MS, AlS or Food Allergies

[berth1dm]

My symptoms, Jan. of 2002 I developed numbness and tingling in hands, feet and face.  Also seeing flashing lights when looking at sky and sparkels when moving eyes fast.  Muscle spasms and twitches all over my body.  Ringing in ears. Swirling stocoma in peripheral vision of right eye developed in the fall of 2001.  Had C-Spine and brain MRI with/without dye, which was normal.  Visual, Auditoy and sensory evoked potentials are "textbook normal".  Neuro exam showed hyper reflexes (had those all my life), 2 beat clonus on each foot and fatiqueing horizontal nystagmust in both eyes.  History includes strabismus surgery in each eye, surgery for endometriosis, long history of anibiotic use and chronic yeast infections.  My job as a therapist, led me to a conference on autism were Dr. Bruce Semon spoke on yeast and dairy causing neuro symptoms.  I found a new Doc. that tested me for food allergies, I am allergic to yeast and dairy.  I have eliminated these foods and I am taking high doses of probiotics.  My symptoms have subsided, except for stocoma and occasional flashing lights.  They were subsiding prior to the diet. I did go off the diet and ate a cheesburger and my symptoms returned 4 hours later.  Is this a coincidence? My questions, Could my symptoms be due to food allergies?  Could this be MS that has not shown up yet and has gone into remission? Could this be ALS?  Is MS related to yeast and dairy?  Is MS food related?  Have you ever heard of Dr. Bruce Semon at the Wisconin Nutrition Institute?

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

1. Not familiar with yeast/dairy foods causing neurologic symptoms unless you are lactose intolerant.
2. Possible, especially if you're feeling better on a particular diet. But neurological symptoms due to food allergies are NOT well reported in the medical literature and NOT something we generally think of when a patient comes to our clinic with neurological complaints.
3. Unlikely that this is MS as all of your testing has been normal. However, about 10% patients with MS do have a normal MRI. The exam is very important as well as the clinical history in establishing the diagnosis. Depending on your doc's clinical suspicion, further testing may or may not be warranted such as a spinal tap. You may consider an ophthalmologist to take a look in your eye to see if there was prior evidence of optic neuritis with your history of visual symptoms.
4.Unless you have progressive weakness in association with the spasms and twitches, it is unlikely to be ALS (although nothing in medicine or life for that matter is 100%). ALS is a serious condition that is debilitating. An EMG and formal neuro exam can help establish or rule out the diagnosis.
5.There has been no convincing evidence that MS is related to food products. However, we have some patients here who swear that their MS is better when they're on a no fat diet or some kind of strict diet they made up for themselves. This is not a treatment regimen that we recommend as there have been numerous scientific studies showing that there are current medications that do help with MS. We do respect the choices of our patients for treatments options, but again we do not recommend it.
6.Sorry, never heard of him.

[Enhanced Lesions on White Matter]

Wow I am so glad you posted this. I have often thought that many of so called MS symptoms were dairy related. On my own I would remove dairy from my diet and saw an immediate different. Although I am convienced I have MS (cant talk away lesions) the fact is we are all regular people with regular problems and its not all to be blamed on MS.  I am going to go to the allergist after all. I always felt it was a waste of time because you end up on the drug anyway. Now I understand it. Im going. THank you :)

[Crazyman]

I have many of your symptoms.  Looking for to the doctors reply

[briacha]

Hi,

I have similar neuro symptoms myself:
Symptoms have been present since March of this year -
1.  tingling in legs and feet
2.  wake-up numbness in my hands
3.  muscle twitches
4.  rapid floater racing across my eye
4.  chronic yeast infections ( within the last 3 months - I've had 5 - seems one after the other)

I've been to my GP and had blood work (Dr. said that she will run tests to check for the "common" things that cause tingling.)  -
all came back normal (sugar, b-12, thyroid, anemia, etc.)  
I was told to monitor my symptoms and call for an appointment in 2 months.  I'll call back in the middle of July.  Waiting will be tough!

I have an Aunt with MS and a few family members with Diabetes.  Diabetes I can handle, MS I cannot.  

Please let me know how you are making out and if you found any additional information.

Thank You and God Bless,
Lisa

[briacha]

Just checking in on how is everyone is doing??  Any news???  I had a brain MRI done today, so maybe I'm closer to some answers.
Thanks, Lisa

[FloFlo]

I read about your problems and what was a red flag to me were your constant yeast infections. Some time ago, I had non-stop infections of either yeast or bacteria (I was married/monogomus).
After treating one infection after another, I heard on the Phil Donahue show about women with constant yeast, numbness, tingling, brain fog, numerous infections and so forth. The cause was a huge overgrowth of candida (yeast) in the entire body. I saw a specialist who wrote a book on it, Luc DeSchepper, MD. He asked me to be on a VERY strict yeast starving diet for at least one month and undergo some other homeopathic treatments. He warned me that once the yeast started dying off, my symptoms would temporarily worsen but eventually the dead yeast and toxins would exit my body. Boy was he right. After about 1 1/2 months, I was feeling much better, but was told I would probably always have to watch my diet to not promote yeast growth. Constant antibiotics were mainly to blame for the huge overgrowth in the first place. There are numerous books on this subject, one of the most famous being: "The Missing Diagnosis"
I forgot the authors name but I'm sure you can find it by title. Also, the drug Diflucan is often prescribed to treat systemic yeast. The theory behind the numbness is that the yeast is growing at such an incredibly fast rate (the body is no longer keeping it in check, due to your good bacteria being killed off by antibiotics)that the yeast actually starts it's way into other places that it normally wouldn't go. I over the last 12 years have met countless women whose lives and sanity were restored by killing the yeast, starving the yeast, and replenishing the good bacteria. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so if you think the books are not adequately describing your conditions, this may not be you problem, but definately worth looking into! Books are usually available in the library or at heathfood stores. Good Luck! Let me know!
Flo