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  • Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms, Treatment, Causes And Ayurvedic Treatment

    Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms, Treatment, Causes And Ayurvedic Treatment

    The Ayurveda Experience April 04, 2018

    Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system loses its intelligence. As a result, the immune system starts attacking the protective covering around the nerves, known as the myelin sheath. This happens in both the brain and spinal cord, causing it to disintegrate, much like a frayed electrical cord. This makes it impossible for the nerves to transmit their signals.

    Mainstream medicine uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to help both diagnose MS and track the course of MS over time. This scan of the brain can show areas of inflammation and damage to the nerves, or lesions.

    Other possible ways of diagnosing MS can be through analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid, and a test of nerve responses. A relatively new blood test can diagnose MS with a 65% to 70% accuracy. This test analyzes neural antigens, or the broken-up pieces of nerve cells which enter the bloodstream. It is against these antigens, or foreign materials, that the immune system is mounting its attack. Even though this blood test may not be 100% accurate, it is used in conjunction with other diagnostic tests for MS, allowing for a quicker diagnosis.

    Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

    Multiple Sclerosis can cause many different symptoms around the body with each person presenting with their own unique problems. Some people experience long-term and severe manifestations of the disease, some tend to relapse and remit, while others may be relatively symptom-free most of their life.

    Symptoms of MS may include blurred or double vision, clumsiness or lack of coordination, loss of balance, numbness, tingling or tremors throughout the body and/or extremities, pins and needles, reduced sensation of touch, weakness in the arms or legs, muscle spasms, fatigue and cognitive problems. Bladder problems may also occur, such as excessive urination at night, leaking of urine, persistent urge to urinate, or urinary retention. Some may experience slurred speech or impaired voice, difficulty swallowing, heaviness in the legs, numbness in the face or tongue and difficulty raising the foot. These symptoms can worsen and progress over time.

    Note: Many, but not all, patients will develop optic neuritis years before the MS is even diagnosed. Optic neuritis develops from the immune system attacking the fatty covering or myelin which protects your optic nerve. This is the nerve which transmits visual information from your eyes to your brain. This condition usually comes on quickly and may cause pain when you move your eyes, blurred vision, loss of color vision, trouble seeing to the side, a hole in the center of your vision and, in rare cases, blindness.

    Current Multiple Sclerosis Treatment

    Current medical treatment has consisted of using medications which attempt to shut down the immune system to halt its attacks on the myelin sheath. Corticosteroids such as prednisone are also used to reduce nerve inflammation. The latest approach is to wipe out the patient’s immune system using cancer drugs and then reboot it with a stem cell transplant.

    The first approach, using drug treatments only, showed 39 of 50 patients had a relapse within a year and over a 3-year period the treatment failed altogether for 30 of them, or 60 percent.

    The second newer approach using stem cell therapy showed much better outcomes whereby only one relapse occurred among the 52 patients who had the stem cell treatment. After 3 years of follow up, the transplant treatment had failed for just 3 of them, about 6%.

    While there is much excitement surrounding this new stem cell treatment, there are many questions that haven’t been answered in this sole study. First, the study has not yet been published, nor has it been peer reviewed. It is slated to be submitted for publication sometime in May, 2018. However, other researchers are still questioning whether these results are permanent. They are also wondering about the risks of totally destroying one’s immune system through aggressive chemo and then “hoping” it will “reboot.”

    In addition, the FDA also flagged some issues in the study’s protocol. The investigators failed to report the side effects of the treatments: chest infection, worsening of conditions such as vertigo, narcolepsy, stuttering and hyperglycemia, among others. Finally, the treatments are expensive, running between $100,000 and $200,000.

    The Ayurvedic Approach to MS

    The ancient doctors of India who cognized Ayurveda said, first and foremost, one must identify the hetu or underlying
    cause of the disease, and treatment must be geared toward that.

