An article in Daily Kos dated August 25, 2010 – “There was good medical news yesterday, so now what?” By Joel Spinhirne - changed my life by introducing the idea that MS is a blood circulation disorder froms the brain/spinal cord. Of course! I asked my husband to massage my neck forcing the blood down towards the heart to stop an incipient “relapse”. A month later I used a TENS self acupressure treatment one evening as all the symptoms of an MS attack overwhelmed me. No great reaction at the moment, but by the next morning all symptoms had disappeared. Stopped short! If I had known this 20 years ago I wouldn’t need a cane to walk today.
The main problem now is political, that is to say the power of the
big Pharma and Neurology lobby to block CCSVI research and other treatments for MS
patients. Maybe Angioplasty (once called Liberation Therapy) isn’t the answer for someone who needs spinal/dental adjustments or someone who needs to remove toxins from his body or simply requires proper nourishment. My purpose here on Daily Kos will be to help people think things through and to suggest alternative therapies which I’ve found effective. And to encourage people to get angioplasty if they really need it. (Sorry, Doctor, non medical therapists – naturopaths, acupuncturists, chiropractors, kinesiologists – may provide the best healing options for many MS patients.)
You can’t cure something if you don’t know what it is.
Dr. Zamboni has discovered the problem – venous blood reflux or CCSVI – but not the sole solution. Detoxification and nutritional therapy coupled with circulation therapies and/or skeletal adjustments may suffice without taking the risk of angioplasty. MS is a blood circulation disorder (or perhaps cerebrospinal fluid circulation disorder in general) and only secondarily an auto-immune problem.
MS can be cured outright in some cases. For most it is a question of control - stopping or diminishing the progression. There isn’t a magic bullet, one-size–fits-all solution.
I've concluded there are 5 basic MS types, all of which lead to a reflux of venous blood into the Central Nervous System.
1) CONGENITAL vein malformations. 2) DEVELOPMENTAL vein malformations. 3) AGING vein malformations 4) SKELETAL – Cerebrospinal fluid pressure. 5) TOXIC MS.
As for the current categories of Relapse/Remit and the various Progressive MS's, I don't believe these properly describe the problem and certainly don't point to a solution. The various immunosuppressive drugs developed since 1990 are used only for the Relapse/Remit phase, so once you've hit the Progressive stage, you might as well listen to alternative ideas. And even in the early Relapse/Remit phase one should be warned that many of these drugs simply are ineffective, cause serious side effects and at least one (Tysabri) may lead to death.
CONGENITAL: This idea is favoured by Phlebologists and Dr. Sclafani. However, it doesn’t account for the epidemiological variations in geography, culture or gender. It certainly can’t explain the dramatic increase in Japanese MS cases over the past 30 years. However, obviously it can be one factor.
DEVELOPMENTAL: My beginning hypothesis was that stress (of many potential origins) damages the veins in the child's developing body so that once adult the veins can no longer accommodate the blood flow. Defects in the circulatory system impede if not outright block blood flow leading from the brain and spinal cord leading to MS "attacks" and subsequent paralysis. It is for this reason that MS first generally manifests during or after adolescence. Dr. Zamboni himself observed deformities in the veins in the back and neck of MS patients. These areas correspond to Acupuncture meridians which control blood/fluid circulation.
AGING MS: The third type develops with age. There is no reason why veins shouldn't harden and malfunction as a part of the aging process. When the valves in veins draining the central nervous system malfunction, blood backs up to injure the myelin sheath.
THE ANGIOPLASTY CURE has been suggested for these types of MS (Congenital, Developmental, Aging) characterized by varied vein malformations - stenosed (narrowed), twisted, exhibiting stuck or deformed valves, or just plain missing. The Italian phlebologist Dr. Zamboni launched the theory he named CCSVI. The treatment consists of threading a catheter through the affected vein and opening it with a “balloon”. Initially the Internal Jugular Veins, the Vertebral Veins and the Chest Azygos vein were treated. Other veins leading from the spinal cord are now treated as well. Development of the Intravenous Ultrasound has allowed Interventional Radiologists to see what is going on inside the vein, determine the appropriate size of the balloon to open the stenosed vein without scarring, and avoid various complications including thrombosis (total closure of the vein). Stents have been inserted into veins which collapsed after being opened, though now with improved procedures stent usage has become increasingly rare. (Dr. Sclafani believes the early 50% failure rate in the Jugular vein angioplasty occurred because the balloons were too small to open the veins sufficiently.) Without the Intravenous Ultrasound the Interventional Radiologist worked “blind”, unable to see if the balloon was too large which risked scarring the vein lining tissue (endothelium) which might lead to thrombosis. There have been cases where, after the initial “liberation”, the vein closed off again and each subsequent intervention led to more scarring and tissue damage. Some experienced little if any improvement. (Not all the veins leading from the spinal cord are treated.) Some found themselves in a worse condition after the angioplasty than before. (One woman reported that her veins shriveled up into useless dried out structures through which no blood could flow.) Presumably with experience and the development of new techniques and material the few early tragedies which have occurred can be avoided. (Already use of the IntravenousUltrasound has decreased the risk factor dramatically. Also, it must be said that resistance to the new technique by the Pharma Neurologist crowd forced many to go overseas for treatment. They were unable to get followup care once home, condemned for having defied “authority”. It would be difficult to know if the treatment itself was at fault or the negligence of the US and Canadian medical authorities.)
