OOPs! Sorry about that.
Thanks for catching it Chemar .
Will be more careful in the future.

With love, Erika

List EXACT items to be checked in my blood & i'll get every one I haven't checked already.

I have MS, older sister has Lupus, younger brother hypo-thyroid. Sister with Lupus had her thyroid removed due to cancer.

Annesse,
I have horrible cognitive issues, when I'm reading one post, I can't remember what the last one was about. I guess I need to print out this entire thread and do some highlighting so it's easier to remember what you said previously. Anyway, I am interested in reading your book. Regarding the dairy, I've been off ALL dairy products for one month now and my stomach has never felt better. I have read The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf and Loren Cordain, where omitting dairy is recommended. I'm wondering if you have read any of their works and what your feeling is on their theory/diet.
Thanks.

Annesse, that would be really cool if a missing enzyme was responsible for all those chronic diseases. I was diagnoses with Fibromyalgia. I believe the cause was do to shock to my body from Vancomycin. This is what happened (short story). I worked at a hospital and contracted a Staph infection (MRSA). On receiving my 3rd dose of intravenous vancomycin, my world had collapsed and I got this severe allergic reaction to the penicillin where I couldn't move my muscles several hours like I was paralyzed. I had no problem breathing, but my muscles just wouldn't work, from there on I went through numerous test to be diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. So you see, Vancomycin not only destroyed all of the bad bacteria, it also killed off all my good bacteria and with that stress on my body it triggered Fibromyalgia and maybe killed numerous enzymes along the way.

I will have to take these questions in stages. I only budgeted a set amount of time to post here. Subgirl~Sorry to hear about your MRSA infection and the need for vancomycin. I have had some experience with MRSA. There is no doubt in my mind that the antibiotics you were given may be what triggered you illness. The proper digestion of our food is dependent not only on pancreatic enzymes, but on sufficient amounts of stomach acid, beneficial bacteria, intrinsic factor etc.

I have found herbs to be very effective in treating MRSA. Here is an article from my regions newspaper on a simple herbal formula I use that has never once not been effective. Mayo Clinic called and asked to study the formula, but I had already agreed to send it to Donna Volk at the University in Arizona. She is one of the leading MRSA researchers in the world. I flew down to watch it being tested in petri dishes against MRSA and MSSA. The kill zone was clear up the side of the petri dish. It was much larger than the kill zone for vancomycin. Plus, it did not damage normal tissue.
*edited because link leads to section that charges for downloads*

I am writing an article at present for the Fibromyalgia Coalition International magazine. The founder, Yvonne Kenney, read our book and is convinced that these missing enzymes are the cause of fibromyalgia. She is a well respected authority on fibromyalgia and has done guest blogs on the Phoenix Rising and ProHealth forums. Her vote of confidence is very meaningful I think. Believe me, she was quite skeptical before she saw the evidence. At her last meeting in Kansas City, she had someone come in and teach everyone how to make kefir, one of the recommended foods in our book.

I am going to have to request that any further discussion here not involve sending members to places where they have to pay for anything, and also not be any further promotional material for books or we will have to lock the thread.

Answering direct questions here is fine
Referring people to paid materials or suggesting they buy your book to get answers is not,

please PM me if you have any questions

thank you.

Erika, I'm glad you brought up the situation where people do not have much MS in tropical climes, but you also said they didn't have much MS in far north climes. Well, I know you didn't set forth the latitudes here, but I think some northerly people do get lots of MS, particularly in Sweden and Finnland (I have no info about other Scandinavian countries or Alaska). I am wondering if this variation is a genetic thing. I am wondering if some ethnicities get it more, and they are from certain climes. I read once from a good researcher that there is a very high level in Sweden, but also a high level in Oregon's Willamette Valley, and he attributed this to arsenic in the soil, put there naturally by vulcanism. But also some ethnicities may have a harder time combating the poisons such as this.
My "other" disease, at least the first "other", the one which also has neuro symptoms, that is Porphyria, DOES have a very hard time combatting poisons such as this arsenic, and Porphyria is high in Sweden and in the Willamette Valley in the same places where MS is high (this is from old research which I don't have, so I am writing from memory, material we got on a forum from a European researcher called Hans, who was sharp as a tack but left because we fought too much). My paternal aunts, who had MS diagnoses had a mother from a far north clime, but they also lived in the Willamette Valley. I think they had Porphyria too, but of course I'm speculating, but I am doggone sure about one of them, Wilhelmina. Her sister Ethelwynne died of kidney failure at 30 and I didn't know her, so that's another story.

