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Multiple Sclerosis

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Dec. ~ 2006 Feb.: Health Center: Multiple Sclerosis users admin

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Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 11:09 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
I decided to start this since I know that one member's spouse has this condition and now another member has been cued that she might have it.

Just posting whatever information Ivanhoe.com has in its archives on this topic. I will be selective and post the most recent articles first.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 11:37 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Medical Breakthroughs Reported by Ivanhoe.com

Neurological Disorders Channel

http://www.ivanhoe.com

Advances in health and medicine.

Reported October 20, 2004




Multiple Sclerosis Executive Summary: Diagnosis, Drugs and Alternatives

Multiple sclerosis is one of the most common neurological diseases among young adults. It affects about one in 1,000 people. Symptoms of MS include fatigue, weakness, spasticity, balance problems, bladder and bowel problems, numbness, vision loss, tremors and depression.

Here, you will find recent research that has found diagnosis techniques to catch the disease early as well as drug and alternative treatments to alleviate the debilitating symptoms.

There is also research in this that has found new components of the disease, which will possibly affect treatment one day.


New Diagnosis Techniques for MS

Blood Test for MS
A blood test may be able to predict the diagnosis and care of multiple sclerosis patients in the future, according to new research. The test measures the expression of thousands of genes at one time. (Full article available.)


New Way to Diagnose MS
Researchers from New York University say using magnetic resonance spectroscopy along with a method they developed, called whole-brain N-acetylaspartate (WBNAA), accurately measures the severity of a patient's multiple sclerosis and helps doctors determine how the disease responds to drugs. (Full article available.)



Drug Treatments for MS

Attacking MS
In a study, Kathleen Hawker, M.D., of UT Southwestern in Dallas gave her patients levetiracetam -- a drug used to control epileptic seizures -- to control the spasticity. She found the drug helped all 11 MS patients in the study and with much less side effects than older drugs. (Full article available.)


Acne Drug Treats MS
A drug currently used to treat conditions including acne has been found to decrease the lesions in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis. (Full article available.)


Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Helps MS
Researchers from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix found one cholesterol-lowering drug, simvastatin, shows promise in treating the most common form of multiple sclerosis. (Full article available.)


Research at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston finds similar results. They find statins reduce the number of brain lesions in patients with MS. (Full article available.)


Hormone Helps MS
Researchers from UCLA report that a hormone common in pregnant women, estriol, can slow the progression of multiple sclerosis. It was able to decrease the size and number of brain lesions in MS patients and appeared to increase the immune response in patients with relapsing remitting MS, a common form of the disease. (Full article available.)


Alzheimer Drug may Help MS Patients
Researchers from the Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York say a drug that is used to treat dementia in Alzheimer's patients, donepezil, is also showing signs of alleviating cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis. (Full article available.)


New Protocol Benefits MS
Multiple sclerosis patients fare better when they receive injections of a standard treatment for the condition every other day than when they receive similar injections once a week. (Full article available.)



Alternative Therapies

Ginkgo for MS
Sixty percent of patients with MS have trouble concentrating and paying attention. There are no drugs to treat these symptoms, but an herb commonly used for memory may help this group. (Full article available.)


Medicinal Marijuana
A cannabis extract, dronabinol, shows success in reducing pain in patients with multiple sclerosis, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal. (Full article available.)


Researchers of the UK MS Research Group also found evidence that suggests cannabinoids -- derivatives found in marijuana -- might help improve symptoms.
(Full article available.)


Canadian investigators found patients who use marijuana to help control spasms associated with MS believe the drug is beneficial. (Full article available.)


Saddle up for Therapy
Pam Thompson's legs are weakened by multiple sclerosis. To stimulate her legs, Thompson rides her horse Missy without a saddle or stirrups. (Full article available.)


Healing Yoga
Yoga helps people with various illnesses including multiple sclerosis find relief. (Full article available.)



Discovering new Components of MS

Stress Linked to Multiple Sclerosis
A study out of Denmark indicates stress can increase the risk for multiple sclerosis. (Full article available.)


Stress Makes MS Worse
A new study confirms what many multiple sclerosis patients already believe -- stressful events make their symptoms worse. (Full article available.)


Struggle to Sleep
Fatigue is the most common complaint of multiple sclerosis patients, and new research shows abnormal sleep cycles and sleep disorders may be to blame. (Full article available.)


Why MS Patients Experience Fatigue
Researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital in Quebec say nerve fiber damage may help explain why many patients with multiple sclerosis suffer from fatigue. (Full article available.)


Identifying Antibodies Helps MS Patients
The first choice of treatment for multiple sclerosis patients is interferon beta, but some patients do not respond well to this treatment. A new study shows detecting the antibodies to interferon beta could be important in identifying patients who do not respond well to this drug. That detection could allow the patient to switch to a more effective drug therapy. (Full article available.)


Stem Cell Transplants for MS
Doctors from the University of Washington Medical Center announced success with stem cell transplants for MS patients. (Full article available.)



http://www.ivanhoe.com/scripts/p_search.cfm

Medical Breakthroughs from Ivanhoe.com, sign up at http://www.ivanhoe.com/FirstToKnow/.

Advances in health and medicine.


webdoctor@ivanhoe.com
Copyright © 2005 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
2745 West Fairbanks Avenue
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(407) 740-0789
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Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 11:47 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Medical Breakthroughs Reported by Ivanhoe.com

Neurological Disorders Channel

http://www.ivanhoe.com

Advances in health and medicine.

Reported February 3, 2004




Blood Test for Multiple Sclerosis

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A blood test may be able to predict the diagnosis and care of multiple sclerosis patients in the future, according to new research. The test measures the expression of thousands of genes at one time.

