[Kitty]

This newsletter has some good information in it. I get this via email and just wanted to share. It's a 12 page newsletter so it takes it a minute to load:

http://www.mscenter.org/images/stori...er09lowres.pdf

[BBS1951]

Dr. Vollmer's article was very very interesting. His last thought was about how we have to aggressively treat the inflammation BEFORE the brain loses so much mass and neurons that it cannot rewire itself.

But he did not say how to tamp down the inflammation aggressively. It sure makes Dr Swank look like a genius.

[Lady]

It's odd but I have always used the maximum strength, coated Bayer Aspirin. That is two 500 mg tablets, for so very, many years, for everything that hurts, has fever or chills, you name it.

My first MS specialist said he thought that the anti-inflammatory effects of the Aspirin helped my MS. I assume other OTC anti-inflammatory drugs can do the same.

Also I looked up on Wiki or Google what foods are inflammatory, and a list of those that are not. I try to watch them too. The list surprised me.

I get aches and pains from the normal ageing process, and all the falls and breaks I have had since a child that come back to haunt me. So Aspirin helped me there too.

[gonnamakeit]

Very good and enlightening article. I did not know that Dr Volmer had left Barrows Neurological Institute in Phoenix.

Thanks for the link.

gmi

[Lady]

I am curious about a few comments he has made in that Summer edition. I get in in my email. He made some interesting comments but I need time to re-read his views and get my head around them.

The article does contradict many doctors opinions and known research, that were previously considered fact.

Did anyone notice that?

[poetic license]

Originally Posted by Lady

It's odd but I have always used the maximum strength, coated Bayer Aspirin. That is two 500 mg tablets, for so very, many years, for everything that hurts, has fever or chills, you name it.

My first MS specialist said he thought that the anti-inflammatory effects of the Aspirin helped my MS. I assume other OTC anti-inflammatory drugs can do the same.

given the current research into CCSVI and venous abnormalities in MSers then it could just be that the aspirin promoted better blood flow and therefore improvement in your MS. Time will tell as this area of research gets fleshed out.

[Lady]

BBS I think he said that he thought immunosuppression, in the early stages of MS, was the way to treat. Before damage is done and could not be regained.

He said not think the DMD's should be the first line of treatment, that is why it contradicts all the previous opinions.

I hope he elaborates about this more in future issues, because it is confusing to me. He also talks about all the subsets of MS are basically the same. We thought that there was at least two or three subsets.

PL, That is interesting. Makes me wonder about that too.

[poetic license]

Originally Posted by Lady

BBS I think he said that he thought immunosuppression, in the early stages of MS, was the way to treat. Before damage is done and could not be regained.

He said not think the DMD's should be the first line of treatment, that is why it contradicts all the previous opinions.

Funny how he just left that thought hanging out there without clarifying it. I read it a little differently. Here's his quote:

Given that the only
process that we can identify right now
is an inflammatory process—if we want
to change the outcome, we need to shut
off that inflammatory process early. And
that’s not what we do—we only suppress
it slightly, and over the long term that
has not resulted in a major change in
outcomes for patients. Clinicians are
treating patients in the clinic based on
what they look like right now. They
only use aggressive treatment when
patients are clearly failing with the firstline
therapies and accumulating more
disability.

emphasis added by me

First line therapies would be the ABCR drugs... this is typically what neurologists suggest, and brush over the aggressive options like Tysabri and Novantrone unless a patient has utterly failed the other ones.

He then goes on to say:

The model we are trying to
promote now says: don’t wait for them
to develop disability. Use the MRI to
determine how active they are and be
willing to take the risks upfront, before
they get disability, by selecting patients
based on what’s happening to their
brains, particularly in terms of TI black
holes and ventricular size.

I think this is the key bit that makes it seem like he's saying that patients that are at increased risk for greater disability should be pushed to the more aggressive drugs earlier in the disease, rather than waiting until they get disabled before pulling Tysabri and Novantrone out of the hat.

I think it makes a great deal of sense, personally. Which is why I'm giving Copaxone and LDN a shot but if I start declining and relapsing severely on those I'm skipping the interferons and looking at the venous occlusion/stent placement and then Tysabri if needed. I'm not willing to meddle around with the other stuff when there's a stronger more effective treatment available. That's how I personally understood his point, maybe that's just my own bias reading into it though.

[Lady]

PL, I think a million of us could read what he said and have/get a different take on it. He does not get specific enough, IMO. He throws out all the ideas, but doesn't really go into them close enough. So we all seem to get a different understanding of his views.

I thought he wants to really kill off the immune system in the early stages of MS, get rid of the inflammation right away, to prevent permanent disability. He may want the Chemo's used as first line treatment. I don't know.

He says we only suppress it slightly, I thought he was referring
steroids, or the CRAB's. I could be totally wrong, IMO. Gosh I wish I was as knowledgeable as a Neuro or a MS researcher when these articles come up.