Category Archives: MS Treatment

Multiple sclerosis treatment - ms treatments LINK: http://tiny.cc/dm7mrx Multiple sclerosis treatment - ms treatments http://youtu.be/ZSpaUnNZWEQ multiple sclerosis treatments ms treatments multiple... By: Health Fitness … Continue reading →

PH Doctors treating Ms Cafferkey, 39, revealed she has been given plasma taken from the blood of a recovered patient and an unnamed anti-viral drug which is not proven to work. The public health nurse is receiving specialist treatment via a quarantine tent at the Royal Free Hospital in north London. Measures to tackle the spread of the virus came under scrutiny after it emerged Ms Cafferkey was on four public flights as she returned home from volunteering in Sierra Leone. She was allowed to fly from Heathrow to Glasgow on Sunday despite raising concerns she may have caught the virus. Ms Cafferkey is not being treated with the drug given to British Ebola surviver Will Pooley because supplies have run out. Shes as well as we can hope for at this stage of the illness. Dr Michael Jacobs Doctor Michael Jacobs infectious diseases consultant at the Royal Free said the hospital was unable to obtain ZMapp, because there is none in the world at the moment. Describing the patients condition, Dr Jacobs said: She is sitting up and talking. She is able to read. Shes been eating a bit, drinking and shes been in communication with her family, which … Continue reading →

The British nurse who contracted ebola in Sierra Leone has agreed to be treated with an experimental anti-viral drug and blood from a survivor of the virus, her doctor has said. Pauline Cafferkey, from Glasgow, a public health nurse at Blantyre Health Centre, South Lanarkshire, is receiving specialist treatment via a quarantine tent at the Royal Free Hospital in north London after initially flying home from Heathrow to Glasgow. Yesterday it emerged that Ms Cafferkey is a cousin of former Ireland international goalkeeper Packie Bonner. The former Glasgow Celtic keepers mother and Ms Cafferkeys grandmother were sisters, and it is understood that the nurse has extended family in Kincasslagh, West Donegal. Dr Michael Jacobs said Ms Cafferkey was being treated with convalescent plasma taken from the blood of a recovered patient and an experimental anti-viral drug which is not proven to work. But he revealed the hospital was unable to obtain ZMapp, the drug used to treat fellow British volunteer nurse William Pooley, who recovered, because there is none in the world at the moment. Describing the patients condition, he said: She is sitting up and talking. She is able to read. Shes been eating a bit, drinking, and shes … Continue reading →

Three years after a small number of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were treated with high-dose immunosuppressive therapy (HDIT) and then transplanted with their own hematopoietic stem cells, most of the patients sustained remission of active relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and had improvements in neurological function, according to a study published online by JAMA Neurology. MS is a degenerative disease and most patients with RRMS who received disease-modifying therapies experience breakthrough disease. Autologous (using a patient's own cells) hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) has been studied in MS with the goal of removing disease-causing immune cells and resetting the immune system, according to the study background. The Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (HALT-MS) study examines the effectiveness of early intervention with HDIT/HCT for patients with RRMS and breakthrough disease. The article by Richard A. Nash, M.D., of the Colorado Blood Cancer Institute at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center, Denver, and coauthors reports on the safety, efficacy and sustainability of MS disease stabilization though three years after the procedures. Patients were evaluated through five years. Study results indicate that of the 24 patients who received HDIT/HCT, the overall rate of event-free survival was 78.4 percent at three years, which was defined as … Continue reading →

Washington, DC - infoZine - Three-year outcomes from an ongoing clinical trial suggest that high-dose immunosuppressive therapy followed by transplantation of a person's own blood-forming stem cells may induce sustained remission in some people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). RRMS is the most common form of MS, a progressive autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord. Three years after the treatment, called high-dose immunosuppressive therapy and autologous hematopoietic cell transplant or HDIT/HCT, nearly 80 percent of trial participants had survived without experiencing an increase in disability, a relapse of MS symptoms or new brain lesions. Investigators observed few serious early complications or unexpected side effects, although many participants experienced expected side effects of high-dose immunosuppression, including infections and gastrointestinal problems. Scientists estimate that MS affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide. Symptoms can vary widely and may include disturbances in speech, vision and movement. Most people with MS are diagnosed with RRMS, which is characterized by periods of relapse or flare up of symptoms followed by periods of recovery or remission. Over years, the disease can worsen and shift to a more progressive form. In the study, researchers tested the effectiveness of HDIT/HCT in … Continue reading →

Nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who is battling Ebola at a London hospital, could be offered plasma from patients who have survived the virus. The treatment contains antibodies that should help fight the infection. British nurse William Pooley has donated plasma, Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies confirmed. Other available treatments include antiviral drugs, but there are no stocks left of ZMapp - the drug used to treat Mr Pooley. He recovered from Ebola in September after being treated at the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead, north London, where Ms Cafferkey is currently being cared for. Having fought off the infection, his blood should help others do the same. Dame Sally said it would be up to Ms Cafferkey and her doctor to decide which treatments to use, adding: "The cornerstone of treatment remains fluid and electrolyte treatment." Ms Cafferkey was diagnosed with Ebola after returning to Glasgow from Sierra Leone, where she had travelled with a group of healthcare workers from Save the Children. She was said to be doing "as well as can be expected under the circumstances" by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Another healthcare worker who was recently in West Africa and fell ill in the Scottish Highlands … Continue reading →

An undated Cafferkey family handout photo of Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey, from Blantyre, who has been named as the healthcare worker being treated in Londons Royal Free Hospital for Ebola. Photograph: EPA Josh Halliday, Rowena Mason, Severin Carrell Health officials are facing serious questions over the UKs Ebola screening process after it emerged that a Scottish nurse who contracted the virus was cleared to leave Heathrow despite raising concerns about her health. Public Health England revealed that Pauline Cafferkey (39) told medics she was worried she had Ebola before being given the all-clear to catch a British Airways flight to Glasgow. Ms Cafferkey, a community nurse in Blantyre in south Lanarkshire, is the first Ebola patient to be diagnosed on British soil. She was receiving specialist treatment in an isolation unit at Londons Royal Free hospital on Tuesday . Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, admitted there were questions over whether officials should have been more precautionary about Ms Cafferkeys concerns, but stressed that the risk to the public was extremely low. Ms Cafferkey returned on Sunday night on a flight from Freetown to Heathrow via Casablanca. While at Heathrow, Ms Cafferkey was screened alongside other health workers but asked … Continue reading →

Could an old transplant drug be the answer for MSers without insurance? #MSBlog #MSResearch Epub: Michel et al.Mycophenolate mofetil in multiple sclerosis: a multicentre retrospective study on 344 patients.J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2013 May 23. OBJECTIVES: Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is an immunosuppressive agent, sometimes used as a disease-modifying therapy for MS. Several studies have reported the relative safety of this treatment but, to date, its efficacy has rarely been described. This group performed a retrospective study to assess the safety and efficacy of MMF in MSers. METHODOLOGY: Three French MS centres included all of their MSers treated by MMF. The main outcome criterion was annualised relapse rate (ARR) in the 1 year period after onset of MMF compared with the 1 year control period. Treatment with another immunosuppressive drug, such as mitoxantrone or cyclophosphamide, in the 2 years preceding initiation of MMF was included in a subgroup analysis. MMF safety and progression of the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score were also assessed. RESULTS: 344 MSers were included; 149 MSers were previously treated with another immunosuppressant (IS group). Mean MMF treatment duration was 25.31.1 months. During the 1 year control period, ARR was 1.110.08, and for the 1 year treatment … Continue reading →

Published: Monday, 12/29/2014 BY LAUREN LINDSTROM BLADE STAFF WRITER A dedicated docket for veterans will begin in Toledo Municipal Court early next year, aimed at connecting justice-involved veterans with treatment to avoid incarceration. The courts goal is to intervene and address underlying issues for veterans, charged with misdemeanors, who are deemed a high risk to reoffend, often because of mental health or substance abuse issues. Post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries also may be contributing factors. To qualify for the court, veterans must plead guilty or no contest. Its a partnership among the court, probation officers, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides the treatment for the program. Judge William Connelly will preside over the court. The program will begin a soft launch next month, with the first day in court slated for Jan. 16. Organizers are determining who will be the first participants, reaching out to police and corrections officials to identify veterans who might qualify. When its up and running, the court will meet a minimum of twice a month. Judge Connelly said the goal is to not exceed 65 active participants in 2014 as organizers fine-tune the program. The first dedicated veterans docket began … Continue reading →

The head of the ACT's peak drug support advocacy body has warned the waiting lists for drug treatment would blow out and users be placed at risk if feared federal government cuts to treatment providers were realised. Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT executive officer Carrie Fowlie said agrowth in ACT users of ice, reflecting a national trend as a higher purity of drug was available, meant treatment services were already stretched. "When we have people experiencing really serious harm because of the purity, then we have these two month waiting lists for treatment the harms will be exacerbated." "It would be catastrophic for the sector to lose federal drug funding." Advertisement Ms Fowlie said treatment services saved lives, with alcohol still the drug causing the widest and most expensive harm to society, but no federal funds had been confirmed beyond June 30. The fear wascuts by the Department of Social Services, which on Monday scrapped all future funding for financial counselling and housing advocacy groups like National Shelter, would also extend to drug treatment providers. Karralika drug outreach program chief executive Camilla Rowland said she feared $280,000 of federal funding for a family treatment program, to be exhausted … Continue reading →