Recovery from secondary progressive multiple sclerosis by neuromuscular electrical stimulation

My morning ritual is unusual. First I wrap elastic straps around my body. Then I slide twenty electrodes, one by one, under the straps. I connect them to my TDR68. When everyone is connected to the unit, I turn it on and begin to dial the current.

At first, insects run on my skin. I keep setting the trend. My muscles, fueled by electricity, begin to contract. I increase the current more, forcing a stronger contraction. I keep setting the current, even the greatest tension and pain I can bear. That’s where I leave the dial. For the next half hour it is ten seconds, with very intense contractions and a total body squeeze, followed by ten seconds of rest, no electricity, no squeeze and no pain.

For fifteen minutes every morning I am in quite severe pain. No, the FDA has not approved the use of these devices in multiple sclerosis or MS. There are also no published studies on electrical muscle stimulation for MS patients. Anyway, I use it. A year ago, I needed my scooter or my incline and recline wheelchair. He still worked full time at it, but at night he could only walk a few steps, using two canes. I knew it wouldn’t take long to use a scooter even at home.

I am a medical scientist and associate professor in the medical school. I sit on the institutional review board of our university and review the scientific protocols week after week to ensure the safety of the study and avoid harm to people who agree to participate. I believe in using science to show the effectiveness of what doctors do. So why then would I, a medical scientist, start using alternative medicine and unproven therapies?

The answer is simple. I have an ugly disease. Nothing works much for that. Some things can slow down the rate of decline. Nothing restores function once it is lost. He had already tried the first line therapies, then the second and third line.

I am a doctor of internal medicine. For years, when my patients asked about herbal medicines, food supplements, aromatherapy, and the like, I would tell my patients that all of those things were whimsical and unproven therapies. But when I developed progressive MS, I was honored as I became progressively more disabled. As a doctor, I was able to choose the best doctors and get the best evidence-based care available. I followed the advice of my doctors. I took chemotherapy, powerful immunosuppressants. They said the treatments might slow my decline, but nothing would restore my strength or stamina.

First he needed a cane. Soon after, I needed an electric wheelchair. He walked less and less. But my doctors the best I could hope for was to slow down the rate of my decline. It was a bleak future, but he didn’t want to give up hope. It was then that I started looking for other options. Unfortunately, there were no clinical trials that I could participate in. So, I could be relatively passive and accept the best care from the best people, or I could try to find something on my own.

It was then that I began to study the basic scientific literature on MS. Finally, I created my own theories about why disability occurs in MS. I designed a new treatment protocol for my disease and my rehabilitation based on mitochondria and the use of electrical stimulation of my muscles. I started intensive treatments in November 2007. At that time I needed two walking poles at home at night and a scooter or an electric wheelchair every time I left my office. Now, a year later, they sit unworn in a corner. Now I walk all over the hospital and can bike eighteen miles up and down hills.

Now I know. Recovery from secondary progressive MS is possible through the use of neuromuscular electrical stimulation, intensive nutrition for the mitochondria, and intensive daily rehabilitation. The progressive descent into severe disability does not have to be inevitable.