Are Your MS Drugs Making You Sicker?
Toxic Tysabri

If you are like many with MS you’re probably taking a cocktail of MS medications like interferons, glatiramer acetateon and Tysabri.

Do they really help you?

Please know that none of these toxic medications address the underlying causes of the disease. Tysabri could actually kill you.

Why is Tysabri Back on the Market?

Tysabri first hit the market in November 2004 under an accelerated program the FDA reserves for drugs it believes will have “extraordinary benefits” to patients. It was touted as the “miracle” drug for MS because the results from the first year of clinical trials showed that MS patients who took Tysabri for one year had a 66% reduction in relapses compared to those who took a placebo.

But this wonder drug, which was slated to bring in $2 billion in annual sales within its first few years after release, turned out to have a very dark side.

Tysabri is a ‘monoclonal antibody’, meaning it is derived from a mouse antibody that has been genetically engineered to mirror a human antibody (antibodies are proteins that help your body fight infection).

It is given every four weeks by infusion directly into a vein, where the antibodies bind to immune system cells, inhibiting them from crossing over from the bloodstream to the brain.

Tysabri blocks this movement by attaching to alpha 4-integrin, a protein on the surface of immune T cells that normally enables them to pass through the blood-brain barrier.

However, if destructive immune system cells break free of the bloodstream, they can reach your brain, gastrointestinal tract and joints and cause severe damage.

Tysabri and Deadly Brain Infections

Is Your Brain On Fire?"

Sure enough, three months after Tysabri first hit the market it was pulled because one in 1,000 people who took it during clinical trials developed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare brain infection that results in death or severe disablement.

Dr. Lawrence Steinman, a Stanford University professor and an MS specialist who has developed MS drugs himself, said he repeatedly warned the FDA of the potential for serious immune system and liver damage with Tysabri and drugs like it prior to approval.

Nonetheless, in June 2006 the FDA made yet another counterintuitive decision -- the type that make absolutely no logical sense, and for which the FDA is becoming increasingly known.

They voted that Tysabri be returned to the market.

Now, nearly four years later, the FDA has added a new label warning to Tysabri, warning health care professionals and patients that the risks of PML increase as more infusions are received.

You Have Been Warned!

Therefore, please resist taking such toxic drugs to treat MS. They cause conditions that are worse than those you started with.

Rather, get to the root causes of MS and adopt lifestyle changes that will help to nourish and heal your body from the inside out. You can achieve that by becoming a Member of Naked MS Here.

What is Your Howling Dog?

This Awesome content was written by Bruce Musik. (I have added my thoughts in red.)

It is poignant, sobering and enlightening.......

The first time I read the email, I cried for the dog, Sammy.

The second time I was angry with Bruce, but by the end, respected him.

The third time I read it, I cried for myself.......in My Story you see many of my ‘Howling Dogs’.

What is your ‘Howling Dog’?

Content starts here: The Howling Dog

“I ran over a dog last night!

It was dark and I was driving to the airport to collect two friends visiting me on the island. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dog running across the freeway...

I slammed on my brakes, trying to keep the car from skidding out of control, but the dog kept running. Seconds later I felt a series of loud thuds followed by shrieks of terror and agony as the dog got dragged underneath my truck.

My heart started racing and time slowed down to a standstill as adrenaline pumped into my veins.

“Oh s#%t”, I thought to myself as I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the injured dog writhing in the middle of the freeway.

The dog’s agonized howls penetrated my car even though I had music playing, the windows were shut and I was 100 meters down the road.

I’m not proud to admit it, but my first thought was:

“There’s no way that this dog is going to be alive much longer... Another car will probably hit it again in a few seconds. I’m going to keep driving to the airport, pick up my friends and forget this ever happened...”

I kept driving for another 10 seconds, but the dog’s agonized howls haunted me like the sound of a baby crying for its mother.

I didn’t want to take responsibility for having hit the dog. By most people’s standards, the accident was the dog’s fault and that justifies leaving the dog to die on the side of the road.

I’ll come back to my story in a moment, but before I do, I want to ask you an important question:

Have you ever hurt someone, lied to someone or stolen something and then didn’t own up and take responsibility for it?

Have you ever thought that your (ill)health is not your responsibility, but something that ‘just is’?

If your mind is telling you that you have never done a thing like that, it’s lying to you.

Think of that time when you hurt someone, lied to someone or stolen something and then didn’t own up and take responsibility for it...

Got it?

Remember the guilty feeling immediately after you did the ‘bad’ thing? You knew you’d done something wrong.

Perhaps the memory of that event gnaws at you the way I could hear the howling dog yelping and see it writhing in the rear view mirror.

Consider for a moment that your “Howling Dog” is your conscience...

It’s your heart trying to tell you to do the right thing, the scary thing, the terrifying act of taking responsibility for your actions.

Think back to your incident again...

Remember how quickly your mind kicked in to shut your Howling Dog up and justify why it was OK not to take responsibility? That’s what our minds do in an attempt to keep us ‘safe’ or out of trouble.

Here’s the problem 99.9% of people don’t admit to themselves:

Whenever you hear or see your Howling Dog and you ignore it, it haunts you unconsciously and slowly, but surely eats away at your aliveness.

First, the guilt makes you tired and lethargic...

Then, as time passes, you forget that the incident ever happened, BUT it leaves behind a slow-release poison that begins killing you from the inside out. You begin feeling emotionally dead inside... like MS!

After a while, feeling dead becomes normal and life stops being a fun, joyful experience and...

You LOSE the ability to attract good things into your life. MS life becomes empty, meaningless.

It’s as if your attraction magnet breaks down...

I know that you know what I’m talking about...

After years of silencing or killing your Howling Dogs (i.e. not taking responsibility for your actions and ignoring your conscience)... they KILL YOU - from the inside.

This often manifests as disease in your body or an inability to attract ANYTHING good into your life. It’s as if your life has become poisoned.

Poisoned by MS. OR, by your thoughts and feelings about you and your life and MS?

If you can relate to this, there is only ONE thing you can do to save yourself.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for your actions TODAY. Otherwise, you’ll wake up tomorrow forgetting you ever read this email and you life will remain DEADENED.

I’m not kidding!

I have a challenge for you today...

I challenge you to call the person you wronged and apologize to them and take responsibility for the impact of your actions.

I challenge you to own up to stealing, lying, cheating or whatever else you’ve done that you’re too scared to take responsibility for.

I challenge you to take responsibility for your health and well-being and to ask yourself:

HOW MUCH do I really want to get better and heal?

How have I contributed to ‘My’ MS?

Start with just ONE thing. The BIGGEST thing. Clean that up first. You know exactly which one I’m talking about...

It’s that BIG thing that you’re hiding, afraid someone might find out about, or that involves unpredictable change.

Why would you want to do this?

Because it’s the only way to truly be FR-EE.

Here’s how I silenced my howling dog...

Somewhere in the middle of this, my heart managed to override my head and I turned the car around to go find the howling dog and take responsibility for hitting the poor little guy.

I was hoping that the dog would be dead by the time I arrived, because I had no idea what I’d do if it was still alive.

I had SO many thoughts, most of which were awful, wondering whether to leave it on the side of the road to die or not. I was so confused.

