Natural Ways to Detox Your Body

Last Updated on November 29, 2023 by Cathy

There is more to multiple sclerosis (MS) than having an autoimmune disease. There’s more to consider than the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerve. Neurologist usually prescribes powerful immune-suppressing medications but they don’t always work.

A chronic, typically progressive disease involving damage to the sheaths of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, whose symptoms may include numbness, impairment of speech and of muscular coordination, blurred vision, and severe fatigue.

– Dictionary

Unfortunately, MS medications come with serious side effects including death. MS medications work for some patients but not for others, it’s YOUR choice if you want to take them or not. Stick with your gut instinct and don’t let your doctor push you into something you don’t want to do. 

One suggestion to help you decide whether to use medication is to ask yourself this question, “Will I have more fear about what is going to happen to my body if I don’t take a drug?” If the answer is yes, it is probably best to take the medication because the stress caused by your fear will contribute to the crumbling of your health. If you are more afraid to be on medication, you have answered your own question.

– Ann Boroch

Against my neurologist’s advice, I chose to use a natural approach to manage my MS. It’s a decision I’m glad I took. When you’re on those medications for years it damages other organs like your heart and/or liver. Eating an anti-inflammatory diet and avoiding processed foods is your first step. But there are other factors to take into consideration and one of them is helping your body detox.

Possible 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.)

Natural Ways to Detox

After years of chronic inflammation, your body becomes overburdened. You need to do everything you can to help remove the toxins. Your body is fighting something like an allergen, an infection, heavy metals, or stress. You need to treat the underlying cause of your inflammation.

You also need to help reduce your toxic load as much as possible. Your body is always detoxing through different organs.

Liver: filters the blood and removes toxins. Then it secretes bile that expels when you urinate and have bowel movements.

Kidneys: remove waste from the blood and regulate the amount of water that enters the bladder. 

Lungs: bring oxygen-rich air into your body and detoxes cellular waste, and carbon dioxide. 

Skin: The skin has many jobs and is our body’s largest organ. Skin keeps toxins from entering your body. It also releases toxins from your body through sweat.

Sweating also helps your body to eliminate toxins, which supports proper immune function and helps prevent diseases related to toxic overload.

– Dr. Joseph Mercola

Sweating is very important because it helps you maintain proper body temperature. It also cleans your pores, expels toxins, and kills viruses and bacteria. For some people with MS, their bodies no longer sweat causing the body temperature to go up. This is bad if you have heat intolerance.

I used to not sweat, I thought that was part of the reason I had heat intolerance. Because my body couldn’t cool itself down. Then I started following The Wahls Protocol and I started to sweat again. 

Eat Natural Foods

Stop eating processed foods, they have refined sugar, unhealthy fats, and artificial ingredients. Eat organic as much as possible. If you can’t afford it, eating more plant-based foods and less meat will save you money. Plus, eating a clean diet is better than eating processed foods. 

Conventional farm animals and farm-raised fish are unhealthy to eat. They have antibiotics, growth hormones, and GMO grains and soy to help fatten them up. They often have viruses, parasites, and bad bacteria. 

Eat organic meats:

• Grass-fed and finished meats
• Pasture-raised poultry
• Wild-caught fish

Drink Plenty of Water

Drink filtered water, tap water includes chemicals like chlorine and fluoride. Chlorine is a poison that’s used to kill bacteria. Over time, it can cause cancer, heart disease, and other health issues.

Fluoride is in our tap water and toothpaste, and we’re given more at the dentist’s office. Too much fluoride changes our tooth enamel and weakens our bone and tissue structure. Researchers discovered high levels of fluoride may be toxic to the brain and nerve cells.

Avoid Heavy Metals

Although the National MS Society claims mercury isn’t a possible trigger to MS. Other studies prove otherwise. Starting in 2012 mercury thermometers were slowly phased out due to their high toxicity.

Mercury can induce oxidative stress, stimulate autoimmunity and damage DNA, mitochondria and lipid membranes, so its location in these CNS cells suggests it could play a role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and glial tumours.

– PubMed

Where mercury exposure could be coming from:

• Dental amalgam (silver fillings)
• Fluorescent light bulbs
• Fish like king mackerel, shark, swordfish, tilefish, and tuna
• Vaccines like the flu shot

How to detox from heavy metals:

• Barley grass juice powder (it’s gluten-free)
• Blueberries (wild blueberries are best)
• Cilantro 
• Dulse
• Fruits and vegetables high in vitamin C
• Foods rich in fiber
• Garlic
• Parsley
• Spirulina

Store-bought Products 

Stop using store-bought body care products that aren’t natural. They have toxic ingredients that your body is absorbing. Instead, use natural products that won’t harm your health. Check the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) website for safe products.

Also, avoid store-bought cleaning products with toxic chemicals. They are full of highly toxic chemicals and fumes. Instead, switch to organic or make your own. It’s very easy to make your own by using a few ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Again check out the EWG’s website for safe cleaning products.

Check Your Home for Hidden Toxins

It’s impossible to remove all toxins but the more you remove the less your body has to deal with. That includes where you spend most of your time like at home or work. It’s not always possible to improve your work environment but you can start working on your home.

Some molds produce mycotoxins that can cause neurological damage. Check your home for mold or hire a professional. There are test kits you can purchase online that will pinpoint which room has the most mold source. 

If you can’t remove the source of the mold you may need to move to a different location or find another job. No home or job is worth more than your health. Candles and air fresheners also contain toxic chemicals. You can buy natural candles or make your own using beeswax. Essential oils work great as aromatherapy and help make your house smell better.

Get Your Body Moving

Exercise is a great way to help remove toxins. When you exercise you breathe in more. It gets your blood pumping, it gets your lymph fluids circulating, and you sweat more. Even if you are wheelchair-bound there are exercises you can do. I like to exercise using an online gym for MS called OptimalBody Personal Fitness.

Infrared saunas are also good but you need to be careful if you are heat intolerant. An easy way to release toxins from your body is by slowly taking deep breaths. Hold your breath for a few seconds then slowly release it, do as many as you can each day. (Don’t hold your breath so long that it makes you lightheaded and dizzy.)

Natural Ways to Detox Your Body

In 2022 a 20-year study was released stating Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the main cause of MS. However, 95% of adults worldwide have EBV but only a small percentage have MS. This proves something else is involved.

You will need to be a detective and figure out what else is your trigger.

I did not realize until 2022 that I also have streptococcus, a type of bacteria. When I was a child a used to get a lot of sore throats and strep throat. I did not realize, like EBV or the varicella-zoster virus (chickenpox), it stays inside your body.

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Resources:

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/fluoridated-drinking-water/

https://iaomt.org/resources/dental-mercury-facts/dental-amalgam-mercury-multiple-sclerosis/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30589214

Natural Ways to Detox Your Body