Has anyone beat relapses of MS with diet alone?

[ceeweed]

I have just been diagnosed with MS and so far it has been only numbness and L'hermittes as my symptoms ... Dr wants me to go on DMD and I am considering waiting until my second attack to see how it progresses for me ... and after reading so much about nutrition and supplements with MS, I am wondering how much it is true and if anyone has succeeded with this treatment alone in decreasing their relapses????

I also understand that reducing stress is also key and wondered how many others have also found this to be helpful in relapses?

I am concerned however of where and when and how the next attack/relapse will occur ... so want to do whatever is reasonable to slow down the progress.

Thanks so much

[Sidesteps]

I am also one that is seeing a team of specialists. I have a naturopathic MD that is part of my MS specialist team and I see him. He has me following a loose Swank diet. No red meat. Low dairy and only non-fat. Low sugar. High in protein. High in omega 3's. I mean really high. Clean diet. I take supplements as well to offset my deficiencies in Vit D and soon B12.

When I am following my diet. I do feel better. I notice my vision is quite a bit better and my twitching is improved.

I also follow a lot of Deb's advice with her points. I take Avonex and all of this has reduced my flares quite a bit even in severity it seems. I am only 9 months into taking my DMD. The full affect is 1 year. I was flaring like Alex but most of my symptoms are vision and sensory. I will be honest my vision is very I,present to me. I had LASIK and had better than perfect vision. My right eye (which had ON) is now 20/30 on a good day. If I had an opportunity to avoid the damage to my vision by them putting me on a DMD at my first flare, I'd have taken it.

[debgen]

Hi and welcome!

You certainly have started an excellent thread :)

I have had RRMS for 30 years and have had many ups and downs which is so typical af this unpredictable disease. I am not one to give advice, especially since you have already gotten so many great responses. Her are the few things that have worked for me over the years:
- get in a daily excersise routine that involves stretching, strenghtening, balance and cardio.
- get PT as often as you can (I go weekly for an hour)
- learn your triggers. Mine are heat, humidity, stress and overdoing myself physically
- eat a sensible, healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables but as Lulu said, don't put all your eggs in one basket
- take a vitamin D supplement
- surround yourself with supportive people ( to quote Oprah..."Surround yourself only with people that lift you higher")
- take a daily nap!
- most important, find the DMD that works best for you

I know there is a great deal of anxiety for newbies, just keep being informed and proactive! Remember we are all here for each other, it really helps :)

Good luck,
Deb

[zigfried]

Thanks for your advice!!! I dont take the meds because im afraid i will have a bad reaction and die. Now before u think im crazy lol i have had severe allergic reactions to meds in the past such as antibiotics etc... which makes me terrified of ANY meds including otc stuff. The fatigue is bad though and it can come out of the blue i suddenly need to lay down but cant. Im at college from 7 until 5pm then work from 5:30. Til 10:30. Then study for 2 or 3 hrs then bed. Im trying to get over my fear of meds i also have swallowing problems i choke about 3 to 4 times a month VERY scary.  My joints hurt every day but its hard to tell what is ms and what is ups lol.  I cant leave ups they have the cadillac plan of medical insurance and i need it. I want over this fear to start meds to slow this thing down. Any suggestions?

[Lulu54]

The DMDs don't stop the progression but they have been shown to slow the rate of relapses.  It is during those relapses that most of us accumulate more physical deficits.  The healthy diet is a good thing, but there are other tools out there that we can also use to keep this MonSter at bay, such as the drugs.

You UPS workers have it extra hard these days thanks to people like me doing all my shopping online.  Thanks for getting my packages to me!

It would be hard for us to guess whether your new exhaustion is from the job or the MS.  you might talk to your neurologist about the fatigue, as well.  There are some good drugs that many people respond well to.

[zigfried]

I to have a hypersensitivity to medications. My neuro pleads with me to try a med but im terrified even of copaxone due to my hypersensitivity. I follow a diet high in omega 3 lots of fiber and less than 10 grams of saturated fats. I feel pretty good. I have been doing this since my dx 3yrs ago. My mri is the same as then and besides extreme fatigue and occassional dizziness havent had any symptoms. Yesterday though i woke up and my calves hurt badly for no apparent reason. Im wondering if this is a new symptom? Spacisity mayb? I work at ups loading 18 wheel trucks at a rate of 750 packages an hour. Very hard to do with my fatigue but gotta work. The packages range in weight from 1lb to 70 lbs. And lifting 3 thousand of thm a shift makes me very stiff. Mayb thats my ms to?  Will my disease progress faster without meds?

[rendean]

Hi and welcome!
I'm the missing purple flower who hasn't been on here for ages due to huge relapse.  I am slowly recoveing my energy and strengh and your post caught my eye.

The question of diet is one that has been asked on here since I was a member back in ?2007?.  Lots of discussions pro and con.

My stance is that if diet alone would prevent MS relaspes, we would ALL be on it and  there would be no more relapses. I am of the school of thought that many expressed; that eating healthly and exercising to our body's ability along with stress reduction is best way to prevent relapses. MS obviously has a mind of it's own since I in retrospect  had symptoms, the same I have now, back when I was 20. That's  over 30 years. The ugly relapses didn't occur until the past 4 years or so. So, one day hopefuully the scientists and researchers will unlock the key to this miserable illness and end the suffering.

Best to all,
Ren