Posted on 06/10/2016 6:58:02 AM PDT by shove_it
Multiple sclerosis patients who were severely disabled are walking, working and even downhill skiing again following a breakthrough therapy which completely destroys, then rebuilds, the immune system.
The trial, which is the first in the world to show complete long-term remission from the debilitating disease has been hailed by experts as ‘exciting’ ‘unprecedented,’ and ‘close to curative.’
Although it is unclear what causes MS it is thought that the immune system attacks the protective coating which surrounds nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord leading to inflammation, pain, disability and in severe cases, early death...
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
haha good one!
If this is the same procedure I researched for my dad who was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma, it is their own stem cells taken before they kill off the immune system and then replace the cells. It is also sometimes possible for donor stem cells to be used, usually from a family member.
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My dad was sent to a cancer center but told he needed to be in or close to remission and that he needed more insurance than Medicare before they could help.
One of my brothers-in-law died of MS. Hope this pans out.
Absolutely correct.
This is a pretty radical treatment, and I don’t think it does anything in the way of helping the myelin that’s already gone come back.
You are super-vulnerable during the immune-kill phase. They destroy the immune system and they restore it using bone marrow as the ‘sourdough’ if you will.
This will only be available to people that have never been exposed to any other type of resident virus like herpes or other disease that are kept dormant by the immune system.
Don’t get me wrong, this is great news, but they use software terms to describe the process when demolition and reconstruction are more appropriate metaphors.
Reboot please
Praise the Lord indeed!
Imagine what other autoimmune diseases (i.e., Lupus) might be cured with this approach!
Here is another article, I think, on the same treatment ...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ms-treatment-impressive-results-ottawa-lancet-1.3609031
Modern reporting. Treat it like perpetrator descriptions in the crime section - no race mentioned, minority status. They didn’t scream embryonic stem cell, so it’s probably adult.
There HAS to be a better way to stop inflammation than chemo. Progress will mean being able to slowly IMPROVE the bacterial biome, maybe with stem cells still, but to slowly stop the autoimmune properties behind MS rather than kill kill kill and hope for the best. There is no chance of long term health for these patients, even if they’ve made some MS symptoms go away. These people may have very short lives.
Still, if someone understands the risks, I’m glad they now have this option.
One day we will truly understand we need these bacteria and we will be able to grow and nurture the good ones like in a garden. And influence something bad going on in us (cancer, MS) to wither, rather than as now throwing away the baby with the bathwater as we do with chemo.
It is in the article. They use the patient’s own stem cells. All stem cell treatment these days is like that, I believe.
I am sorry for your daughter’s dx. Look into all natural ways to decrease inflammation, diet can do a lot but you may have to give up favorite foods etc, along with whatever she does medically.
I'd wanted to follow the story because it was of particular interest to me (I have R.A.) and never saw a follow-up. It made me wonder whether she had a bad relapse. Or if there were other side-effects of the treatment down the line which made them withdraw their first, optimistic assessment.
Arthritis!.......................
This may be the Polio Vaccine of our time!.................
Thanks. My wife was diagnosed with primary progressive MS a while back.
We’ve seen a lot of things like this over the years. But I’ll print it off and we can talk about it with her neurologist next time we get her morphine pump refilled.
His usual response when we bring up such things like this is to shrug.
This is a blessing...
So the cure for the immune system is, you turn it off then turn it back on again?
When in doubt, reboot.
There it is, death is just shutting down the system.
MS is still a disease that medicine knows little about.
I personally know two women, over 40, who were diagnosed with MS 20 years ago. One never went on meds at all, one too meds for a while, left many years ago. They are both largely symptom free.
It is a disease that affects people in completely different ways-—usually men suffer more rapid decline than women, but the president of my university had MS when I got there in 1985 and I saw him a couple of months ago and he is still walking around, no cane or anything.
When TV or movies portray it, they make it seem like every MS patient is Annette Funicello. Some are, sadly. Others are like the two women I know, and still others, somewhere in between. Most neurologists will tell you that they don’t know if the available MS meds actually do anything-—it’s a better “safe than sorry” regimen, but all of them have very severe side effects, from hair loss, kidney stones, extreme flu like symptoms, etc.
This new treatment is extremely encouraging, but obviously would be more for the Annette Funicello types, not for the three people I mentioned.
The end of the article makes it clear that this is a dangerous and extreme treatment that is very risky. It is nothing like a vaccine. One of the patients died of liver failure and another was in intensive care for liver failure. It is not a recently developed treatment: the star patient who now is able to ski, underwent the treatment in 2002.
It is a hopeful event and adds knowledge to the battle against MS, but it is no easy miracle cure. My sister died at 49 of side-effects of MS treatment. Did the treatment extend her life? She was willing to try it because her MS life was not worth living.
Stem cell therapy is the future. After doing extensive research into stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s Disease, I had treatment at Stemgenex in La Jolla, CA where they have had incredible results for 7 years now. I have to say that the results are unexpected and my quality of life is almost as good as it was before the onset of PD.
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