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    Another Cure

    Couldn't sleep last night and was watching PBS.They had a doctor on promoting brain health and links to the "gut". I do believe the old saying that we are what we eat, but only to a point.

    So he also was saying that the gut controls so much more. Then goes on to describe someone who has trouble walking and has MS. This person went to London and had two fecal ( yes, you read that right) transplants, and then showed him walking unassisted quickly down the hall.

    I then proceeded to turn the channel. Maybe I would buy that if in a relapse, this somehow calmed the inflammation down and recovery occurred. But for someone that had difficulty walking and prior damage to all of a sudden have repaired neurological function...I felt my BP going up. I was so ticked off, someone else taking advantage of the hope we all have to damage repaired.

    If I could track him down, I would love to offer him my own unhealthy fecal matter and watch his theory in reverse - he can have my MS!

    Sorry a little gross, but so annoyed.
    Kathy
    DX 01/06, currently on Tysabri

    #2
    I'm annoyed as well.

    Dr. Perlmutter has been a leading advocate of nutrition for healthy brain function for decades, and I respect a lot of what he has to say about it. I believe he's right on target in following the line of gut bacteria in overall and neurological health.

    But I have no explanation for why he apparently went wacky in publicizing (using a PBS special, no less) a claim that a fecal transplant caused a man with MS to have a miraculous improvement in walking within 24 to 48 hours. As a neurologist, Dr. Perlmutter knows that myelin doesn't regenerate in 48 hours and dead nerves don't reanimate. He knows that the man's claims are impossible if the cause of his disability was MS. So for a respected medical professional to support and publicize that kind of a claim is just completely bizarre.

    The claim could be great support for a claim that C. difficile can cause significant neurological dysfunction on its own and that fecal transplants are a beneficial treatment for that -- unrelated to MS. I could even buy it that a person with longstanding MS improved 6 months after a fecal transplant. But the 24-hour miraculous improvement claim for MS symptoms is way over the line. Dr. Perlmutter knows better than that. (sigh)

    At best, the claim could be excellent support for the power of the placebo effect -- even in MS -- but that's a whole other road to go down.

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      #3
      That's not a bad idea, maybe feed it to him so that it can fix his entire system as it goes through. I might have bought into this snake oil since it appeared on PBS, if it wasn't so obviously... well, dung.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by headrift View Post
        I might have bought into this snake oil since it appeared on PBS, if it wasn't so obviously... well, dung.
        The effectiveness of fecal microbiota transplants for treatment of C. difficile infections is already documented in the medical literature, so that isn't the issue.

        The issue is that an otherwise competent and well-respected neurologist is supporting a claim for near-immediate improvement in an MS patient that is medically impossible and he knows it has to be.

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          #5
          jreagan - the sad part is that I found some of it to be really interesting and educational, but once the MS piece aired, it made me want to discount him totally. I am a firm believer that a healthy gut is a critical link to many health related issues, but he lost my confidence with that one side story.
          Kathy
          DX 01/06, currently on Tysabri

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            #6
            I am on page 200 of Dr. Perlmutter's book 'Grain Brain'. I don't know where this criticism comes from, but I haven't found anything, yet, that suggests 'fecal' anything. He does, however, promote healthy gut bacteria, among other things. I, also, am interested in the 30+ recipes that are included in the book.

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              #7
              Jerry - I was watching him on PBS, Brainmaker show. During this show is when Dr. Perlmutter discussed an MS patient drastically improved following a fecal transplant to produce a healthy gut. That is where the criticism is stemming from.
              Kathy
              DX 01/06, currently on Tysabri

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by pennstater View Post
                the sad part is that I found some of it to be really interesting and educational, but once the MS piece aired, it made me want to discount him totally. I am a firm believer that a healthy gut is a critical link to many health related issues, but he lost my confidence with that one side story.
                i think the good news is that there's enough research going on that you can follow the developments of gut bacteria and their effect on health -- including neurological health -- and still be able to eliminate Dr. Perlmutter altogether from your pursuit of knowledge.

                You can google something like "gut bacteria and neurological health" and come up with many different sources to follow. Scientific American ran a short article about gut bacteria and neurological effects four years ago (http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...cience-of-gut/). And there's more to follow since then -- without having to include someone who damaged his own credibility.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by JerryD View Post
                  I am on page 200 of Dr. Perlmutter's book 'Grain Brain'. I don't know where this criticism comes from, but I haven't found anything, yet, that suggests 'fecal' anything. He does, however, promote healthy gut bacteria, among other things. I, also, am interested in the 30+ recipes that are included in the book.
                  Jerry, the book Grain Brain doesn't make any mention at all about faecal transplants. :-)

                  Experimentally faecal transplants are being used for gluten ataxia, with possible benefit, which leads me to wonder whether the person in the TV programme ever had MS at all. Gluten ataxia is after all an MS mimic.

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                    #10
                    My mother bought $100 of Gary Null paraphernalia (the DVD cover art looks like it was printed in his basement) off a PBS promotion. My brother burned her copies so I don't feel so bad, but I'd wished she'd kept her money. No joke though, literally one week after starting Ty L'hermittes resolved. This symptom stems from spinal cord damage, which as I understand it aren't lesions that heal very well. Maybe if the underlying nerve isn't totally destroyed your body can slap some myelin on if the cycle is dampened or halted. Hoping for that Robin Williams Awakenings moment where people go from catatonic to doing back flips.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by dyin_myelin
                      No joke though, literally one week after starting Ty L'hermittes resolved. This symptom stems from spinal cord damage, which as I understand it aren't lesions that heal very well. Maybe if the underlying nerve isn't totally destroyed your body can slap some myelin on if the cycle is dampened or halted. Hoping for that Robin Williams Awakenings moment where people go from catatonic to doing back flips.
                      Glad to here great response to Ty. I have had L' Hermtes twice in relapses, not fun. Here is hoping you get more recovery!
                      Kathy
                      DX 01/06, currently on Tysabri

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