    We have identified numerous etiologies in the development of MS, which will be discussed in this article. Thus, treatment protocols, unlike those recommended in mainstream medicine, will be different for each patient, depending upon the unique reason(s) they developed their disease in the first place.

    Modern Ayurvedic Wisdom

    Before I outline the underlying reasons why one’s immune system might attack the myelin sheath, let me explain how the ancient science of Ayurveda needed to be “upgraded” for our modern era. My mentor and teacher, Vaidya Rama Kant Mishra, whom I studied with for 20 years, was my visionary guide in this process.

    Over 20 years ago, Vaidya Mishra was sent to America to develop herbs for one of America’s premier Ayurvedic herbal companies. During the time he worked for this company and for many years after, he and I saw hundreds of patients together. He not only developed herbal protocols for each of the health problems we were treating, but he had to make some basic changes in the way we practice Ayurveda. He always drew upon the wisdom of the ancient texts, but adapted it for our modern lifestyle and environments.

    Let me explain further. The ancient doctors of Ayurveda stated that they would leave the texts open for future doctors to come in and write the new chapters, based on what was happening at that time. They knew they could not foresee the changes that would take place in the future.

    As a result, Vaidya Mishra had to change the ways we deliver herbs, developing transdermal creams, where the herbs could be taken through the skin and directly into the blood, bypassing the modern patients’ overheated liver, which would reject the herbs, causing diarrhea, rashes and more. He then captured the vibration of the herb and delivered that in a base of organic yellow squash syrup, a few drops at a time in a liter of alkaline spring water, to be drank slowly throughout the day, also in an attempt to keep the liver cool.

    In addition, he had to upgrade Panchakarma techniques, making them safer for the modern types of toxins the patients are harboring today. These toxins include accumulated chemical toxins from air pollution, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, environmental toxins, food additives and nutraceuticals to name a few. (Case in point: there are already more than 200 chemicals in newborn umbilical cord blood). Due to their harsh and acidic nature, when these toxins are pulled out too quickly, they can rupture the delicate srotas (physical channels) which are carrying these toxins out into the bowel movement, urine and sweat. These dangerous toxins can also be quite harmful to the liver and kidneys as they travel through these organs. Thus, in this modern era, it is better to detox slowly and carefully, lubricating these physical channels and keeping the liver cool during the detoxification period. For example, some of the causes of MS are from toxins such as aspartame, which the ancient doctors wouldn’t have known about and thus no protocol would have been given describing the best way to pull it out. You can read about the various upgrades recommended by Vaidya Mishra on his website, chandika.com and in a lecture I gave in
    Fairfield, Iowa in July 2014, which is on YouTube.com.

    So now let’s look at the numerous causes of MS and how to address them.

    Multiple Sclerosis Causes

    1. Aspartame

    This artificial sweetener is one of the leading causes of MS, as it has the capability of burning the myelin sheath. If you have a history of consuming this sweetener, you must stop immediately or the treatments will not work. There are numerous cases cited in the literature (and of my own patients) whose MS symptoms disappear once they stop consuming aspartame.

    2. MSG And Other Foods Containing Glutamate

    Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is prepared by the hydrolysis of wheat gluten, which is about 25% glutamate. Glutamate is an amino acid which is the neurotransmitter responsible for excitatory signals in the brain. However, its production in the body is tightly controlled since in excess it is highly toxic to brain cells. Studies have shown that MS patients have higher levels of glutamate in their cerebrospinal fluid during relapses of the disease, and elevated glutamate levels in some types of MS brain lesions, as well as in normal-appearing white matter.

    Dr. Daniel Pelletier, a senior study author and a renowned MS expert from the Yale School of Medicine discussed glutamate and its role in MS at the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers Annual Meeting in 2016, and numerous studies have been done showing the connection between MSG and glutamate-containing foods causing MS and brain cell death.

