Can you be healed from ms

This is particularly true when they have millions of followers on Instagram, no medical qualifications, and promote information with no scientific backing. Along this journey, I also read a lot about those with MS who say they cured themselves through diet, positive thinking, and lifestyle changes.

There was an expectation that if I did everything they were doing, I would be cured. I would chastise myself if I had symptoms the day after an indulgence of any kind. I became increasingly anxious. I now know that managing a chronic condition takes trial and error. Being your own advocate is so important. Knowing your limits and what works for you is crucial. I spent the better part of a year trying to figure out what I had done wrong.

It was like prodding an open wound, raw and fruitless. Ultimately, I had to forgive myself for being sick and realize that I am not to blame for my condition. I think with any diagnosis, you go through the stages of grief, which eventually leads to acceptance.

Perhaps deep diving into the world of cure-alls is part of this healing process, but there is a danger in becoming too consumed. I do believe the body has an incredible ability to heal itself on many levels, but MS is, ultimately, an incurable disease.

However, poor nutrition is a huge component of disease, and lifestyle is a major influencer on health outcomes, particularly for those of us with chronic conditions. Yet, I was never asked about my diet or lifestyle. I was simply told to stay on my medication, which was largely unhelpful. I have since found that following the Overcoming MS diet , which is loosely based on the Mediterranean diet, helps with my symptoms.

Eliminate stress. Eat the rainbow. Read more about treating urinary incontinence. It may be possible to treat mild to moderate constipation by changing your diet or taking laxatives.

More severe constipation may need to be treated with suppositories, which are inserted into your bottom, or an enema. An enema involves having a liquid medicine rinsed through your bottom and large bowel, which softens and flushes out your stools. Bowel incontinence can sometimes be treated with anti-diarrhoea medicine or by doing pelvic floor exercises to strengthen your rectal muscles. A speech and language therapist can help you find ways to overcome problems with speech and swallowing.

For example, they can offer advice about foods that are easy to swallow and recommend exercises to strengthen the muscles used in speech and swallowing. If swallowing problems become very severe, some people need to be fed using a tube, which is fitted into the stomach through the skin.

If you have relapsing MS talk to you specialist team about other possible treatments to help with your symptoms. Although MS can't be cured, there are medicines that can help people have fewer and less severe relapses. These are called disease-modifying therapies. These aim to reduce the amount of damage and scarring to the myelin sheath a layer surrounding your nerves , which is associated with MS relapses.

These treatments may also help to slow worsening disability in MS, although definitive research into their long-term benefits is limited. Disease-modifying therapies aren't suitable for everyone with MS. They're only prescribed to those with relapsing-remitting MS or secondary progressive MS who meet certain criteria, such as the number of relapses they have had. People without relapses are very unlikely to benefit from the treatments and could still experience side effects from them.

You can find further information about disease-modifying therapies on these websites:. Much progress has been made in MS treatment thanks to clinical trials, where new treatments and treatment combinations are compared with standard ones. All clinical trials in the UK are carefully overseen to ensure they're worthwhile and safely conducted.

Dermot started to look at his lifestyle. He had been filling every minute of every day with work, lectures and study, then exercising by running or lifting weights well into the early hours of the morning, collapsing into bed around 4am. For the previous seven years, he had worked in more than 70 countries, hopping in and out of time zones, fighting off jet-lag to perform under high pressure conditions.

He frequently gorged on junk food - colleagues called him 'the human dustbin'. He also felt 'emotionally' unhealthy: whenever he felt that he had suffered an injustice, he would harbour a huge amount of resentment - just as he did after being diagnosed with MS.

So he turned to various 'alternative' disciplines, including Neuro-Linguistic Programming NLP , which 'reprogrammes' the brain to change negative thoughts. He also studied the work of Irish hypnotherapist Dr Sean Collins. Dr Collins was researching the effect of the mind on the body and had just completed his first book Tipping The Scales. He argued that while making one change to your life might not be enough to conquer an illness, the cumulative effect of various changes could tip the balance in your favour.

Critically, the numbness in my body from the previous MS attack waned and eventually disappeared. To Dermot, it seemed the original diagnosis had been turned on its head.

He went back to his neurologist six months later and was told it was a temporary remission. Dermot never went back. The next time he and his neurologist met, they were sharing a platform at an MS Society conference where they were clearly from opposite schools of thought. I believe I have actively created my remission. In just six months, I was measurably fitter, faster and stronger. My energy was higher than I had ever known it before, and I had increased mental clarity.

Not only was I symptom-free, but I was in the best physical shape I'd been in for almost ten years. Dermot continued to study alternative approaches, training as an acupuncturist, dietary therapist and NLP master practitioner. He has now left banking and opened clinics in Dublin and London. He claims success with illnesses ranging from serious conditions such as Parkinson's disease to chronic migraine. It is now eight years since Dermot was diagnosed with MS.

He claims his health has improved year on year and that he remains symptom-free. Dermot appears to have confounded the prognosis. The history of medicine is full of stories of patients who defy expectations. Multiple sclerosis MS support groups can be a source of connection and encouragement for people with the condition.

Here is a list of MS support…. A pair of new studies suggests that viral infections in a person's teenage years may raise their risk of developing multiple sclerosis MS later in…. People living with MS can benefit from receiving vaccinations, but they may need to take some precautions.

Learn more here. Multiple sclerosis: Are we close to a cure? Written by Hannah Nichols on August 21, Share on Pinterest Researchers are uncovering many potential treatment routes for MS. Could they be close to a cure? Drugs recently approved by the FDA. Latest innovations in the MS drug pipeline. Recent MS treatment research. Share on Pinterest Training with weights may help to protect the nervous systems and slow MS progression. Is a cure for MS imminent?

Share on Pinterest Results from early mouse studies have indicated paralysis reversal in MS, which may have treatment implications for humans in the future.

Latest news Adolescent depression: Could school screening help? Exposure to air pollutants may amplify risk for depression in healthy individuals. Related Coverage. Can a person claim disability benefits due to MS? What to know about multiple sclerosis and anesthesia. Medically reviewed by Seunggu Han, MD.

Multiple sclerosis support groups.