As I approached the place where I had hit the dog, I saw that the dog was still alive, panting with saliva running down its mouth and a trail of blood marking its agonizing journey dragging itself to the side of the road with its front paws only.

I jumped out of the car and slowly approached the now quiet dog, who looked at me with pleading eyes as if to say, “Please help me”. I could see it was probably a stray dog because it had no name tag.

I stroked its head to calm it down and then picked up the bloody dog in my arms and placed her gently in the back of the truck.

There was NO way in hell I was leaving her there and there was no turning back now.

This choice left me with two challenges:

1. I had no idea where to take a bleeding animal at 9pm on a tiny Caribbean Island

   and

2. my friends were still waiting outside the airport for me.

I had to act fast because the dog might not live much longer and I wanted to do everything I could to help it.

I was 3 minutes from the airport, so I decided to collect my friends first and figure out what to do with the dog as I drove... Along the way I, called around and found a number of a vet on the island.

Arriving at the airport, I hugged Michelle and Schalk hello and welcomed them to the island, and explained that they needed to sit with their luggage on their laps because there was an animal in the back which needed our help.

15 minutes later we were pulling into the drive of the vet’s surgery.

The vet pinched the dog’s paws and to my surprise, she stayed calm and didn’t make a noise. I thought of how brave she was, only to have my illusion shattered when the vet told me that she was probably paralysed and that’s why she didn’t react.

He told me he would give the dog painkillers for the night and talk to me in the morning. We agreed that if an owner did not claim the dog by the end of the next day, we would put the dog down.

I was all shaken up and it took me a few hours to calm down and relax after all the adrenaline. I felt sad about the dog, but peaceful about doing the right thing.

The vet called me the next morning and told me nobody had claimed the dog. After much deliberation we agreed that the best thing for her was for her to die peacefully and to put her down. I felt sad for her but knew that it was the right thing for her.

A $500 vet bill (reduced to $250 by the kind receptionist) and a huge learning later, my conscience is now completely clear.

I took responsibility for my part in the accident and now I’m fr-ee to return to my life full of joy and fr-ee from guilt and remorse.

As I walked along the beach this morning, I thought of her and said a little prayer to thank her for the valuable beautiful lesson she taught me.

I wished her well in “Doggie Heaven”, imagined her eating loads of big bones and running around freely on good legs and felt a sense of freedom again.

I’ll never forget the sound of that Howling Dog and it will always be reminding me to listen to my conscience, take responsibility for my actions and keep living the best life I can.

I hope you choose to take me up on my challenge and take responsibility for something in your life that is eating at you. Be FR-EE from your howling dogs and experience peace and joy in your life.

The Howling Dog Challenge

Here is a process you can use for cleaning up ANY of your Howling Dogs in your life:

1. Grab a pen and write a list of all the crap you’re avoiding dealing with in your life.

2. Next to each item, write down how what you did (or didn’t do) impacted the person you did it to (including yourself). Don’t stop until you are truly present to how your actions impacted the other person (or you).

   If no other person was impacted (this is rare), write down how it impacted you.

3. Have a conversation with the person(s) involved and apologize for what you did. You may want to ask them, “What can I do to make this right for you?” Or, if the person is you: “What can I do to make this right for me?”
4. Now here is the most important step. Do whatever needs to be done to make it right for the other person or you
5. Now, notice how good you feel and how a weight has been lifted from your shoulders. You have taken responsibility for your actions and are fr-ee.

Taking responsibility takes courage and I fully expect that you WON’T take responsibility for your action you identified below.

I expect your mind is already talking to you telling you why I’m an idiot for suggesting this and why you are better off keeping quiet etc etc blah blah fish paste...

I dare you...

I dare you.....

Please accept the Howling Dog Challenge. Then comment in this Blog by sharing your experiences.

To being courageous,

To taking responsibility for your Health and Howling Dogs....

Bruce and the beautiful brave Sammy (the name I gave my Howling Dog)

P.S. I want to acknowledge Werner Erhard, Brad Blanton and my Howling Dog for inspiring this article.

PPS You may visit Bruce’s blog

Then come back and comment Here!

Helping Others to Help Yourself

In Core: Relationships 1.3-1.4 I show how our positive and negative thoughts and feeling influence our health and wellbeing.

This is reinforced in a great article I’ve just read about a woman with MS. An unusual prescription from her holistic health adviser transformed her life......read the article here....:

In Month of Giving, a Healthy Reward by Tara Parker-Pope, published: November 30, 2009

“When Cami Walker of LA learned three years ago that she had multiple sclerosis, her health and her spirits plummeted - until she got an unusual prescription from a holistic health educator.

Ms. Walker, now 36, scribbled the idea in her journal.

Though she dismissed it at first, after weeks of fatigue, insomnia, pain and preoccupation with her symptoms, she decided to give it a try. The treatment and her experience with it are summed up in the title of her new book, “29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life” (Da Capo Press).

Ms. Walker gave a gift a day for 29 days - things like making supportive phone calls or saving a piece of chocolate cake for her husband.

The giving didn’t cure her multiple sclerosis, of course. But it seems to have had a startling effect on her ability to cope with it.

She is more mobile and less dependent on pain medication. The flare-ups that routinely sent her to the emergency room have stopped, and scans show that her disease has stopped progressing. Wow! Ms Walker said:

“My first reaction was that I thought it was an insane idea,
but it has given me a more positive outlook on life.
It’s about stepping outside of your own story long enough
to make a connection with someone else.”

Science appears to back her up.

Scientific Support for Self Help By Helping Others

Stephen G. Post, director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University on Long Island and a co-author of “Why Good Things Happen to Good People” (Broadway, 2007) says:

“There’s no question that it gives life a greater meaning when we make this kind of shift in the
direction of others and get away from our own self-preoccupation and problems.
But it also seems to be the case that there is an underlying biology involved in all this.”

An array of studies have documented this effect.

In one, a 2002 Boston College study, researchers found that patients with chronic pain fared better when they counseled other pain patients. They experienced less depression, intense pain and disability.

Another study, at the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, Calif., also found a strong benefit to volunteerism. After controlling for a number of variables, the study showed that elderly people who volunteered for more than four hours a week were 44 percent less likely to die during the study period.

It’s not clear how giving can lead to mental and physical changes in health, although studies suggest that altruism may be an antidote to stress. A Miami study of patients with H.I.V. found that those with strong altruistic characteristics had lower levels of stress hormones.

By contrast, being self-centered may be damaging to health. In one study of 150 heart patients, researchers found that people in the study who had more “self-references” (those who talked about themselves at length or used more first-person pronouns) had more severe heart disease and did worse on treadmill tests.

Helper’s High

Like Ms. Walker, numerous people have reported feeling better after helping others.

A 1988 Psychology Today article dubbed the effect the “helper’s high.” Analyzing two separate surveys of a total of 3,200 women who regularly volunteered, the article described a physical response from volunteering, similar to the results of vigorous exercise or meditation. The strongest effect was seen when the act of altruism involved direct contact with other people.

For Ms. Walker, a former creative director for an advertising agency, most of the gifts involved time, emotional support or small acts of kindness. After the first 29 days, she began a new cycle, a pattern she continues.

Neither she nor Mbali Creazzo, the spiritual adviser who taught her about the month of giving, knows why it is 29 days rather than 30 or 31 - it may have something to do with the lunar cycle, which is 29.5 days.

