How do you get multiple sclerosis?

Last Updated on December 5, 2023 by Cathy

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system. According to the National MS Society “Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.”

Approximately 400,000 people in the U.S. and more than 2.3 million worldwide have MS. It is unknown what causes MS but researchers do know it’s related to region, sex, and ethnicity. There are many studies looking into genetic factors, diet, and environmental exposures.

I have been living with MS for most of my life. My first symptom, optic neuritis, happened when I was fifteen years old. It was my ophthalmologist who told me I might have MS someday, unfortunately, he was right.

Knowledge Is Power

Years later when I finally saw a neurologist the MRI confirmed I had MS. Even though I already knew deep down that I had it. Hearing those words “you have MS” was still devastating. After listening to my doctor, he gave me little hope for my future. He said I needed to go on MS drugs immediately to hopefully slow the disease progression down. And, I needed to “hope for the best, plan for the worst.”

Unfortunately, most people diagnosed with MS receive very little hope. It takes our spirit away from us. It’s no wonder people with MS have such a high rate of depression.

Well, I’m here to tell you – don’t listen to all the doom and gloom! Stop listening to your friends who know someone who died a few years after their diagnosis of MS. MS is not a death sentence! You CAN live many quality years after being diagnosed if you manage it. I have been living with MS for, not years, but decades and I am still walking!

Your first step is knowledge. If you are newly diagnosed you’re lucky. We live in a world where everything is at our fingertips. The more you learn the more knowledgeable you will become in taking care of your own health. You can learn how to reverse MS naturally at the bottom of this post.

When I was first told I might have MS someday. It was before the internet so I had to look up multiple sclerosis in a dictionary. There was very little information just a couple of sentences. That. Was. It! I didn’t know anyone with MS. I didn’t know about the many support groups that are available. It felt like I was the only person in the world with MS.

Knowledge truly is power.

Your Central Nervous System (CNS)

The CNS controls every aspect of your body, it consists of the brain and spinal cord. It sends signals from the brain throughout the body. MS breaks the communication between the two. Creating symptoms such as numbness, balance issues, and problems with walking.

Some people may experience neurological fatigue which is more serious than regular fatigue. Your legs feel heavy making it difficult to walk or to crawl out of bed in the morning. Or you may experience heat intolerance. As your body warms up a temporary flare acts up until your core body has a chance to cool down again. There are many symptoms of MS even ones you may not realize.

Causes of MS

There is no “one cause” it’s usually a combination of factors. MS starts before your first symptom so you need to look back before your diagnosis. For me, it started before I was born, it is in my genetic code. After getting my DNA tested through 23andMe I discovered I had a three times higher risk for MS. I wasn’t destined for MS, it was my environmental lifestyle that triggered MS.

My personal triggers:

– Antibiotics – too many rounds starting as a toddler
– Diet – high in processed foods, refined sugar, and refined carbohydrates
– Genetics
– Stress – even in my childhood
– Vaccines 
- Yeast overgrowth (candida)

As you can see I had many triggers. I believe it was the combination of all these triggers that brought the onset of MS into my life. Today, I have cleaned up many of my triggers but I still struggle with stress. My son also has an autoimmune disease, type 1 diabetes, which brings me a lot of emotional stress. Especially when he ends up in the hospital with DKA. But I am working on it.

Vaccines

Surprised to see me list vaccines as one of my triggers? I was too at first. Until I read information from The National Center for Biotechnology Information. They claim autoimmune diseases have a connection to vaccines.

Especially the hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine triggering MS. It was first recorded in 1995-1997 a French study linked the onset of MS after an HBV vaccine. Within 8 weeks of the vaccine people, mostly women, showed neurological signs of MS. Two years later the French government suspended routine immunization for preadolescents.

Later, the USA did the same study but using the tetanus vaccine. Just like the French study, it showed an increase in MS in the patients after the vaccine. It is unclear why this happens. Researchers hypothesize it is due to a possible contamination either in the recombinant or plasma-derived vaccines.

Vaccines contain heavy metals such as aluminum or thimerosal (mercury-based). The problem with vaccines is they protect us from diseases such as mumps, measles, and chicken pox. But it puts people who are already genetically predisposed to MS at an even higher risk.

Triggers to MS:

• Poor Diet
• Infections (bacteria, parasites, viruses, and yeast overgrowth)
• Environmental toxins (heavy metals, mold, pesticides, etc.)
• Chronic stress
• Hormones (adrenaline, cortisol, etc.)

These are some of my favorite books I used during my healing process:

Healing Foods

Help your body heal by feeding it nutrient-dense foods. Not processed foods, sugar-sweetened drinks, fried foods, and foods low in fiber. These pro-inflammatory foods lead to a leaky gut. Which then allows food particles to pass the gut lining.

Instead, eat anti-inflammatory foods like dark leafy greens, fatty fish, blueberries, and turmeric. The National MS Society (NMSS) is funding more than $1 million dollars to different studies. Dr. Terry Wahls is conducting one to find out if a healthy diet works. She has a book called The Wahls Protocol which is a modified version of the paleo diet.

Another study is to see what role a diet such as the Mediterranean diet has in managing symptoms. Don’t wait for the study results to come out! Improve your quality of life now! Eat a healthy diet and remove environmental toxins such as smoking.

Hope

Fortunately, there is hope. It is possible to put MS into remission and possibly reverse some if not all of your symptoms. Don’t listen to negative people or you will begin to believe them. Even if it’s your doctor. My neurologist told me “Diet doesn’t work” so I fired him.

Stay positive and believe you can heal. ❤️

Learn the 5 Steps to Reverse Multiple Sclerosis Naturally

Get the password for the library with my Five Steps to Reverse Multiple Sclerosis Naturally here by filling out this form:

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