This photo of me is on New Years day 2012 after a 2000 foot vertical climb up Vail Mountain! How did I do that when I received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2006? I’m often asked, what is your secret? How do you stay healthy?
The below are my favorite natural remedies for multiple sclerosis. I believe these strategies may be applicable to anyone with an auto-immune disorder. If this protocol is adhered to religiously, some find improvement in as little as 3 months. For others, it may take significantly longer.
Fish Oil
Fish Oil
Bone Broth
I make my own Bone Broth after I roast a chicken, or when I’m on the go I drink Kettle & Fire bone broth straight from the container. Bone broth has gut healing properties and is also high in protein, very important if you are working on rebuilding damaged nerve tissue. Learn how to make your own Bone Broth from Chicken with my easy recipe!
Vitamin D
Many people with illness and auto-immune conditions suffer from abnormally low levels of Vitamin D. Therefore, when friends ask, I recommend that they get their Vitamin D blood levels checked immediately, then quarterly thereafter. When I was severely deficient in Vitamin D, I took a mega dose of 5,000 IU per day, until my levels reached the normal range.
Low Dose Naltrexone
Although many of you will argue that Low-Dose Naltrexone is a drug, and not “natural,” I beg to differ. Using this opioid agonist in micro-doses is not accepted treatment yet for multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders. That’s a shame. For more information on this incredible treatment check out my Low Dose Naltrexone page.
Grain-Free Diet
Grains can wreak havoc on a weakened immune system. If I had to give one piece of advice to people with any auto-immune disorder, it would be to go on a diet that is entirely 100% Grain Free, and free of grain-like substances such as quinoa, millet, wild rice, etc. Of course, gluten is the ultimate no-no. By 2025 recommending a Gluten Free Diet to anyone with an auto-immune condition will probably be standard medical protocol. All of the recipes here are both grain-free and gluten-free. To get started in the kitchen check out my Grain Free Diet page.
My Favorite Functional Medicine Doctors
If you’re looking for additional guidance, here are some great Functional Medicine doctors that are open minded to both conventional medical treatment and alternative strategies:
- Dr. Robert Rountree
- Dr. Pierre Brunschwig
- Dr. Frank Lipman
I also want to share this video featuring Terry Wahls, MD that was sent to me by an acupuncturist friend in 2011. Dr. Wahls, was diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and was so sick she could not even use a regular wheelchair. After removing processed foods, grains and dairy from her diet, she experienced an amazing recovery and is now able to walk, horseback ride, and do many other strenuous physical activities.
My natural treatments for multiple sclerosis may not be the answer for everyone. I am not willing to argue about clinical studies to back up the effectiveness of this array of supplements, diet and off label drugs. The information I am sharing is “anecdotal evidence”–for only one person. This is what works for me.
I wish everyone seeking to improve their health the best of luck. I also want to point out that we are all biochemical individuals, so what works for me may not be best for you. Please, make sure to listen to your own body and trust what it tells you.
Deanna says
I had no idea that you had MS. It’s so wonderful that you’ve been able to manage it through diet and supplements. Kudos to you!
The more I learn, the more I come to understand how truly powerful the food we eat can be (and how amazing our bodies are).
Nenah Sylver says
Thank you for sharing, Elana. I’m glad you found a protocol that works for you. There is actually plenty of scientific evidence to support everything that you’re doing to manage–and even reverse–your condition. Many people in the medical establishment don’t want to acknowledge what cell biologist Bruce Lipton and other researchers have known for decades: that, given the proper environmental stimuli (such as nutrients), DNA can change how it expresses itself. This is why it’s so important, for so many people, to avoid gluten.
You and your readers may also want to know about Rife Therapy, a non-invasive modality discovered by Royal Rife in the 1930s that uses frequencies to heal. The frequencies can be delivered painlessly by minute amounts of electrical current (via an electrode machine) or an electromagnetic field (via radiant plasma, created when current passes through noble gases inside a glass tube). The frequencies help restore tissue and especially kill/disable microbes. Killing microbes is pertinent to MS because in many people with MS, pathogens are involved: viruses and/or bacterial spirochetes have been discovered in the spinal cord fluids of MS sufferers. Rife therapy truly works, as it devitalizes almost every type of microbe you can imagine. While Rife Therapy is almost unknown in the US, it’s much more widely used in other parts of the world such as Germany.
You can read more about Rife Therapy on my website, http://www.nenahsylver.com or http://www.rifehandbook.com.
Other substances that can damage the myelin sheath covering the nerve cells (which is why eating good fats is so important), are toxic metals like mercury, and mold toxins. About one-quarter of the population is unable to excrete the toxins emitted by molds, fungi and mildew. Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker at http://www.survivingmold.com has excellent information on this, and also an online test to see if mold toxins are a problem for you.
Thanks again for so gently providing information that can help people make wiser choices on how to take care of themselves.
All the best,
Nenah Sylver, PhD
http://www.nenahsylver.com
http://www.rifehandbook.com
Adrienne @ Whole New Mom says
Thanks for sharing, Elana. There is so much that can be done w/ diet. We have an autistic son (Asperger’s) and I will be posting in a few weeks about what we have done w/ diet in his life.
I wonder if you know that Ann Romney has MS. She was debilitated from it when her husband was asked to run the Salt Lake City Olympics and ended up, after doing traditional and then alternative therapies, able to walk and run the torch into the city for the opening ceremonies.
