Naturally Support Multiple Sclerosis with Integrative Medicine

Multiple Sclerosis, otherwise known as MS, affects over 150,000 people in the UK. MS Awareness Week aims to encourage people to talk about MS.

Read on to learn more about some of the reasons the disease may develop, along with some natural ways of supporting MS.

What is MS?

MS comes under the heading of an autoimmune disease. These include conditions as diverse as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, coeliac disease, and psoriasis.

Upwards of 10% of the UK population live with at least one type of autoimmune disease. These diseases occur when the immune system loses some of its ability to distinguish between harmless body cells and dangerous invaders. Therefore, it turns on innocent body parts, causing damage and inflammation.

In the case of MS, the immune system attacks the fatty covering surrounding nerve fibres in the brain and spinal cord, called the myelin sheath. This protective jacket helps signals pass along the nerve. Therefore, any damage to the myelin sheath can lead to delays in nerve signals reaching their intended destination.

What are the Symptoms of MS?

Because MS can potentially affect many different nerves, symptoms will differ from person to person.

They include:

Muscle stiffness, spasm, and pain
Numbness and tingling, especially in the extremities
Balance issues and dizziness
Problems walking
Bladder and bowel issues like urinary urgency and constipation
Blurred vision, eye pain
Tiredness and fatigue
Memory problems and brain fog
Mood issues and depression

Symptoms can fluctuate without any obvious pattern. Many people experience episodes of MS, which then abate. The body can repair itself between attacks by replacing some of the damaged myelin or finding new ways to send signals via different nerves. Usually, however, some function will be impaired after each attack, meaning MS becomes steadily worse over time.

How is MS Treated?

Conventional treatments for MS include steroids to dampen down inflammation, and disease-modifying medicines. The latter may be injected or taken orally, and aim to slow the progression of the disease and prevent relapses by modifying the immune system’s activity.

However, these drugs aren’t addressing the root causes of MS, in other words what is causing the immune system’s lack of sensitivity. They also come with side effects including a reduced resistance to infection.

What Causes MS?

Gut health issues usually underly the breakdown in immune system function. Your gut is where your immune cells are trained to recognise what is friend and what is foe. In fact, the vast majority of your immune system is found in your gut.

One other important task performed by your gut bacteria is to keep the lining of your intestines healthy. This gut lining plays a vital role in preventing undesirable substances (dangerous bacteria, toxins, and incompletely digested particles of food) from entering your bloodstream. At the same time, it needs to allow beneficial substances to pass through, like vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. Therefore, it must be selectively permeable.

If, however, the gut lining becomes too permeable, it will allow substances through into the blood that ideally shouldn’t be there. These will then put the immune system on red alert and promote ongoing inflammation. If the immune system is constantly primed to be in surveillance mode, it can be triggered by substances that don’t pose a threat.

This condition of increased intestinal permeability is called leaky gut, and it’s closely linked with autoimmune disease development (1).

Is MS Genetic?

Some individuals are genetically predisposed to be more likely to develop MS. However, genes alone don’t cause the condition. The specific gene needs to be triggered by something in its environment.

Triggers can include:

Vital infections, such as Epstein-Barr, a type of herpes virus
Bacterial infections including Clostridium perfringens. This causes cramps and diarrhoea and is picked up from food such as undercooked meat.
Obesity, which is associated with elevated inflammation.
Stressful events (2)
Nutrient deficiencies, especially vitamin D and certain B vitamins
Toxic metal exposure, including mercury, found in dental amalgams, arsenic and cadmium.
Mycotoxins from moulds
Smoking
Alcohol, which can damage and inflame the intestinal lining.
If digestive function is compromised, any gluten not completely broken down into its constituent amino acids may be absorbed through a leaky intestinal lining into the bloodstream, where it provokes the immune system.

Natural Support for MS

The starting point will be to support gut functioning, calm inflammation, balance your immune system and heal any damage to your gut lining.

Dietary modifications like adopting an anti-inflammatory diet high in plant fibre can support your healthy gut bacteria. This will help dampen down inflammation, in turn calming your immune system. Consuming plenty of omega-3 fatty acids can help nourish nerves and calm inflammation, too.

The first step in your journey will be an Integrative Health Assessment. This will include expert-led testing to establish your symptoms, nutritional status, history, and emotional health. We’ll then provide you with a personalised plan including dietary and nutritional protocols and lifestyle practices.

Functional testing can help pinpoint factors contributing to your condition. We may recommend a test to assess your gut health, including whether leaky gut may be a contributory factor. The GI Map test looks at the makeup of bacteria resident in your gut. This is important because, in studies, people with MS were found to have a higher proportion of inflammation-promoting bacteria living in their intestines (3). A balanced population of gut bacteria is crucial to healthy immune system function. This test can also detect a substance called zonulin, linked to intestinal permeability.

Integrative medicine treats you as a unique person, so your path to better health will be as individual as you are. We have a raft of therapies we can draw on to support you. For example, Emotional Freedom Technique can calm the nervous system and lower stress hormones, if stress is a factor for you. Micro-Immunotherapy (MIT) may be recommended to help restore healthy immune function. It uses tiny doses of natural plant substances known for their ability to regulate immunity. By mimicking the communication between body cells MIT can gently rebalance your immune system.

Start your pathway to balanced immune health today.