Any beat MS?

[ffjosh]

Anyone ever have the lesions just go away and beat it?

Im determined!

[Sequoia]

Anyone ever have the lesions just go away and beat it?

Im determined!

Lesions can dwindle to the point where they can't be seen on MRI any more.

Symptoms can go away while you're still in the Relapsing-Remitting stage, and you can be symptom free for a very long time in the early years.

But nobody ever beats MS. Once you've got it, you've got it (assuming you've been correctly diagnosed).

Determination is a good thing, though.

[Redwings]

You'll find a few stories online about people beating MS. There are a couple of them who'll be happy to tell you about it if you buy their book. A couple of other stories I've read are from people who had neurological symptoms that went away, and they assumed they had MS and beat it even thought they were never diagnosed with it.

The common theme in "how I beat MS" is that those folks assumed super healthy lifestyles and found religion. On the other hand, Montel Williams is a prime example of someone who lives a super healthy lifestyle with diet and exercise, and he certainly hasn't beaten MS. As for religion, you'll see posters here who have a bible quote in their signatures like "I can do anything through Jesus" "I have no fear because God is with me," yet their posts are made up mostly of how they can't get anything done and how afraid they are as they deal with their symptoms.

Medicine in general recognizes that there are spontaneous remissions of all kinds of diseases. But that's different than beating MS through willpower.

[Thinkimjob]

Those two above have it right. MS is what it is. It really can't be beaten. In the olden days, pre MRIs etc, diagnosis was not the exact science it is now.
They put you in a bath, and if you had trouble getting out, well, that was probably MS. (yes, I know it was slightly more precise than that).
There was a lot more misdiagnosis. You can always 'beat' something you don't have.
That doesn't mean you can't get lucky and have a milder course, just that it really is mainly luck. You can improve your general health, look after yourself psychologically and give yourself the best shot no matter what happens, but it's not going away.

[mtnwillow]

Surprisingly the bath diagnosis may work first. !0 years ago I started getting very tired after a warm bath or a dip in the hot tub, I couldn't pull myself out or walk upright. I laughed and said "maybe MS" though secretly thinking low blood pressure. Now my MRI shows lesions and my symptoms and diagnostics match MS diagnosis. Neurologist says PPMS but I think I started way back with undiagnosed RRMS.

[Thinkimjob]

You're right mtnwillow - the bath worked. Still would, and a lot less painful than a lumbar puncture. And cheaper.

[CoolChickie]

Of Course You Can!

1. My Dr., whom I adore, says lesions go away.

2. If there are factors that exacerbate MS, I have to logically believe there are factors that relieve MS.

3. Even if hypothetically I'm wrong (which I'm not), believing it's possible will improve my quality of life (& yours) and THAT is what matters.

[jazzgirl]

True, honest-to-god multiple sclerosis is not now, and never has been, curable. You either have it, or you don't. Lesions can "disappear", but the damage can remain. Some people have very mild disease, some do not. That's the mystery of this disease.

[hope32]

I agree with pp's. It's so unpredictable, and looks different in every person. I remember my first MS specialist saying that 15% of people Dx'ed with MS only ever have one attack and no other symptoms. (I think that might have a different name now--Clinically Isolated Syndrome or something like that?) My friend's mom was Dx'ed with MS 15 years ago and has been in remission since then.

I went 6 years after first being told I had "probable MS" without any relapses. Then I had a relapse and official Dx, started DMDs, and went another four years (up until just recently) without another relapse. I do consider myself lucky so far but I'm only 35 and have a long life ahead of me so we'll see how the disease progresses from this point. I have had one of my bigger lesions disappear, so there's that. It would be awesome if they do find a cure someday.

[jackjackson]

Check out the book: Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis: An Evidence-Based Guide to Recovery Professor George Jelinek

It isn't a guide to beating MS, but is a good book that includes the effect of your mental state on the disease.

[hope32]

Check out the book: Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis: An Evidence-Based Guide to Recovery Professor George Jelinek

It isn't a guide to beating MS, but is a good book that includes the effect of your mental state on the disease.

Intriguing! I'm going to have to check this out.

[dpmich]

Every single one of us that has MS "beats" it every day. Will it be cured, no. I have been beating it for about 20 years now, unknowingly for 15 of those years. I really am not trying to be a rose colored glasses girl here. I mean that fighting our way through the fatigue and still picking up that baby, or using a rollator to go to the store, even working every day. Those to me are beating it. If not beating, then maybe we are cheating MS of winning then?

IMO

Debbie

[lemstar]

oh yeah, sure! one of my friends beat it--after hearing about my diagnosis, she told me how she had MS when she was little and spent two weeks in the hospital on antibiotics, and was cured.

and my elderly mom has a cyberfriend who healed herself by just willing it out of her body, and if i wasn't so damn stubborn, i could do the same thing.

but i'm too damn stubborn. so i still have MS.

[Faith708]

I am still learning about MS but i havent heard on anyone beating MS. I have heard that symptoms disappear and lesions have no longer showed up on someones MRI. So if lesions come and go, how useful are they during the MS determination/diagnosis process?

[BigA]

Faith,

ha ha. What a great questions, but perhaps the word "beat" was ill-chosen.

are there some people who make it through life with a mild course, nearly unscathed? Probably.

Is there something we can do to increase our chances of that happening to us? Possibly

What has been absolutely proven to help? Nothing.

What may help that has some basis in fact/proof? DMDs, Diet, Exercise, General health.

What should we do? All of them. There is more unknown about this disease than is known. See what works for you.

And I second the recommendation of Jelinek book. I highly reccomend it especially for anyone who has just been diagnosed.