Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Naturopathic medicine can play an important role in the successful management of multiple sclerosis (MS). Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially debilitating disease in which your body’s immune system attacks (i.e., autoimmune disease) the protective (myelin) sheath that covers your nerves, ultimately causing impairment of nerve signaling.
The cause of multiple sclerosis (MS) is not known, but genetics and childhood infections may play a role. Symptoms and complications of multiple sclerosis (MS) vary widely depending on the amount of damage, which nerves are affected.
Professional healthcare should be sought out if you experience any symptoms that cause you to suspect you may have multiple sclerosis (MS).
Symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS)
Symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) can vary widely from person to person. Possible symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) include:
• Tremor, lack of coordination or unsteady gait
• Numbness or weakness in one or more limbs (typically occurring on one side, or in the lower part of your body)
• Tingling or pain in parts of your body
• Partial or complete loss of vision (usually in one eye at a time, often with pain during eye movement)
• Double- or blurring of vision
• Electric-shock sensations occurring with head movement
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment are to reduce intensity of symptoms, manage side effects of conventional multiple sclerosis (MS) medications and retard disease progression.
There is no cure for multiple sclerosis (MS). Conventional treatments may include physical therapy, and variety of medications for suppression of the body’s immune response and symptom management.
Medications commonly used in multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment include corticosteroids (e.g., prednisone, intravenous methylprednisolone), interferons, Copaxone®, Tysabri® and Novantrone®, many of which are poorly understood and may have serious side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, a typical approach to treating multiple sclerosis (MS) I may to identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, poor stress management) or general health (e.g., diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease) that may be related to worsening of your symptoms, decrease your symptom severity using nutritional supplements that support healthy nerve function and acupuncture or Bowen therapy and retard muscle degeneration through an exercise .
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
• Acupuncture
• Bowen Therapy
• Suikodo™
• Nutritional supplements
• Homeopathic medicines
• Diet therapy
• Homotoxicological medicines
• Cleansing protocols
• Botanical (herbal) medicines
• Lifestyle counseling
• Relaxation techniques
• Exercise prescription
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Multiple Sclerosis [Online]. [cited 2010 Jan 15]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/multiple-sclerosis/DS00188.