    Glutamate is found in processed foods such as MSG and any product that lists these terms as ingredients: “hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed yeast, yeast extract, soy extracts, protein isolate, soy protein isolate, whey protein isolate, maltodextrin, malt extract, sodium caseinate, autolyzed yeast, modified food starch and soy protein concentrate.” Thus it is imperative you avoid these foods which could easily produce glutamate toxicity and certain brain cell death, leading to MS and various other nervous system diseases.

    3. Parasites

    The ancient Ayurvedic doctors listed various parasites that had the capability of eating the myelin sheath. I personally have had several patients develop MS after going on a trip to an island or a foreign country and becoming ill due to parasitic infections.

    4. Heavy Metals

    Heavy metals, especially mercury, are extremely heating in nature and are known to burn both the myelin sheath and the nerve tissue underneath it. These heavy metals are contained in immunizations, air pollution, mercury amalgams, certain species of fish, such as shark, tuna, swordfish, tilefish and king mackerel.

    Sources of mercury contamination in the environment include coal-fired power plants. In fact, mercury exists naturally in coal, making coal-fired power plants the largest source of mercury pollution in this country, accounting for almost 50 tons of mercury emissions in one year. Trash incinerators, hazardous waste, medical waste and regulargarbage incinerators release 13.1 tons of mercury every year. In addition mercury is found in common household fluorescent light bulbs and thermostats. And, gold mining, often called the most polluting industry in the world, releases 11.5 tons of mercury into the environment each year as mercury is released when gold is heated to separate gold from mined ore.

    The nonprofit group Earthworks estimates that 25% of the mercury emissions west of Texas and old abandoned gold mines in California continue to release mercury even though they have been closed for over one hundred years. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that mine waters and sediments in these areas release thousands of pounds of mercury each year.

    5. Low Fat Diets

    Some of our patients developed MS after following diets which were too low in fats, containing no milk, ghee, butter or cholesterol. Keep in mind the nerve tissue and myelin sheath are made from cholesterol, which is why diets containing no
    cholesterol can literally dry up the brain and nerve tissue. This is especially true if the patient is already Vata prakriti by nature and are following a low fat diet.

    Vata is one of the three fundamental elements in nature (the other two are Pitta, relating to the elements of fire and
    water, and Kapha, relating to earth and water). Vata represents the elements of dryness, quickness, and coldness. Thus, these people are born with a preponderance of this element and tend to exhibit symptoms of dryness, or lack of unctuousness, over their lifetime. Because they have inherited this tendency towards dryness, they must make a concerted effort throughout their lives to keep the body (fatty nerve tissue included) unctuous, both on the inside and outside (see below). In the same way, they can go out of balance quickly if they are exposed to too much coldness or too much movement, by rushing through the day, over-exercising, going to bed late and running themselves ragged, creating an overabundance of Vata in the physiology.

    Numerous times through the years Vaidya Mishra, after taking the patient’s pulse, would tell them the main reason for their MS was because they were continually rushing through the day, further throwing their Vata out of balance, causing too much drying of the delicate fatty nerve tissue.

    6. Electro-Magnetic Radiation / Frequencies (EMR’s And EMF’s)

    Prana, the vital life force, is the cosmic energy which permeates not only the Universe, but all the cells and organ systems of our body. It is composed of soma, agni and marut. Soma is the vibration from the moon, agni is derived from the sun’s warming rays and marut is that element which governs the movement of soma and agni.

    Exposure to Wi-Fi, cell phones and computers mix in and pollute the prana as it enters the adhipati marma point at the top of the head. Every organ, gland and the cellular system are dependent on a full supply of prana in order for them to function at full capacity. These EMR’s and EMF’s mix in with the prana, as both are found in the space element, and travel down the same paths as the prana, down through the shushumna nadi (the vibrational channels down the spine) and now this toxic prana is delivered to the cellular system, disrupting its function.

    I had a patient who developed MS after working under high tension wires all day on her horse farm. Once we had her move her horses away from the source of these EMF’s her MS totally cleared up. It has been ten years now and it never returned.

