queenblackacid

Oh for fuck's sake. Seriously. Do some fucking research and stop following the hivemind.

1. The commenter has RRMS. Dr Wahls has secondary progressive MS. This diet could only be a complementary medicine in the commenter's case, but it is currently Dr Wahls' main MS therapy because:

2. There are no effective medications for SPMS. The only thing that can be done for SPMS patients is to treat the symptoms (gabapentin for pain, Ampyra for gait, etc) and make them comfortable while they waste away and lose their quality of life. RRMS patients have at least 5 drugs they can take that vary in efficacy from 30-80% reduction in disease progression but all RRMS patients eventually progress to SPMS.

3. Dr Wahls is and was not giving medical advice, only stating how she did it, what is being researched and the results so far.

4. Dr Wahls had amazing results eating and living in this way. She's trying to fund her own trials to share her results with others. Book sales would be a fair amount of these funds. Some of the shit she did like meditation and massage may not have contributed to her results, but that will come out in trials. She's just going for replication of results at this point.

Sigh.

http://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3srr17/iama_phone_sex_operator_ama/cx04cjp

No, she has Secondary Progressive MS. The Wahls diet is for SPMS, not RRMS. Patients who originally had RRMS always progress to SPMS along the line. It's a gradual decline of ability and quality of life, not marked by relapses. SPMS does not currently have an effective medication to slow progression of the disease. Dr Wahls was able to not only slow the progression, but reverse some of the damage caused by plaques in her brain by kick starting her mitochondria into remyelinating the nerves in her white matter that's huge, if anecdotal. Hence the phase I trial.

As a person with RRMS, the Wahls diet won't help my MS in a huge way. I follow it anyway most of the time because it makes me feel healthier than I did before I started and than I do during diet breaks. My main MS symptom is fatigue, and it just so happens that my fatigue is worse off-diet than on-diet. So for me, it works. It's the difference between being able to think straight and achieve things on a day to day basis, and being dopey.

N.B. I eat a lot of dairy, and I don't eat enough wild fish or organ meat. But I'm working on it.

You made me choke on my coffee. Thanks, asshole! /s

Dr Wahls has secondary progressive MS. There are currently no effective medications for SPMS other than treating the symptoms - like, as she said, gabapentin for pain. Another drug used is Ampyra, for helping with walking. Some success has been had with treating SPMS with forms of chemotherapy but nothing too great.

Most patients with MS have Relapsing Remitting MS. RRMS can be treated with medication quite effectively (Interferons, Copaxone, Aubagio, Tecfidera, Tysabri - from least to most effective), but all RRMS patients eventually progress to SPMS. This is why Dr Wahls' research is important to me. I currently have no symptoms other than fatigue (unless I overheat, then I feel and look drunk, in a bad way). I previously had lots of scary symptoms and am lucky that my Tysabri works really well. I follow the Wahls diet most of the time anyway because it makes me feel healthier than I did before I started and than I do during diet breaks. My fatigue is worse off-diet than on-diet. So for me, it works. It's the difference between being able to think straight and achieve things on a day to day basis, and being dopey.

N.B. I eat dairy, and I don't eat enough wild fish or organ meat. But I'm working on it.