Multiple sclerosis is a disorder of the nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord. Scarring or sclerosis replaces protective myelin in the nerve. Right now, it is hard for doctors to predict the course of the disease and the outcome for the patient. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Tel Aviv University conducted research looking at gene microarrays in MS patients.

"In this study, we wanted to determine whether gene expression patterns in peripheral blood contain information regarding a disease that is confined to the nervous system," says Naftali Kaminski, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The investigators focused on immune system cells called lymphocytes. These cells circulate in the blood stream and initiate the destruction of myelin. Gene microarrays allowed the researchers to quickly assess thousands of genes within these cells at the same time.

Researchers compared gene activity in MS patients, patients in remission, and healthy patients. They report finding significant differences in more than 1,000 genes between the healthy patients and the MS patients, regardless of the person’s disease status. They were also able to identify a subset of genes that had mutated in patients with MS.

Further research is needed to determine if the gene array results can help predict what pattern of disease course a new patient will have or predict when a patient in remission will suffer a relapse. Also, if researchers can determine how these genes turn the lymphocytes against myelin, it may be possible to target drugs against them in the future.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 11:51 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Medical Breakthroughs Reported by Ivanhoe.com

Neurological Disorders Channel

http://www.ivanhoe.com

Advances in health and medicine.

Reported December 3, 2003




New Way to Diagnose MS

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers presenting at the 89th Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America say a new method may help doctors detect multiple sclerosis in its earlier stages.

Researchers from New York University say using magnetic resonance spectroscopy along with a method they developed, called whole-brain N-acetylaspartate (WBNAA), accurately measures the severity of a patient's multiple sclerosis and helps doctors determine how the disease responds to drugs. WBNAA measures the amount of the brain chemical N-acetylaspartate, which is depleted in patients with MS. Researchers say because neuronal cell injury and atrophy occur before symptoms become noticeable, WBNAA is a more accurate way to measure disease activity in early stages.

Researchers studied 42 patients with relapsing-remitting MS, the most common form of the disease, which is characterized by flare-ups of symptoms followed by partial or complete recovery periods. The WBNAA procedure was performed at the same time patients underwent MR spectroscopy imaging.

More than 10,000 new cases of MS are diagnosed each year. Researchers say they hope the WBNAA procedure combined with MR spectroscopy imaging will help patients get an earlier diagnosis. Oded Gonen, Ph.D., says: "We're trying to customize the type of treatment and dose to the severity of the disease ... I hope it will be more widely used in clinical practice over the next few years."

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 11:58 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Medical Breakthroughs Reported by Ivanhoe.com

Neurological Disorders Channel

http://www.ivanhoe.com

Advances in health and medicine.

Reported February 20, 2004




Attacking Multiple Sclerosis

DALLAS (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Spasticity is a condition in which muscles cramp so badly that a person can’t even walk. It is one of the most common symptoms of multiple sclerosis, but that may be changing. Here’s promising research that gets some MS patients back on their feet.

Kim Pullin enjoys visits to the park with her daughter. Not long ago, multiple sclerosis would have made this trip impossible. "The spasms appeared in my arm, in my leg, in my hands. I absolutely could not walk on my leg," she tells Ivanhoe.

Pullin’s neurologist Kathleen Hawker, M.D., gave her levetiracetam -- a drug used to control epileptic seizures. "I was noticing that some patients were using it for pain, and I also noticed their stiffness, cramps and spasms were also improving," says Dr. Hawker, of UT Southwestern in Dallas.

Dr. Hawker says she was surprised the drug helped all 11 MS patients in the study. "The nice thing about the drug is it’s very safe. It doesn’t have effects on the liver, blood or kidneys," she says. "It also has much less side effects than older drugs."

That wasn’t the only benefit. Dr. Hawker says, "We could use one medication for pain, for their spasticity, rather than using two drugs, which can impact their functioning as well."

Pullin says, "What it had enabled me to do is not have to put off our activities but be able to really continue to play with her and not have to stop doing what it is that she and I love doing together." She is off the drug now, but says she will gladly take it again if her spasms return.

The study showed a few patients had mild side effects, including nausea and dizziness. Dr. Hawker has plans to do a larger, more detailed study to learn more about the benefits to ms patients.


If you would like more information, please contact:

UT Southwestern Multiple Sclerosis Clinic
(214) 648-9030


Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported June 4, 2004


Acne Drug Treats Multiple Sclerosis

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A drug currently used to treat conditions including acne has been found to decrease the lesions in the brains of people with multiple sclerosis.

Researchers from the University of Calgary in Alberta treated 10 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis with the drug minocycline. Patients had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed before the study and then four weeks later.

Luanne Metz, M.D., lead author of the study, reports that the drug seems to significantly reduce the activity of lesions in the brain. They believe the drug, an antibiotic, works on the immune system of this group of individuals who are known to have immune system malfunctions that trigger the attacks in the nervous system. Dr. Metz says these findings could lead doctors to a new and safe treatment option for patients with MS.

Dr. Metz and colleagues are currently involved in another study looking at the benefits of minocycline when combined with Copaxone, also known as glatiramer acetate, a drug approved to treat MS.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, disabling disease that affects one in every 10,000 people. Symptoms vary, but include vision problems, numbness in limbs, balance and coordination problems, and loss of muscular control. Although the disease does not typically lead to death, it can destroy quality of life. There is no cure for multiple sclerosis.

SOURCE: Annals of Neurology, 2004;55:756

Vacanick
Member

07-12-2004

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vacanick a private message Print Post    
HP ... thank you so much for starting this thread and for educating us all.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported April 4, 2003



Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Helps MS

HONOLULU (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One cholesterol-lowering drug shows promise in treating the most common form of multiple sclerosis, new research shows. Researchers from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix presented their findings this week in Honolulu at the American Academy of Neurology's Annual Meeting.