    Ayurvedic Treatment Protocols

    First and foremost, identify the hetu and take it from there. Thus, if parasites are the issue, then you need to be given anti-parasitic herbs as the first part of the treatment. If mercury is there, you need to take chelating agents, based on cilantro, to pull the mercury (or other heavy metals) out.

    If the diet is too low in fats, you must add these back into the diet and learn about the good sources of fats, such as ghee. Especially beneficial is cultured ghee made from raw organic cream from grass-fed cows. This boiled and cooled cream is then mixed with a yogurt starter and turned into yogurt overnight. The next day it is first cooled and then churned into butter. Then ghee is made from this cultured butter. The friendly bacteria in the yogurt cultures will break the fats down in the ghee into extremely small particles allowing for better absorption into the brain, delicate nerve tissue and the myelin sheath. This type of ghee was highly praised in the ancient Ayurvedic texts.

    It is extremely important for you to learn about the different types of milk and how to take them in the correct way. The best is raw A2 milk, which can be shipped overnight from Miller’s Organic Farm or Gita Nagari Eco Organic Farm, both in Pennsylvania. A2 is milk from an ancient cow strain before they were genetically hybridized to produce A1 milk, which is most of the milk in the world today. This milk is more difficult to digest due to the protein it contains, known as A-1 beta-casein protein. (Ordinary cows’ milk contains a mix of both A1 and A2 proteins, thus it is best to seek out the milk that contains only the A2 protein). Currently A2 milk is being sold in supermarkets around the country, however, it has been ultra pasteurized, which destroys the delicate pranic energy and vital life-giving qualities of the milk. As we speak, there are more and more raw milk dairies beginning to offer A2 milk to the public as the demand for it has been increasing over the past few years.

    Second best milk is raw A1 milk, which means it is neither homogenized nor pasteurized. Third best is whole milk that is pasteurized but not homogenized, with a layer of cream at the top. Homogenization tampers with the delicate fat molecules in the milk, disrupting its normal absorption into our cells.

    It is important to boil the milk with cardamom pods, which aid in the digestion of the protein in the milk and a cinnamon stick, which helps the digestion of the sugar in the milk. It is the protein and the sugar in the milk which most people find difficult to digest. Therefore, if you simmer the milk a few minutes with these two spices, you will find it much easier to digest.

    Boiling the milk is recommended as it thins out the fats in the milk, making for easier digestion and assimilation into the cells. Plus it will kill any infection which may be present in raw milk obtained directly from the cow. No need to worry: you won’t kill off the nutrients in the milk by giving it a quick boil, unlike the pasteurization process which heats the milk at an extremely high temperature for too long a period of time, killing this vital life essence in the milk.

    It is imperative that you incorporate whole milk and ghee into your diet for the quickest recovery possible. If you are allergic to milk, then try goat’s milk, as it is easier to digest, or homemade almond milk. Don’t be tempted to buy almond milk sitting on the shelf as it has lost both the nutritional value and the prana, rendering it less nourishing.

    How To Make Almond Milk

    Ingredients
    1 cup organic almonds (skin-on)
    spring water
    1 Tbsp raw honey
    cardamom, pinch

    Soak the almonds (with their skins on) overnight in a bowl of spring water on the countertop. Drain in the morning, peel and discard the skins. Then put the peeled almonds in a blender with enough spring water to cover by about a half inch or so. Add one tablespoon of raw honey and a pinch of ground cardamom and blend for 3 minutes. Pour through an organic nut milk bag and strain.

    Drink immediately to prevent oxidation of the nutrients in the milk.

    How To Recalibrate The Immune System

    There are three basic parts of the immune system which need addressing:
    1. The friendly bacteria in the gut.
    2. The liver.
    3. The bone marrow.

    Usually, in almost every MS patient, all three are affected and as a result, the immune system is malfunctioning and attacking the patient, creating the autoimmune response. Let’s discuss one part at a time.

