National Academy of Sciences | 150 Year Anniversary

Questions? Call 800-624-6242

| Items in cart [0]

The National Academies Press

HARDBACK
price:$57.95
add to cart

Rights & Permissions

topleft topright

Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future (2001)
Institute of Medicine (IOM)

Citation Manager

. "Appendix G: Treatments That Have Been Claimed to Be of Benefit in MS." Multiple Sclerosis: Current Status and Strategies for the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2001.

Please select a format:

BibTeX EndNote RefMan


Page
407
bottomleft bottomright

The following HTML text is provided to enhance online readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML. Please use the page image as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.


Page 407

ent is hypericum. St. John's Wort can be helpful in mild depression. If depression is severe or protracted, standard antidepressants should be used. In the opinion of the committee, St. John's Wort is not a treatment for MS, but might be beneficial in patients who have mild depression or mood change.

Oral Calcium + Magnesium + Vitamin D. Inexpensive chemicals available commercially, taken by mouth. The efficacy of this treatment is yet to be determined.

Hyperimmune Colostrum (Immune Milk). Pregnant cows are inoculated with measles vaccine or other viruses considered to be related to MS. Colostrum (early milk) is frozen for preservation and taken by mouth. This treatment remains unproven and is not recommended. A clinical trial of adequate size would be required to determine whether it has any value.

Metabolic Therapy. A complex program of regimens and medications said to affect mineral balance, diet, and bowel function, e.g., alkalinity of the small intestine; also immune colostrum and high doses of vitamin C, SOD, vitamin A, ”thymotropic“ tablets to stimulate the immune system, octacosanol, B complex vitamins. This is an unproven, expensive, and possibly dangerous procedure with no known scientific basis.

Promazine Hydrochloride (Sparine). A phenothiazine drug. The value of phenothiazine and related drugs in aborting MS exacerbations is unsubstantiated.

Le Gac Therapy. Treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics combined with hot baths. This treatment is not recommended.

Nystatin. An antifungal agent usually employed with a yeast-free, low carbohydrate diet. Use of nystatin is not recommended.

Injected Materials and Oral Administration

Calcium Orotate, Calcium Aminoethyl Phosphate. Calcium orotate and calcium animoethyl phosphate (AEP) are calcium salts of synthetic organic compounds, given intravenously and by mouth. In the absence of a properly designed clinical study, the claim of favorable effect remains undocumented.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Phosphates. Simple chemicals, given intravenously (sodium bicarbonate) or by mouth (phosphates). These substances are not recommended as treatments. The Committee believes there appears to be no generally accepted scientific basis for use of this therapy; it has never been tested in a properly controlled trial. Risks are undetermined.

Page
407