Anyway, as Swank said, some people may have something missing in their blood which makes it harder for them to detox poisons. Annesse has suggested pancreatic enzyme deficiency, but has not shown this to be true to our satisfaction. There could be another factor; it could be genetic, as Porphyria is. Or this could be the cause in some cases of MS, those caused by chemicals rather than an auto-immune disease.

I am rambling but wanted to get some of these thoughts out, because I think they are worth considering even if they are specs.

Right you are Mariel; there is a prevalence of MS in the northern latitudes...however, it seems that some races, especially indigenous peoples in those areas, as well as in the far north are somehow immune to developing the disease.
That apparent racial distribution of immunity seems to indicate that there may be both a genetic factor (cause) linked to MS as well as an environmental one (condition).

Global Epidemiology and Prevalence of MS
http://library.med.utah.edu/kw/ms/epidemiology.html

With respect to detoxification and a possible familial genetic link, I think that you have hit at least one nail on the head. The Hutterites (German ancestors) as well as the Scandinavian Lapps also seem to be immune to MS and I do not believe that they are considered to be separate races from those of Caucasian European ancestry; the race which has the highest incidence of MS. Thus, along with racial prevalence, geographic distribution (and possible toxins in that area), there also seems to be a familial genetic link as well.

These are the sorts of things that I am finding difficult to ignore with respect to a "one cause-one cure hypothesis".
Even when we look at the Swank diet which has proven helpful for many, if we posit that such a diet is the only solution, then by default, it would suggest that those who consumed a diet that was at the opposite of the pendulum swing should or would have a higher risk of MS.
Yet, the numbers just don't agree with that potential theory.

For example, the modern Inuit and Native North Americans consume a diet that is high in saturated fat, high in processed carbohydrate and highly toxic due to the consumption of highly processed food and refined sugars; as most do not eat their native diets any more. Yet, these races have a very low incidence of MS, despite living in a highly prevalent area. But they might not have the seed of neuro0immune disease.

But similar to those races, the modern Lapp Scandinavian diet is very high in dairy, saturated animal fat, flour products and sugar; yet these people also seem to be immune to MS, again despite living among those who have one of the highest population distributions. Apparently they do carry the seed of neuro-immune disease, for they do develop it, just not as much as their bretheren in Scandinavia.

This sort of data is strongly suggestive of a genetic and familial link to prevalence as well as to immunity. At least so far, it does seem that MS and possibly other similar neuro-immune diseases arise due to possibly more than one cause (the neuro-immune disease seeds); such as genetics, gender & familial predisposition.
Further, it also seems that there may be a multitude of conditions including childhood vaccinations, virus exposure (especially in the pre-adult ages), toxicity and possibly a lack of enzymes that promote the 'sprouting and growth' of those neuro-immune disease seeds.

It is all such a head scratcher isn't it?

Please pass the enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, LDN, beta-interferons, steroids, antibiotics and what ever else might slow down the growth of the neuro-immune disease sprouts.
Lets bring them all out so we can all have a look at them...and maybe, just maybe, someone will finally figure out what will reliably work for whom and why.

With love, Erika

Erika, I want that LDN, to give a try. My hematologist just laughed (semi-sneer) when I inquired about it, but it seems to have helped many. At this time I am acutely depressed and need some help. I can't take anti-depressants because of Porphyria. I did tolerate very very well the radiation given to blast my platelets into a reasonable number, although who knows the long term effects, so far none. Maybe I could tolerate LDN, but I don't know how to get it as my main doc ridiculed it. That is, the hemo. Maybe I will try pcp but I don't think she will have even heard of it.
I believe, Erika, that I am hereditarily inclined to porphyria and that porphyria sometimes causes the brain scars of MS (not always, sometimes). Or else I am hereditarily inclined to both diseases. (the Polycythemia Vera, my third dx, does not seem to be hereditary). I am really tired of dealing with this and wish I could take a pill to help. I very rarely take demerol, chronic pain is not bad except neuropathy in feet, so I probably could take LDN from that perspective. Way off topic. Sorry.

Hi Mariel,
Maybe check out the LDN thread. In there you will find that I had much the same experience in requesting LDN. It may help to offer to send your PCP the LDN site link via email and suggest that he/she at least watch the short informational video.

With love, Erika