Ms. Walker says she now approaches daily giving as a crucial part of her treatment, just like regular medication.

She has also found new purpose in her experience and started a Web site, 29-Day Giving Challenge, that encourages giving to improve health.

Ms Walker said:

“Giving for 29 days is not suggested as a cure for anything,
It’s simply a coping mechanism and a simple tool you can use
to help you change your thinking about whatever is going on.
If you change your thinking, you change your experience.”

Dr. Post, of Stony Brook, agreed.

“To rid yourself of negative emotional states,
you need to push them aside with positive emotional states.
And the simplest way to do that is to just go out and lend a helping hand to somebody.”

I think Ms Walker is an inspiration, don’t you?

Step outside of your own story long enough to make a connection with someone else.

See their happiness. Share it.

Then share your experience by commenting below...

Cellular Emotions

I’ve just come across the work of Dr Candace Pert: Molecules of Emotion: the Science Behind Mindbody Medicine (Simon and Schuster, 1998) and Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d (Hayhouse, 2007).^[1]

Maybe you know her from the movie ‘What the Bleep Do We Know!?’ ^[2]

In the movie she explains how the molecules of emotion colour our perception, penetrate our cells and hence our creation of reality and health.

Similarly, in her books, Candace explains how emotions exist both as energy and matter, in the vibrating receptors on every cell in the body.

She says that people are often ‘stuck’ in an unpleasant emotional event - a trauma - from the past. This is stored at every level of our nervous system and even on the cellular level - i.e. cells that are constantly renewing the nervous system.

Her lab research suggests that all of the senses, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch are filtered, and memories stored, through the molecules of emotions, mostly the neuropeptides^[3] and their receptors, at every level of the bodymind.

This flows so well with what we’ve seen in holistic medicine especially that of German New Medicine and Dr Hamer’s ‘unexpected traumatic shock experience’.^[4]

I would love to speak with her and hear her views about emotions and MS wouldn’t you?

I have added her to my ‘To Contact list’!

Watch this space!

If you have met her or read her stuff, what do you think?

References

1. To learn more see Candace Pert, PhD
2. For a synopsis of the movie see ‘What The Bleep Do We Know!?’

3. A neuropeptide is a chain of amino acids, and each acid within the chain contains both a positive and a negative pole. Due to the way the chain is constructed, two positives can be back to back, or two negatives, or one of each.

   The significance of this is that by combining positives and negatives within the sequence of the chain, the chain carries information to the cells of the body. This information is the transduced thought, which includes a small, or large, electrical charge called an emotion.

   Mind-Body Connection, Part II: The Map is Not the Territory gives more information.

4. For more about Dr Geerd Hamer’s GNM see Core: Relationships - 1. The ‘Biology’ of Relationships -> 1.1. Dr Geerd Hamer, German New Medicine (GNM)

Seek First to Understand then to be Understood

Throughout this site I have stressed the importance of effective communication. Both with yourself (See: Core: Intimacy and Sex - 4. Communication) and others (See: Core: Relationships - 6. Your Relationship with Others).

The more I think about this, the more I believe that your ability to communicate with and understand yourself determines how effectively you communicate with and understand others.

By ‘communicate with your self’ I mean your ability ‘go inside’ to understand your real nature, your true self.

When you know who and what you are, and what you want, you project that with confidence and energy. You are ‘alive’. Authentic.

So it follows that the response you get will largely be determined by how you present yourself and communicate.

If you’re not having the open and honest connection with others, especially your partner, that you want and need, understand that the only measure of how well YOU are communicating is the response that you get.

This is tough to accept at first. It may seem especially unfair when the person you are communicating with isn’t doing their part...

But once you take responsibility for bringing the right words and the right kind of talking and sharing into your relationships......

Your relationships will instantly shift on their own.

So here’s the question...

Can you take 100% responsibility for the way you communicate to others, especially your partner?

“You INGRATE! DESERTER! SELFISH MAN!
I dreamed you won $24 million in the
lottery and promptly left me!”

Or, are you wrapped up in blaming them, trying to prove how they are hurting you, rather than trying to get to what is right?

Think about what you and the way you communicate bring into your relationships.

Have you had several relationships where the communication you shared was awful? Where you found out about all the important things going on inside the others’ head after the fact when it was too late and you were giving up on the relationship.........

Then here’s your wake-up call.

What you need to do is simple really. It doesn’t cost anything and it can be very quick.

Imagine that: a FREE, simple quick solution!

All you need to do is to take 100% personal responsibility for creating the kind of communication you want in your relationships.

Communication IS the response you get to YOU!

In other words, to have the understanding, empathy and emotional exchange that you want, you need to help the person you’re sharing your thoughts and feelings with, actually ‘get’ what you’re saying.

Just because you know what you want to say, it’s too easy to assume that with a few simple words, the other person will instantly ‘get it’ and understand where you’re coming from.

WRONG.

Think about it: even YOU don’t always know and understand all the feelings, emotions, and thoughts that are going through your head! I don’t.

Let’s look at an example of a woman trying to relate to a man...

Women have the added challenge that most men aren’t trying to relate to what you’re thinking and feeling anyway.

Instead, their mind is usually somewhere else completely and not focused on relating and understanding at that time.

This applies especially if you haven’t taken the time to engage him on an emotional level to help him get in touch with his and your feelings.

So what do men often do instead of relating to you and understanding you ladies?

They try to solve the ‘problem’ they think is causing you to feel so intensely upset in the first place.

Or they’re trying to escape from the intense feelings and emotions you’re going through. They don’t understand them. Or, they’re not in the mental and emotional place to take them in and talk to you about them.

That just frustrates us even more.

How can Women Engage Men more Effectively?

How can we encourage men to be in the right mental and emotional place, where he’ll naturally want to listen, share, and connect with you on a more open emotional level?

You do this by creating an Emotional Engagement with a man.

What’s that?

This can be as simple as rubbing the back of his neck gently with your hands, or respecting his need for space and time with the ‘boys’.

Or, it can be as difficult as trying to explain to him over and over what’s going on in your relationship that’s causing problems... and having him not want to listen or talk to you anymore.

Which would you chose?

How can Men Engage Women more Effectively?

For you men, how do we ladies like to be communicated with?

We’re easy! We’ll tell you IF you ask!

What we want is simply to be acknowledged, understood and respected.

Just listen to us, be receptive, show interest.

But PLEASE don’t immediately jump into problem solving mode.

That problem is usually not the problem!

The problem is: we are trying to say: “LISTEN to me PLEASE.”

When we feel ignored, we get more emotional and frustrated. And you withdraw.

Stalemate.

Perhaps then effective communication between people comes down to one word?

Understand.

Understand yourself.

Understand the other.

Or, in the words of Stephen R. Covey:

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

What do you say?

Would you like to create an “Emotional Engagement” with your partner?

Are you ready to leave the dead-end patterns of misunderstanding, withdrawal, and not having others seem to listen or care about your feelings?

Explore how Caramia can help you by becoming a Free Trial Member of Naked Multiple Sclerosis.

Gay with MS?

In recognition of your unique issues, especially when it comes to sex, I would like to dedicate this Introductory blog to lesbian women and gay men - hence shortened to ‘Gay’ people - who have MS.

While you probably share many of the experiences that straight men and woman described in this site have with MS, it seems to me that Gay people with MS are like a ‘minority within a minority’ Right?

