Multiple Sclerosis and (lots of) Vitamin D: My Eight-Year Treatment with The Coimbra Protocol for Autoimmune Diseases by Ana Claudia Domene

Author:Ana Claudia Domene [Domene, Ana Claudia]
Language: eng
Format: azw
Published: 2016-02-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

“Because there are no profits to be made from selling natural treatments, the pharmaceutical industry, which controls the vast majority of medical research in the United States, will never investigate them or manufacture them. In fact, they will do everything possible to disparage them, because, should the word get out that they exist, natural treatments could threaten their stronghold on the practice of medicine.”

– Dr. Jonathan V. Wright

A Word about Conventional Medications for MS

Let me start by saying that I’m not against conventional drugs for multiple sclerosis or for any other condition. On the contrary, I took copaxone for almost two years when I believed it might help me. After my MS diagnosis I took an antidepressant, which did wonders for my anxiety. When I had hope that even the acid blockers that caused me so much harm would alleviate my symptoms, I took them.

But when it comes to autoimmune diseases, I now know there is so much more we can do, using safer means to address the underlying causes of the problem, like chronic inflammation and resistance to vitamin D. My lack of trust of prescription medications for MS started with my own experience with copaxone, and deepened as I learned more about the drugs available today. Unfortunately, these drugs are not effective in delaying disability. They cut relapse rate, but there’s no evidence that they can affect the long-term progression of the disease. In addition, they come with side effects that can be catastrophic, not to mention the ripple effect they create, causing secondary conditions that demand more medications, suppressing the immune system, and making it more difficult for the patient to recover, physically and mentally.

Recently, three independent studies looked at the effectiveness of the commonly used CRAB drugs (copaxone, rebif, avonex, betaseron). Notably, all three studies concluded that the CRABs have no significant effect on the long-term progression of disability.17

One of the studies18 compared the disability progression of over 3,000 British patients who started receiving CRAB drugs in 2002 to the natural progression of untreated patients. The study found that not only there was no delay in disease progression for all the treatments; in fact, the disease progression was worse for patients who took the medications than for patients who received no treatment.

When it comes to the new generation of disease-modifying drugs for multiple sclerosis, immunosuppressants like gilenya, aubagio, or tysabri are apparently more effective than their predecessors at lowering the rate of relapses, but comparatively, they bring the risk of much more severe side effects, such as leukemia and PML (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy), among many others. Again, we don’t know how effective these medications are in slowing down disease progression and accumulation of disability, or what other side effects they might bring with long term use.

One study that I find interesting is the clinical trial on the drug called anti-LINGO-1, a medication that might have the potential to reverse nerve demyelination. Phase II of the study has showed promising results with no significant side effects.19

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