Click here to read about some of the people we've helped.  We're here to help you, too. Get four essential health reports by joining our e-news community.

Four FREE health reports for you

Register now for our vital and insightful health updates, and get four free health reports to help you live more healthily.

First Name:Email:


Multiple sclerosis: stress is a key factor

Multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers often suspect that their condition worsens if they've been under stress. In fact it's probably more an observation than a suspicion, and it was one that was mooted over a hundred years ago when Charcot identified 'grief, vexation and adverse changes in social circumstance' as a cause of the disease.

But is there really a causal link? A new meta-study, which analysed the results of 20 studies, discovered a 'significant' increase in worsening of the condition after some stressful event.

But is all stress the same? One study out of the 20 found the opposite effect - patients under stress saw a reduction in their symptoms, but, paradoxically, this was extreme stress involving MS patients in Tel Aviv who endured a month of missile attack. It appears the stress from everyday problems in life is the most pernicious.

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2004; 328: 731-3).



WDDTY Blog Speak

Multiple sclerosis - Poisoning in slow motion - Multiple sclerosis (MS) often follows a highly individual and unpredictable course, sometimes leading to chronic and occasionally devastating disabili...

Multiple sclerosis - In orthodox medicine, the current fashion in combating multiple sclerosis (MS) is to administer immune modifiers: interferons 1b and 1a, copolymer 1 a...

Treat depression to slow down multiple sclerosis - New evidence suggests that effective treatment of depression may also slow the progress of multiple sclerosis (MS) in these patients. ...

Multiple sclerosis - The cause of MS is still a mystery. Many viruses have been strongly suspected, particularly the measles virus (Arch Neurol, 1990; 47(7):743-6). If t...

Alternative treatment for multiple sclerosis - Because of the varied nature of the disease among sufferers the following suggestions are general. ... ...

Days in the sun: can they help prevent multiple sclerosis? - As children we all liked to play outside during the long hot summer days but could we have also been building a natural resistance to multiple scl...

Ms sufferers helped by b12 - Multiple sclerosis sufferers have much lower levels of unsaturated vitamin B12 and its binding capacity than do healthy people, researchers have disco...

Interferon for ms linked to suicides - Interferon, hailed as offering "a new era" in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), could actually be making patients suicidal, doctors fear. ...