Multiple Sclerosis

[Rajjpuut]

Hello,

Some 363 days ago, I submitted a series of questions that challenged the conventional MS thinking of recent times and asked for responses and got NOT ONE. Here's what I said, basically propounding a new theory of MS that seems in line with the known facts and challenging the "convenient" anti-immune theories currently popular to the exclusion of all other thinking . . . surely there are professionals out there who will respond?

The submission with only slight adjustments . . . .

Hello,

My name is Bob, I'm a health educator from Centennial, Colorado, a Denver suburb. Seven years ago my now ex-wife was diagnosed with MS. About 3-4 months back my girlfriend also was told she had the disease. I found myself, once again, reading everything I could find on the internet and in libraries, etc. about Multiple Sclerosis

In the process, I re-raised six questions that I'd wondered about back in late 2001 and then added a few more. I would appreciate any experienced or expert or experiential comments you'd like to make.
Thanks.



13 Vital Questions about MS:

1. Why is Colorado the highest incident U.S. state?
2. Why is Colorado Springs the highest incident large city in the highest incident state?
3. Why do women suffer from MS at a rate roughly 2-4 times as great as men?
4. Why is MS less prevalent on the coasts?
5. Why is MS far more prevalent in urban settings than in rural areas?

6. Central Nervous System Dilators pioneered as an MS treatment during the 1950’s by Bayard Horton of the Mayo Clinic were apparently quite successful with few or no side effects in relieving acute attacks promptly and often prevented progression? Why?
7. MRI examinations today frequently depict a lack of correlation between symptoms and lesions in MS (often called the “clinico-radiological paradox). What’s going on? If demyelination is the fundamental essential lesion in multiple sclerosis, why is there often no correlation?
8. Trials of sex hormones show they improve lesions as well as symptoms and L-arginine, zinc and magnesium supplements also seem to lesson symptoms. Why?
9. What role do deficiencies of endothelial and neuronal nitric oxide and elevated levels of inducible nitric oxide play in MS? Is this symptomatic or causal?
10. Is better detection the only reason MS incidence has risen so dramatically in the last 40 years, or is some environmental factor exacerbating the situation?

11. What about the “brain leak” theory of MS? That theory says free hemoglobin scavenges nitric oxide avidly, which may create deficiencies especially in the central nervous system, with its greater vasodilator tone. Could depletion of endothelial nitric oxide shift blood from the arterial circulation to the venous circulation in MS sufferers as in diabetics? Could multiple sclerosis result from too little blood in arteries and arterioles leading to vasospastic symptoms? Meanwhile could too much blood in veins and venules lead to blood-brain barrier leakage and lesions?
12. Is there any logical reason for continued loyalty by many to the idea that MS is an anti-immune condition?
13. Is there one over-arching theory that might explain all these factors?


The more I read, the more certain I become that these factors need to be explained and understood.

An obvious main or, at least, exacerbating factor seems to jump out from the first six questions: OXYGEN! The clearest correlation for Question #1 is that higher altitudes = lower oxygen levels. Colorado is the state with the highest average altitude among the 50 states. As far as Question #2, Colorado Springs, the 49th largest city in the country, is easily the highest large metropolitan area in the country roughly 750 ft. (14%) higher than “Mile-High” Denver.

Question #3, Women’s bodies and their unique chemistry may make them far more vulnerable than men to MS for any number of reasons. Exploring the OXYGEN HYPOTHESIS among women more deeply . . . women tend to be smaller and society until recently encouraged female physical fitness far less than it did male activity so generally speaking females are less efficient VO max processors than men. Additionally, hemoglobin and iron are more problematical in females during their menses which makes females more likely prey for anemia again potentially lessening oxygen-use efficiency.
A factor which I've also noticed and which may not have any bearing on the issue is that females are about eight or nine times more likely than man at any given moment to be engaged in dieting, skipping breakfast and sometimes fad dieting that is just plain nonsensiscal healthwise . . . which could spark nutrient deficiencies. I've seen nothing about dieting, eating 3-5 regular meals daily, good nutrition, or having a good breakfast in the MS literature, but common sense says, good habits are important amd could play a role.

Question #4, the coasts, are by definition, found at sea level hence, lower than 99.99% of the inland areas of the country with more oxygen available. Additionally, coastal diet is far more likely to include fish with its attendant fish oil (deficiencies implicated in Alzheimer’s, high blood pressure and heart attacks) which aids in oxygen processing.

