The only source for reliable, evidence-based information on the relevance, safety, and effectiveness of alternative and lifestyle medicine approaches to MS treatment and the best ways to safely integrate them with conventional medicine.

In addition to conventional medicine, many people with MS also use some form of alternative medicine, and there is growing evidence and interest in the effects of lifestyle factors, such as diet and exercise, on MS. Yet, until now, it has been difficult to obtain unbiased information about the MS-relevant aspects of these nonmedication approaches. Optimal Health with Multiple Sclerosis provides the accurate and unbiased information people with MS, their friends and family, health care professionals, and educators need to make responsible decisions and achieve the very best outcome.

Find other options that may provide symptomatic relief when conventional therapies are limited
Learn about potentially dangerous interactions between alternative therapies and medical treatments used in the management of MS
Identify alternative and lifestyle therapies that are effective, low risk, and inexpensive
Recognize ineffective, dangerous, or costly alternative therapies

"

Contents

"; Contents;

Foreword by Rosalind C. Kalb, PhD

;

Preface

;

How to Use This Book

;

Acknowledgments

;

Part 1: Introduction

;

††††††Alternative Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine

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††††††Placebos and Nocebos

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††††††Important Precautions About Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Lifestyle Medicine, and Multiple Sclerosis

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Part 2: Optimal Health With Multiple Sclerosis: A Seven-Step Guide to Integrating Lifestyle, Alternative, and Conventional Medicine

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††††††Introduction

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††††††General Concepts

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††††††Helpful Strategies

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††††††Step 1: Disease-Modifying Medications

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††††††Step 2: Diet, Dietary Supplements, and Weight Management

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††††††Step 3: Tobacco and Alcohol Use

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††††††Step 4: Physical Activity

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††††††Step 5: Personal and Social Well-Being

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††††††Step 6: Prevention and Management of Other Medical Conditions

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††††††Step 7: Symptom Management

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†††††††††††††††††††ï††††Lifestyle and Unconventional Therapies That May Improve Many Different Symptoms

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†††††††††††††††††††ï††††Symptoms That May Be Relieved With Specific Lifestyle and Unconventional Therapies

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Anxiety and Stress

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Bladder Problems

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Bowel Problems

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Colds and FluóPrevention or Decreasing Duration

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Coordination Problems

;

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Depression

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Fatigue

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Pain

;

†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Sexual Problems

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Sleep Problems

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Spasticity (Muscle Stiffness)

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Thinking (Cognitive) Problems

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Walking Problems

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†††††††††††††††††††††††††††††Weakness

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Part 3: Types of Lifestyle and Unconventional Medicine

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††††††Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine

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††††††Alcohol

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††††††Aromatherapy

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††††††Aspartame

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††††††Ayurveda

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††††††Bee Venom Therapy and Other Forms of Apitherapy

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††††††Biofeedback

;

††††††Candida Treatment

;

††††††Chelation Therapy

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††††††Chiropractic Medicine

;

††††††Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency

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††††††Colon Therapy, Detoxification, and Enemas

;

††††††Cooling Therapy

;

††††††Craniosacral Therapy

;

††††††Dental Amalgam Removal

;

††††††Enzyme Therapy

;

††††††Exercise

;

††††††Fats: Fish Oil and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

;

††††††Feldenkrais

;

††††††Fiber

;

††††††Gluten Sensitivity and Celiac Disease

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††††††Guided Imagery

;

††††††Herbs

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††††††Hippotherapy and Therapeutic Horseback Riding

;

††††††Homeopathy

;

††††††Hyperbaric Oxygen

;

††††††Hypnosis

;

††††††Low-Dose Naltrexone

;

††††††Magnets and Electromagnetic Therapy

;

††††††Marijuana

;

††††††Massage

;

††††††Meditation

;

††††††Mindfulness

;

††††††Music Therapy

;

††††††Obesity and Weight Management

;

††††††Paleolithic Diets

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††††††Pets

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††††††The Pilates Method and PhysicalMind Method

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††††††Prayer and Spirituality

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††††††Probiotics and the Gut Microbiome

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††††††Prokarin

;

††††††Reflexology

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††††††Salt

;

††††††Tai Chi and Qigong

;

††††††Therapeutic Touch

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††††††Tobacco and Smoking Cessation

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††††††Toxins

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††††††Tragerwork

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††††††Vitamins, Minerals, and Other Nonherbal Supplements

;

††††††Yoga

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Appendix 1: Ratings of Lifestyle and Unconventional Therapies

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Appendix 2: Dietary Supplements and Herbs That Have MS-Relevant Side Effects or Drug Interactions

;

References

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Index

; ; ; "

Authors

Allen C. Bowling, MD, PhD, is Medical Director of the Rocky Mountain MS Center. He is also the Director of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Program based at the center and a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

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