By Jerri Perry


Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the brain and spinal cord. It is characterized by lesions more familiarly known as plaques. Symptoms initially include weakness, numbness and tingling and visual disturbances. As the disease progresses, urinary difficulties may be present. Pharmaceutical preparations can retard the disease. Symptoms may also be controlled by natural treatment for MS.

Multiple Sclerosis is one of more than a hundred diseases that fall under the umbrella of autoimmune disorders. In MS, the T-cells of the immune system are thought to attack a substance called myelin in the brain. Myelin wraps itself around nerve cells to promote the conduction of nerve impulses. The prevalence and incidence of the disease increase with distance from the equator.

Once believed to affect only the white matter of the brain, it has become clear that the grey matter of the brain is also involved. This would explain such diffuse symptoms as cognitive dysfunction. Epidemiologists are trying to figure out what is so special about the regions where the disease is prevalent. It has been noted that people who are born in a region with low levels of MS migrate to a region where levels are high, they take on the phenotype of their new habitat.

George Jelinek, a professor of Emergency Medicine in Australia, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 45. He keeps his condition under control using a few simple lifestyle rules and runs a 5-day retreat at the Gawler Foundation in Australia for patients with multiple sclerosis. He also runs retreats in New Zealand.

Jelinek has five simple rules: Learn how to meditate, exercise regularly, take high doses of vitamin D and completely avoid trans fats, apart from those that occur naturally in vegetables. Conventional medications are permitted. In fact, Professor Jelinek himself takes glatiramer, an immunomodulator.

Ann Romney, married to the 2012 Republican candidate for president, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis after she reported the disturbing brain fog. Diagnosed in 1998, she finds that riding horses helps to fight off her symptoms. She may well observe some of Jelinek's other rules. It is unclear whether she has been to one of his retreats. When a television news reader scoffed at her for making this public, Neil Cavuto, a senior executive at Fox News, tore the anchor a new one for making fun of Mrs Romney. It turns out that he, too, has multiple sclerosis.

Another celebrities who has been affected by the disease is Jack Osborne, son of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. He first suffered visual difficulties in 2012, when he was 26 years old and a new father. Jack is responding to a healthy eating plan. Other celebrities with the condition include legendary Mousekateer Annette Funicello, country singer Donna Fargo and two of the Osmond Brothers, David and Alan.

There is a promising natural treatment for MS in Europe. It consists of an extract of two compounds found in marijuana called cannabinoids. The drug is available as an oral spray, similar to breath freshener, and it is used to combat the spasticity that is associated with multiple sclerosis.




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