What happens when you want to discover more about or discuss Gay sex, sexuality and MS? Who can you go to who understands?

The fact is, there is very little published research, or information on Gay sex and disability. The few sources below may help.

For example, it may not be as easy for you to find medical or health care professionals who are both knowledgeable about MS and insightful about dealing with Gay couples and individuals.

In addition, you have the added worry of being stigmatised by those from whom you are seeking help.

Does this mean you are not supposed to have a sex life?

I know for example of some gay folk like Ted (name changed) who are in an Institution. His situation shows many of the difficult issues gay people encounter daily, especially if in care.

Ted’s MS reached a point where he could not care for himself in his apartment, and his lover Phil, couldn’t take the time off work needed to help.

The chronic care setting where Ted lives is not geared to providing either the social life that he thrived on, or the privacy that both Phil and Ted repeatedly requested.

Ted was sexually frustrated by this situation. He missed the physical closeness and caressing with Phil. Their touching caused discomfort among residents and staff. Ted also had concerns about changes in his sexual responsiveness over the past year, especially the reduced sensitivity to anal stimulation which had always been very pleasurable to him.

He was unsure who to ask about this or what reaction he would get if he did. He knew he was not the only person in the Care facility with such concerns.

Reduced privacy, intimacy and touch are common for people living in institutional settings. I think the attitudinal and administrative barriers preventing sexual rights for people with physical disabilities are even greater for gay people.

In addition to these issues, gay men with MS and their families and friends may face the personal and social implications of HIV/AIDS. This can include grief at the loss of loved ones, concern for one’s own well being and anger at the stifling effect of discriminatory attitudes.

What is your experience of MS and gay sex? What information and help do you need?

Let’s please have an open discussion about the issues you face and see how we can work together to resolve them.

Further information from:

• Yvonne Duffy’s Book: ‘All things are Possible’ 1981 includes a chapter on the feelings and experiences of disabled women. While some of the quotes reflect negative experiences of family rejection of their sexual orientation, or shyness at approaching potential partners because of concerns about their disability, others stressed feelings of adequacy, satisfaction and feelings of strength and self acceptance that comes from intimate relationships the seem right for you.
• ‘Sapphistry: The book of Lesbian Sexuality’ by P Califia 1980. Includes discussion of sexuality for disabled lesbian women.
• ‘Enabling Romance’ by Ken Kroll and Erica Levy Klein Publisher: No Limits Communications, 2001. This book is considered by many to be “The Joy of Sex for people with disabilities”. Enabling Romance candidly covers: shattering sexual stereotypes; building self-esteem; creative sexual variations; reproduction and contraception for people with disabilities; specific information on several different physical and sensory disabilities, including spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, postpolio syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, amputation, blindness and deafness.
• GLAMS - Gay men and Lesbians Affected by MS is a dedicated support group providing advice and support, organised via the UK MS Society. Email, phone, and mail contact details are given on their page.
• EDGE: (Education in a Disabled, Gay Environment) is an organisations for Gay people with disabilities. The address is P. O. Box 305, Village Station, New York, NY 10014, USA.

Control Your Genes

Naked Multiple Sclerosis proves how the origins of MS are rooted in your beliefs, thoughts, feelings and emotions. These in turn influence your genes. Not the other way round.

However, the more Conventional medical view is that MS is caused by a complex interplay of bacterial, genetic and environmental factors and that one has a ‘disposition’ to MS.

The Conventional genetic ‘explanation’ goes like this......

Is MS Genetic?

Many experts claim that that certain genetic combinations increase the likelihood of a person developing MS.

For example. recent research by Margaret Pericak-Vance, MD, director of the Center for Human Genetics at Duke University in Durham, N.C. ^[1] shows how a cluster of genes on chromosome 6 may play the major role in causing the disorder. The genes pinpointed on chromosome 6 are known as major histocompatibility complex genes which, Pericak-Vance says are:

“Genes that play a critical role in helping the body to distinguish its own cells
from outside invaders such as bacteria or other microbes.
If the system breaks down, the immune system may attack your body’s own cells, as happens in MS.”

Another researcher, Julie Stachowiak, Ph.D. ^[2], says that a person’s chances of developing MS increase if he or she has a relative with MS. Your chances of developing MS are:

• 1 in 1,000 if you have no relatives with MS
• 1 in 100 if you have a second-degree relative (grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc.) with MS
• 1 in 40 if you have a parent or sibling with MS
• 1 in 4 if your identical twin has MS

What do you think?

The purpose of this blog is not to debate the genetic causes or origins of MS. I have made my stance clear on that.

The key point I want to raise is that irrespective of your genes, you can change them!

How?

With your own beliefs, thoughts, feelings and emotions!

As I show in Core: Relationships - 1.3 How Emotional Suppression, Negative Emotions and Loneliness Affect Your Health you are not ‘stuck’ with who you are!

You Can Control Your Genes!

In the book by Dawson Church: “The Genie in Your Genes”, Dawson shows how beliefs, thoughts and emotions can trigger the expression of specific DNA strands called Early Genes or IEGs. This is covered in more detail at Core: Relationships.

These Early Genes turn on other genes that affect specific aspects of our immune system, such as the production of white blood cells that destroy attacking bacteria and viruses.

By taking control of your beliefs, thoughts and feelings, you can greatly influence your genetic expression.

You can ‘genetically engineer’ your own body and avoid expensive therapy, harmful drugs and invasive surgeries.

The science behind this fascinating discovery is called Epi-genetics.

Epi-genetics simplified

According to the science of epi-genetics it is the expression of your genes - not the genes themselves - that dictates whether you will develop certain diseases, and how gracefully you may show your age.

These patterns of gene expression are governed by the cellular material - the epigenome - that sits on top of the genome, just outside it (hence the prefix epi-, which means above).

It is these epigenetic ‘marks’ that tell your genes to switch on or off. Through epigenetic marks, environmental factors like diet, stress and prenatal nutrition can make an imprint on genes which are passed from one generation to the next.

So, for example, although you may have a genetic ‘predisposition’ for a large waist, you are not necessarily doomed to develop a huge pot belly during middle-age. That will depend on how you influence your genes via your lifestyle:..... stress, diet, attitude, exercise, emotions etc.

Can you see the staggering potential of this?

For decades, we have stumbled around massive Darwinian roadblocks. We thought that DNA was an ironclad code that we and our children and their children had to live by. Now we can imagine a world in which we can tinker with DNA.

Now that we realize that our fate is not sealed at the twining of our double helix, and that we can change our genetics, and therefore our health......Celebrate OR Beware!

See it’s like this.....

Destroy or Delight Your Genes

You can improve or damage your genetics.

In fact, you are changing your genetics every second by the lifestyle choices you make: the foods you eat, the air you breathe, your beliefs thoughts and feelings.

You are the ‘caretaker’ of your genetic roadmap. Therefore the epigenetic changes you make can be passed down for many generations. Each of us has far greater responsibility than we ever imagined!

Epigenetic ‘malleability’ helps to explain why identical twins become distinct as they age.

Why does one identical twin develop cancer and the other remain healthy when they have identical DNA? Why does one twin become obese and another remain lean?

The answer lies in the methyl groups in the epigenome overlying the DNA molecule.

