Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Salt May Increase Risk for Multiple Sclerosis

Excerpt from: About.com (click for full article)

 

Studies published in Nature describe data that seem to point to a link between sodium and the risk for developing autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.

The researchers found that people who ate fast food more than once a week had a higher number of TH17 cells than people who did not eat fast food. These TH17 cells usually help the body repair itself or fight disease, but it seems like salt may cause them to multiply too fast, at which point they attack the body's own tissues and cause autoimmune disease.

Exposing the immune cells of mice to sodium caused the cells to produce more TH17. When mice that were genetically engineered to develop MS were fed a high-salt diet, their disease progressed rapidly.

Who do you talk to about your MS?

Excerpt from: About.com (click for full article)

 

I do have a couple of people whom I talk to about my MS when I am upset about a particularly difficult day or a bothersome symptom. Of course, one of these people is my husband, who usually knows that I am not doing great before I bring it up. I also have a couple of friends who empathize with me - they are also mothers of small children and one grapples with her own cornucopia of autoimmune diseases. Regardless of how bad I am feeling when I call them, it is inevitable that we find something to laugh about during the conversation and everything seems a lot "lighter" after I hang up.

3rd Oral Drug to Treat MS Is Approved by the F.D.A.

Excerpt from: New York Times (click for full article)

 

A chemical once used to treat sofas — until it was found to cause rashes and blisters in people who sat on them — is now poised to become a major therapy for multiple sclerosis.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the chemical, dimethyl fumarate, which will be sold by Biogen Idec under the name Tecfidera, the third of a spate of oral drugs that are transforming the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Despite the drug’s seemingly odd history, Wall Street analysts, doctors and patients expect Tecfidera to become a blockbuster because of its combination of efficacy and relative safety and the convenience of being a pill. Doctors and analysts say some patients have been putting off starting treatment until Tecfidera is available.

What helped you most after your MS diagnosis?

Excerpt from: About.com (click for full article)

 

I remember the time immediately following my diagnosis with multiple sclerosis (MS). It was a weird time, a time when everything was different because I now knew that I had MS. However, it was disorienting to think that I also had MS before I was aware of what was causing my symptoms and that the only difference was the knowledge that I now possessed of my condition.

When I think about what helped me the most, it wasn't a doctor. It wasn't a book (in fact, all of the books that I could find at that time were dismal, with dire predictions of imminent disability and planning for inevitable deterioration).  What helped me the most was my fiancé (now husband). More accurately, it was a specific moment that I kept going back to, and still do, to this day, almost a decade later.

The moment that is seared into my brain has nothing to do with anything he said to me after this proclamation. Instead, one of the most memorable and treasured moments of my life had to do with the expression of sheer confusion that came over his face. He simply didn't understand what I was saying. He couldn't fathom how I possibly thought something like MS could affect his feelings for me or his confidence that our future together would be wonderful. It is that look on his face that I will hold in my heart forever, because he was right. MS has presented several challenges, but hasn't stood in our way of loving each other deeply.

How are you sleeping these days?

Excerpt from: About.com (click for full article)

 

I'm curious about sleep patterns of other people with MS, since I can't seem to figure out my own.

Some nights I sleep great, going to sleep right away and sleeping all the way through until morning. Then I get out of bed and feel groggy and wish I still had a couple more hours before the start of my day.

Other days I am so tired that I dream about my bed. When I make my bed, I long to climb in it. I swear, I find myself daydreaming about my bed on days like this. Then nighttime comes, I get in the bed and can't fall asleep until it is almost morning.

Mouth device in clinical trials as possible treatment for TBI

Excerpt from: Army Mil (click for full article)

 

Now researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and NeuroHabilitation Corporation are leveraging the power of those tiny nerves. They are aiming to restore lost physical and mental function for service members and civilians who suffered traumatic brain injury or stroke, or who have Parkinson's or multiple sclerosis.

