I have read books, magazine articles, studies done and written about in various scientific journals, research published in the UK, etc...Basically, I have searched everywhere I could (and will continue to do so) until I found something that seemed consistent and made sense.
In terms of supplements, some of the information that I have read out there said to take this supplement and that supplement and other information said to take no supplements at all. I tried to research the heck out of this topic because I knew almost nothing about supplements. This is where I am on the whole topic right now: Our whole family is taking a multivitamin and Sarah is taking an extra dose of Vitamin D. Of all of the information out there the most consistent thing is that those suffering from MS seem to be more prevalent in areas farther away from the equator. Vitamin D (unless fortified in milk, etc...) generally comes from the sun. Scientists are not sure why Vitamin D deficiency seems to be a key component in developing MS, but it is. Because we live in a part of the country where it seems to be gray and gloomy from November - April I thought that Sarah should be on a Vitamin D supplement (so did the neurology team at the Cleveland Clinic). Other than that we are not going to be taking anymore supplements. Some of the things that made me question supplement usage in my family were the fact that supplements are concentrated doses of a particular vitamin or nutrient. If I were to eat a healthy balanced diet I would be getting almost all of these nutrients in less concentrated forms, but also I would be getting them in conjunction with all of the other nutrients in any given food. This would allow the vitamin in question to react naturally with the other vitamins in that food. I have also read that sometimes when nutrients are taken as supplements more harm than good could be done. For example, some vitamins when taken affect the absorption of other vitamins. If I am taking a high does of Vitamin A it could affect the absorption of vitamin K, and so on. I know that I am doing a terrible job of explaining this, and I am so sorry. Just know that I have done my due diligence with this, and for right now have decided to only go with a multivitamin and a Vitamin D supplement.
In terms of food - if we listened to all of the different advice I think that our family would maybe be allowed to eat vegetables and fruits. Here is a list of the things that I have read need to be avoided to help those with MS recover:
Dairy
Gluten
Soy
Eggs
All Meat
Only Red Meat
Saturated Fats
All Oils
Legumes
Sugar
White flours
Caffeine
Chocolate
And I am sure that I have missed a couple. So, do you see why I have been so overwhelmed?!!!?? Not only is this list so long, but some of the items contradict other ones!
What I have come away with is that, like MS, dietary changes seem to be a very individualistic thing. Eliminating some of these items works for certain groups of people, and then not for others. The idea behind using diet to help control MS is that we need to eliminate a food group see how it makes her feel over the course of several months, and then either make a permanent change or move onto something else if there is no progress.
I have decided to start our family on dairy. It seems to be the food item that comes up on more of the lists than any other food. In the beginning of my research I thought that gluten might be the way to go first, but after doing some more thorough digging I have changed my mind. Gluten will definitely be the next thing to go if dairy does not seem to be a trigger of Sarah's. I am also going to try to be more conscientious of what gluten foods I place in front of my children.
I have decided to only have Sarah and myself change our diets. I think that asking everyone in our family to make these changes will be too much. I think that one of my biggest sources of stress is trying to find a way to completely change the way our entire family eats. So, for now anyway, Sarah and I will figure out this food thing together, and then once we nail it down we can incorporate it into the rest of the family's food lifestyle.
Sarah is pretty upset about having to make some of these changes. She loves her cheese, and is not happy about having to give it up. I explained to her that she will be able to have these things when we are away from our home - at parties, family gatherings, restaurants, but here we need to abstain from those foods. I think that is a fair balance for now.
I have come to realize that these changes are going to take a lot longer than I initially had planned. I cannot just eliminate all of this from Sarah's diet overnight. Making dietary changes this drastic will take time, but I will work on these changes every day until they are a new way of life.
I definitely have my work cut out for me, but at least at this point I have a plan.
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