Drug Therapies
A variety of medications are used in the management of MS. It is important for people with MS to remember that none of the medicines purports to cure the disease, and that the best they offer is to reduce the rate of relapses. Mostly the size of this effect is very modest. Many of the medicines have no effect on progressive disease, and it has been very difficult to detect any effect on the progression of the disease to disability for the majority of the treatments.
This contrasts with the lifestyle therapies outlined on this site. Diet for example has been shown in Swank’s and other long term studies to significantly reduce rate of progression of the illness to disability. Nevertheless, in the spirit of doing whatever it takes to stay well, many people with MS will choose to take one of the medications. There is no reason for this decision to be in conflict with lifestyle changes like diet and getting adequate sunlight. Many people feel that anything that is likely to help is worth trying, providing the side effects aren’t too much of a problem.
The web pages here outline the more commonly used drugs in MS. For a more complete list, see the book ‘Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis’.
This contrasts with the lifestyle therapies outlined on this site. Diet for example has been shown in Swank’s and other long term studies to significantly reduce rate of progression of the illness to disability. Nevertheless, in the spirit of doing whatever it takes to stay well, many people with MS will choose to take one of the medications. There is no reason for this decision to be in conflict with lifestyle changes like diet and getting adequate sunlight. Many people feel that anything that is likely to help is worth trying, providing the side effects aren’t too much of a problem.
The web pages here outline the more commonly used drugs in MS. For a more complete list, see the book ‘Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis’.