Can an MS Cure be finally getting closer and closer?

My doctor called with news of an MS cure today!

Can you imagine something like that?... I can just picture it now.

I can easily imagine what it would be like the day that I would start a conversation with my family and friends with the greatest news that 2.5 million fellow MSers cannot wait to hear.

Fantastic news!… I can almost hear myself telling my wife… the Neuro just called and explained to me the what, where, when and how of a recently discovered ms cure procedure or treatment for an MS Cure.

Well, as they say, nothing is lost by dreaming... better yet, as the late Christorpher Reve said “Once you choose hope, anything's possible.”

CAN MS BE CURED?

I firmly believe that everything is possible if we set our minds to do it and just try, try and try. I also would like to believe that a lot of the researchers currently working on finding an MS cure have that kind of positive attitude

Currently I hear a lot of reports about the multiple sclerosis causes and all the enormous strides made in the medical field to better control the long list of ms symptoms but an MS cure seems to elude us still.

HOW CLOSE ARE WE TO CURE MS?

If you stop and think about it for a moment, Dr. Jean Martin Charcot identified and defined multiple sclerosis as a disease in 1868. 124 years later, in 1992:

• The very first pharmaceutical treatment was made available to a desperate growing number of folks facing a chronic incurable illness and
• Today, merely 20 years later, we have to our disposal a variety of drugs and treatments ranging from:
  • The original injectable (interferons) family drugs like the original ABC (Avonex, Betaseron and Copaxone) to
  • Improved ones like Rebif
  • Intravenous treatments such as Tysabri and Novantrone and
  • The latest oral applications as well as many clinical trials developing even more.

I think that all of us would agree that medicine in the case of Multiple Sclerosis have come a long way since Dr. Charcot days. All of the medications we have available now do slow down the progression and reduce the number of attacks (up to 50% in some cases) but not quite an MS cure.

WHERE ARE WE HEADING?

Based on tests using mice, the answer to a cure may very well be found in genetics but genetics is only one aspect of several being studied. Click on the following link to read more about what causes Multiple Sclerosis.

Following the genetic trail, some specific relevant genes and genomes have already been identified. This information leads to exciting research projects based on the idea that one key to a cure is indeed genetics.

CHRONIC CEREBROSPINAL VENOUS INSUFFICIENCY (CCSVI)

Recently there was great commotion in the MS world after Dr. Paolo Zamboni announced he had developed an amazing treatment that has been touted as a possible cure. MSers flocked to treatment centers to take advantage of this “MS cure.”

Dr. Zamboni is a vascular surgeon desperately searching for a cure for his MS stricken wife and did find a vascular condition he thinks may be one cause of MS. Although there was a great deal of activity following Dr. Zamboni’s news, there is much testing to be performed and although this treatment does make some people feel much better, and for some it actually eliminates new symptoms for a long time, we must not forget that it is not an MS cure.

Until more trials are completed, perhaps we should have cautious optimism for Dr. Zamboni’s treatment. He joins The National MS Society in encouraging MSers to continue their current treatment until CCSVI has been proven beyond doubt.

MYELIN REPAIR

STEM CELLS

You might remember how a lot of MSers anticipated stem cell therapy. A small trial performed in Chicago by Dr. Richard Burt of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine tested 23 men and women with early RRMS who did not respond after six months of using interferon beta.

Tests took stem cells from the patient’s own fat tissue or bone marrow. Three years after transplantation, 17 had improved by at least one point on the disability scale while none had deteriorated. That sounds like promising results. It won’t be a true MS cure until it also addresses the types of Multiple Sclerosis beyond early RRMS. A larger trial for this one-time transplantation of stem cells is underway.

MIRACLE CURES

This is an aspect of having a tough disease like Multiple Sclerosis that ends up being very familiar to most of us, MSers.

The proverbial miracle cure. There are many claims for MS cures. Look out and be very cautious of these false claims. When you hear something, talk with your doctor or check with an organization like the The National MS Society or maybe the MS International Federation to see if it is valid. One day soon, God willing, it really will be.

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