Terry Wahls, MD, talks about her popular regimen for progressive MS.
For Video- click here: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/MultipleSclerosis/49317
With no clearly proven treatments available for progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), the door has been opened for what are usually called alternative or complementary therapies. One that has gained many adherents in the MS community is the Wahls Protocol, a regimen of diet, exercise (including electrical neuromuscular stimulation), and meditation techniques.
MedPage Today asked for comments from its eponymous developer, Terry Wahls, MD, clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City. Wahls is an MS patient and devised the protocol initially for herself. On her website, she claims to have climbed out of a wheelchair and improved enough to complete an 18-mile bike ride within 1 year.
In the accompanying video, Wahls describes the regimen and the ongoing clinical studies with which she is involved.
MedPage Today also contacted neurologists at academic medical centers to ask for brief comments on the Wahls Protocol. Not surprisingly, their assessments were more cautious:
“I am a firm believer in the power of good nutrition, exercise, intense rehabilitation, and a great attitude, but they have to go hand in hand with the medical treatment — as clearly stated by Dr. Wahls, she underwent chemotherapy, which likely played a role in slowing the progression of her disease.” —Flavia Nelson, MD, University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston
“Wellness promotion approaches including a healthful diet, exercise, and stress reduction are widely recommended by MS experts to their patients. That said, neither Dr. Wahls’ program, nor any other wellness regimen, regardless of how thoughtfully conceived and well intentioned, has been proven rigorously to alter the MS disease process in randomized, controlled trials such as those required by the FDA for the approval of new therapies. Naturally, we all want people with MS to feel better and do better, but we ought to be cautious about possibly promoting false hope.” — Andrew Goodman, MD, University of Rochester in New York.