As you age, your genome does not change but your epigenome changes dramatically, especially during critical periods of life, such as adolescence. It is influenced by physical and emotional stresses: how you respond to everything that happens in your environment, from climate change to childhood abuse.

When a gene is turned off epigenetically, the DNA has usually been ‘methylated’.

When methyl groups adhere to a segment of DNA, they inhibit the gene’s response. Methylation-gone-wrong is now suspected in autism, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

You do not manifest disease merely by a defective gene, but by your epigenome. In other words, whether or not you develop disease is determined by how your genome is being directed to express itself. There are also ‘master genes’ that can switch on and off clusters of other genes.

Scientists have discovered it is easier to make epigenetic changes than to fix damaged genes. Your epigenome is easier to mess up -- but it’s also easier to fix.

That’s good news: you aren’t doomed by bad genes!

Epigenetic therapy, which is essentially the curing of disease by epigenetic manipulation, involves changing the instructions to your cells: reactivating desirable genes and deactivating undesirable ones.

This emerging field, now in its infancy, may represent the future of medicine.

Mind Over Matter

Just as your epigenome controls the expression of disease -- your mind and emotions control your epigenome.

Therefore, your mind and emotions control your healing.

The science of epigenetics is now beginning to explain phenomena like placebo effect and spontaneous healing, which lacked a scientific basis until now.

Your mind has the power to create or cure disease because your thoughts affect your feelings and emotions, which in turn determine the expression of your genes.

Today’s ‘New Biology’ is overlapping with consciousness science and quantum physics, and it’s showing us that we have masterful control over our own lives.

Fascinating and exciting stuff!

References

1. Click Here to learn more about the identification of a “Multiple Sclerosis Gene Cluster”.
2. Julie Stachowiak, Ph.D explores the causes of MS including the role of genes in “The Causes of Multiple Sclerosis” at About.com.

A Roll in the Hay keeps the Doc Away!

Yes, it’s official: SEX IS good for you

Many reputable studies have confirmed that an active sex life boosts immunity, increases blood flow, reduces pain, relieves stress, burns calories, improves Cardiovascular Health and sleep.

In fact, there appear to be at least ten ways in which having sex just once a week can benefit your health as follows:

1. Get fewer colds because of an increase in immunoglobulin A, an antibody that fights infection
2. Women can get more predictable periods because of exposure to male pheromones
3. A better physical response to stress
4. Lower blood pressure, which lowers your risk of heart disease
5. Lower your bad cholesterol and increase your good cholesterol
6. Help tone your abs, gluts and pretty much any muscle in your body
7. Natural increases in estrogen improve the appearance of your hair, skin and nails
8. Improve your memory because blood flow increases to your brain
9. Increased feelings of motivation because of the release of endorphins
10. The release of endorphins help to reduce pains related to everything from headaches and arthritis to symptoms of PMS. It can also help you to get a better night’s sleep.

In short, satisfying sex leads to a longer life, and a more positive sense of personal worth and well-being.

So I reckon we can all do with it....with or without Multiple Sclerosis!

Let’s see what exact ‘mechanisms’ are behind the health benefits...

Sexual Pleasure Begins and ends in Your Brain!

You see in Core: Intimacy and Sex - 5.2. Typical Sexual Frustrations how your brain and nervous system control your sex glands and genitals, and consequently, your sexual desire, as well as orgasms. This is why, for example, visual images trigger sexual desire in both sexes.

But brain imaging studies show that achieving orgasm involves far more than merely heightened arousal.

It requires a release of inhibitions, culminating in a shut down of the brain’s centre of vigilance in both sexes, and a widespread neural power failure in women.

Indeed, because your sexuality is so intimately tied to your mind, anxiety, defensiveness, fear, and communication failures are all destructive psychological forces that can block desire, whether you’re a man or a especially, a woman.

When these negative emotions come into play and both parties are not fully ‘bonding’, levels of the ‘love’ hormone oxytocin reduce. This causes a reduction in the release of endorphins, which in turn increases any physical and sexual discomforts.

For people with MS who have the complex interaction of neurological, physical, psychological and cultural and emotional stresses, it’s critical to address the underlying emotional and psychological roots of the stress.

There are several ways to do this naturally......

How to Improve Your Sexual Desire Naturally

If you’d like to take advantage of some of the health benefits that regular sexual activity has to offer, yet find that your desire just isn’t what it used to be, there are many natural tips that can help. I will write more blogs about this, but for now, here’s a summary for you to consider....

The Emotional Freedom Technique: a uniquely gentle approach to alleviating the pain, distress, anger, shame, fear, guilt and embarrassment often associated with “sexual dysfunction”.

Eating less sugar: Your sexual fires may also be fanned simply by eating less sugar. High levels of sugar in your bloodstream can actually turn off the gene that controls your sex hormones.

Optimizing your diet based on your body’s unique nutritional type: We each have a unique nutritional type with varying demands for the ratios of macronutrients (fats, proteins and carbohydrates) to function optimally. When you’re eating the foods your body was designed to eat, you’ll notice improvements in every aspect of your health including your libido!

Enjoy great sex with the proper nutrients: Just as we can’t drive a car without fuel, we can’t erotically ride without the fuel for life and lust. In addition to the nutrients listed on this site, also consider choline supplements: The neurotransmitter that triggers the sexual message, in both men and women, is acetylcholine (ACH). With too little ACH, sexual activity goes down. One way to safely and effectively enhance ACH levels in your body is to take choline supplements (1,000-3,000 mg) and vitamin B5 (500-1,500 mg).

Getting physically active: We all know that exercise is good for you -- it keeps your heart healthy and adds years to your life. But exercise does something else -- it improves your sex life. Remember, when using exercise as a drug, it’s important to vary your routine and include the four types of exercise Dr Mercola describe in this video.

Optimizing your insulin levels: There is not a hormone in the body that insulin doesn’t affect, if not directly control. Insulin helps control sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA and SHBG. Insulin also controls the manufacture of cholesterol. All the sex hormones are originally derived from cholesterol.

Before popping synthetic pills, applying a testosterone patch or taking antidepressants to alter your passionate desires chemically, please consider the above methods.

I especially encourage you to look into the technique I use, EFT. I have used this effectively on myself and others to address unresolved negative emotions, beliefs or unproductive feelings about sexual intimacy and many other issues.

Re ‘Reputable studies’:

1. There are many reputable studies showing the health benefits of satisfying sex such as:
   • At WebMD: 10 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex
   • At 4 Freedoms: The Health Benefits of Sex
   • At SHVOONG (Summaries and Short Reviews): The (health) benefits of sex part 2
2. This interview summarises the health benefits of sex. ABC News June 16, 2009

1. The Asexual with MS Challenge!

Do you have MS and are uninterested in sex or are ‘asexual’?

If so, this blog is for you!

Its purpose is to explore the nature and challenges of the asexual life both with and without MS. If indeed, it is a challenge to you at all!

Maybe you are more of a challenge to others!?

As we will explore in detail later, the fact is to be ‘asexual’ with MS you represent a double ‘challenge’ to the status quo:

1. You don’t want sex (sexual intercourse). Yet you live in a world dominated by sexual norms and expectations which assume that sex is a ‘normal’, ‘healthy’, and ‘essential’ part of what it is to be human.
2. You have an unpredictable, variable disease which, according to Western medicine, has no proven causes or cures, but from which you are unlikely to die. MS is a ‘Cultural enigma’ as explained in Core: Emotions - 3. Common MS Assumptions and their Emotional Impact.

