DECEMBER 7, 2018 BY ALANA KESSLER MS RD
When I first met Stephanie in March, she was like any healthy 28-year-old coming in to see me for a nutrition consult. Her positive attitude and bright smile filled the room as she told me about her job as a grade school teacher and the new apartment she just moved into with her boyfriend of seven years.
“We are a great team,” she said. “Little did he know that his law school wouldn’t be the biggest challenge we’d face as a couple.”
Stephanie was diagnosed about a year ago with multiple sclerosis (MS), and behind her beautiful eyes and strong spirit, I could sense her pain at the discovery of the most recent spinal cord lesions after she complained to her doctors of new nerve pain in her feet. She will be starting steroid infusions in a few weeks, and together we hope to design a nutrition and lifestyle plan that will support her health and healing, and preserve her quality of life.
Nerve pain is hard to grasp and relentless in its unpredictability. The nerve damage associated with MS has been linked to causative factors including dysbiosis of the gut microbe, autoimmune responses, and increased inflammation, all leading to an attack on the nervous system by the body’s own immune cells.
In “The Gut Microbiome in Multiple Sclerosis,” an opinion piece published in Current Treatment Options in Neurology in April 2015, two Dartmouth researchers state: “The gut microbiome has been shown to have profound effects on the development and maintenance of immune system in both animal models and in humans. A growing body of evidence has implicated the human gut microbiome in a range of disorders, including obesity, inflammatory bowel diseases, and cardiovascular disease. Animal studies present compelling evidence that the gut microbiome plays a significant role in the progression of demyelinating disease, and that modulation of the microbiome can lead to either exacerbation or amelioration of symptoms.
“Differences in diet, vitamin D insufficiency, smoking, and alcohol use have all been implicated as risk factors in MS, and all have the ability to affect the composition of the gut microbiota.”
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
To receive MS news and information via e-mail, Please Click here
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Visit our MS Learning Channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/msviewsandnews