Investigators analyzed MRI scans of the brain before and after treatment with simvastatin. They found a significant decrease in the average number and volume of active multiple sclerosis lesions. Researchers say study participants reported no serious side effects. Simvastatin is in a class of drugs called statins. They are most commonly used to lower cholesterol. Previous studies show statins may have therapeutic value in reducing inflammatory lesions of the central nervous system.

The most common medications used to treat MS are interferons, a class of drugs that interact with or regulate the body's immune system. Though they are effective in reducing the frequency and severity of multiple sclerosis attacks, researchers say interferons have significant side effects.

Multiple sclerosis is a degenerative disease that affects the nerves of the central nervous system and the covering that protects the nerves. The condition affects more than 250,000 Americans.

SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, Honolulu, March 29-April 5, 2003

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Nic.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported July 21, 2003


New Hope for MS -- Full-Length Doctor's Interview

In this full-length doctor's interview, Daniel Jacobs, M.D., explains how a new drug targets destructive white blood cells in MS patients and could stop the disease in its tracks.

Ivanhoe Broadcast News Transcript with
Daniel Jacobs, M.D., Neurologist,

TOPIC: New Hope for MS


How does multiple sclerosis affect a patient?

Dr. Jacobs: Multiple sclerosis can cause disability in a lot of different ways. People can have trouble with their vision and trouble using their limbs. They can have spasticity, pain, fatigue and difficulty with their bladder. All of these symptoms tend to be progressive and become worse over the course of the disease.


Tell me about the treatment of MS using shots.

Dr. Jacobs: Patients with relapsing/remitting multiple sclerosis need to take shots, either once a day, once every other day, or once a week to control their symptoms of MS and their relapses.


What are some problems with this type of treatment?

Dr. Jacobs: Some people don’t like to take shots. Some people have injection-site reactions. Some people are scared of needles. Some people have a difficult time physically manipulating the needle to give themselves a shot, and for some patients, the medicine is not even enough to control their symptoms of MS.


Why do some patients stop taking the shots?

Dr. Jacobs: A huge number of MS patients don’t take the shots because they feel they're either too cumbersome or not likely to be effective in MS, so new treatments are desperately needed.


Tell me about the history of this new treatment for MS.

Dr. Jacobs: Campath-1H is a monoclonal antibody that attacks T-cells, which are the cells that attack the myelin in multiple sclerosis. This drug is given as an infusion. Patients don’t have to get daily shots. They can get an intravenous infusion of drug for five days a year without shots, and it will reduce their relapses and improve the MRI signs of multiple sclerosis. We have not studied it in a huge number of patients yet, so we cannot make any claims about efficacy. But the pilot studies suggest that it’s very effective and maybe more effective than the existing treatments for multiple sclerosis.


How much more effective?

Dr. Jacobs: The existing treatments will reduce relapses by about 30 percent on average in all patients. That means that they will continue to progress with their multiple sclerosis, but perhaps not as fast as if they didn’t take the shots. This drug may be more effective than that. I can’t give you percentages. I think we need more data to do that, but it looks like it may be substantially more effective.


Explain to me how Campath-1H works.

Dr. Jacobs: The drug is a new type of drug called a monoclonal antibody that attacks certain types of white cells that attack the brain and spinal cord and cause multiple sclerosis. It helps prevent the attacks of multiple sclerosis. The drug is a new class of drug called monoclonal antibodies, which attack certain white blood cells that attack the brain and spinal cord and turn these white blood cells off. As a result, multiple sclerosis relapses can be eliminated.


What kind of hope does that offer for MS patients?

Dr. Jacobs: If we can treat the patients early enough in their disease process, we can prevent the plaques from forming in the first place. We can presumably reduce their long-term disability. That’s the hypothesis of this study.


I know it’s early, but how exciting could this be?

Dr. Jacobs: Once a certain amount of brain damage has occurred, unfortunately, you can’t go back and put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The patient will most likely have a certain amount of disability no matter what drugs are given to them. On the other hand, if you can stop MS very early on, in the first three or four years of disease, you have a chance of reducing the amount of brain damage (preventing the accumulation of disease burden as measured on MRI), and thereby reducing the disability at five, 10, 20, 25 years down the road. That’s extremely exciting.

The patient that we are going to talk to is a hopeful candidate for this trial. How could her involvement improve her MS symptoms?

Dr. Jacobs: She will be [a candidate] if she’s eligible for the trial. She won’t have to take the shots. She’ll just take a five-day infusion of the drug without shots and we will assess her with periodic office visits and MRI scans. As I mentioned, the preliminary or pilot data suggests that this drug may shut down the new MRI abnormalities as well as greatly reduce the number of relapses, maybe even eliminate them.


What are the criteria to participate in this study?

Dr. Jacobs: The criteria for entry into this study are patients who have never been treated with existing treatments of MS. These are the so-called alphabet treatments -- A, B, C, R drugs -- Avinex, Betaseron, Copaxone and Rebif. Patients have to have had at least two relapses and to have had the disease for less than three years, or at least have had neurologic symptoms for less than three years.


What would make a patient ineligible for participation?

Dr. Jacobs: In a clinical trial, we focus on a certain subset of patients that we hope will have the best chance of helping. It doesn’t mean the drug won’t work for patients outside of the subset, but the criteria are fairly rigid because the study has to be done according to standards set out by the Food and Drug Administration.

Talk about how many candidates you have and why they make good candidates.

