Initial diagnosis, curious on people’s experience with forgoing conventional medicine?
Hey friends, first off, happy to be here! I received my initial disgnosis of MS a couple of weeks ago now which was later confirmed with a spinal tap. I am a 31y/o female who went into the ER with optic neurotis being my only symptom and came out with this diagnosis.
We have not started our family yet, though certainly want to in the near future, and generally take a holistic approach to most things in life. I am very curious to know people’s experiences with forgoing the IV or oral medications after initial diagnosis and rather switching to something like The Whals Protocol for ongoing “treatment”. Family planning adds another layer of complexity but there is always so much to consider when making decisions for the future.
Has anyone had any success or experience (good or bad) with this approach? Open to hearing just about anything to further make the best decision for myself and my future family.
Greatly appreciated!!
First off, welcome! I’m sorry you have MS but glad you are here. Treatment is of course a very personal choice and whatever you decide, I hope all goes as well as it can. I’ll share my experience. I was diagnosed in 2023 but according to my MS specialist, I likely had my first major relapse a decade prior. I started having MS symptoms and sought medical care in my mid twenties (i’m 39 now) and was brushed off and dismissed as being anxious. During those years I saw naturopathuc doctors, acupuncterists, herbalists, etc. I tried a wide variety of diets and lifestyle changes and was very active (gym, hiking, yoga, weight training). Fast forward to 2023 when I had a scary bout of optic nueritis and the left side of my body went numb and I couldn’t remember my friend’s names or simple words. (It still took many months after to get diagnosed) After finding a good MS specialists and a lot of research and soul searching, I got on a DMT. I desperately wish I could go back in time and get on a DMT 10 years earlier. My whole life is very very different than I imagined it would be and I struggle with symptoms daily. I wish I could have slowed down disease progression earlier. Once the damage is done it’s done and all I can do now is try to do everything I can to halt further progression which I choose to take a DMT in addition to a wide variety of other healthy choices. All this to say that this disease is somewhat unpredictable and impacts each of us differently. We do live in a time thankfully that there are so many options for medications and there’s a lot of research so it’s easier to make an informed choice.
I tried the conventional medicine for about 6 months, and it made me feel worse. Plus, when I read about the medicine, it said was only 40% likely to pause a remission. It wasn't worth it for me. I have found that my MS was better when I was pregnant. It was like the body focused on the fetus instead of attacking me 24/7.