Have you received any alternative treatments for your MS?

The Swank Diet has helped and is still helping. Plus a lot of supplements are added which help even more.

Exercise and physical therapy have been and continue to be very effective. I also have seen beneficial effect from massive doses of vitamin D3, 50,000 I.U./day for 60 days and then down to 2,000 I.U./day. I have been on the Swank diet for 4 years. I don't know if it has helped but I like it.

I've tried accupuncture with limited success (stopped working after a session or two) but would recommend for specific problems. Chinese herbs helped quite a bit with my overall well-being (I believe helped lower inflammation in my body in general) but I rec'd them for fertility and not specifically MS.

Accupuncture eases pain from constant leg spasms. Accupuncture helped in specific areas during an exacerbation

Udo's Choice 3-6-9 chases away my brain fog before it rolls in - even on hot, humid, midwestern afternoons.

Water heals my body. Regular(2x/week)water exersie did wonders for me. I cannot wait to get back into the water.

I quit eating white flour and that made a HUGE improvement. Try it, people, give it one month and you will see. Big, BIG help with my fatigue. Best improvement since my DX in 11/02. Try it.

acupuncture
anti-inflammatory diet
homeopathy
various supplements including alpha lipoic acid, bilberry extract, blueberry extract, vitamin E, cod liver oil, evening primrose oil

I see a naturopath/acupuncturist who uses a pretty comprehensive, long-term approach. I began treatment shortly after diagnosis. I have had improvement in symptoms. I think my improvements are from the overall treatment, and not one specific piece.

I plan on investigating alternate treatments for use after the clinical trial I am starting in
April finishes. Due to costs I will have no/limited access to mainstream treatments so my options will be limited to those that are afforded by my budget.

Massage therapy has helped to diminish pain, but then I had to get up from the table.

Walking and daily stretching helps to ease leg spasms.

This poll would be more useful if you spelled out exactly what you mean by "alternative treatments." For instance, is LDN an alternative treatment?

Yes, please define "alternative treatment" more exactly. I answered "Never, but would consider trying," then read the comments. I see that dietary adjustments were considered alt. treatment by responders. I'm doing the Swank diet, and supplementing with Omega 3.6.9 oils, Coenzyme Q10, Evening Primrose Oil, pine bark extract, and of course a multivitamin (and will read more evidence about Vit D before upping my intake). And an exercise program.

The available answers should include, "Yes, I do alternative therapies, but I don't know if they're helping."

With a long-term slowly progressing disease (not RR), how can we be sure what our results would have been if we had chosen a different treatment course? Isn't that the conundrum?

I do miss certain foods....but I do know that I'm not getting any of the "side effects" that I'd be getting if I had gone with one neuro's advice and started chemotherapy.

JO'C RRMS? 33+ years, current DMD Copaxone (4+yrs) Yoga, accupunture, vitamins - higher than FDA suggested D, C and Fish oil along with Calcium. I see an integrative medicine internist, and follow closely the recommendations of the Rocky Mountain MS Center (??), Alan Bowling, MD, and my internist and neuro both respect his work as well. CAM's seem to help relives many sx's for me.

I've been on Prokarin for the last 8 months, and it's the first treatment I've tried that's actually improved my life. I now have the energy to make it through a full day of work and still have some left when I get home--I'm even cooking meals for my family again! It's been a wonderful treatment--no side effects, only benefits. The slow-release caffeine has let me discontinue the 8-12 caffeinated sodas I used to have daily, and the histamine has kept my blood pressure in the normal range, instead of the "so low I pass out every time I stand up range" my doctor assured me was beneficial. I'm able to continue working full time, where before I started Prokarin, I would have had to cut back my hours considerably. I can't recommend it enough--after 5 years of Copaxone with no beneficial effects and one year of Beta-Seron feeling like I was going to die every day, this is actually therapeutic! Easy to use, inexpensive compared to anything else, and it works!

I have! I have gotten off the 'prescription drugs' I have taken a multi pronged approach. 1 I used a product called Progurt that another MS sufferer had gotten from Australia. That made an amazing difference.

I followed it up with not only a dietary change but elimination of MSG not just the ones labeled MSG on products, but also the 50+ other names for hidden MSG the manufactured type is really bad, it does not occur in nature period as much as the glut industry would like you to believe. Look at the list of MSG exposure symptoms and MS and other rising diseases. Also the pharmaceutical companies are going hot after glutamate blockers and have come out with a number of treatments (MS is in the works as well). Why do we need a blocker if we can just take it out of the food supply itself.