Dr. Jacobs: We’re looking for as many patients as we can get that meet the criteria, and again, we’re looking for patients that are relatively early in the disease course who have MRI abnormalities and who have not yet been treated with the existing treatments.

END OF INTERVIEW


Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported April 28, 2004


Alzheimer Drug may Help MS Patients

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One drug, dual purpose is what researchers from the Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York are saying about donepezil.

According to their research, the drug that is used to treat dementia in Alzheimer's patients is also showing signs of alleviating cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis.

Researchers studied nearly 70 MS patients with mild verbal and memory impairment and a lack of severe depressive symptoms. For 24 weeks, patients were either given 10 milligrams of donepezil or a placebo.

Lauren Krupp, M.D., lead author of the study, says, "The donepezil group displayed greater improvement on the verbal memory function test and experienced a greater reduction in cognitive deficits than did the placebo group."

Sixty-five percent of patients taking donepezil reported improvement as opposed to 32 percent of the placebo group.

Researchers hope to conduct a larger study in the near future to validate their findings.


SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology 56th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, April 24-May 1, 2004

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:37 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported January 23, 2004


Ginkgo for MS

PORTLAND, Ore. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Sixty percent of patients with multiple sclerosis have trouble concentrating and paying attention. There are no drugs to treat these symptoms, but an herb commonly used for memory may help this group.

When Mimi Tarro talks to her husband, she often asks him the same questions over and over again. She says: "An hour later I’ll say, ‘Now, what are you doing today? When are you coming home?’" She also has trouble remembering people and words. "I’m always going, ‘It’s like, you know, the thingamajig that fits inside the whatchamacallit, because I can’t think of either one of those names."

Tarro’s forgetfulness is a common symptom of multiple sclerosis, a disease that damages nerve fibers and impairs brain activity.

Nothing can repair the damage, but in a small study, the herb Ginkgo biloba improved awareness by 15 percent. That study, along with positive results in Alzheimer’s patients, prompted neurologist Dennis Bourdette, M.D., to start his own clinical trial at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. He says, "If we demonstrate that Ginkgo is beneficial, we’ll have a safe, inexpensive agent in a situation where we have nothing else to offer."

Tarro took Ginkgo for three years and noticed a difference. "It wasn’t like this big miracle that happened. It just was that I wasn’t struggling," she says.

Although it’s not a proven theory, doctors say it is a simple step in the right direction.

Though it appears to work for MS patients, Ginkgo did not improve memory in a recent trial of older patients who did not have MS. The herb can cause bleeding problems, so you should consult your doctor before taking it.


If you would like more information, please contact:

The Multiple Sclerosis Center of Oregon
Oregon Health & Science University
(503) 494-7241
}

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported February 20, 2004


Why MS Patients Experience Fatigue

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research shows nerve fiber damage may help explain why many patients with multiple sclerosis suffer from fatigue.

MS is a chronic disease of the central nervous system that is characterized by abnormal sensation, tremors, slurred speech, difficulty moving, and pain. Up to 87 percent of MS patients suffer from fatigue. According to researchers, fatigue is a major reason many MS patients are forced to give up working.

Researchers from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital in Quebec conducted a study to determine the relationship between nerve fiber damage and fatigue. They measured the N-acetylaspartate/creatine ratio, which is an indicator of proper nerve functioning, in 73 patients. A higher NAA/Cr ratio is associated with better nerve functioning.

Researchers found patients who reported experiencing extreme fatigue had a significantly lower NAA/Cr ratio than patients who reported experiencing little fatigue. Researchers say this finding shows MS patients who experience fatigue have more nerve fiber damage and worse nerve functioning.

Authors of the study conclude, "Our observations, combined with those of others, suggest that widespread axonal dysfunction is associated with fatigue in MS. It may be hypothesized that diffuse white matter [brain] disease translates into an increase in the central nervous system effort required by a patient with MS to perform the same activity as compared with a disease-free subject, with resultant fatigue."

SOURCE: Archives of Neurology, 2004;61:201-207

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 12:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported April 18, 2002


Stem Cell Transplants for MS


SEATTLE (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- There's new hope for people who suffer from severe forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Doctors from the University of Washington Medical Center recently announced success with stem cell transplants for MS patients.

MS is an autoimmune disease, which means the body's own immune system attacks tissue. The disease destroys myelin, or the thin, protective coating of nerve fibers in the brain and spine. Patients can end up with muscle weakness, stiffness, numbness and vision problems. Currently, medications are used to treat the progression of the disease, but there is no cure.

In this treatment, doctors removed stem cells from the patients, killed the unhealthy cells that attack the body and then returned the cells back to the body. Their hope was that the stem cells would not attack the body like the previous diseased cells. All 26 of the patients who underwent the therapy had unsuccessfully tried other treatments. George Kraft, M.D., M.S., from the University of Washington, says 80 percent of the patients either stabilized or had some improvement after having the stem cell transplant.

Twelve months after treatment, only three patients showed signs of new disease progression. Only two of the 26 required MS drugs. Dr. Kraft says these results are "encouraging," but he insists more studies are needed to confirm the success of the procedure. He says the procedure is risky. Some patients had complications after the transplant, and one patient died.


SOURCE: The American Academy of Neurology's 54th Annual Meeting in Denver, April 13-20, 2002

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 1:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported April 26, 2004


MS Patients Struggle to Sleep

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Fatigue is the most common complaint of multiple sclerosis patients, and new research shows abnormal sleep cycles and sleep disorders may be to blame.

Researchers from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vt., investigated whether circadian rhythm abnormalities or sleep disturbances exist in patients with MS and if they have an impact on fatigue and daytime sleepiness. They studied the sleep patterns of 15 patients with MS and fatigue, 15 patients with MS but no fatigue, and 15 healthy people without MS.