    1. The friendly bacteria in the gut.

    Numerous medications, such as antibiotics, birth control pills, immunizations, and steroids to name a few, deplete our
    friendly bacteria. One way to replenish these friendly bowel flora is through consuming lassi or buttermilk.

    We recommend using your own homemade yogurt using the Protren Yogurt Starter, after having tried several brands. The yogurt made from this culture produces the type of alkaline yogurt recommended in the Ayurvedic texts. The ancient doctors said the yogurt shouldn’t taste sour because the acidity could destroy the friendly bacteria.

    Make lassi using 1/4 cup yogurt mixed with 3/4 cup water, a pinch of ground cumin and 3 cilantro leaves. Blend and sip in between bites of food at lunchtime only. You can also drink real buttermilk, which is the byproduct from making the cultured butter as described above. This too should only be sipped at lunchtime (when your digestive fire is the highest, since cold dairy is channel-clogging and mucus-forming).

    The yogurt cultures sold in supermarkets and health food stores become depleted as they sit on the shelves, so you can’t rely on these for restoring your gut flora.

    If you cannot tolerate cow’s milk, try making yogurt from goat’s milk. And if all else fails, you can try Protren’s probiotic, known as Trenev Trio. Twenty-five years ago I looked at the cultures of all the probiotic companies under a very expensive microscope and much to my surprise the cultures were inactive in every company except Protren’s.

    Apparently it is very difficult to make a probiotic without killing the culture during its processing. Unless it says “100%
    Potency Guaranteed” on the label, it is probably ineffective. Since then, there may be newer probiotics that have been developed which have active cultures, but it is very difficult to know for certain unless stated on the label or looked at under a microscope. The live cultures indicated on the bottle are the cultures which were alive before the processing of the probiotic, so be careful in choosing the best company for yourself.

    If there is a history of long term antibiotics or birth control pills, then the lining of the gut needs to be fixed so it can accept the probiotic. We recommend the following dilute tea: Boil one quart of water for 5 minutes, put it in a thermos, add 1/2 tsp whole coriander seeds and 1/2 tsp slippery elm bark. Let steep in the thermos for at least 20 minutes, then sip on it for four hours, discarding any leftover tea. Make it fresh every time and drink this for at least 3-6 months. The slippery elm will fix the lining of the gut so the probiotics can grow, much like bringing in new topsoil into the garden (the probiotics are the seeds). You might also try adding ¼ tsp of delglycchrized licorice to the thermos if you have a history of acid reflux or GERD, which might have burnt the lining of the gut. Licorice is famous for healing ulcers and burning due to high stomach acids.

    It is important that one regains a nice thick turf of friendly bacteria in the gut, as this flora prevents the immune system from losing its intelligence, causing it to mount an attack against your body, which is the first step towards developing an autoimmune disease, such as MS.

    2. The Liver

    As stated before, the liver is overheated in this modern era due to numerous acidic chemicals going through it over
    the course of a lifetime.

    Think of what happens to alkaline rainwater as it picks up air pollution on its way to the earth — it becomes acid rain. The same thing happens in our liver as it is the liver’s job to process all these acid toxins. It becomes overheated and the heat generated in the liver becomes the second contributing factor for further pushing the immune system into overdrive as this beleaguered organ is the second part of the immune system.

    Thus, in this modern era, you must be careful when ingesting the heating herbs, such as Ashwagandha, Guggulu, and Shilajit. We recommend taking these mainly transdermally, or as diluted glyceride drops, so as not to overheat an already very angry liver. Also, we must keep the amount of herbal tablets taken orally to a minimum, because almost every herb, once swallowed and headed straight to the liver, will overheat it as well. This is why we give herbs in a variety of forms, such as a dilute tea, as recommended here, glyceride drops diluted in water, or transdermal creams given through the skin, bypassing the liver. We recommend using Bhumi Amla and Mankand to cool an overheated liver. Also, make sure you never skip or delay meals: the liver contains five digestive fires (the stomach has one) and needs food to burn up. If incoming food is delayed the liver will create intense heat, spilling into the physiology through the blood. Avoid onions, garlic, asafetida, black mustard seeds and vinegar, as these contain heat.

