'Diagnose and adios'*

Bladder Issues with Multiple Sclerosis

Bladder and bowel issues can be a symptom of multiple sclerosis. Sometimes the issues are constant and sometimes they are intermittent.

From about.com.

Solid evidence that best treatment for multiple sclerosis is pregnancy

For years, doctors have suggested the best treatment for multiple sclerosis is pregnancy. Now, an Oregon study is delivering solid evidence to support the theory.

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center have uncovered the mechanism by which estrogen, produced in high volumes during pregnancy, boosts the expression and number of regulatory cells that are key to fighting MS and other autoimmune diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes.

One treatment I guess I won't be on. More here,

Wunago -- Your guide to Wheelchair Accessible Travel -- www.wunago.com

Contrary to rumor, Wunago is not an ancient tribe of wheelchair warriors. The name "Wunago" comes from a desire many people with disabilities have. They "want to go" places and see new things and experience everything life has to offer. Based on his personal travel experiences,l LorenlWorthingtonlrecognized that travel is far less stressful if you have a clear understanding of what type of accessibility lies ahead. More over, when you hear about a great place to visit that offers a wheelchair-friendly environment, you have a tendency to go explore.

Travel here.

Q & A: M.S. in the Heat

Why does heat bring out symptoms of M.S. in a patient who is usually asymptomatic?

Answer here. (registration required)

Cannabis Spray To Treat Multiple Sclerosis

GW Pharmaceuticals and Bayer HealthCare announced they have submitted an application to Health Canada to market a cannabis based drug. The drug, Sativex, has been developed for the treatment of the debilitating symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and severe neuropathic pain.

Spray here.

Levetiracetam and MS Spasticity

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.

More here.

Brain damage seen in multiple sclerosis patients

Brain scans suggest that nerve fiber damage may be the cause of the fatigue suffered by patients with multiple sclerosis.

Nearly nine out of ten patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) report a debilitating level of fatigue, as well as neurological symptoms such as weakness, tremors and slurred speech. Now researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute think they have a new insight into the origins of this fatigue.

They gave magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans to a group of 60 patients with MS so that the extent of nerve fiber damage within the nervous system could be measured. They divided the patients into low and high fatigue sub-groups depending upon the level of fatigue reported. They found that there was more nerve fiber damage and poorer nerve functioning within the high fatigue group. This is an interesting study that sheds new light on MS and explains, perhaps, why existing therapies to tackle fatigue often don’t work.

More...

A New Drug for Multiple Sclerosis

The anti-epileptic drug levetiracetam helps control phasic spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), says a study in the December issue of the Archives of Neurology.

More here.

Internet Help for Incontinence

The Bladder Control Forum aims to educate people with bladder problems, their caregivers and the general public about the issue to improve the quality of life for people with incontinence.

Aim here.

Website here.

When laughter lingers too long

More than a million Americans suffer from a malady that prompts them to break out laughing at funerals or start crying on happy occasions.

Sharla LaFountain of Great Falls has suffered from the condition called pseudobulbar effect, an offshoot of her multiple sclerosis. Up to 10 percent of people with multiple sclerosis deal with the side effect.

More here.

More on Pseudobulbar Affect here.

A friend of mine calls this emotional incontinence.

New Compound That Acts On Peripheral Receptors May Be Promising Treatment For Some Nerve Pain

"Chronic pain is one of the most significant disease states affecting Americans, in terms of economic and social impacts," says Dr. Nora D. Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "And, unfortunately, therapeutic options for the treatment of chronic pain are inadequate, partly because a number of drugs that can be used to treat pain have unpleasant side effects that limit their effectiveness, and partly because some of them have the potential for addiction and abuse."

Read it here.

Treatment Options Expand For Patients With Neuropathic Pain

Now if my neurologist could only read.

Treatment options for people who suffer from severe pain caused by damage to nerves have expanded dramatically in just the past five years, say scientists and physicians who have published the first-ever guidelines for treating such pain. The guidelines for treating neuropathic pain appear in the November issue of the Archives of Neurology.

Though we may not appreciate it, much of the pain we feel every day is normal and healthy. The intense pain we feel after putting a hand on a hot stove, for instance, tells you that you're doing damage to your body and to move your hand immediately. But neuropathic pain serves no useful purpose – it's the result of damage to nerves that transmit pain signals. And so the nerves send errant, unnecessary pain signals that can put a person in constant, pointless, agonizing pain.

Feel the pain here.

Scan Painlessly Pinpoints Muscle Stiffness

The tool is several years away from routine use, but eventually it could serve a variety of purposes, including evaluating injuries, stroke-related muscle damage and degenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, a Mayo Clinic researcher told New Scientist magazine.

Read it here.

Q&A: Cannabis drug trial

The biggest-ever trial of "cannabinoid" drugs in MS has produced mixed results.

While patients told researchers that their symptoms were eased by the drugs, there was relatively little hard evidence of physical changes in their bodies to back this up.

BBC News Online looks at the implications of the trial for future use of cannabis in medicine. Read it here.

Medicinal Marijuana May Help With MS

A marijuana pill appeared to relieve some of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis in the first scientifically rigorous study of the strongly debated drug.

The research, published this week in The Lancet medical journal, found that even though improvements could not be detected by doctors' tests, a greater proportion of patients taking the drug reported reduced pain and muscle stiffness than those taking fake capsules.

Read it here.

Passive exercise!

