Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the brain and spinal cord. It is characterized by lesions more familiarly known as plaques. Symptoms initially include weakness, numbness and tingling and visual disturbances. As the disease progresses, urinary difficulties may be present. Pharmaceutical preparations can retard the disease. Symptoms may also be controlled by natural treatment for MS.
MS is regarded as an autoimmune disorder because T-cells of the immune system attack the body's own myelin. Myelin is a substance in the brain and spinal cord that surrounds and insulates neural cells, thereby increasing the speed of nerve conduction over what it would be in the absence of myelin. There is a pronounced regional distribution of the disease, with cases clustering closer to the poles and away from the equatorial region.
Once believed to affect only the white matter of the brain, it has become clear that the grey matter of the brain is also involved. This would explain such diffuse symptoms as cognitive dysfunction. Epidemiologists are trying to figure out what is so special about the regions where the disease is prevalent. It has been noted that people who are born in a region with low levels of MS migrate to a region where levels are high, they take on the phenotype of their new habitat.
Professor George Jelinek, an ER specialist in Australia, was himself diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 45 years old. He now runs 5-day retreats for MS patients, both in Australia and in New Zealand. He maintains his own symptom control with a strict program of lifestyle choices.
Jelinek has five simple rules: Learn how to meditate, exercise regularly, take high doses of vitamin D and completely avoid trans fats, apart from those that occur naturally in vegetables. Conventional medications are permitted. In fact, Professor Jelinek himself takes glatiramer, an immunomodulator.
Ann Romney, married to the 2012 Republican candidate for president, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after she reported the disturbing brain fog. Diagnosed in 1998, she finds that riding horses helps to fight off her symptoms. She may well observe some of Jelinek's other rules. It is unclear whether she has been to one of his retreats. When a television news reader scoffed at her for making this public, Neil Cavuto, a senior executive at Fox News, tore the anchor a new one for making fun of Mrs Romney. It turns out that he, too, has multiple sclerosis.
Other notable individuals who have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis include Annette Funicello, popular American television and film star, country singer Donna Fargo and two of the Osmond family, David and Alan. Jack Osbourne, son of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, was diagnosed after reporting visual disturbances. He was 26 when he was diagnosed and had just become a father for the first time.
There is a promising natural treatment for MS in Europe. It consists of an extract of two compounds found in marijuana called cannabinoids. The drug is available as an oral spray, similar to breath freshener, and it is used to combat the spasticity that is associated with multiple sclerosis.
MS is regarded as an autoimmune disorder because T-cells of the immune system attack the body's own myelin. Myelin is a substance in the brain and spinal cord that surrounds and insulates neural cells, thereby increasing the speed of nerve conduction over what it would be in the absence of myelin. There is a pronounced regional distribution of the disease, with cases clustering closer to the poles and away from the equatorial region.
Once believed to affect only the white matter of the brain, it has become clear that the grey matter of the brain is also involved. This would explain such diffuse symptoms as cognitive dysfunction. Epidemiologists are trying to figure out what is so special about the regions where the disease is prevalent. It has been noted that people who are born in a region with low levels of MS migrate to a region where levels are high, they take on the phenotype of their new habitat.
Professor George Jelinek, an ER specialist in Australia, was himself diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when he was 45 years old. He now runs 5-day retreats for MS patients, both in Australia and in New Zealand. He maintains his own symptom control with a strict program of lifestyle choices.
Jelinek has five simple rules: Learn how to meditate, exercise regularly, take high doses of vitamin D and completely avoid trans fats, apart from those that occur naturally in vegetables. Conventional medications are permitted. In fact, Professor Jelinek himself takes glatiramer, an immunomodulator.
Ann Romney, married to the 2012 Republican candidate for president, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after she reported the disturbing brain fog. Diagnosed in 1998, she finds that riding horses helps to fight off her symptoms. She may well observe some of Jelinek's other rules. It is unclear whether she has been to one of his retreats. When a television news reader scoffed at her for making this public, Neil Cavuto, a senior executive at Fox News, tore the anchor a new one for making fun of Mrs Romney. It turns out that he, too, has multiple sclerosis.
Other notable individuals who have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis include Annette Funicello, popular American television and film star, country singer Donna Fargo and two of the Osmond family, David and Alan. Jack Osbourne, son of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, was diagnosed after reporting visual disturbances. He was 26 when he was diagnosed and had just become a father for the first time.
There is a promising natural treatment for MS in Europe. It consists of an extract of two compounds found in marijuana called cannabinoids. The drug is available as an oral spray, similar to breath freshener, and it is used to combat the spasticity that is associated with multiple sclerosis.