Amazing. I wish others I know w/ MS would heed this advice.
Blessings.
Lisa says
Awesome information! Relived to see you know about LDN. A doc I was working with years ago, when trying to get pregnant, said if he was ever dx with MS that would be one of his must haves. It’s a shame it isn’t more widely known.
Julie says
When I saw your post in Google Reader, I knew I HAD to pop over and tell you about LDN. So, so glad you already knew! It is a wonder “drug” and I tell everyone I know. Unfortunately, not many people are willing to listen, but I keep it up. Especially to my friends and family.
You go, girl, cause I NEED you to be healthy and keep all of us supplied with recipes!
denise says
Thank you Elana.
31 years ago my mom was diagnosed with MS. It was so new at that time it took 6 months of testing and her being a guinea pig to drugs before they could diagnose it. A different way of eating was not even thought about. She went from being active and happy to using a wheelchair and depressed in 5.5 years. Then she passed while in the hospital, due to complications her body was experiencing because of the disease.
I currently have a very good friend and confidant that has been battling the disease and more and more ‘chemotherapy’ type drugs are being recommended. Although she is cautious in those choices, this last bout left her not wanting to do it again as most have not helped and she just feels lousy with the treatments. She recently started having conversations about changing things in her life instead. I’m a huge proponent of being grain-free. I believe that it can change your energy, how you feel, and your life, even though I’ve been grain-free for only a few months the difference is wonderful.
I will send this link to her, nudging her in a direction that I’d like to see her go in. Often times when I suggest to friends that they may be gluten sensitive it goes in one ear and out the other. Worse case scenario is that it doesn’t work for her, but it’s a healthier way of being with your body anyway. I cannot imagine that at least one or two positive things would not come from it.
I hope that with this information and the fact that she is now more open to accepting new ideas, she will try this for herself. Just being able to walk her dog again would give her so much.
Thank you for sharing.
Raquel of Galilee says
Good for you, Elana! GOOD FOR YOU!
Loved your triumphant photo. It says it all.
Pesach Kasher VeSameach,
Raquel
HomeCookedHealthy says
Elana: Thank you so much for sharing this. There are so many people confronted with a disease every day and not realizing that they may have alternatives to treatment. My husband was diagnosed with a very agressive cancer over a year ago and we felt led to battle this disease with an all natural regiment instead of chemo or radiation. A large part of this was nutrition. We were amazed that within 3 months the cancer had subsided and the tumors started shrinking. Included with this is a gluten-free, sugar-free & organic lifestyle. It has literally saved his life and given us a testimony to how the Lord created our bodies to really heal themselves if we give it a chance and the right tools to do it’s work. Now we get so many emails and phone calls from others on how we did this. This has truly changed our lives and we hope so many others. We have been so blessed to help others along the way and let them know that there is hope.
gilbert wilson says
WOW! Now that video was the best food I have heard in a long time.
Great testimonial! Now to be able to apply some of it to every day life will be the trick. I can see I need lots of improvement and help in my choice of foods. I don’t eat processed meats and stay away from most bread products. We eat fish once a week, usually salmon or trout. If I am ever going to be close to understanding and growing to benefit my brain and body I will need to increase my intake of greens and colours. (In Canada we spell color with a “u”.) Willing to learn more.
Thanks
Gill
Deb Kinney says
Hi Elana,
Thank you for this post and for the extremely concise video; both are inspiring. I am forwarding your post to my family members who deal with many of the diseases or learning problems mentioned. As ever, I am grateful that you continue to send us such high quality health information.
All the best,
Deb
Linda S. says
Dear Elana,
I’m sorry to learn that you have multiple sclerosis. However I’m delighted to read about your remedies. I was diagnosed with ms in 2008 and immediately afterwards I started searching for information on how to take care of myself. 5 Months after the diagnosis I started on my gluten- and dairy-free diet. I was also very strict with sugar and saturated fats and noticed improvements after 1 month on the diet. Like you I also started taking fish oil and vitamin D. Until this day (almost 4 years) I haven’t had another excacerbation, although neurologists predicted that I was to expect one appr. every 1.5 years.
I could go on and on about the positive influence of my lifestyle -I don’t call it a diet anymore- but I won’t. Just want to thank you for sharing this with so many people, it is the most important information anyone can get. For me, being a scientist, it was easy finding literature about all the aspects of diet and disease, but for so many people out there it is just too difficult.
Thanks again and take care!
Linda
(from Amsterdam, simply love your name)
Sunday Sommers says
If you don’t already know about Dr. Terry Wahls, you absolutely must! She is an M.D. who suffered an aggressive form of M.S., but kept working from a reclining wheelchair until she realized that she would soon be unable to function outside of a nursing facility. She began researching nutrition at the cellular level, it’s all about “minding you mitochondria” she says. She is now walking and bicycling thanks to a revolution in her diet, and leading a team of researchers for the purpose of making dietary information “standard of practice” care for the medical profession.
I first heard her being interviewed on NPR several years ago, but she is now all over youtube and TED TAlKS, as well as her own website.
Jonathan says
Please, I need some help. Tell me about the diet. Thanks
Jonathan
Rita Pettit says
I have lyme for 36 years and advanced Ambrotose made me feel well in says. Try it because it works. It is well worth the money even if you have spent a bundle as I did over all of these years. It is the only thing that worked for me and it is s live changer.