Some post-angioplasty MS patients have reported dramatic recoveries, often with stents inserted, at least 3 years after Angioplasty. They have been CURED. (I don’t know the longest post operative success story. Treatments began sometime in 2009.) The lives of some have been so transformed that they now wonder if they should declare themselves free of MS and therefore ineligible for disability benefits.
Nonetheless, while some have been apparently cured, the risks of angioplasty are real. Before rushing into the operating theater, consider first treatment of Types 4) SKELETAL and 5) TOXIC MS.
SKELETAL MS: A misaligned skeletal, bone or dental structure can actually restrict the free flow of cerebrospinal fluid which in turn can compress or impede venous blood circulation. Structural problems can be either congenital or developmental in origin (e.g. accidents.) Recent scientific studies have focused on the interdependent dynamic of brain "fluids", the blood and the cerebrospinal fluid (CBF) which bathes the Central Nervous System. Excess cerebrospinal fluid can actually "compress" or limit blood circulation, hence the interest of Chiropractors in adjusting the Atlas bone to assure proper CBF circulation. If the problem is SKELETAL, angioplasty would not be appropriate. In this case it is not a problem INSIDE the vein but OUTSIDE. Chiropractic, Osteopathic or Dental adjustment may suffice to release the brain fluids flow leading to CURE or CONTROL.
FINALLY THERE IS TOXIC MS.
I include in this category not only known toxins such as mercury in dental amalgams, aspartame, glutens and various food intolerances, but myriad microbes/viruses such as Mononucleosis, Epstein Barr, Chlamydia Pneumoniae, Lyme as well as various metabolic disorders such as toxic "gut" and diabetes. OK that's a big category. One might say I am being simplistic. BUT MAYBE IT IS JUST THAT SIMPLE. Whatever stresses the body in those individuals with a compromised vascular system may trigger the blood reflux into the CNS. Illness in childhood may damage the vascular system, stress including toxic stress may trigger the reflux. Toxicity itself may damage the veins. All these factors may stress the vascular system leading to a venous blood reflux. Detoxification, intestinal cleansing, and appropriate nutrition will reduce pressure on the vascular system as well as nurture the brain and heal nerve damage.
CURE: Some MS patients recover through diet cleansing and nutritional therapy alone. Some may have a "temporary" stress reaction to a toxic substance such as aspartame (or mercury in dental almagam fillings.) The reaction is "temporary" in the sense that once the toxin is removed, the MS symptoms disappear. I have even heard that removing glutens from the diet is sufficient to heal.
CONTROL: Dr. Terry Wahls (see You Tube Minding Your Mitochondria) presents another excellent example. She began her treatment by de-toxifying from the MS drugs which were poisoning her and then optimized her nutrition. Her recovery implies that her veins were not actually blocked, but tensed up enough to cause a reflux. Also, she stimulated her blood circulation by electrical stimulation of the bands of muscles on her back, in other words, the bladder meridian. Optimal Diet/Supplements serve three purposes. 1) to heal the vein walls themselves 2) to prevent stress on the vascular system which might lead to blood reflux and 3) heal damaged brain tissue.
In addition to nutritional therapy, most MS patients probably will require treatment to enhance blood circulation to prevent blood refluxes – massage, ayervedic massage, acupuncture, self acupressure, osteopathy, chiropractic, and swimming.
Any double blind study will have to sort out these various MS types before proceeding. If one has either Skeletal MS or certain forms of Toxic MS, angioplasty would be inappropriate. Opponents to the CCSVI theory find it too easy to denounce it as “unproven”. For me that is no reason to freeze up like a hedge hog and wait for Science to give me permission to take care of myself.
To make a long story short, Dr. Zamboni has discovered the problem – venous blood reflux or CCSVI – but not the sole solution. Detoxification and nutritional therapy coupled with circulation therapies and/or skeletal adjustments may suffice without taking the risk of angioplasty.
MS Cure Enigmas.net