effects can be found.
Drug |
No of hallucinations |
Ampyra and Fampridine |
29 |
Aubagio ** |
- |
Avonex also known as Interferon beta 1 alpha and Rebif |
322 + 124 = 446 |
Azathioprine, Azasan and Imuran plus many other trade names |
22 + 17 = 39 |
Baclofen trade names Lioresal and Gablofen |
300 + 116 = 416 |
Betaseron trade name Extavia |
102 + 14 = 116 |
Copaxone known as Glatiramer acetate and Glatopa |
23 |
Fingolimod and Gilenya |
48 |
Nabilone and Cesamet |
6 |
Natalizumab and Tysabri |
174 |
11 |
|
94 |
|
TOTAL |
1,402 |
** Teriflunomide (trade name Aubagio,) is an ’immunomodulator’ . The TENERE head-to-head comparison trial reported that "although permanent discontinuations [of therapy] were substantially less common among MS patients who received teriflunomide compared with interferon beta-1a, relapses were more common with teriflunomide." The drug was approved by the FDA on September 13, 2012 and in the European Union on August 26, 2013. As such it is too early for reports to appear on eHealthme
Related observations
Healing observations
- Dr Duke's list of Plants with AntiMS activity 019578
- Dr. Terry Wahls - Revitalize, How I Went From Wheelchair To Walking By Changing My Diet 024350
- Nicotine and multiple sclerosis 005283
- Peripheral alpha4beta2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor signalling attenuates tactile allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia after nerve injury in mice 017962
Hallucination
- Ampyra and Fampridine 017705
- Avonex 016898
- Azathioprine and Imuran 017706
- Baclofen 016893
- Beta-interferons in multiple sclerosis: a single center experience in India 016908
- Betaseron 016901
- Campath 018161
- Copaxone 023970
- Depo-medrol 018856
- Fingolimod and Gilenya 017707
- Gilenya 019089
- Leustatin 019257
- Lioresal 016894
- Nabilone and Cesamet 017360
- Novantrone 019714
- Persistent interferon-ß-1b-induced psychosis in a patient with multiple sclerosis 016910
- Rebif 015690
- Rebif 016897
- Tecfidera 024164
- Tizanidine 016875
- Tysabri and Natalizumab 015764
- Zanaflex 016874