Outrageous Ideas in MS Research

Some of those ideas probably seemed pretty far-fetched until they worked.

Medical researchers seem to be prepared to try anything, investigating all avenues, including ideas that worked for other diseases. If the standard avenues have been tried to no avail, where do the researchers go next? They have to be prepared to think outside of the box. Someone in pain or discomfort may be willing to go to any length to find promised relief. Let's look at some of the unexpected ways of alternative treatment therapies - from poison to animal products - that have been proposed, tried, are being tested or, in some cases, actually used today.

Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide is an odorless, toxic gas -- it is poison, and we should avoid it. But wait. What about carbon monoxide with MS?

Researchers in Portugal have found that administering carbon monoxide has a positive effect on MS -- at least in mice. The research has been limited to mice, but the researchers think carbon monoxide might be a useful therapy for human MSers.

Bee Sting Therapy
This therapy, apitherapy, is administered outside of the medical community and often by actual stinging bees. It entails the use of bee venom, an anti-imflammatory substance that suppresses the immune system. Bee sting therapy has been used in the United States for a long time, and it is also very popular in Scotland, the country with the highest MS incidence in the world.

Cobra-based
And once again, the mighty King Cobra raises its head. In the 70's, a doctor in Florida (featured on 60 Minutes) was dispensing PROven to thousands of MS patients when his clinic was shut down and the FDA banned the drug because it had not been tested. Later, a Florida company began developing an innovative cobra-based treatment, but updated information is no longer available. This was tried, some people had faith in it, but perhaps it belongs on the long list of trial therapies that do not produce the desired results.

Goat Serum
For two years the MS Society has been asking for clinical trials to prove safety and efficacy before goat serum therapy is offered to the public. But there were 'roadshows' actively promoting the goat serum drug Aimspro.

Now there was concern that UK MSers were being seduced into buying the expensive treatment that has not been proven to be effective in treating MS. They are targeting patients who have already proved resistant to current treatments.

Daval, distributor of the serum, has terminated the clinical trial, but is continuing with research.

Worms?
Dr. John Fleming, the University of Wisconsin Hospital neurologist, plans a study of worm therapy. Okay, not really worms, but a drink made with worm EGGS! Yes, whipworm eggs, harvested from pigs, are implanted in the intestine to stimulate the immune system.

Dr. Fleming admits: "This idea seems outrageous at first, but many good, new ideas do."