Question #5, people in rural areas are less likely to face high levels of air pollution (smog) than city dwellers. In particular: diesel fumes, ground level ozone contamination and INHALED nitric oxide contamination are brutal every day facts of life in our largest cities. (By the way: INHALED nitric oxide is confusing in many respects to the layman. A. it is NOT nitrous oxide (laughing gas) once used as anesthetic. B. Our bodies naturally create nitric oxide and it is one of the most important gases found in our blood stream (as reflected in the Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to Dr. Louis Ignarro) which we will discuss later as it relates to MS. C. Many people realize that nitric oxide is also an important negative component of tobacco smoke. In any case, the obvious effect of air pollution is less oxygen allowed to reach the lungs, heart, brain and every cell of the human body than one would expect from clear, pure country air.

Question #6 is way beyond the scope of this stumbling/bumbling comment. Peter Good’s thought-provoking website on nitric oxide and MS seems to indicate that there was great success with the
CNS vasodilator histamine diphosphate during the late 40's, the 50's and 60's. Today’s “fashion” calls for different meds with greater potential for dangerous side effects. CNS vasodilation with histamine not only consistently relieved a disease now thought to be incurable, it thereby demonstrated that its fundamental lesion may be something entirely different from demyelination???

Having said that let's examine Question #12, Is there any logical reason for continued loyalty by many to the idea that MS is an anti-immune condition? As a result we regard MS today as incurable because its primary lesion is thought to be relatively irreversible disintegration of myelin sheaths in the brain and spinal cord. That thought pattern has been in place for roughly 50 years. Neurologists who successfully treated MS with vasodilators thought the lesion was REVERSIBLE because the underlying cause – a diminished blood supply in the brain and cord (leading to oxygen lack there) was treatable. Because of the autoimmune assumption, workable theories and workable treatments (and cures?) have been relegated to the trash heap. Certainly some MS cases have reversed, documented cases with lightning strikes, for example. How lightning could ever "re-myelinize" the nervous system is a mystery even beyond the question of how lightning can reverse the symptoms.

Question #7, since MRI results seem NOT to show continued and progressive demyelination as the fundamental and unvarying effect of MS and they don’t rule out oxygen as a key factor, we can continue to keep an open mind toward blood and oxygen as the fundamental truth of the disease. Lest anyone decide that I’m seeking oversimplification of a complex problem . . . Siblerud and Kienholz (1994) compared red blood cell concentrations and hemoglobin levels of MS patients who had their mercury amalgam dental fillings removed against blood values of MS patients who retained their amalgam fillings:

MS subjects with amalgams were found to have significantly lower levels of red blood cells, hemoglobin and hematocrit compared to MS subjects with amalgam removal.... The MS amalgam group had significantly higher blood urea nitrogen and lower serum IgG.... A health questionnaire found that MS subjects with amalgams had significantly more (33.7%) exacerbations during the past 12 months compared to the MS volunteers with amalgam removal. Obviously, while we’re still talking about the blood’s ability to deliver oxygen . . . every indication is that a wide variety of toxins and negative effects might stimulate that same over-arching undesirable effect. The specific trigger may vary from case to case, but the indications are that oxygen and blood might well hold the key to understanding MS.

Just as in AIDS, the possibility that the immune system is responding to an agent like a virus is countered by the reality that no such agent has ever been identified. We know that once identified, if transmitted to any animal or human in clinical experiments that theory could be proved. Retrovirus, where art thou????? In truth, endogenous retroviruses have not yet been proven to play any causal role in this disease. According to PO Behan and A Chaudhuri of Glasgow University, together with BO Roep of Leiden University (2002) contend there is little support for contemporary views that multiple sclerosis is an immunological disease. And not surprisingly, according to them, there is little benefit from treatments based on this misconception. In any case, since no "smoking gun" for MS has ever been found, isn't it a little short-sighted to UNCRITICALLY say that it MUST BE an autoimmunity problem?

Question #8, again brings up questions of gender. Women, who typically undergo puberty earlier than men, get MS more often and earlier and its path is less likely to be predictable and progressive compared to male victims. Some success has been had treating with either or both male and female hormones. Additionally, L-arginine creates nitric oxide in the blood which dilates blood vessels. Zinc and magnesium are under-appreciated nutrients which play vital roles in human health. Again, The specific trigger for MS may vary from case to case, but there are no indications here that oxygen and blood do not hold the key to understanding MS and certainly there is no outright refutation for that idea to be found in this question. See the next paragraph . . . .

Question #9 and 11 are best answered and best understood together through the insights of Peter Good: “Two signs that endothelial nitric oxide may be chronically depleted in multiple sclerosis are that patients tend to be very heat-sensitive, and their platelets are sticky. Sensitivity to stress may reveal depletion of the parasympathetic transmitter neuronal nitric oxide. Other reasons to suspect endothelial nitric oxide depletion in multiple sclerosis are apparent deficiencies of sex hormones, magnesium, and zinc. Estrogen, testosterone via estrogen, and magnesium all utilize endothelial nitric oxide, the primary endogenous vasodilator, to relax vascular smooth muscle. The (most simple and straightforward explanation) of multiple sclerosis might be that too little blood in arteries and arterioles leads to vasospastic symptoms, while too much blood in veins and venules leads to blood-brain barrier leakage and lesions.” A recent Nobel Prize based upon L-arnithine and nitric oxide gas in the blood being a "trigger" for the body seems to offer a promising area for further study. In any case, Oxygen's potentially primary role would be in harmony with this data.