    READ MORE: Ashwagandha Benefits, Dosage, Side Effects + More, Why You Should Take Ashwagandha With Milk, All About Shilajit: What It Is, Where It Comes From And More, How To Find High Quality Shilajit

    Learn how to cook with the most cooling vegetable of all — Loki squash. Green zucchini and yellow squash can be eaten if you can’t find Loki Squash or Bottle Gourd, which is available in Indian grocery stores. Peel the loki squash, chop into one-inch cubes, saute in ghee and a pinch or two of turmeric for a minute, then put the lid on and let it cook in its own juices, stirring occasionally and adding water if it becomes too dry, for about 20 minutes.

    It is imperative that you avoid flax seeds (and their oil) as they are too heating to the liver and spleen. Turmeric needs to be cooked into a fat, such as ghee or milk, and not taken as a capsule as too much turmeric coming into the liver at one time will also overheat the liver. Cooking the turmeric in fat encourages its absorption into the cells. Even worse is isolating the active ingredient (curcumin) out of the turmeric, which only enhances its heating qualities. Turmeric is considered the “best friend” to the liver, as it aids the liver in all its detox functions. However, too much being dumped into the liver at one time becomes the liver’s “enemy.” It’s worth repeating: everything you swallow, including herbs, supplements and foods, go directly to the liver for scanning.

    Avoid taking nutraceuticals, as they are the toxic version (at a much higher dose) of the nutrients originally found in food (at a much lower dose). They create undue stress on the liver and kidneys as they have to detox these chemicals out of the body. These include the synthetic vitamins, such as B-complex (which is extremely irritating to the liver), Vitamin C, amino acids, glutathione, Vitamin A, alpha lipoic acid, Co-enzyme Q10, etc. Like their pharmaceutical cousins, these supplements are made in a lab and are devoid of the pranic energy, automatically rendering them toxic to the body and riddled with side effects. And finally, do not take milk thistle as a detox for the liver as it is extremely overheating.

    3. The Bone Marrow (Majja Dhatu)

    The bone marrow is hidden deep in the bone tissue to prevent toxins from lodging there. However, the modern toxins, as stated above (mercury, aspartame, many pharmaceuticals, pesticides, environmental toxins and air pollution) all make their way immediately into the bone marrow, start to build up there, and once they reach a critical mass will disrupt the immune system functions. Keep in mind, this is where all the immune system cells are made: the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Thus, toxins reaching this important tissue can create autoimmune diseases (and cancer).

    Luckily, we know of an herb (guduchi or tinospora cordifolia) which can clean the bone marrow. However, do not use the leaf of the guduchi, which is too heating to the liver. Instead use Guduchi Sattwa, a classical formula from the ancient texts which uses the starchy stem of the guduchi, in which it is juiced then dried. This is by far the best remedy for any autoimmune disease, as it cleans the bone marrow, allowing it to recalibrate and function normally.

    We also teach our patients to cook with Moringa sticks (also known as drumsticks), or pods from the Moringa tree, which also have the capability of cleaning the bone marrow. Fresh drumsticks are best, but frozen is OK if that is all you can find. Cook the 2-inch pieces in dahl, with spices, such as cumin, coriander, fennel and turmeric, ghee and water to cover. Cook until the drumsticks are soft. With your teeth, scrape the insides of the drumstick and eat only that, discarding the hard outer shell (as you would eat a tough artichoke leaf). Eat the dahl. Eat this soup only twice a week and not more, as it can quickly pull toxins from the bone marrow. We don’t want to rupture the delicate srotas, as these chemicals come through these channels as they make their way into the bowel movement, urine and sweat.

