I find one of the most intriguing aspects of treating ms is the use of alternative medicinal methods. As with most long-term diseases people have turned to many treatments to either affect a cure for their disease or to alleviate symptoms. ms is no exception. Te treatments out their are numerous and intriguing.
My doctors of course recommend the Western approach and my mind agrees, I have a great respect for science. However my heart says differently and demands that I explore alternative methods. Both sides say they have the best treatment and the other is nothing but poison. In my first few weeks I was very confused. I’d checked out numerous books from the library and read many things online. But nothing told me what I was looking to hear or what I was thinking which was that the best approach would be a blend of the two approaches.
One day I went to an MS program put on by MSLifeLines, the support group for rebif. It was on exercise and I was really interested so I took the long bus ride out to the hotel near the airport where the event was to take place. Turns out that the event wasn’t solely about exercise, but it was included in a complementary and alternative approach to ms. Dr. Allen Bowling spoke about his thoughts. He held up his book, Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Multiple Sclerosis which I recognized as one I had just checked out from the library, but had yet to open. He had many good things to say about the blend of Western medicines and alternative and complementary medicines. It was just the advice I was looking for.
He talked about the benefits of many forms of alternative and complementary treatments and explained that there has never been any true clinical testing of these approaches. His basic finding was that they work for some and not for others. No golden egg, but at least I now knew I wasn’t wasting my time.
One of the things he has done is to create an online community where he conducts surveys on the many methods of complementary and alternative medicines out there. These surveys are both heavily and lightly participated in and give a good idea of how people have responded to several CAM approaches. The site is http://www.ms-cam.org. Well worth your time to join and check it out.
Can we talk? (In my best Jaon Rivers voice)
I myself would love to get rid of my Avonex. I beleive I am building up an immunity to it. For I am now getting more reaction days.
And my new general practioner is more holistically geared, but hse needs to do more research on MS, before she can make any sort of recommendations.
I look forward to reading your blog!
The ms-cam.org site is a really good resource. Perhaps your GP can get some info from it or from the group. It sounds like there is not a lot of research being done on holistic approaches to ms, well not a lot of clinical testing I should say. I like the approach the site takes with its surveys. Seems like a really good way to gather information.
BTW I am really glad to have a reader! You will keep me posting!