MS fatigue is often present in the majority of cases of
Multiple Sclerosis, that are diagnosed each year, and can be mild to severe and come and go or be
more constant. This means that MS fatigue can be serious
enough to the point where it can prevent many MS patients from being
able to function on a regular basis.
MS
fatigue can be aggravated by several things including the
following:
* Eating the too many over processed fats --
including hyrdogenated or partially hydrogenated fats, butter
and/or animal fats, which over tax the digestive tract and are much
more difficult for our bodies to break down these fats.
* Not adding enough of the Omega 3 Fatty Acids to the diet or
as supplements - this can include adding fish and fish oils or reating more oily fish like sardines or Alaskan Salmon, eating more nuts and
seeds, adding ground flaxseeds to the diet, taking supplements like
Evening Oil Primrose or Fish Oils (make sure the fish oils are purified
and tested for removing the mercury that may be in the initial source
of the fish oils).
* having too many of certain vitamin deficiencies -- this can include deficiencies in B
vitamins, iron, zinc, selenium and vitamin D; B vitamins and
iron help to increase energy levels, if these are needed, while
selenium and zinc help the body to get rid of toxins and help to boost
the immune system
* having too many problems with the body not eliminating toxins or
detoxifying as it should -- this can include lymph drainage problems,
problems with constipation, digestive problems (including leaky gut
syndrome) or problems with more elevated levels of heavy metals,
pesticides or other chemicals in your system
* having one or more active infections present in the body at one time --
infections can greatly reduce the effectiveness of the immune system or
over tax the central nervous system when Multiple Sclerosis is present
as well as increase the fatigue that is being experienced.
*
having food or other allergies -- doctors can test you to se what
allergies you may have; if the allergens are known and can be avoided,
this can greatly reduce the fatigue that may be adding to the MS fatigue
Ways to help reduce the MS fatigue that you may be experiencing:
* rest more often
* sleeping as much as you can at night (and try to avoid spending most
of your sleep time during the day light hours) or reset your body clock
* take extra vitamin D, since this not only boosts the immune
system, but also helps to prevent infections more often
* reduce the stress on your system as much as you can
* divide daily tasks up into smaller, bite-size tasks and rest in
between each step to reduce over taxing your already weakened body.
Some vitamin
deficiencies that can contribute to how severe MS fatigue can become. Possible vitamin
deficiences that may contribute to MS fatigue can include:
B
vitamin deficiencies
Any
number of B vitamin deficiencies and B vitamin cofactors can contribute
to the presence of much worse fatigue. This list can include vitamin B1
(Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3(Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic acid), B6
(Pyridine), B12 (Cyanocobalamine)or either of the B vitamin cofactors
of Choline or Inositol.
Often B vitamin deficiencies
are part of the problem contributing to the fatigue, including B
complex, B-12, B-5 and B-6. Inadequate B-12 levels are often
more of a common problem when it comes to the majority of cases of
Multiple Sclerosis.
B-12 and most of the other B
vitamin supplements need to be taken twice a day, since B-12 is water
soluable and doesn't stay in the body for as long as the fat-soluable
vitamins.
Iron
Deficiency
The
lack of adequate iron in the diet and in
the blood stream can be a
factor in situations of extreme fatigue, because Iron helps the Red
Blood Cells to be able to carry oxygen throughout our bodies. When
inadequate oxygen levels are found to be a problem in those us, who
have been given the diagnosis
of Multiple Sclerosis,
then extreme fatigue can be
present. If you are very low in Iron,
this is called anemia. Iron is also considered one of
the “stress vitamins”.
An iron deficiency or anemnia
can also contribute to the fatigue, but since only a limited amount of
iron can be taken per day to avoid levels becoming toxic, the iron
levels in the blood need to be tested before iron supplements can be
taken.
But it should also be
considered that in light of the most recent findings of Dr. Paolo
Zamboni, and the recent MS breakthrough, according to Dr. Zamboni, MS
patients tend to have higher levels of iron in the brain, which may
mean that iron should not be taken as a supplement until it has been
determined if insufficient blood blow to the brain may be present for
each particular case of Multiple Sclerosis to determine if there may
also be a possibility of higher levels of iron present in the brain of
the MS patient.
When
a person with MS is undergoing a prolonged period of stress, the body
can
demand more iron, because of the higher demand that is placed on the
red blood cells to be able to transport higher levels of oxygen at a
faster pace. BUT keep in mind that the level of iron that is present in
your blood MUST be monitored by a medical doctor, because it is
dangerous for the level of iron to be too high in the blood,
because
this can cause much bigger problems.
Extremely
high levels of
iron in the blood, for any length of time, can damage or
possibly even
destroy the function of the kidneys, making it that the kidneys have a
more difficult time filtering toxins out of your blood, so that the
toxins can be removed from your body. We can’t live without kidneys and
we can’t live without a liver. The main thing to remember here is that
you need to find a licensed medical doctor, which has experience
working with vitamins, nutritional or dietary changes, herbs,
homeopathic remedies or other natural ways of reducing the symptoms of
MS. The doctor determines what levels of the various
supplements are
deficient in your body before prescribing what is needed to correct the
deficiencies.
Selenium and
zinc -- these help to detoxify the body from heavy metals
and pesticides, especially mercury and other heavy metals.
Other
factors that can contribute to the extreme
exhaustion, which you may be experiencing with your particular case of
MS, are an under active thyroid and exhausted adrenal glands. These 2
glands produce hormones that, when these are under active, can
add to extreme exhaustion. There are other glands in your system
that may also contribute to the extreme exhaustion and you should
discuss this with your doctor, since your doctor can test the hormone
levels to decide if this may be part of the problem, in
your case.
Certain
viruses and infections can also contribute to extreme exhaustion.
The
main one that comes to mind, that can cause more extreme MS fatigue can include the Epstein Barr virus (the virus that is responsible for
Mononucleosis), but there can be others that may also be present and
contribute to the fatigue. discuss this with your doctor to see if
further testing may be part of what your doctor decides is needed to
determine if any added factors that are treatable may be present.
If
you have a much lower red blood cell count, this can cause fatigue or
at least increase the Multiple
Sclerosis fatigue that you may already be experiencing. If
you have high levels of white cells this can indicate that an infection
is active in your body. Many types of infections can also contribute to
your overall exhaustion.
You may also have some allergic
reactions to
some type of food, pollen, dust, molds, or even chemical allergies.
Reactions to allergies can produce a broad range of symptoms, including
fatigue, hyperactivity, headaches, sore throat, sinus problems, etc.
Some doctors test for allergies will test you for what specific
allergies, where they can formulate a overall allergy serum for you to
take on a regular basis, that is a combiantion that takes all of your
allergies into account. This serum can be taken for a period
of time to help neutralize your
body to the toxins and boost your immunity to reduce your over reactive
responses to the allergens.
Because
the extreme exhaustion that
is often present with Multiple Sclerosis,
may have quite a few factors
that contribute to the extreme exhaustion, you might need to try a few
different doctors before you find one that does not discount the
fatigue as “part of the Multiple Sclerosis” instead of trying
to determine if there may
be
something else contributing the extreme fatigue that can be addressed
to reduce or possibly even eliminate the MS fatigue, depending on which
combination of things are contributing to your MS fatigue.
Once it is determined which combination of changes that are
what your body needs to help reduce MS fatigue and the changes are
made, this can help tremendously in reducing the MS fatigue, although
at times the changes need to be done for a period of time for you to
gain and actually be able to see the benefits to making the
changes. If the MS fatigue is more extreme, it may take
longer to see the MS fatigue be reduced on a more regular basis.
