Multiple Sclerosis: A Trigger Identified

Multiple Sclerosis: A Trigger Identified

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a serious chronic neurological disorder in which the insulating cover of nerve cells (myelin sheathing) is destroyed. This is referred to as demyelination.

As of 2008, between 2 and 2.5 million people are affected globally

As the disease progresses, the nerves malfunction leading to an inflammatory cascade that damages the brain and spinal cord (CNS).
Four common symptoms of MS include:

1. Eye pain
2. Numbness, tingling, or a pins-and-needles sensation anywhere in the body that doesn’t go away after two weeks
3. Swelling of the limbs or trunk
4. Intense itching sensation, especially in the neck area

There are four types of MS

1: Relapsing-remitting MS- this is where a person will have a period of symptoms followed with a period  where there will be no symptoms.This is the most common type of MS.

Unfortunately, the next three are progressive and symptoms tend to not go away.

2: Primary progressive—this is associated with the disease being progressive with no remission.

3: Secondary progressive—this is associated with initially having remissions followed with progressive deterioration and more remissions.

4: Progressive relapsing—this is associated with an initial progressive onset where there were no remissions. However, later as the disease progresses a person may experience remissions.

Diagnosis

Unfortunately, there are no specific antibody tests for MS. The disease is confirmed “only” after the person has neurological symptoms twice and lesions are found on an MRI. It is important to note that one episode of the common symptoms that resolve and never come back is considered negative for MS.

Triggering Theory

Scientists in the field of immunology have been searching for the potential “triggers” that cause the immune cells to attack the myelin sheathing.

Scientists have posed the question, “is something damaging the insulation of nerve cells”? The literature including functional medicine practitioners has supported a few triggers such as gluten, Epstein Barr, vitamin D deficiency, heavy metals toxicity and microbial pathogens.

Today we will spend a little time on the issue of infectious disease as a potential trigger of MS.
The medical research has identified elevated amounts of immunogobulins in 95 percent of MS patients. This suggests that the brain is aggressively battling an infection.

It is interesting to note that the pathogen most commonly involved in this fight infecting the brain is Chlamydia pneumonia.

Researchers from the Department of Neurology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine have found that 50% of C. pneumoniae are also made inside the central nervous system as well as the brain.

Further studies have revealed enthusiastically that the eradication of Chlamydia pneumonia via the antibiotic, minocycline helped improve the symptoms of rapidly worsening MS patients.

Functional medicine practitioners specialize in seeking to identify the root cause(s) of auto-immune diseases. It is quite common to see patients with an auto-immune disease, improve both subjectively and objectively when the “cause(s)” has been appropriately treated. 

While we do not specialize in functional medicine at Chiropractic Lane, we do endorse that our patients should seek out these specialists.

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