Gerson Therapy?

[JackieHarris]

My sister has advanced MS, and has recently decided to stop taking all medications and instead pursue Gerson Therapy - an all organic, vegetarian method of healing the body. I want to support her and I want her to be happy. I also want her to be healthy, and not suffer a relapse from which she can't recover. I've been reading medical journal articles on nonadherence to interferons, which keeps me up at night with worries about what will happen to her. I want to talk to her about this, but I don't want to upset her. Any advice?

Also, is anyone familiar with Gerson Therapy? Or seen results from that method with MS?

[misslux]

I have the book and thought it was just another snake oil diet with no scientific proof.

The American Cancer Society (who do actually promote healthy living through balanced diet and exercise) has a pretty good write up about Gerson.

http://www.cancer.org/treatment/trea...gerson-therapy

[Kimba22]

Thanks for the link, misslux! Dr. Oz talked about coffee enemas on his show today (2/19/2014), and discussed the same dangers I read in the link you provided. I had never even heard of those until today!

Hi Jackie,

Welcome to MS World! I'm sorry to hear about your sister. I would do my best to dissuade your sister from doing anything that could be dangerous. One of the symptoms MS can cause is bowel dysfunction. http://www.nationalmssociety.org/abo...ion/index.aspx I also wouldn't want to do anything that could mess that up any further.

Other diets used in MS are mentioned in "Tara's Nutrition & Supplement Notebook" under the forum entitled The Wellness Room. You might want to check out for your sister. The reasoning behind most of them is to avoid foods that cause an inflammatory response.

If the interferon's are not tolerable for your sister or ineffective, there are other medications like Gilenya, Tecfidera (both oral pills), or Tysabri (monthly infusion). They are all statistically better than the interferons. But, she's definitely not the only one who decides to stop taking a Disease Modifying Therapy. I'm not sure what you can do to talk her into going back on a medication if she's dead set against it.

Best of luck,