The treatment involves sending specially-patterned nerve impulses to a patient's brain through an electrode-covered oral device called a "PoNS," a battery-operated appliance placed on the tongue. The 20-30 minute stimulation therapy, called cranial nerve non-invasive neuromodulation, or CN-NiNM, is accompanied with a custom set of physical, occupational, and cognitive exercises, based on the patient's deficits. The idea is to improve the brain's organizational ability and allow the patient to regain neural control.

Ft. Worth Chiropractor Showcases Website Video Series About MS Treatment Options

Excerpt from: Globe Newswire (click for full article)

 

Back to Health Family Chiropractic in Fort Worth, TX announced that the practice has had significant success using chiropractic care to help manage and significantly lessen the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). To better educate individuals about the benefits of spinal adjustments, the practice is offering a free video series on its website, http://backtohealthtexas.com. The videos include testimonials from patients about how the ways spinal adjustments have helped alleviate their symptoms including tingling, muscle weakness, numbness and back pain.

Ft. Worth chiropractor Dr. Chris Michlin is expanding access to free online information about the benefits of chiropractic care for MS symptoms.

"Chiropractic care is often an effective alternative to or partner with medication in the treatment of MS," said Dr. Michlin. "Our online video series is designed to educate patients and their families about how spinal adjustments work and why they can make a difference for managing MS."

Study Suggests Eyes Offer Unique Window to MS Damage and Repair -- - May represent new way to track benefits of therapy during clinical trials in progressive MS

Excerpt from: National Multiple Sclerosis Society (click for full article)

 

A team of researchers scanned the eyes of a group of people with MS over nearly two years, and also did MRI scans and regular clinical exams. The researchers, from Johns Hopkins University and other institutions across the country, found that thinning of the back layer of the eye may represent a window to global damage occurring in the nervous system, and suggest that this tool may be useful for tracking nerve protection in clinical trials involving people with MS. The study, by John Ratchford, MD, Peter Calabresi, MD, and colleagues, was funded in part by the National MS Society’s Promise: 2010 Nervous System Repair and Protection initiative. It was published in the January 2013 issue of Neurology.

Multiple Sclerosis Study Reveals How Killer T Cells Learn to Recognize Nerve Fiber Insulators

Excerpt from: Science Daily (click for full article)

 

ntriguingly, the UW study, published this week in Nature Immunology, also raises the possibility that misdirected killer T cells might at other times act protectively and not add to lesion formation. Instead they might retaliate against the cells that tried to make them mistake the wrappings around nerve endings as dangerous.

Scientists Qingyong Ji and Luca Castelli performed the research with Joan Goverman, UW professor and chair of immunology. Goverman is noted for her work on the cells involved in autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system and on laboratory models of multiple sclerosis.

"Our findings are consistent," the researchers said, "with the critical role of dendritic cells in promoting inflammation in autoimmune diseases of the central nervous system." They mentioned that mature dendritic cells might possibly wait in the blood vessels of normal brain tissue to activate T-cells that have infiltrated the blood/brain barrier.

Buffalo study offers hope to multiple sclerosis patients

Excerpt from: ** Stu's Views & M.S. News ** (click for full article)

 

Scientists in recent years have found a way to infuse stem cells into the brains of animals to repair damage to the central nervous system, offering some of the most encouraging news yet for multiple sclerosis patients.

Now, a key $12.1 million study soon will be under way in Buffalo and two other upstate medical centers that will for the first time begin to test the procedure in people.

The hope is that the stem cells will generate new myelin, the fatty substance that surrounds nerves like the insulation on a wire. Myelin is damaged in MS, leading to weak or lost signals between nerves. Eventually, the painful disease spreads in a slow, unpredictable path toward paralysis.

“This is a promising strategy. It has been extraordinarily effective in mice, and there is great hope the technique will be successful in people,” said Dr. Steven Goldman, co-principal investigator and co-director of the University of Rochester Center for Translational Neuromedicine.