Re: MRI (success?)

[Guest guest]

Hi Aristidis/Asteris.

Do you feel better now? I think that you had taken echinacea at that

time. It is really dangerous. Here are some links, but there are many

more sites against echinacea in MS.

http://sleepdisorders.about.com/library/weekly/aa071601b.htm

http://ms.about.com/od/treatment/a/Echinacea.htm

http://ms.about.com/b/a/163621.htm

>

> According to Dr. M R Lawrence's (success?) explanation I had the

> predictable. An acute relapse/exacerbation, after 3,5 months on 3,5mg

> LDN, and the first time CD4/CD8 ratio dropped down to 1,8. But MRI (10-

> 11-05) showed a new big scar. The trouble started on 18-10-05 (almost

> lost my voice), and the last day I took LDN was the 30th October,

> because I went on Tetracosactrin after. My worry is what I'll do from

> now on. Continue with LDN?

You have nothing to lose on LDN. After all, it is not the LDN that

caused all that trouble. After studying more about echinacea and

chatting with some friends of mine who are medical students, we came

to a conclusion that echinacea boosts the immune system the bad way.

It is not reccommended for us with MS.

Unfortunately I don't think that the group will be of any help. You

should consult a doctor. If you have contact with Dr Lawrence you'd

better ask him. However, my humble opinion is that LDN would correct

all this mess that echinacea caused to your immune system. But it will

take some time.

> If the balance is disturbed, I start from

> the beginning I think, and I'll have the same after a while. I'm so

> confused.

As far as I 've known, LDN returns the immune system to a normal

balance. Echinacea does exactly the opposite. The term " boost " is not

really correct for LDN. I would call it " normalize " . MSers have the

CD4/CD8 balance disturbed.

> I have a new scar despite of my age (49). My neurologist was

> wandering, early summer, if I am human or dog, on September that I am

> stronger than an 18 years man, and after MRI stronger than 13 yeas

> kid. Really, I'm lost.

>

Everybody is different. The fact that you are still strong is very

encouraging. Your body may heal itself. But, please, study a lot and

search very well in the internet about the effects on the immune

system of both LDN and echinacea.

Stavros

[Guest guest]

>

> According to Dr. M R Lawrence's (success?) explanation I had the

> predictable. An acute relapse/exacerbation, after 3,5 months on 3,5mg

> LDN, and the first time CD4/CD8 ratio dropped down to 1,8. But MRI (10-

> 11-05) showed a new big scar. The trouble started on 18-10-05 (almost

> lost my voice), and the last day I took LDN was the 30th October,

> because I went on Tetracosactrin after. My worry is what I'll do from

> now on. Continue with LDN? If the balance is disturbed, I start from

> the beginning I think, and I'll have the same after a while. I'm so

> confused. I have a new scar despite of my age (49). My neurologist was

> wandering, early summer, if I am human or dog, on September that I am

> stronger than an 18 years man, and after MRI stronger than 13 yeas

> kid. Really, I'm lost.

>

=========

Apparently 3.5mg LDN is not enough to halt your MS progression. Try going up in

dosage. Also, is your LDN in capsule or liquid. If in capsule what filler is

being used?

[Guest guest]

I went to an MS conference/seminar 2 weeks ago and the neuro (who I

now LOVE and hope he will be my new neuro when insurance changes in

Dec!), pointed out how the tests we have to monitor MS (MRI), don't

really tell us enough. He showed an amazing set of slides to us...6

months worth of MRI's for a patient, one per month, who was in a

study that he was working on. The MRI's were all lined up to show

the same view of the same parts of the brain. Each month there were

changes...new lesions, lesions gone, big black spots, recurring

spots, almost no spots...all varied, random. The most shocking part

of the six months worth of MRI's (which seemed to show a LOT of MS

activity), was that the patient in the study was NOT experiencing

ANY " attacks " of MS the duration of the study! He clearly pointed

out that the lesions come and go, they get bigger and smaller...it's

the brain!...it's a living thing! The medical world can really

only guess (educated, yes, but it still is often a guess) at what is

really happening. We DO need to monitor things, because you never

know what's going on if you don't...but as he pointed out, we need

to take everything with a grain of salt. Judge your treatment

mostly on how you feel and how you feel about the treatment. Feel

better, be stronger, be active. It was a very inspiring

seminar...mostly just to see an MS expert talk about how little we

know and how he really is open to helping people. It was just

awesome and he didn't flinch when I sent up a question on LDN (ok,

maybe a little--the function WAS funded by Avonex!--but he said if

it were his patient and it worked for them, he'd support it! ).

Best of luck with your decision on treatment...I agree with what's

been said about increasing your dosage.

in Vegas

[Guest guest]

Hi , I am so glad you enjoyed your seminar. I have been

taught that mri's are not the best diagnostic tool. My mri's lite up

like a christmas tree yet I am mobile. Lots of cognitive stuff,

fatigue, balance but not as bad off as some. My neuro. says when she

looks at the mri and then me, she expects to see someone very sick.

This is why I had a hard time when I read the abcr studies. Equally

hard when I asked my neuro point blank if it was true that they were

modest at best. She said yes, and also stated, that some people

don't do well on them so what you read is people who do well on

them. You don't read/hear of the ones who could not tolerate them.

I had some pretty nasty side-effects from both copaxone and avonex.

Sorry to butt in but it was nice to read about a neuro. who is

upfront and not afraid of being himself.

Take Care

>

> I went to an MS conference/seminar 2 weeks ago and the neuro (who I

> now LOVE and hope he will be my new neuro when insurance changes in

> Dec!), pointed out how the tests we have to monitor MS (MRI), don't

> really tell us enough. He showed an amazing set of slides to

us...6

> months worth of MRI's for a patient, one per month, who was in a

> study that he was working on. The MRI's were all lined up to show

> the same view of the same parts of the brain. Each month there

were

> changes...new lesions, lesions gone, big black spots, recurring

> spots, almost no spots...all varied, random. The most shocking

part

> of the six months worth of MRI's (which seemed to show a LOT of MS

> activity), was that the patient in the study was NOT experiencing

> ANY " attacks " of MS the duration of the study! He clearly pointed

> out that the lesions come and go, they get bigger and

smaller...it's

> the brain!...it's a living thing! The medical world can really

> only guess (educated, yes, but it still is often a guess) at what

is

> really happening. We DO need to monitor things, because you never

> know what's going on if you don't...but as he pointed out, we need

> to take everything with a grain of salt. Judge your treatment

> mostly on how you feel and how you feel about the treatment. Feel

> better, be stronger, be active. It was a very inspiring

> seminar...mostly just to see an MS expert talk about how little we

> know and how he really is open to helping people. It was just

> awesome and he didn't flinch when I sent up a question on LDN (ok,

> maybe a little--the function WAS funded by Avonex!--but he said if

> it were his patient and it worked for them, he'd support it! ).

>

> Best of luck with your decision on treatment...I agree with what's

> been said about increasing your dosage.

>

> in Vegas

>