One of the features of this blog is to look at conventional and alternative /natural treatments for different medical conditions. For this blog we will focus on natural treatments for multiple sclerosis. It is interesting to note that People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) are often very receptive to non-traditional treatments.
It is worth mentioning that there are a number of treatments we won’t be covering, such as being stung by bees, because we can’t account for its veracity. Asl this is the first of a two partpost we won’t cover everything so if you do have any ideas you wish us to mention in the next blog it would be great if you could mention them in the comments box below.
a) Exercise is of course a biggie. The key issue is “low impact” exercise so Yoga, Tai Chi and swimming all come highly recommended. We covered yoga for PwMS in a previous blog which you may find of interest https://patienttalk.org/?p=571.
b) Acupuncture. This ancient Chinese system of medicine has been found by some people with multiple sclerosis to help with bladder control and spasticity. Some useful information and very relevant links can be found at the National Multiple Sclerosis Societies’ web site http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-we-know-about-ms/treatments/complementary–alternative-medicine/acupuncture/index.aspx
c) Massage. While not in and of itself a disease modifier it certain helps with stress and depression which are side effects of multiple sclerosis.
d) Evening primrose oil. Some studies have suggested that it may help with some of the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
e) Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBO). Simply put this means that the patient breaths pure oxygen. Some studies have suggested there are signs of improvement while many say it has no effect.
The more eagled eyed among our readers will note that we have not covered a diet at all in this post. This is because we plan to review various diets in a set of future blogs.
The next stage is really over to you. It would be great if you have tried any of these therapies we could have your feedback on how they worked. You may wish to think in terms of some of the following questions:-
1) How long have you had multiple sclerosis and what were/are your main symptoms?
2) What treatments have you tried? In particular which complementary treatments have you used?
3) How effective were those non-traditional treatments?
4) Would you recommend any treatments to others to help with the symptoms of multiple sclerosis?
Please use the comments box below to add your thoughts and suggestions.
Many thanks in advance.
