Craig, I'm very sorry to hear about your situation... For your MS-like symptoms did you have involuntary muscular twitches and muscle spasms? If so there is something you might want to give a shot Now, this may sound a litte out there, but please hear me out.

I am 31 years old and about 8 months ago I started experiencing involuntary muscular twitches and muscle spasms. After a lot of testing, blood work, brain CT scans and a neurologist refferal, I was left with no answers as to what was causing my symptoms. Its a long story, but through homeopathic doctors and internet forums, I found the answers I was looking for. As it turns out, my neurological symptoms were being caused by an adult onset food sensitivity, which itself was a symptom of another condition caused by Candida. Candida is a fungus that lives in our digestive tracts. Normally it is kept in check by the helpful bacteria that live in our small and large intestines. As you know, we are an antibiotic using society. Antibiotics do not discriminate which bacteria they kill when we take them, and our intestinal bacteria are on the front lines and thus take major casualties.

This affords the fungus Candida the opportunity to 'move in' and take over our digestive tracts. The human body is resiliant and does its best to withstand Candida's harmful effects, but over the years Candida wins the battle. Over time the Candida weakens the intestine walls and allows undigested food protiens and the Candida itself to be absorbed into our blood streams. Our bodies see the undigested food proteins as foreign invaders and antibodies are created to fight them. After a while, our bodies learn to associate the proteins with the particular food we ate and begin to proactively attack. This is how food sensitivities are developed.

Now a food sensitivity is different from a food allergy. Food allergies are an immediate and direct immune response to a certain type of food. Food sensitivities however are more subtle, can be delayed in their reaction by up to 72 hours, and are more of a second hand reaction to the immune response of the antibodies. This makes food senstivities much more difficult to pinpoint and diagnose. Furthermoe food allergy tests will not tell you if you have a food sensitivity.

In my case, I had become sensitive to wheat/gluten and dairy originally. Typically you become sensitive to the foods you most often eat and these two are staples in the American diet. They are in just about every meal we eat. I was twitching 24/7 and the reason why was because I was never giving my body a chance to clear itself of the foods I was sensitive to. Once I did begin avoiding foods I was sensitive to, the symptoms subsided within about 4 to 5 days. Don't be discouraged though because food sensitivities are not permanent!

Candida itself can also be the culprit in your neurological symptoms. In the reading I have done, Candida will settle in different areas of your body once it gets into your blood stream. Once it is there it will disrupt the bodies natural process. It is for this reason that the symptoms of Candida in your system are so incredibly vast. If it settles in your joints it can cause stiff and achy joints often mistaken for arthritis. If it settles in your bladder it can eventually lead to loss of bladder control. It has been linked to fatigue, anxiety, depression, auto-immune diseases, enlarged prostates and ED in men, yeast infections in women, poor memory or 'foggy brain', insomnia, sleeping disordes and the list goes on. Who knows the neurological havoc it can cause if it settles in the brain or around nerve endings. So many condiitions people just accept as part of getting older are actually symptoms of Candida. I myself at the age of 31 was noticing that I felt more fatigued (wake up tired and be exhausted at night) and my joints would be stiff or sore after going for a run. I just asociated it with me being in my 30's now.

There are diets and plans all over the internet to help eliminate Candida from your system. Candida feeds on sugars, alcohol and vinegars so a lot of the diets have you avoiding these types of foods. A lot of plans even have you avoid fruits because the body easily converts them to sugars. I found a plan that I have been following for a few weeks now and I am absolutely blown away with the results so far. I like this plan too because it does allow fruits in the diet. The plan architect is Dr. Jeffery McCombs. He also has a book about Candida that I highly recommend called 'Lifeforce.' Its a quick read as it is only about 100 pages long, but its packed with a great deal of good information. The plan is called the McCombs Plan. I recommend you google it.

I did internet research to select my Candida elimination plan and his got a ton of possitive reviews. It was a shorter plan (16 weeks) and it allowed for fruits in the diet. The results started to really shine in just a few days of starting the plan too.

This may or may not be the answer to your problems, but I think it may be worth a shot. I was amazed at the information I learned about Candida and all the problems it causes and don't understand why it isn't more promenent in the mainstream medical community. I can only speculate. All I know is that I've been having huge success with this Candida elimination diet and I want to spread the word. It was extremely difficult for me to find these answers and I know there are others out there who have been suffering far longer and far worse than I have been. Please keep us posted if you decide to pursue and let us know how it goes. I wish you the best of luck.