I am particularly sensitive when MS comes up as a topic because my Uncle was diagnosed with MS three years ago. I was desperate to find something, anything that may treat or lessen relapses even for a little bit. As I was looking for some information, I came across one short TEDxTALK video, which had Terry Wahls, M.D. as a guest speaker. She was diagnosed with Relapse-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis in 2000. In 2007, she hit the point where every day tasks were extremely difficult to do due to progressed symptoms of MS. In the same year, she changed her focus to diet and tried to tackle the disease by using holistic medicine. 6 months later, she became the first one to cure MS, and to be free from the disease. Her story is extraordinary and worth spending time watching it. Below is the link to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc
Curing herself from MS, that something alright. I'm sure she prevented other illnesses from developing too. A good and balanced diet is not something new to the public about illness and disease prevention. I think we all know the wonders it can do. What stops people from changing their lifestyle is the external factors that come with it like the money that it would cost them and the time and work they have to put into it. They usually will be thinking about their present situation, when it's their future they really need to focus on and how they will be solving so many problems in their future. It would be wonderful if America were to be known for it's consumption of fresh produce and not for it's processed food. It certainly is something that has to be changed by the individual. Great hopeful video Sho.
ReplyDeleteThis was a truly inspiring video. I’m amazed that she was able to cure her MS through her diet. I was also shocked when I saw the part of what an average American family eats weekly. I tried to spot vegetables and fruits in the picture that was shown but was overwhelmed by all the processed boxed foods. Nutrition is very vital for our health and I was not surprised that 80% of Americans do not receive the recommended doses of these important nutrients. I wish there was more awareness out there about nutrition so that people that prevent this chronic disease.
ReplyDeleteIt's videos like these that make me want to do something with nutrition after graduating this semester, perhaps applying to a master's program before med school. Anyhow, It's always great to see success stories of those that are able to improve their symptoms throughout diet. However I do not think that she necessarily "cured" her disease as there is not definite cure. She perhaps was just able to keep her symptoms well under control and from worsening. From my understanding from reading through sites like Mayoclinic and MS society online, whenever individuals with MS have flare ups of their symptoms, they are just treated with a short course of steroids. I'm sure that they also are on chronic pain meds as well as others to keep their symptoms under control.
ReplyDeleteHowever in this case, it's great that the physician was able to express a more natural approach by simply incorporating a well-balanced diet that ensures that you're getting the nutrients that the body needs. She stated that we have a billion cells in our brains with 10 trillion connections and myelin is of vital importance to ensure proper insulation is there for these connections to remain stable, which is what is affected in MS. She goes on to discuss all the important nutrients we need for the body such as omega 3 fatty acids and multiple vitamins including B12 and B6. Overall the take home message is that diet is of great importance to overall health. Simply, if you're not providing your body with the proper nutrients, the building blocks for the reactions that take place in your body will not occur or will occur improperly leading to the wrong structures to be made, thus setting you up with increased risk of chronic diseases.
The fact that the woman was motivated to find some type of solution to MS is very motivational. From watching the commercials of people having cancer or any type of disease, the first thing they do is look up the cancer online and find out what would reduce their symptoms or enter themselves in experimental studies. What this woman did was completely different, she had enough drive to cure her MS.
ReplyDeleteSho, this is a very interesting video. Just like you, my uncle was diagnosed with this terrible degenerative disease four years ago. He has managed to stay out of a wheel chair to date, but it is such a heart-wrenching disease because you never know when an episode will turn into something severe enough to single-handedly debilitate someone to the point that they will never walk again. It could be another year or two, it could be next week... All you can do is stay strong and fight the good fight.
ReplyDeleteDoctor Wahls did just that. She was lucky enough to have her education as wonderful supplemental knowledge before diagnosis; most who are diagnosed will never have any sort of formal knowledge aside from what their physicians tell them.
Combine all of that education with her ability to think outside of the box and this was a fantastic result. As with most inflammatory diseases in this course, we have seen that diet is much more important than 99.9% of Americans will even try to admit. I think it is absolutely astounding that most hunter-gather diets contain "tenfold" nutrition compared to today. Dr. Wahls also continues to say that they had more knowledge of nutrition compared to medically-relevant groups such as the American Heart Association. WOW! With this discovery, why would you not think outside the box and make some changes to your diet.
Although her case is not anything scientifically proven, it definitely makes me want to "mind my mitochondria." In the future, it will be great to see if anybody, maybe even Dr. Wahls herself, will continue to build and further analyze the results seen in her experience.
In the meantime, I will definitely be forwarding this to my uncle. Thanks again for sharing, Sho!!