    READ MORE: Guduchi Powder Benefits, Side Effects, Contraindications And More

    Herbs Used In the Treatment of MS

    The two most important herbs used in the treatment of MS are sensitive plant and lakshaya. Sensitive plant is by far the best herb to treat the nerve tissue and lakshaya is the best herb to heal the myelin sheath. We give these herbs both orally and swiped down the spine so they can sit directly on the nerve tissue, thus enhancing the healing process.

    Vaidya Mishra made an Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) remedy, based on spinach and broccoli, thus having full prana and not synthetically made in a lab. This is an excellent example of combining the wisdom of the ancients with the research of modern medicine: alpha lipoic acid shows great potential in the treatment of MS. ALA opens the physical channels, or srotas, allowing the sensitive plant and lakshaya to go deep into the nerve tissue. The latest research demonstrates the ability of ALA to successfully treat relapsing autoimmune encephalomyelitis which has far-reaching implications for all patients suffering from MS.

    We also recommend the use of Boswellia (frankincense) to be used as an anti-inflammatory, much like prednisone, but without the side effects.

    In general, there are some good Ayurvedic herbs used to enhance brain function: gotu kola and bacopa monneiri, collectively known as Brahmi. These herbs are known for preventing free radical damage, increasing serotonin and dopamine and lowering cortisol, and they boost cognition. The ancient texts stated they were useful for three aspects of brain physiology known as dhi, dhriti and smriti. In English, this means these two herbs balance knowledge going into the brain, the storing of that knowledge, and then its retrieval.

    Jatamansi is used since ancient times for enhancing learning and memory, reducing stress, it balances the neurotransmitters in the brain to encourage a good night’s sleep. It can prevent seizures and is used to treat depression.

    Many of these herbs are incorporated into oils to be used for nasya (nasal treatment), shirodhara (slowly pouring oil in between the eyebrows), or oils applied to the head (where the brain is) or soles of the feet (all the nerve endings end in the soles of the feet). Application of oils balances the Vata and at the same time these powerful herbs can absorb in through the pores of the skin to enhance healing of the brain and nervous system.

    Perhaps the most commonly prescribed oil treatment is abhyanga, or daily oil massage to the whole body. Rub the entire body with the oil, leave it on for 20 minutes, then wash it off. Do this at least three times a week. You can leave the oil on if you like. The oil penetrates through the skin, spending three minutes in each tissue before moving on to the next, which is why we leave it on approximately 20 minutes. As the oil seeps in it will be softening the toxins held in that tissue, allowing for their removal.
    The skin is the largest organ in the body, and it not only eliminates these stored toxins, but absorbs the nutrients contained in the oil deep into the physiology. Therefore, it is both nourishing and detoxifying and is the cornerstone of all the Ayurvedic treatments. And the skin can absorb any herbs which have been infused into the oils, conferring even more health benefits. As a result, there are numerous types of abhyanga oils on the market, using Vata pacifying herbs, herbs to balance the brain functions (as mentioned here) and even more. In our practice we also encourage our MS patients to use Alpha Lipoic Acid oil applied to the whole body, which is extremely beneficial in healing the nerve tissue and myelin sheath, especially when applied to the head and down the spine, where most lesions are found.

    READ MORE: Everything You Need To Know About Shirodhara, Ayurvedic Massage: Everything You Need To Know About Abhyanga

    Conclusion

    I have treated numerous cases of Multiple Sclerosis through the years and have had wonderful results using this protocol. As stated previously, it is of utmost importance that you identify the causative factor(s), and then proceed from there. It is my sincere hope that the information presented here will help you as you determine the best course of treatment for your disease.

    Resources
    1. For Raw A2 milk: Miller’s Organic Farm, Bird-in- Hand, Pennsylvania 717-556- 0672. Will overnight the milk on ice.
    2. Gita Nagari Eco Farm Sanctuary, 534 Gita Nagari Road, Port Royal, PA. 516-946- 9780 or 702-575- 7067. Also a source of raw A2 milk which they will overnight to you.

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