Integrative Health Blog

Tracy Freeman MD

Chas Gant  MD, PhD

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, severe, usually progressive, autoimmune, demyelinating, mildly inheritable disease of the central nervous system which many studies suggest is rapidly increasing in prevalence and incidence[1]. The earliest symptoms of MS include psychological distress, fatigue, numbness, impaired vision, loss of balance, weakness and even bladder dysfunction, and they usually begin in early adulthood. With conventional management of MS, these symptoms can wax and wane for up to 30 years, but in roughly 50% of all cases MS steadily progresses to severe disability and premature death killing about 3,000 Americans a year.  MS is named for the many scars it produces in the brain and spinal cord as white blood cells (T cells) attack the myelin insulation around neurons.  MS afflicts between 250,000 and 350,000 Americans per year.

Chas Gant MD, PhD

Most people believe symptoms are the disease so they often take drugs, herbs or supplements to suppress symptoms in the false belief that a medical or psychiatric problem is resolved if symptoms disappear.  These myths may stem from deep, unconscious fears handed down to us from ages past when diarrhea was equated with typhoid fever or a cough could mean that one has tuberculosis.  TB did kill about one billion human beings in the 1800s, so one can understand why people are afraid of symptoms and believe they are the disease itself.  Only recently have we come to understand that symptoms suggest something very different.

Symptoms May Mean your Body is Trying to Heal

Symptoms are actually the result of the body trying to heal itself in some way.  Diarrhea and cough could very rarely signify a lethal problem and should be investigated if they become chronic problems, but actually these symptoms are protective detoxification mechanisms which the body employs to remove toxins from gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts respectively.  Fatigue can signify malnutrition and therefore tiredness could be a natural response of the body to conserve calories.  Nausea is a protective signal from the body instructing us to fast, because the GI tract is dealing with something toxic or infectious and does not want to devote its limited resources to digesting food.  Joint pain is a clear protective signal to rest an inflamed joint.  Depression could result from overdoing our fight/flight sympathetic nervous system and the consequent burnout protectively forces us to rest.