Various studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that at least partial MS reversal is possible. Multiple sclerosis reversal seems to occur when nerve cells, previously demyelinated by autoimmune processes, undergo remyelination. Remyelination helps to repair the lesions associated with MS. When this process occurs extensively enough, it can result in the reversal of MS-associated disability.
During MS, the myelin sheaths and the cells which manufacture them (known as oligodendrocytes) are damaged. Demyelination is the immediate result. Typically, when demyelination results, spontaneous processes of repair are triggered. Remyelination occurs: New myelin sheaths are created, making it possible for the nerve cells to conduct impulses efficiently once more.
Remyelination occurs naturally in MS patients, especially in the earliest stages of the disease. The more extensive and complete remyelinization is, the greater the patient’s recovery, and the more likely it is that the reversal of certain symptoms will occur. In patients whose MS worsens progressively, remyelination is restricted to limited regions of tissue, and when it does occur, it is incomplete.
If a form of treatment has the capacity to create conditions that are conducive to remyelination, it is likely to significantly arrest the progression of the disease and to actually reverse some of the damage wrought by it. MS treatment of this kind holds much promise. If well-developed, it could actually result in an MS cure.
Stem Cell Transplantation and MS Reversal
In conventional medicine, there are a couple of forms of treatment that have been shown to promote remyelination in clinical trials. One of them is stem cell transplantation. In stem cell transplantation, the patient’s immune cells are destroyed and replaced with stem cells. The stem cells have not been programmed to perceive the myelin sheaths or oligodendrocytes as a threat. Hence, they do not attack them. Spontaneous remyelination is consequently allowed to proceed without hindrance. Not surprisingly, this results in extensive repair to the patient’s damaged nervous tissue and partial or complete recovery from MS-associated disability. In other words, it results in partial MS reversal. Another form of treatment that looks promising is gene therapy.
Some MS patients who have used non-conventional therapies successfully speak of their recovery from disability. Some of them swear that they have experienced multiple sclerosis reversal and are completely cured of the disease. Brain imaging may show that their lesions have been healed. If the claims of these MS patients are taken at face value, they suggest that certain forms of non-conventional therapy promote remyelination and, in the long run, can lead to the reversal of MS.