For sure, given all the emotional, physical, psychological and sexual challenges of MS explored in Core: Intimacy and Sex, asexuality can seem an attractive option! Even if only temporarily while you explore the MS implications.

Though asexuals like 22 year old Tessa Barratt correctly point out that:

“Celibacy is a choice, asexuality is an orientation.
It’s not something you choose to be, it’s something you’re born as.”

So what exactly does it mean to be ‘asexual’ and asexual with MS?

2. Asexual Life: What Is It and What Are Your Needs?

2.1. Asexual Definition

According to the Asexual Visibility and Education Network for asexuals, an asexual is “a person who does not experience sexual attraction.”

This resource bases the definition on a 2008 article by Kristin Scherrer published in the journal ‘Sexualities’. When the 102 asexuals in Scherrer's study discussed the meaning of their own asexuality, they most often pointed to desires: They said they did not experience sexual attraction or desire.

Actually, that surprises me!

You see, asexuals I meet, and the research I have done suggests that some asexuals are attracted to another. BUT the issue is they don’t want to take that attraction further in a sexual or even a physical sense. Sarah’s comment is an example:

“I am sexually attracted to men but have no desire or need
to engage in sexual or even non-sexual activity (cuddling, hand-holding, etc.).”

In fact, there is considerable diversity among the asexual community; each asexual person experiences key aspects of their sexuality like relationships, attraction, and arousal somewhat differently.

That is hardly different from sexual life is it?!

2.2. Asexual Views on Sexuality

This is what asexuals say about these key aspects:

Relationships

“Sexual or nonsexual, all relationships are made up of the same basic stuff. Communication, companionship, fun, humor, excitement and trust all happen just as much in sexual relationships as in nonsexual ones.

Unlike sexual people however, asexual people are given few expectations about the way that our intimate relationships will work. This is an advantage!

Being free of sexual expectations, we can form relationships which are grounded in our individual needs and desires. We don’t need to figure out how to flirt, to be intimate, or to be monogamous.

Also like within the sexual community we vary widely in how we fulfil our needs.

Some asexual people are happier on their own, others are happiest with a group of close friends. Other asexual people have a desire to form more intimate romantic relationships, and will date and seek long-term partnerships. Asexuals are just as likely to date sexual people as we are to date each other.

Attraction

Many asexual people experience attraction, but feel no need to act out that attraction sexually. Instead we feel a desire to get to know someone, to get close to them in whatever way works best for us.

Asexual people who experience attraction will often be attracted to a particular gender, and will identify as lesbian, gay, bi, or straight.

Jenn says

“I just don't feel sexual attraction to people.
I love the human form and can regard individuals as works of art and find people aesthetically pleasing,
but I don't ever want to come into sexual contact with even the most beautiful of people.”

Others, though, said they did feel sexual attraction but not the inclination to act on it. Sarah said this to the researcher:

“I am sexually attracted to men but have no desire or need to engage
in sexual or even non-sexual activity (cuddling, hand-holding, etc.).”

Others, though, do like those kinds of interactions. For instance, when asked to describe her ideal relationship, Rita said:

“The same as a ‘normal' relationship, without the sex. We would be best friends, companions, biggest fans of each other, partners in financial, work, and social areas of our lives. I am very physical. I would like to be able to tackle my lover (as in, ‘I love him’, not as in ‘person I am currently having sex with’) to the ground, roll around until I pin him, then plant a kiss on his nose, snuggle into the crook of his arm, and talk about some random topic... without him getting an erection or entertaining hopes that this will lead to the removal of clothing or a march to the bedroom.”

Rita described an ideal relationship that was in many ways a romantic one. Other asexuals are uninterested in romance. Kisha said this in response to the question about her ideal relationship:

“I’ve already got a friendship that feels a lot like my ideal relationship.
We have a ton of common interests...We laugh, we think the same,
we never fight or cause any burdens to each other...
That’s all I want, just great friendships. I don’t need attraction or anything physical.”

Asexuals who are romantic often identify as heterosexual, gay or lesbian, or bisexual. For those who are ‘aromantic’, those distinctions seem irrelevant. Noting that the gender of the other person was unimportant to her, Nora said,

“I am attracted to personality.”

Mona added,

“The things I find attractive, I find attractive in both sexes.”

Arousal

For some, sexual arousal is a fairly regular occurrence, though it is not associated with a desire to find a sexual partner or partners. Some will masturbate, but feel no desire for partnered sexuality. Other asexual people experience little or no arousal. Gloria says:

“I do not have any desire to have sex with another person.
I masturbate at times but I don't connect it with anything sexual.
I know it sounds like a contradiction but it's just something I do every now and then.”

Similarly, Tessa says:

“Many asexuals have a sex drive, and many of them masturbate.
But what makes them different is that their libido is dissociated from sexual attraction.
Having a sex drive doesn’t translate into wanting sex.
Put simply, there can be a sex drive, but not a drive towards anyone.
I can still feel sexual arousal, but I never want to act upon it.”

Because we don’t care about intercourse, asexual people generally do not see a lack of sexual arousal as a problem to be corrected, and focus their energy on enjoying other types of arousal and pleasure.

Identity

Most asexuals have been asexual for our entire lives.

Just as people will rarely and unexpectedly go from being straight to gay, asexual people will rarely and unexpectedly become sexual or vice versa. Another small minority will think of themselves as asexual for a brief period of time while exploring and questioning their own sexuality.

There is no litmus test to determine if someone is asexual. Yes, they are unlikely to engage in sexual activities with another, especially intercourse. But other than that asexual personalities or identities are as varied as the sexual population.”

And whether sexual or asexual, both can have identity crises!

It is true that issues with self identity and self esteem are particularly taxed by MS as you see in Core: Emotions - 3. Common MS Assumptions and their Emotional Impact.

It is also true according to Leo Hornak that 33.57% of asexuals have problems with self-esteem.

But as I said above, asexuals with MS do face a different set of challenges than most sexual people. This is largely because of prevailing norms and assumptions about chronic disease, about sexuality and MS Sexual impairment.

It is NOT because asexuality is in and of itself problematical or ‘abnormal’.......

3. IS MS Without Sex ‘Normal’?

Well, that depends on what is ‘Normal’ doesn’t it! So, ‘No’ and ‘Yes’.

3.1. No, MS without sex is not ‘Normal’!

According to Western sexual norms and Conventional Medicine, you are definitely NOT ‘Normal’. To be ‘asexual’ with MS you represent a double ‘challenge’ to the status quo:

1. You have an unpredictable, variable disease which, according to Western medicine, has no proven causes or cures, but from which you are unlikely to die. MS is a ‘Cultural enigma’ as explained in Core: Emotions - 3. Common MS Assumptions and their Emotional Impact.

   Also, although I know of no strong empirical evidence supporting such a belief, there is a stereotype that disabled people are asexual beings (Ref e.g., Milligan & Neufeldt, 2001).

   One of the reasons people with disabilities are perceived as asexual is that others assume that low sexual activity or functioning is equivalent to asexuality.