Ten of the fatigued MS patients had disrupted sleep, and two had irregular sleep cycles. One of the 15 non-fatigued MS patients had an irregular sleep phase, and two others had disrupted sleep. The rest of the participants, including all of those without MS, had normal sleep.

The study also shows nine patients with MS and fatigue scored high on a sleep scale test, indicting excessive daytime sleepiness. The researchers say only two patients with MS without fatigue scored as high on the test.

Up to 92 percent of MS patients say they are fatigued, and treatment is difficult. The study authors say certain sleep disorders, such as restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movement, and obstructive sleep apnea, are more common in patients with MS.

The researchers say now that they know MS patients are experiencing disrupted sleep, they can now start assessing the causes.

Nearly 400,000 Americans suffer from MS, a chronic neurological disease that affects the central nervous system. In MS, myelin -- the fatty tissue that surrounds and protects the nerve fibers -- is lost in multiple areas leaving a scar tissue called sclerosis. Symptoms are unpredictable and vary from person to person. Some of the more common ones include problems with memory, attention and problem-solving, dizziness, difficulty in walking, and pain.


SOURCE: Archives of Neurology, 2004;61:525-528

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 1:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported March 11, 2004


Stress Linked to Multiple Sclerosis

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- We know stress can be bad for the heart, but new research suggests it can have other consequences. A study out of Denmark indicates stress can increase the risk for multiple sclerosis.

Investigators used 16 years of Danish national registers to identify all children under age 18 who died and their surviving parents. They, then, randomly selected 15-times as many parents who did not lose a child and who had the same number of children around the same age. In all, nearly 315,000 parents were followed for close to 10 years.

During the study, 28 of the parents who lost a child developed MS and 230 other parents developed MS. Evidently, psychological stress may play a role in the development of the disease, researchers say. They found parents whose child died unexpectedly were more than twice as likely to develop MS than parents who did not lose any children.

Study author Jiong Li, M.D., MSc, from the University of Aarhus in Denmark, says, "[The results] could help us better understand the disease process and, in the future, develop preventative treatments."

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disorder that affects young adults, and the cause is not known. However, researchers believe that genetic susceptibility and environmental factors play a role.


SOURCE: Neurology, 2004;62:726-729

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 1:13 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported March 22, 2004


Stress Makes MS Worse

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study confirms what many multiple sclerosis patients already believe -- stressful events make their symptoms worse.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, say despite the fact that most MS patients believe this theory, most caregivers and academics are skeptical. The researchers analyzed data from 14 trials of stress and MS, and they discovered a modest -- but significant -- risk of exacerbation of symptoms after non-traumatic stressful life events, such as job stress or financial problems.

MS symptoms vary from patient to patient, and they can include: loss of function or feeling in the limbs, loss of bowel or bladder control, sexual dysfunction, fatigue, double vision, loss of balance, pain, and loss of cognitive functioning. Authors of the study say one of the problems with MS is the sudden onslaught of symptoms, which sometimes appear suddenly within 24 hours of an exacerbating event.

The researchers conclude that no specific stressful triggers can yet be linked to exacerbations. However, they say the stressful events that lead to symptoms are typically non-traumatic. Past studies have shown that life-threatening stresses actually reduce exacerbations.

The study’s authors say their findings should not be misconstrued to infer that patients are responsible for their symptom flare-ups. Instead, the researchers hope these findings will open investigations into new avenues of managing multiple sclerosis, either through stress management or through treatments of physical responses to stress.


SOURCE: British Medical Journal, published online March 18, 2004

Vee
Member

02-23-2004

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - 1:36 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vee a private message Print Post    
Multiple sclerosis, a drug that inhibits IL12 could improve disease control

Researchers have found a chemical messenger that frees some white blood cells from the body's normal constraints, allowing the cells to act like renegades that could damage nerves in the central nervous system.

The work, published in the Journal of Immunology, helps explain one of the fundamental mysteries of multiple sclerosis ( MS ).

It was discovered that a chemical messenger, found at high levels in MS patients, allows some immune cells known as T-effector cells to evade normal regulation.
Instead, the cells bypass their usual gatekeepers and could become active in the body's tissues, including the brain and spinal cord.

Researchers believe that during multiple sclerosis, renegade T-effector cells damage the myelin coating that covers nerve cells, causing the disease's symptoms. While another subset of white blood cells called T-regulatory cells normally control the activation of T-effector cells, investigators found that the chemical messenger interleukin-12 ( IL12 ) allows some cells to sidestep that regulation and run amok.

"Normally effector T cells are under strict control as they circulate through the blood stream in order to prevent unnecessary inflammation that could be harmful to otherwise healthy tissues," says Benjamin Segal, lead of the study. "However, occasionally they escape the body's suppression system. We're learning how they do that."

In the 1990s, while working in the laboratory of Ethan Shevach, at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Segal was one of the first scientists to show that IL12 could be important in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. He showed that the molecule empowers CD4+ T cells to enter the central nervous system, where they don't belong, and attack myelin. He has also shown that mice without the IL12 gene are completely protected against an MS-like disease, and that ordinary mice can be protected from developing MS-like symptoms if their IL12 is knocked out.
In contrast, exposure of normally harmless T-effector cells to IL-12 appears to unmask a latent ability to induce MS-like disease in mice.

Building on this and the work of others, Segal and other researchers around the world are now testing in MS patients an experimental drug produced by Centocor that is designed to inhibit IL12 and hopefully suppress attacks.

A drug that inhibits IL12 could restore the function of the T-regulatory cells, allowing them to be more effective in clamping down on rogue T-effector cells. Such a medication might also be useful in other autoimmune diseases like Crohn's disease, psoriasis, and arthritis, where scientists suspect IL12 also plays a role.