I also went to a natural-pathic doctor who is accredited with the state and they do a set of blood tests that tell you what foods react at the cell level for your body. Turns out my wife and I are near opposites in food and she has managed to clear up all the issues she was having as well. I could go on with everything else that has happened since doing this. But in truth it seems that most research ignore this aspect and go for the money shot so to speak in looking for a solution.

I've been seeing a chiropractor every other week for the past 6 months. He has helped a lot with various aches and stiffnesses in my body. This, along with regular exercise, allows me to function fairly normally without any of the medicaitons for pain or spasticity - I don't even have to take tylenol or ibuprofin on more than an occasional basis.

Hi,
I've been trying to perfect a diet for the last two years. I'm unsure whether all the improvements I feel are a result of less MS symptoms, or just of the extra energy and better general health that are a result of giving up gluten and dairy and sugar.
Either way, I beleive it's not a quick fix or an easy one, but I'm sticking with it. Even if I had no MS, I wouldn't change my diet!

Hi,
I've been on Vit D 3,000 IU (doc prescribed)daily. I also take Lecithin 1250 mg 3x day, Omega 3-6-9, B-12 (also doc prescribed), and B complex which has 50mg of each of the B's.
I also follow a vegatarian diet (by choice) which I changed in the last two years.

I tried an alternative care medical group with three MDs on staff. All three left mainstream medicine because they felt it was wrong to just treat only symptoms. They believe that it is best to strengthen the body to heal itself. I received IV high dose vitamins for about one year. They also prescribed high dose oral vitamins and herbs. At one point I received Colchicine and Glutathione IV which are used to reduce inflammation and to strengthen the immune system. I felt stronger for awhile and my blue, cyanotic feet actually returned to pink again. They recommended hyperbaric oxygen treatment which they say helps most neurological conditions a great deal. But my claustrophobia kept me from climbing into that "coffin like" chamber. The treatments are expensive and I wasn't getting significantly stronger so I stopped going there.

I was diagnosed with MS 3 years ago after having an attack consisting of severe double vision (I wore glasses with one lens blacked out so I could kinda see), fatigue (sleeping 20 hrs/day), dizziness/nausia (I had to crawl to get around the house), brain fog (feeling drunk), memory loss (did not know where I was). This scary episode lasted about a month. The doctors (I tried 3)in my province refused to prescribe anything for me since I "do not meet the criteria" what ever that means so I had to take things into my own hands to try to "fix" myself.

I got tested fro allergies and discovered I had several. I immediately changed my diet to avoid the allergic foods and now mostly eat soups, salads, low-fat and no beef. I also started taking supplements. Some worked and some did not. I found ginko biloba to be the most important one for me so far. It takes away some of the brain fog/memory problems. I have not had another attack yet but have not returned to pre-MS either.

I corresponded with someone on an MS forum recently that explained to me that those evil inflammation promoting MMP-9's (Matrix Metalloproteinase 9) may be responsible for some of our problems. The drug minocycline that is just now in clinical trials and shows positive results for MS boasts powerful MMP-9 inhibitors. Paratek also has a drug in trials similar to minocyline (MMP-9s) but without the antibiotic properies. My correspondent pointed out that there are several supplements out there that reduce MMP-9s. I have just started to take these so can't comment on them yet. I did a little research and found out that ginko also reduces the MMP-9s.

Here is his list:
Things that reduce MMP-9s (AKA gelatinase B)

VIT D3 .................................REDUCES MMP-9s
RESVERATROL (Grape Skin Extract) ...REDUCES MMP-9s
(NOT Grape SEED Extract)
GREEN TEA EXTRACT(EGCGs)... REDUCES MMP-9s
ALPHA LIPOIC ACID (R-lipoic/ R-Dihdro-LipoicAcid) ... REDUCES MMP-9s
NAC N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine .......REDUCES MMP-9s
STATIN DRUGS (i.e Zocor) .....REDUCES MMP-9s
Omega-3s (ie Fish oil) ...........REDUCES MMP-9s (Omega 6s & 9s increase MMP-9s)
Minocycline/Doxycycline.........REDUCES MMP-9s
Curcumin.............................REDUCES MMP-9s
Pycnogenol (Pine bark extract)..REDUCES MMP-9s
Chondroitin sulfate (CS) and CS plus glucosamine sulfate (GS) ..REDUCES MMP-9s
Interferon Betas 1a/1b...........REDUCES MMP-9
(of course Steroids ....REDUCES MMP-9s)
***NOTE*** ( gelatinase B = MMP-9) ***NOTE***

I didn't look closely enough at the question. I said nothing helped, but swimming, yoga and massage keep me up and nrunning. I don't consider them "alternative" anymore.