   Although probably an incorrect assumption in many cases, there may be some logic to this reasoning regarding MS proven in Core: Emotions - 3. Common MS Assumptions and their Emotional Impact. Indeed, MS and other chronic health problems may reduce sexual functioning and restrict sexual activity to such a degree that some people with these conditions may be perceived by others and themselves as having little or no sexual attraction to partners of either sex. (Ref Schover, Thomas, Lakin, Montague, & Fisher, 1988)

   

2. You don’t want sex (sexual intercourse). Yet you live in a world dominated by sexual norms and expectations which assume that sex is a ‘normal’, ‘healthy’, and ‘essential’ part of being human.

   Western culture is dominated by language and behaviour that reflect the experience of people (males in particular) who are strongly driven by sexual attraction. They have set the standards. The key standard being that sexual partnership is the be-all and end-all of personal happiness and fulfilment.

   This applies also to the many in-groups and identities whose key qualifier is sex. Gay. Straight. Bi. Trans. Metrosexual. Butch. Femme. Boi. Top. Bottom. Questioning. Genderqueer. Polyamorous. Intersex.

   In contrast to such prevailing trends, asexuality is not about wanting or having more sex. It’s about not wanting or having sex at all.

   The fact is Sex Sells! By not ‘buying into sex’ you are a threat to the profits of a huge sex industry.

Sadly, but unsurprisingly, much of Western medicine represented by the authors of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the guidebook used by mental health professionals), claim that asexuals have “Inhibited Sexual Desire” (the 1980 version). In 1987, they modified it slightly to “Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder”.

Tessa has experienced this attitude herself:

’I get told I’m repressed, that I‘m psychologically damaged,
that it’s something to do with my history, that I’ve been abused.
I’ve had people make out there’s something wrong with me,
as if it’s a physical or psychological ailment.”

How ridiculous!

3.2. Yes, MS without sex is ‘Normal’

How typical of mainstream Conventional medicine to call anything slightly different, a ‘disorder’, despite the fact that many asexuals feel complete and fulfilled living an asexual lifestyle.

Trix from The Asexual Visibility and Education Network agrees and says:

“Today, more and more are questioning if their experience of themselves
and their lack of wanting to mate, is legitimate or is it pathological.
Good grief people! Of course it is legitimate.
It is just the way you are.
Your world has been interpreted for you through the eyes of somebody else.
It’s time to acknowledge that, and take back the right to be yourself.
Discover for yourself what you actually feel. Own what you feel
Invent your own language to accurately reflect your own experience,
and know your own needs and desires.
There are so many ways to like people and be connected and intimate and loving
with them that have nothing to do with sex.
We only think they should, because we have been programmed to believe it.

Nicole Prause, PhD, who has co-authored several studies on asexuals also agrees. She says:

“I see no evidence of asexuality as a disorder
that requires treatment”

Furthermore, she shows that her 2007 study (published in Archives of Sexual Behavior) found no evidence that the absence of interest is always rooted in a sexual trauma or that it is evidence of an underlying hormonal imbalance or other pathology.

She also found that people don’t report “growing out of it” but rather tend to retain their asexuality as they age. Indeed, not all asexuals are celibate. Some report that they engage in sexual activity to please their partners, and an earlier study found that 44% of asexual respondents were in relationships (heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual).

Perhaps most pertinent is that Dr. Prause found that most asexuals are not unhappy about their lack of sexual desire. This applies especially to people with disabilities and chronic illnesses such as MS.

In fact, they cited several benefits: including not having to deal with the complexities and difficulties of intimate relationships, feeling less social pressure to be attractive in order to find a partner, even, in some cases, a perception that the lifestyle gives them the benefit of more free time.

Some drawbacks were acknowledged as well. These include: the difficulty of establishing couple relationships that don’t include sex; concern about whether their asexuality has a problematic cause; a negative public perception of asexuality, and curiosity about desire and sex, as well as some sadness about not enjoying its positive aspects, including closeness and the excitement of attraction.

Similar findings were confirmed in March 2009 by the Independent which ran a story on “No sex please: An asexual life“.

A young man and woman are the focus of this story; 21-year-old Andy says he’s not attracted to either males or females, and 22-year-old Tessa says:

“It’s hard to imagine what would push me to having sex.
I’m not afraid of sex, it’s just not something I want to do.”

Tessa and Andy are presented as happy and self-assured. Andy has undergone medical tests to ascertain whether unusual testosterone levels might account for his lack of desire. Doctors found nothing amiss. Nor is Andy depressed, so his asexuality cannot be attributed to either depression or antidepressants.

3.3. So, if you are asexual, are YOU ‘Abnormal?’

Of course not! I applaud the words of one asexual:

“Plenty of people do not see sex as important.
They do not necessarily need to be classified.
Is someone who doesn’t like golf an un-golfer?”

I also agree with Dr. Nicole Prause, PhD, who has co-authored several studies on asexuality. She says that that there is a tremendous and normal variability of sexuality, as sex researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey discovered 50 years ago.....

“There are people who are willing to put
their marriages, even their lives, at risk for
the sake of exercising their high-pitched sexual drive.
Why then, should it be surprising that there are
people at the other end of the spectrum?”

Similarly, Trix from The Asexual Visibility and Education Network says:

There is no stamp of approval and no authority to declare who is ‘really’ asexual.
We are just people who have found that none of the generally
available sexual-orientation labels have been a good fit.
What you (don’t) feel or want is natural and okay,
for the simple reason that you actually (don’t) feel or want it,
and you are a human being, so it must be natural for some human beings.
There is no ‘correct’ way to be asexual.
The labels ‘straight’, ‘gay’, ‘bi’, are only a lens we use for convenience so we can have a feeling
that we are able to manage and contain an infinitely complex reality.

4. Conclusion

With sex being arguably the world’s favourite pastime, and MS being viewed as a ‘Mysterious Sickness’ characterised by very significant emotional, physical, mental and sexual challenges, asexuals with MS do face an uphill struggle for recognition.

It is a testament to asexuals with MS, and to asexuals in general, who cope so well. Despite, as the Independent’s Olly Bootle calls the:

“Multibillion-dollar hyperspeed barrage of images and messages
aimed not just at arousing every living one of us nonstop,
but also aimed at making us feel awful -- dorky, boring, ugly: add whatever adjective applies to you -
if we are not engaging, or considering engaging, in hot, wild, copious (preferably transgressive) sex.”

It is also indicative of how sexualised our society is, that we find it perfectly believable - if a little odd - that someone might want to have sex while wearing an asphyxiating latex mask, or while being whipped or spanked. But the idea that someone should deviate so far from the norm as to not want sex at all, is almost incomprehensible.

Perhaps acceptance is just a matter of time? After all, 100 years ago homosexuality was regarded with the same incomprehension.

Meanwhile, for all asexual and asexual with MS people, I applaud your integrity for being true to yourself. May you long practice what Dr. Seuss says:

“Always be who you are, and say what you feel,
because people who mind don’t matter, and people who matter don’t mind.”

MS isn’t easy to diagnose.

As you can see in My Story Stage 4 Why MS?, I questioned whether the MS tests and symptoms proved that I had an illness called Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

What really baffled me was how one ‘label’ was used to explain the many different symptoms and sicknesses I and others were experiencing.