"There are a variety of treatments for multiple sclerosis, but most are only modestly effective," says Segal.

Segal's work helps explain why MS patients are more likely to suffer a relapse of the disease when they get an infection like the flu. When a person is infected, IL12 levels rise to allow the person to fight off the infection. Segal's work showing that IL12 helps usher harmful white blood cells into the central nervous system clarifies why MS patients sometimes worsen when they get an infection.

Source: University of Rochester Medical Center, 2005

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Friday, August 12, 2005 - 2:32 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Ivanhoe.com article
Reported March 24, 2003

Protecting MS Patients

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- About 2 million Americans suffer from multiple sclerosis -- a disease that currently has no cure. Doctors are now testing a drug that will add an effective new form of therapy to what is currently available.

Art Coscuna is a big football fan. Three years ago, he was forced to put his playing dreams on the shelf. "I was just walking, and all of a sudden, my right foot, and up my right side, went numb. I just stopped and said, 'This isn't right.' I turned to go back to my car and I collapsed," Coscuna tells Ivanhoe.

Coscuna has MS, a disease in which the immune system attacks nerves -- affecting muscles, coordination and balance. Medications are limited in controlling the disease. Art's neurologist, Marco Rizzo, M.D., Ph.D., enrolled him in a study on an experimental drug called antegren.

"The hypothesis is that this antibody keeps the immune system from entering the spinal cord and brain and wreaking destruction," says Dr. Rizzo, of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.

On an MRI, the brain of a healthy person appears uniformly gray. The MRI of a person with MS has white spots -- lesions from inflammation and scarring that result in nerve damage.

Dr. Rizzo says, "Those patients on the drug antegren had significant improvement in MRI scans compared to those patients who received placebo."


That's good news for Coscuna. He says, "They said, 'It will take time. It will come back. The nerves got to find a new route to run, but it's not something that's going happen overnight.'"

Antegren is part of a new class of drugs being tested for treating both multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease -- both are diseases thought to be the result of a malfunctioning immune system.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Jacqueline E. Weaver
Assistant Director for Science & Medicine
Yale Office of Public Affairs
Yale University
(203) 432-8555
jacqueline.weaver@yale.edu

Nino
Member

09-20-2004

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 1:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Nino a private message Print Post    
HP and Vee,

Thank you so much for posting all the MS info above! I can't believe I've had these symptoms for decades and never knew what it was! Of course, I'm still waiting on a definitive diagnosis, but what I have just has to be MS!

I appreciate all your help! This thread is very informative for me and anyone else who has a loved one coping with MS at the time.



Totallyaddicted
Member

08-23-2005

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 9:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Totallyaddicted a private message Print Post    
Thank you so much for all of this info!! I have been going to doctors regularly for the past year and a half with symptoms that are similar to MS. Unfortunately my doctors are still not completely ready to diagnose me with MS...not good news for me...I feel like the constant not knowing is driving me crazy.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Friday, September 30, 2005 - 9:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Hi, Totally. I'll bet this was the reason for your sad face the other day. I have no direct experience with this disease, but I do recall some of the info I have posted here about diagnosing MS. I believe they have to watch you over time to confirm MS--comparing an MRI of your brain with another a few months later, etc. (The problem with that is that the scarring has a chance to damage your nerves before they actually diagnose you. So early detection is important. But, if I am correct, some of the reproduced info in the above posts verifies that some of the damage can be 'fixed.')

Anyway, I copied what I think is pertinent here for you, so--if your doc has NOT explored this option, you can at least ask him/her about the procedure:

Researchers from New York University say using magnetic resonance spectroscopy along with a method they developed, called whole-brain N-acetylaspartate (WBNAA), accurately measures the severity of a patient's multiple sclerosis and helps doctors determine how the disease responds to drugs. WBNAA measures the amount of the brain chemical N-acetylaspartate, which is depleted in patients with MS.

Researchers say because neuronal cell injury and atrophy occur before symptoms become noticeable, WBNAA is a more accurate way to measure disease activity in early stages.


Good luck, hon. And if you haven't stopped in to talk with Nino, why don't you. She and you are going thru the same deal right now.

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Saturday, October 01, 2005 - 9:17 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Reported May 25, 2005

Diabetes Drug Helps Multiple Sclerosis -- In-Depth Doctor's Interview


Douglas Feinstein, Ph.D., explains how a common diabetes drug could be the latest breakthrough for treatment of multiple sclerosis

Ivanhoe Broadcast News Transcript with
Douglas Feinstein, Ph.D., Neuroscientist

University of Illinois, Chicago, Illinois

TOPIC: Diabetes Drug
Helps Multiple Sclerosis




How did you get interested in this area of research?

Feinstein: We started carrying out multiple sclerosis-related research about eight or 10 years ago. I started doing that work when I was at a different university, and when I came to the University of Illinois, we pursued studies of multiple sclerosis and basic brain research.



Is MS an area of interest for you?

Feinstein: Personally, I have one or two family members who either have MS or have close friends with multiple sclerosis. But I’ve been working in the field for many years, and it’s just become an area of high interest to me research-wise.



What indications do you have thus far that these drugs that were targeted for or used commonly for diabetes may actually work for MS?

Feinstein: Currently, there are several drugs being used that are FDA approved to treat type 2 diabetes, and there are several indications that some of these drugs may also be useful for treating inflammatory diseases. MS can be considered an inflammatory disease of the brain. Studies from animal work and studies from cell culture work suggest that these same drugs will have very important anti-inflammatory effects.



When you say anti-inflammatory, how does that pertain to certain neurological diseases?

