CNS injury, upper cervical trauma and Vitamin D3 – What do they have in common?

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) – This disease is unpredictable and varies in severity, from a mild illness in some patients to a permanent disability in others.

What are the statistics?

MS affects more than 1M people globally. Women 2X as often as men.

The central nervous system contains millions of nerve fibers that carry electrical impulses from your brain and brain stem to almost every tissue, organ and cell within your body- sounds like the immune system network right? The GALT-neuro-endocrine relationship is complex

In patients with MS, the body destroys the myelin sheath, becoming inflamed, swollen and detaches from the nerve fibers; then, sclerosed patches of scar tissue form over the fibers. Classic inflammation and immune initiation/response.

Eventually, this damage slows or even blocks the nerve signals from the brain, brain stem and spinal cord that control muscle coordination, strength, sensation and vision.

Charles Poser of The Harvard Medical School, published an article entitled “Trauma to the Central Nervous System May Result in Formation or Enlargement of Multiple Sclerosis Plaques”. Poser concluded that trauma to the head, neck, or upper back can act as a trigger for the appearance of new or recurrent symptoms in some patients with MS. However, in this particular situation, the symptoms of multiple sclerosis may not develop for days, months, or even years after the injury. A study published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research, has shown that correction of upper neck injuries may reverse the progression of MS. These results have been duplicated in upper cervical centers across the country.

Medical treatments for MS include a variety of Interferon drugs, corticosteroids, as well as muscle relaxants, antidepressants, and NSAIDS.

Yet, Several studies have suggested that maintaining adequate levels of vitamin D may have a protective effect and lower the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). Other studies suggest that for people who already have MS, vitamin D may lessen the frequency and severity of their symptoms.

When a person has MS, his or her immune system attacks the coating that protects the nerve cells. Research suggests that a connection between vitamin D and MS could be tied to the positive effects vitamin D has on the immune system.

The link between vitamin D and MS is strengthened by the association between sunlight and the risk of MS. The farther away from the equator a person lives, the higher the risk of MS. Sunlight is the body’s most efficient source for vitamin D — suggesting that exposure to sunlight may offer protection from MS.

In any neurologic, autoimmune or general immune complaint we need to consider how to keep the patient dynamic, plastic even, to keep the cerebellum-thalamus and cortex involved. As is true for all our patients, a multi-system outlook and interdisciplinary approach is best