Tuesday 29 March 2011

Downside to treatment?

I guess this is a downside, but one I'll happily live with for all the gains I've had.

My hay fever is back. Every spring, when the daffodils began to flower, I would get snuffly and snotty. Then MS bit, and the hayfever went away. Suppose my immune system had bigger fish to fry. But this spring, lo and behold the hayfever is back along with the daffodils.

Perhaps my immune system has given up on attacking my nerves for a while.

This does sit well with some of the more recent research done, and if more widely experienced, could perhaps be another piece in the jigsaw that is MS. I'm not going to quote all the references in here - there are plenty in the side pages, and it would take too long, but if someone needs some guidance where to look, leave me a question in the comments, and I'll help you out.

Basically, the immune activity kicks in after the lesions have started to form, as a result of hypoperfusion, iron deposition and cell death in the CNS. This in turn is triggered by the blockages in the veins draining the brain and spinal chord. Remove the blockages and the hypoperfusion goes away, inflammation and immune activity in those new areas of damage also cease.

So while treating CCSVI does not remyelinate pre-existing areas of damage, and does not remove long term symptoms experienced by PWMS, it does holt damage being done now, which may not show up as full blown lesions on MRI, and so those with active disease and in the relatively early stages should get the most relief.

Is hayfever a downside then? Or a sign that , at least for now, the damage in my brain has stopped?

I would love to know.

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