Feinstein: MS as well as several other neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, even cerebral ischemia have a lot of inflammatory components to them. There are inflammatory molecules released in the brain. These are called cytokines. There are reactive oxygen species, just like hydrogen peroxide, which are released in the brain. So drugs that prevent the release of these pro-inflammatory molecules can have beneficial effects in a variety of neurological diseases, including MS.



Do you think down the road the research you’re doing on these diabetes drugs might also have some efficacy toward Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases?

Feinstein: Exactly. The drugs that we are testing now, which are also being tested in several other laboratories in the United States and outside the United States, are being tested in MS as well as in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. There’s a recent paper in the Journal of Neuroscience showing the efficacy of one of these drugs in an Alzheimer’s disease model. So in fact yes, these drugs may have a generic therapeutic potential in a lot of neurological symptoms and conditions.



Is there any real relationship between diabetes and MS?

Feinstein: This is a very interesting question. I would say probably not. The way that these drugs work in diabetes is probably very distinct from the way they work in the brain. In diabetes, they’re improving glucose utilization. They’re causing your cells to take up glucose better than what they normally do in diabetes. Alright, that’s really not a problem in MS. With MS, they’re working in the brain, so it’s probably pretty different.

So the relationship between type 2 diabetes and MS, there probably isn’t any real strong correlation, and it’s just a serendipitous discovery that we came across these drugs.



Have you seen any of these results firsthand?

Feinstein: We started our studies about two or three years ago, and because the type 2 diabetes drugs are FDA approved, there were several cases where they were prescribed to MS patients off label, which is something doctors can do. We published a case report about a year ago showing that treatment of a secondary progressive MS patient with pioglitazone (Actos) improved her symptoms. So, we’ve had a few cases where the drug seemed to be effective in MS patients.



Are you optimistic about what’s being shown in your study?

Feinstein: The study that we’re carrying out is a phase I safety test to determine if MS patients, and specifically relapse and remitting MS patients, can take the drug pioglitazone, whether or not it’ll be safe, and if there are side effects. At this point, we’ve recruited more than half the patients. Some of them have been on the drug for up to five or six months, and we have no indications of any side effects. So I’m very optimistic that at least with respect to side effects, there aren’t going to be any or very minor ones.

And overall, with respect to the ability of this drug to actually provide benefit in MS, I’m optimistic in that hopefully it will at least slow down the progression of disease, hopefully noticeably. If we can at least achieve that, we’ll be very happy. Whether it will be anything beyond that is yet to be determined, and that will require further trials.



You explained that one of the drawbacks of current therapies for MS are that they are difficult to take. You have to go into the hospital or clinic and receive injectable doses. Contrast that with the use of the pioglitazone.

Feinstein: An important question is the method of administration of the drugs. There are currently five drugs that have been FDA approved for treatment of MS, and then a sixth one has just been approved in the past few months. All of these drugs are injectables, some of them biweekly, some of them once a month. However, many patients do not enjoy having injectable drugs. The drugs that we’re testing are provided orally. We’re testing them now at a daily dose, once a day, and there appear to be no side effects.



So compliance to the medications will be easier?

Feinstein: Right. The patients will find that if these drugs are easier to take, there’ll be less stress about having to inject themselves, and there’ll be less possibility of side effects. Injections can cause local damage to the injection site. With this drug, there will be none of that problem.



When will we know the final results of your study?

Feinstein: The study we’re doing now started approximately six months ago. It’s a one-year trial. We’re about half way through the trial, so we expect to get our initial results and data analysis by the end of 2005. We hope to present our data early spring of 2006.



What sort of satisfaction does it give you to be involved in research that could one day help so many people?

Feinstein: Well, my background is a Ph.D. researcher, and I’ve been doing basic research for my whole life. So now to bring one of our research projects into the clinical field, the translational research is incredibly exciting, a little scary. Hopefully it will work, and we’ll continue to do that.



What could your research mean for patients?

Feinstein: If we find in our trial that these drugs have no side effects and that they do offer some benefit, we think that for the general MS population, they may offer an additional therapeutic treatment, an alternative to having to take injectable drugs or perhaps they might be used as an additional therapy in conjunction with the existing medications.



Tell me about the state of MS right now.

Feinstein: MS is a disease which affects approximately 300,000 to 350,000 Americans. It’s more common in women -- about two-times as many women as men have the disease. It starts early in life, as early as 15 to 20 years old and can last for up to 20 to 30 years. I believe that it’s the second most expensive because of the duration of the disease. It’s a very expensive financial burden to families and patients. So anything we can do to shorten the progression of the disease or to improve the life quality of the patients is going to be beneficial both for the families as well as for the economic burden.



What does the disease consist of?

Feinstein: MS is a disease that affects the myelin structure of the brain. Myelin is the insulating sheath that wraps around the axons and the neurons. When myelin is present, it allows neuronal transmission to occur frequently and rapidly and efficiently. In MS, there’s loss of this myelin sheath, and the signals slow down. And because of that, patients exhibit slight muscle problems, balance problems, and coordination problems. Occasionally, there are some cognitive problems but there’s a general muscular detriment there.


This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Sharon Butler
Office of Public Affairs
University of Illinois at Chicago
601 South Morgan MC 288
Chicago, IL 60607-7113
(312) 355-2522

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Monday, November 28, 2005 - 4:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Source: Ivanhoe.com (TV Report: November 28, 2005)


Overcoming MS

BOSTON (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Striking women between ages 20 and 40, Multiple Sclerosis hits women at the prime of their lives. As careers and families are developing, MS begins to work against her body, creating difficulties with walking and vision and extreme fatigue. While there is no cure, artist Jo Ann Rothschild says there is no reason to stop living life to its fullest.

