@clivech 

Last reply

clivech

Doing research

Hello everyone: I'm doing some research for a company that is hoping to launch a new way to boost the immune system in people who have chronic illnesses, including MS. I'm trying to better understand what the real benefits of having a stronger immune system would be to those who are suffering long-term with MS. Can anyone give me some insights? I realise there is no single experience of MS – indeed, it clearly has many, many individual manifestations. (I have an autistic son, so know what a spectrum of symptoms can mean.) But what would it mean to you to have a stronger immune system? What would change? How would things be different/better? Many thanks indeed for your help with this. I hope I am not intruding or asking the impossible. Clive
@Stumbler

@clivech , I'm not sure you're going to get much help on your research from the MS community. You see, MS is an auto-immune condition, where our immune systems attack our Central Nervous System (CNS). The majority of us will be on expensive immune-suppressant treatments. It is therefore not in our best interests to boost our immune system.

@clivech

Thanks for your reply, stumbler. I hear what you are saying, and I do understand that MS is an auto-immune condition, and that the immune system is targeting the wrong cells. But what if you could "train" your immune system to work the way it's supposed to, and not attack your CNS? So the "boost" takes the form of a better, not more indiscriminately active immune system? What would that mean for you? How would that change things? Thanks!