I then discovered that MS symptoms are very similar to those of other chronic auto immune diseases like Parkinson’s, and Hughes Syndrome. As fellow MS researcher Paul Jones points out:

“Few of the symptoms of MS are unique to the disease and, even if you have one or more of them,
it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have MS.”

I realised that the reason for such widespread MS symptoms and illnesses was NOT because of what Conventional Medicine claims are the key causes: Myelin degeneration and the body attacking itself.

As you will see in Core: Emotions - 1. How Holistic Medical Approaches Explain the Emotional Heart and Manifestation of MS, abundant proof exists to show that the conventional view is wrong.

Rather, the varied MS symptoms and illnesses are indicative of fundamental gene and cellular imbalances originating in deep, probably prolonged internal emotional stress and/or tension.

Re 1: There is no single test for multiple sclerosis.

At this time, there are no symptoms, physical findings or laboratory tests that can, by themselves, determine if a person has MS. The doctor uses several strategies to determine if a person meets the long-established criteria for a diagnosis of MS and to rule out other possible causes of whatever symptoms the person is experiencing. These strategies include a careful medical history, a neurologic exam and various tests, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), evoked potentials (EP) and spinal fluid analysis.

The Criteria for a Diagnosis of MS

In order to make a diagnosis of MS, the physician must:

Revised McDonald’s?

• Find evidence of damage in at least two separate areas of the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves
• Find evidence that the damage occurred at least one month apart
• Rule out all other possible diagnoses.

In 2001, the International Panel on the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis updated the criteria to include specific guidelines for using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), visual evoked potentials (VEP) and cerebrospinal fluid analysis to speed the diagnostic process. These tests can be used to look for a second area of damage in a person who has experienced only one attack (also called a relapse or an exacerbation) of MS-like symptoms - referred to as a clinically-isolated syndrome (CIS). A person with CIS may or may not go on to develop MS.

The criteria were further revised in 2005 (now referred to as The Revised McDonald Criteria) to make the process even easier and more efficient.

The Tools for Making a Diagnosis

Medical History and Neurologic Exam

The physician takes a careful history to identify any past or present symptoms that might be caused by MS and to gather information about birthplace, family history and places travelled that might provide further clues. The physician also performs a variety of tests to evaluate mental, emotional and language functions, movement and coordination, balance, vision, and the other four senses.

In many instances, the person’s medical history and neurologic exam provide enough evidence to meet the diagnostic criteria. Other tests are used to confirm the diagnosis or provide additional evidence if it’s necessary.

MRI

MRI is the best imaging technology for detecting the presence of MS plaques or scarring (also called lesions) in different parts of the CNS. It can also differentiate old lesions from those that are new or active.

The diagnosis of MS cannot be made solely on the basis of MRI because there are other diseases that cause lesions in the CNS that look like those caused by MS. And even people without any disease - particularly the elderly - can have spots on the brain that are similar to those seen in MS.

Although MRI is a very useful diagnostic tool, a normal MRI of the brain does not rule out the possibility of MS. About 5% of people who are confirmed to have MS do not initially have brain lesions on MRI. However, the longer a person goes without brain or spinal cord lesions on MRI, the more important it becomes to look for other possible diagnoses.

Read more on MRI at the US National MS Society page: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Visual Evoked Potential (VEP)

Evoked potential (EP) tests are recordings of the nervous system’s electrical response to the stimulation of specific sensory pathways (e.g., visual, auditory, general sensory). Because damage to myelin (demyelination) results in a slowing of response time, EPs can sometimes provide evidence of scarring along nerve pathways that does not show up during the neurologic exam.

Visual evoked potentials are considered the most useful for confirming the MS diagnosis.

Read more on visual evoked potentials at the US National MS Society page: Evoked Potentials.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Analysis

Analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid, which is sampled by a spinal tap, detects the levels of certain immune system proteins and the presence of oligoclonal bands. These bands, which indicate an immune response within the CNS, are found in the spinal fluid of about 90-95% of people with MS. But because they are present in other diseases as well, oligoclonal bands cannot be relied on as positive proof of MS.

Read more on at the US National MS Society page: Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF).

Blood Tests

There is no definitive blood test for MS. However, blood tests can rule out other conditions which cause symptoms similar to those of MS.

These include Lyme disease, a group of diseases known as collagen-vascular diseases, certain rare hereditary disorders, and AIDS.

Other Conditions Cause Demyelination (Damage to Myelin)

Demyelination in the Central Nervous System

Although MS is the most common, other conditions can damage myelin in the CNS, including viral infections, side effects from high exposure to certain toxic materials, severe vitamin B12 deficiency, autoimmune conditions that lead to inflammation of blood vessels (the ‘collagen-vascular diseases’), and some rare hereditary disorders.

Demyelination in the Peripheral Nervous System

Demyelination of the peripheral nervous system (the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord) occurs in Guillain-Barré Syndrome. After some injuries, the myelin sheath in the peripheral nervous system regenerates, bringing recovery of function.

Some demyelinating conditions are self-limiting, while others may be progressive. Careful (and sometimes repetitive) examinations may be needed to establish an exact diagnosis among the possible causes of neurologic symptoms.

Demyelination can recover

Please be aware that Myelin CAN regenerate. MS plaques may not be fixed sites of permanent damage, but areas in which damaged tissues are attempting self-repair. For more about this fascinating perspective, please see What Exactly is MS? and scroll down to “Myelin Can Regenerate”. This regenerative approach is consistent with Holistic medicine, especially German New Medicine (GNM). For more on GNM please see Core: Relationships - 1.1 Dr Geerd Hamer, German New Medicine (GNM)

Re 2: Most MS symptoms can also be caused by other conditions. The doctor needs to rule out all other possible explanations

Because there are no laboratory tests or particular symptoms that definitively point to a diagnosis of MS, confirming the diagnosis can be a complex process. It is not unusual for people to be told they have MS when they actually have something else, or for the diagnosis to be missed in people who actually have MS. Before confirming an MS diagnosis, the doctor must rule out any other condition that could be causing your symptoms, including:

• Infections of the central nervous system (CNS): Lyme disease, syphilis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), HIV and human T-cell lumphotrophic virus-1 (HTLV-1)
• Inflammatory disorders of the CNS: systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren’s syndrome, vasculitis, sarcoidosis and Behçet’s disease
• Genetic disorders: leukodystrophy, hereditary cerebellar degenerations, hereditary myelopathy and mitochondrial disease
• Brain tumours: metastases and lymphoma
• Vitamin B12 deficiency
• Structural damage in the brain or spinal cord: cervical spondylosis, tumor, herniated disc and Chiari’s malformation
• Devic’s Disease and NMO (neuromyelitis optica)
• Hughes Syndrome
• Candida
• Osteoporosis
• Leaky Gut
• Epstein-Barr Virus
• Leukodystrophies
• Type 1 Diabetes
• Other non-MS demyelinating diseases: neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)

Some of these diagnoses are much rarer than others. Some may be easy to rule out with a simple blood test (e.g. vitamin B12 deficiency), while others, such as sarcoidosis, may require a biopsy. Therefore, it is helpful to work with a physician who is familiar with these conditions and their warning signs so that the appropriate steps can be taken to arrive at a correct diagnosis as quickly as possible. Arriving at the correct diagnosis will enable your doctor to begin the appropriate treatment - whether you have MS or one of these other conditions.