Question #10, is easily dealt with, in principle the last 40 years have seen a precipitous rise in all manner of environmental toxins. Polluted foods (steroids in meats, for example), side effects of certain pharmaceuticals, residential toxins (such as arising from carpet liners, asbestos, etc., etc., ad nauseum), the preponderance of intimate electronic devices such as cell phones, and just plain stress all could easily be regarded as potential triggers somehow setting in motion the conditions leading to diminished blood and oxygen to the brain and spinal cord. Obviously, we live in toxic times, but is this really where MS comes from, or perhaps what exacerbates MS?

Question #13 (Is there one over-arching theory that might explain all these factors?) In answering the previous 12 questions we have laid the groundwork for open mindedly considering that “Yes, there could be, perhaps not . . . but maybe . . . and for now the overarching theory that holds the key to understanding MS seems to be: a theory of diminished blood or oxygen supply.

Good health and happiness to ALL,

RPV

[Rajjpuut]

Hi All,

Here's a little up-to-date info correlating well with the cellular oxygen deprivation theory mentioned above:

I was told by friends teaching in Europe that early stage MS is often treated successfully (reversed totally) there using miniscule amounts of "food-grade" hydrogen peroxide (one or two drops in an eight oz. drinking glassful of distilled water or well-water) taken internally and gradually increasing the dosage to eight to ten drops). The theory developed from numerous studies is NOT that the cells lack oxygen, per se, but rather that they lack ability to use oxygen efficiently. H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide ) according to the theory "nudges" the cells into greater efficiency in oxygen processing rather than actually providing more oxygen to them. A number of clinics in Europe use hydrogen peroxide therapy, sometimes the H2O2 is imbibed, other times it's taken IV.

While I personally think that the "auto-immune" theory of MS is nihilistic and just like other such theories advanced for AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, etc. gives us an excuse to attack symptoms with expensive drugs carrying heavy health risk from side effects while NEVER ACTUALLY CURING ANYONE OF MS . . . I do see some hope for greater understanding of the seeming interplay between the immune system and MS now that we have this hydrogen peroxide treatment to consider . . . because: among the very first lines of defense against microorganisms recognized as invaders by the body's immunological system are macrophages and leucocytes, one of which uses hydrogen peroxide to oxidize the foreigners; and in addition, vitamin C is effective principally in boosting the immune system because of its ability to promote hydrogen peroxide use against foreign invaders, including parasites, viruses, bacteria, yeast/fungus; and that all body tissues contain catalase and that hydrogen peroxide in the presence of catalase is reduced to oxygen and water. So, there is AMPLE reason to believe that added hydrogen peroxide, used properly, may be both effective against certain organisms and safe. While this may not please the pharmaceutical companies, since H2O2 is not patentable and extraordinarily cheap, it may allow M.D.s, at long last, a feeling of success in dealing with this dreadful ailment.

Hydrogen peroxide should be considered an essential metabolite*, a substance vitally necessary to the processes of life. It is important that the body have in place killer-cells that allow at least temporary respite from microbial attack so the overall system has time to heal. With aging or the onslaught of disease the immune systems weaken and leaves us vulnerable to diseases of opportunity.

According to William Campbell Douglass, M.D., not only is H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) involved in phagocytosis (killing and absorption of foreign germs), but it also “acts like insulin in that it aids the transport of sugar through the body.” Is is also at least as important, or perhaps more so, than thyroid for heat generation because it creates “intraceullar thermogenesis, a warming of your cells which is absolutely essential to life’s processes.”

I hope this new info helps expand the discussion of oxygen's role in MS.

Bob

*Doctor Douglass is among the first to propose this

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[rockymtnlady]

Hello,
I just came on this site while searching on the internet for information about MS and living at high altitudes.
I was very interested in your posts.
I have had MS for about 12 years (diagnosed, but who knows how long really). Since moving to Black Hawk, CO a little over 4 years ago my MS has progressed a lot. While living in Reno, NV my symptoms were very mild but after moving my symptoms really got much worse within about 6 months. My left hand doesn't work much at all and my left leg is also very bad with severe foot drop. My doctor didn't think the change in elevation has anything to do with it. 5,000 feet to over 9,200 feet. I just have to wonder.
I've tried most of the convential MS meds: Avonex, Copaxone and Betaseron without success. I now take low dose naltrexone with hopes of some help but it really hasn't changed anything.
I'm interested in the "food-grade" hydrogen peroxide " therory.
Any info or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you