Posted on 06. Mar, 2011 by admin in Treatments

Question of the Year: Are neurological (MS-like) symptoms caused by lyme and co-infections, or something else? is there really such a thing as MS (Multiple Sclerosis), or is MS simply a convenient way to categorize a class of symptoms, similar to Fibromyalgia?

Even my Lyme Doc (LLMD) is getting on the MS-drug bandwagon these days. why deny yourself the benefit of meds that aren’t necessarily immune suppressants, he says? he wants me to treat lyme and MS at the same time.

The only drug I would consider within the MS library of medications is Copaxone. this drug has a relatively long history of use, is reportedly immune modulating rather than immune suppressing (other common MS drugs suppress the immune system), is made up of synthetic amino acid-like components, and there are no documented reports that it escalates existing infections.

HOWEVER, and this is a BIG however, there are no clinical trials proving that it doesn’t worsen existing infections like lyme, just a comment on the manufacturer’s website that they don’t think that it does. AND, my symptoms don’t quite fit those the typical MS patient, nor do my lab tests. Yep, some of the tests definitely say POSITIVE for MS, but then the symptom patterns and other tests don’t point to the regular garden-variety MS, but rather some beast of unknown origin that eats spinal cords for lunch.

So, do I take the plunge and become yet another human guinea pig (and pin cushion) for this stuff, regardless of the risks?

Copaxone is designed to help control symptoms, not as a cure for anything. So, it could be a lifetime of daily injections into the 7 so-called fatty areas of my body in hopes of simply slowing down the progression of symptoms… not that I even have much fat anymore, after losing so much weight over the last year.

Lots of questions to ask the MS-doc this week, and I’m sure most will not bring solid answers. after all, the MS-docs are fully bought-in to the daily injections of immune modulators and/or suppressants, it’s part of their standard protocol. And, of course, they don’t recognize lyme as an entity other than ordering the obligatory tests as part of the screening of a new patient. They have no clue as to what to do if a patient actually tests POSITIVE for lyme, or for any other active infection either, for that matter.

Lots of things can create MS-like symptoms, including lyme, XMRV and HTLV-1, to name a few. Not that any of these have solid treatment protocols either though, so all of this is just another crap-shoot.

<…sigh…>

No good answers here, only questions… Hoping I’m not going down the path of falling for the latest Snake Oil cure.

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