Her paintings sell for thousands of dollars, but in her early 20s MS threatened her artistic vision. The disease began as a blind spot in Rothschild’s left eye and progressed to her being unable to hold the paintbrush. "I wanted to prove I could paint whether I could see with both eyes or not," she says.

Connie Easterling, ARNP, a multiple sclerosis nurse in Orlando, Fla., says, "[A woman with MS] has to reevaluate her ability to care for children, care for her home, and whether or not she can continue working in her occupation depending on her level of disability."

Because MS starts in the brain, damage to crucial nerves eventually puts many patients in a wheel chair. Even so, most women, like Rothschild continue to work, taking medications to help with more serious symptoms. Another treatment is to stay cool, raising the body’s temperature by one degree makes the symptoms flare up.

Rothschild is lucky, intensive treatment has meant no debilitating attacks for eight years. She attributes part of this to her passion for art. "I also think when you're in difficulty, it's important to have something that doesn't concentrate on the difficulty," Rothschild says.

To cut down on heart-related MS attacks, free cooling equipment is available to MS patients through the National MS Society.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.


If you would like more information, please contact:

Connie Easterling
ARNP
The MS Comprehensive Care Center of Central Florida
(407) 352-5434
http://www.mscentralfl.com

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Monday, November 28, 2005 - 4:35 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Source: Ivanhoe.com
Reported November 25, 2005


Helping MS Patients Battle Depression


PORTLAND, Ore. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- You've heard fish oil is good for you. Some studies even show it may prevent Alzheimer's and heart disease. Now, doctors want to know if it can decrease depression in a specific group of patients.

Simply putting on makeup can be difficult for Kendall Minter. She has multiple sclerosis -- a disease that causes double vision, numbness in her hand -- and also depression. "I just get stuck in this cycle of doubt and just sadness, and I don't want to do anything about it," she says.

Minter's antidepressant doesn't work as well as she'd like, so everyday, as part of a clinical trial, she also takes six grams of fish oil.

Lynne Shinto, N.D., a naturopathic researcher at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, says the fish oils, just with MS, look promising. People with MS have high levels of inflammation in their blood, which could cause depression.

In a pilot study, Shinto gave fish oil to ms patients to see if it could decrease those levels. "We gave them fish oils for three months, and we looked at the same marker three months later, and we see that the levels decrease," she tells Ivanhoe. Their inflammation levels dropped by about 50 percent.

"Then, what we did is we took them off fish oil for three months, and we looked at the same marker," Shinto says. "We see that the levels go back up, which is what we expect if they're not taking the fish oil." Now, Shinto and colleagues are conducting another study to find out if the fish oil reduces depression and other symptoms of MS.

Minter is excited about the new study. "I thought it couldn't hurt, so you know, if it helps, then it's a bonus," she says, and she hopes it will also be a bonus for the up to 60 percent of MS patients who suffer depression.

So far, the only side effect is a fishy aftertaste and an upset stomach. If you take a fish oil supplement, you should look on the label to make sure it contains no mercury or other heavy metals. Shinto says there is some evidence that fish oil can help patients with depression who don't have MS, but more research needs to be done to confirm that. The new study is funded by the National Institutes of Health and is now enrolling.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

MS Center of Oregon
Oregon Health and Science University
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd L217
Portland, OR 97239
(503) 494-5759

Herckleperckle
Member

11-20-2003

Monday, November 28, 2005 - 4:52 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Herckleperckle a private message Print Post    
Source: Ivanhoe.com
Reported September 8, 2005



Phone Therapy Helps Depression in MS



A new study shows patients with multiple sclerosis have a significant improvement in signs of depression with phone therapy.

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, included 127 patients with MS in a 16-week study. Patients were randomized to receive either 16 weeks of telephone-administered cognitive-behavioral therapy (T-CBT) or 16 weeks of telephone-administered supportive emotion-focused therapy (T-SEFT). The goal of T-CBT is to teach skills that help participants manage cognitions and behaviors that contribute to depression and improve skills in managing stressful life events and interpersonal difficulties. Researchers say T-SEFT's goal is to increase patients' level of experience of their internal world. No matter which therapy a patient received, each person spoke with a psychologist for 50 minutes per week.

At the end of the study, researchers found significantly better improvements for major depressive disorder frequency for patients in the T-CBT compared to the T-SEFT group. Treatment gains were stable at the 12-month follow-up, but there were no differences between the two treatment groups at that time.

Researchers say barriers to receiving therapy for depression include physical impairments, transportation problems, proximity of services, and lack of time or resources. Two-thirds of depressed people prefer therapy to antidepressants, but only 10 percent to 45 percent ever make a first appointment for therapy. Nearly half will drop out before the end of treatment.

Phone therapy helped MS patients in the study. Study authors say, "The use of telephone-administered therapies may also overcome various other barriers in the general population arising form transportation problems, lack of services in the area, child care problems, lack of time, and stigma."

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry; 2005;62:1007-1014

Xxwriterxx
Member

11-28-2005

Wednesday, December 07, 2005 - 11:06 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Xxwriterxx a private message Print Post    
Wow! What an informative folder. I have MS, although I had no idea what all these symptoms were about until my sister was diagnosed with it. She has the Progressive MS; mine, so far, is the Hidden MS--meaning, you wouldn't know I have it by looking at me.

I have all the symptoms, but usually not all at once. I've heard it's so difficult to get diagnosed that I've not even seen a doctor about this yet, although I've been complaining to them about these symptoms for years and years now. Even if I were diagnosed, I'm not even sure I would want to take all the experimental drugs.

I would be interested in knowing if anyone has seen any improvement through diet, such as the Swank Diet.