Jan
24
Multiple sclerosis seems to damage the central nervous system at a pace faster than the body’s own repair mechanism can keep up. In an attempt to find new approaches to treat the disease, scientists are exploring techniques to give the repair process a boost.
An important area of research focuses on ways to help the body regenerate a fatty substance called myelin, which is damaged by attacks brought on by MS patients’ own immune system. Myelin protects nerve fibers, or axons, much like insulation on electrical wire. Currently, the principal treatment for MS is with medications that aim to slow the disease’s progression, but don’t help repair the damage.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory condition that can be disabling in advanced stages. The disease affects an estimated 400,000 people in the U.S. While typically not fatal, it can cause an array of debilitating symptoms, including fatigue, vision problems and even paralysis.
Scientists are tantalized by signs the body can create new myelin. Bruce Trapp, head of the neurosciences department at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, has studied myelin for decades by dissecting brains of deceased MS patients. “We know the MS brain can repair its lesions,” or areas of damage, says Dr. Trapp, who founded a small start-up company Renovo Neural Inc., that is trying to grow and activate cells that create myelin.
Myelin-rebuilding research is in the early stages and there is a long road ahead to prove it could work safely in people—it hasn’t progressed beyond rodents. Researchers believe it will be important to replace myelin soon after it’s damaged, and before harm to nerve fibers has advanced too far.
Research on other MS treatment strategies could yield results first. MS often requires lifelong treatment, and MS drugs brought in more than $8.7 billion in 2009 revenue worldwide, according to Bernstein Research.
read the rest via New Ways to Treat Multiple Sclerosis – WSJ.com.
Jan
1
Q: I have had multiple sclerosis since I was in my late 20s. I’m now in my early 50s and have been in remission for a while.What can you tell me about MS and bee stings? I got stung a couple of days ago, and I started walking much better and feeling perkier. I have energy that I haven’t had in years. One of my daughters told me about bee-sting therapy.
A: The medical use of honeybee products is known as apitherapy. Bees have played a role in alternative health care since the Egyptians used their byproducts to cure arthritis. Those byproducts have since been used to treat chronic pain, a number of skin conditions, burns of the skin, coughs and a great deal more.
Researchers have found that specific compounds in the venom, namely melittin and adolapin, can work toward reducing pain and inflammation through a process that allows the body to release natural healing compounds in its own defense. It is rumored that thousands of multiple-sclerosis patients in the United States appear to be using bee venom as an alternative to interferon, corticosteroids and other drugs. I don’t know how so many have tapped into this approach, because there are only about 50 physicians nationwide who use bee-venom therapy to relieve the symptoms of MS.
read the rest via Family Doctor: Can it be that bees can help MS patients? – Canton, OH – CantonRep.com.
Dec
14
Victoria multiple sclerosis patient wary of ‘Liberation Procedure’
Filed Under Personal Stories, Research | 2 Comments
So when the 25-year-old heavy-equipment operator read media reports of a revolutionary treatment and possible cure pioneered in Italy in which some MS patients are professing a near-complete recovery, Hall said he decided to keep a lid on his emotions.
“To be hoping and wishing and have all this excitement over something that is not 100 per cent sure yet, I’m not 100 per cent stoked on it,” said Hall. “I don’t let that kind of stuff get me away from my way of looking at my MS.”
read the rest via Victoria multiple sclerosis patient wary of ‘Liberation Procedure’. This article does a good job of explaining why caution is warranted regarding this procedure.
Dec
5
Cannabis extracts may ease symptoms of multiple sclerosis
Filed Under News, Research | Leave a Comment
The studies that were reviewed specifically tested extracts containing two compounds derived from Cannabis sativa, used in combination. One was THC — the main active ingredient that gives the characteristic “high.” The other was cannabidiol, or CBD, which doesn’t give the same high and may act to lower levels of THC in the brain. (The reasoning, therefore, is that combining the two would give the anti-spastic effect in muscles while not fogging the brain.)
In an article published in the journal BMC Neurology, Shaheen E. Lakhan and Marie Rowland of the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation in Los Angeles examined six randomized, placebo-controlled studies. Though results from individual studies weren’t exactly the same, they did show that the extracts were generally well-tolerated, compared with placebo, though doses had sometimes to be adjusted.
read the rest via Cannabis extracts may ease symptoms of multiple sclerosis | Booster Shots | Los Angeles Times.