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FGS,
My opinion is that we don't all have the same disease. They just put us all under the same MS 'umbrella', because they haven't figured out what is causing each of our set of symptoms. There have been many times I have noticed differences between MS patients that don't make any sense, similar to the uric acid difference. In other words, our chemistries are so different from each other that it's impossible for me to believe we are suffering from the same disease. It's hard to find an MS patient who doesn't have some abnormal blood test finding, and yet they say there is no blood test indicative of MS. I had a very smart Neurologist a few years ago, who ran a lot of in depth blood tests, because he believed the same as I do - that there are a few, (if not several), conditions that are being called MS just because doctors aren't yet able to determine the real problem. Out of all these in depth blood tests he ran on my blood, 13 were abnormal. My current Neuro., (the smart one moved away), says those test results are not indicative of MS, but he still has the "gut feeling" that I have MS. MS cannot be proven in any of us. If you read about the criteria for diagnosing it, you can see how fuzzy a diagnosis it is.

Anyway, I noticed the uric acid/inosine thing a few years ago. As you probably know, the inosine idea is not new. I dismissed it, because I have normal levels of uric acid, not low like they say most MS patients have. Then, when my brother got gout, I was really suspicious.

Not all of us are deficient in B12 either. I took it, just because 'they' said I should because I have been diagnosed with MS. (And, I have actually been diagnosed with MS by three doctors, not just one.) After a couple of years of taking it, I had my blood levels checked, and they were sky high in B12. That is stored in the liver, so I can't think it's a good idea to be so high in it. And yet, many MS patients routinely take B12, (and injections of it even), because they've been diagnosed with MS. I don't think many of them are tested.

I just wish the scientists would spend as much time trying to determine the cause, as the drug companies are spending trying to find a cure. How can you find a cure for something for which you don't know the cause? I am convinced that, if they sought out the cause long enough, they'd find there is more than one cause and each of us 'MS' patients actually have a different disease. (Either one that is already known, or one that has not yet been discovered.) Instead, we are 'forced' to go onto the internet, under the assumption we have MS, and start taking a lot of supplements that may not be apropos to our individual conditions. It took several years, but I have come to the conclusion we should not be taking anything, (other than supplements that would be healthy anyway), unless we have had a blood test to check levels first. (And, routinely checked thereafter as long as we're taking it.) Some of the B vitamins and vitamin D are some that I think should be checked routinely, if we are taking them. There is too much they don't know yet, about what excessive levels of various vitamins may do to us.

Well, I'll let someone else have the soap box now! :-)
Carol

FGS,
Boy, we sure share some things in common. I was normal in B12 too, before I started taking it. I should have taken the clue from that, but I'd read that the tests are not reliable, so supplemented anyway. But then, of course, I went really high in it after taking it, so don't take it anymore, except the little bit I get in a B-complex supplement.

I have trouble swallowing supplements too. I also am not in the late stages of MS, but that is one kind of irritating problem. I seem to choke easily too at times, althought that hasn't been too bad lately. I have even been scoped to see if I need to have my esophagus stretched, but they said it looked fine.

I think the biggest problem we can have with balancing supplements, as far as ratios go, is minerals. I have pretty much stopped taking all of them, because if I take calcium or magnesium, I get muscle cramps. I think that's because I'm out of balance mineral-wise anyway and taking them makes it even worse. (I guess.) Or it's the vitamin D that did it, which I've also quit for the time being.

My blood is just the opposite of yours, though. Mine seems to clot too easily, which IS typical of MS. So, I take some things to try and help that - nattokinase, E, and ginkgo. (Not too much of any of them, though.)

Have you tried grape seed or skin extract for an antioxidant? Some experts say it's even better than pycnogenal, and you'd probably be less apt to be allergic. Fish oil is good as an anti-inflammatory.

My brother has never been a drinker, and neither have I. I don't know why he got gout, because he eats a pretty good diet too. But, he does eat red meat, (well he DID), and a lot of the veggies that are bad for gout. I might have a high uric acid content, if I wasn't on the BBD. I don't eat red meat or any of the things that could lead to gout.

What I'm doing now is working pretty well for me, as far as keeping the 'MS' at bay, so I'll stick with it. I had my first MRI in 1993 and have had 3 since then, starting a year after I started on the BBD, and if anything, they've improved. Actually, my symptoms had gotten pretty bad by the end of 1999, but greatly improved after I eliminated grains in early 2,000. (And also got even more serious about staying pretty rigidly on the diet.)
Carol

Gayle,
Are you also on the BBD or some other diet?
Carol