The AT-101 is a non-invasive means for passive exercise that serves as an aid to improve circulation as well as joint mobility. The process does not stress either muscles or joints, is pain-free, causes no discomfort, and yet is the passive equivalent of jogging while you are lying flat on your back.

Read it here.

They reported that 45 minutes of AT101 application in 14 healthy subjects and 40 patients suffering from a variety of illnesses released nitric oxide in all trials. Its importance is reflected by the award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1998 for discoveries concerning "nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system." Nitric oxide levels in the blood are increased naturally in the body during active exercise and accounts for several of its beneficial effects including prevention of arteriosclerosis.

Drs. Sackner and Adams said that "nitric oxide is beneficial to the body because it opens blood vessels more widely and suppresses inflammation in a way similar to cortisone products without the harmful side effects of these drugs." Ten to 15 daily AT101 applications of AT101 passive exercise device were administered to 25 patients with chronic inflammatory diseases and a quality of life questionnaire provided before and after the trial. These diseases included osteoarthritis, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, neuropathy, fibromyalgia, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, restless legs syndrome, chronic venous insufficiency, and coronary artery disease. There were statistically significant improvements in vitality, body pain and role physical following the application of the AT101 program. "These benefits suggest that the body's release of nitric oxide with the AT101 passive exercise device might be beneficial to a large number of other diseases which have as their basis chronic inflammation," added Drs Sackner and Adams.

Read it here.

Passive exercise!?! I like the sound of that.

Humor Therapy: Laugh Your Way to Better Health!

"Laughter is inner jogging."

Norman Cousins (1912 - 1990)
Author, Anatomy of an Illness

Laughter, the physiological response to humor, is one of the first sounds we make at about 9 months old. As adults, we laugh an estimated 17 times per day. But humor is more than funny; studies have shown humor also may offer therapeutic benefits.

According to the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor (AATH), therapeutic humor is "any intervention that promotes health and wellness by stimulating a playful discovery, expression or appreciation of the absurdity or incongruity of life`s situations."

Further, says the AATH, humor therapy "may enhance work performance, support learning, improve health or be used as a complementary treatment of illness to facilitate healing or coping, whether physical, emotional, cognitive, social, or spiritual."

While humor therapy is centuries old, the concept of humor therapy was introduced to the 20th century by Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review and author of Anatomy of an Illness. In his book, Cousins shares how humor led to his recovery from an unknown illness that caused him to feel feverish, weak and fatigued. When medical care available at the time failed him, he chose to indulge in the positive medicine of humor by reading funny literature and watching funny shows. His successful findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Humor therapy may occur in an inpatient or outpatient setting, or anywhere you happen to be. Therapeutic uses of humor in formal care settings may include the use of clowns and "Laugh Mobiles" or "Comedy Carts," which may contain funny books and videos. Dr. Patch Adams, whom actor Robin Williams portrayed in the movie "Patch Adams," popularized humor therapy in the hospital setting.

Dr. Allen C. Bowling, author of Alternative Medicine and Multiple Sclerosis, writes that a study on humor and MS patients found humor to be "one of the most common strategies used to cope with the disease." But healthy laughter, he adds, should not be confused with "pathological laughter" - uncontrollable laughter that may occur whether something is humorous or not. This condition sometimes happens in MS patients due to neurological damage; however, medication is available to treat symptoms.

Humor therapy, according to the AATH, may help both MS patients and their loved ones better cope with the many changes that often accompany illness. Humor also may do the following:

• Relieve stress
  
• Decrease pain
  
• Alleviate depression
  
• Offer hope
  
• Increase blood pressure and heart rate
  
• Foster relaxation
  
• Alter immune system activity

To add more laughter to your life, the AATH suggests the following:

• "Figure out what makes you laugh and do it (or read it or watch it) more
  often.
  
• Surround yourself with funny people - be with them every chance you get.
  
• Develop your own sense of humor."

For more information about humor therapy, contact the AATH.

It's Wake-Up Time

"Right now, the US Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory is testing an antisleep agent called modafinil. Developed by the French firm Lafon to fight narcolepsy and sold by Pennsylvania drugmaker Cephalon under the name Provigil, the compound can keep users up for two or three days at a stretch, with negligible side effects and little risk of addiction. Modafinil was approved by the FDA in 1998 and has been used to treat excessive sleepiness in patients with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis; it's also been shown to help cocaine addicts kick the habit. The French Foreign Legion used the drug in Gulf War I, and although the Pentagon won't comment, several news outlets reported that coalition troops were taking it during the drive to Baghdad earlier this year."

Read the rest here.

The use of CAM by people with MS

Canadian study on the use of complementary and alternative medicines. The results of this study demonstrate that people with MS are likely to be using some type of CAM.

"Seventy percent of respondents had used CAM within the past two years. Over 100 different practices and products were described."

"Although a small number of people reported experiencing negative effects from CAM (5%), the vast majority perceived positive effects (72%). Therapies most often cited as beneficial were massage therapy, acupuncture and cannabis. The most common reasons for using CAM were to improve health (68%), to lessen the symptoms of MS (61%) and a belief that it couldn’t hurt (55%). Reasons most frequently endorsed for not using CAM were lack of knowledge about these therapies (42%) and satisfaction with the care provided by conventional practitioners (20%)."

Read it here.

Feed a cold, starve MS...

This is an old article, but worth following. Maybe those strict diets did work.
Read it here.

Self reported stressful life events and exacerbations in multiple sclerosis: prospective study

Report studies the relation between self reported stressful life events not related to multiple sclerosis and the occurrence of exacerbations in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.
From the British Medical Journal , read it here.