Multiple Sclerosis and Underlying Brain Inflammation

I want to talk about multiple sclerosis and underlying brain inflammation that may not be related to your MS. When you get a diagnosis of Lyme disease or MS, some deduce that everything you experience is related to that condition. In reality, there may be other things that are impacting your health that you may not be aware of. I would like to discuss some of these things I see commonly in my practice that can contribute to brain inflammation.

Mold

One of the big things I see quite commonly in people with MS and Lyme disease is mold. Unfortunately, mold is found practically throughout the entire country. Some places can be worse than others, but anywhere there’s water, there’s a potential for mold. When I lived in Connecticut, a lot of these buildings were several hundred years old.

Mold could be in the ducts!

You might expect mold in these cases since at some point, there was probably water damage to the building. When I moved my practice to California I expected that mold probably isn’t a big deal in this arid climate. Yet I see more problems here in California than I ever did in Connecticut.

The construction here can be fairly shoddy. As you get closer to the beach, there’s higher moisture content that can contribute to mold growing in the home. Many people are unaware of this, and you don’t necessarily need to have water damage in your home to have mold.

If you’ve been dealing with brain fog, fatigue, and balance problems, you should look at mold as a potential problem.[TWEET THIS]

If it’s severe, other people in the household could also complain of having these neurological problems. This is not always the case; sometimes it can affect one person and not affect other people in the family.

You could hire companies that will come into your home and do different types of testing. Then you can take appropriate steps to remediate the mold and ensure that the home is safe for everyone.

Chemicals

Household cleaners

I think it’s important to look at the chemicals used in the home.

A lot of chemicals over time can build up and cause neurotoxicity. This includes pesticides and herbicides such as Roundup. If you can reduce the chemical load on your body, it would take the pressure off your liver. Some of these products could affect your brain.

Clean your home with natural products. Whole Foods or your local health food store will have cleaning products that don’t contain all those potentially toxic chemicals. Get them out of the home and then bring the natural stuff in. This is just one other simple, easy step you can do to reduce your body burden of these various toxins. That can also include personal care products like makeup, hair care products, and lotions.

Safe Cosmetics safecosmetics.com or the Environmental Working Group ewg.org has information about which products are potentially more toxic than others. You could then make an educated decision about which products are going to be better for you.

Underlying Infection

There is evidence that different types of infectious agents can trigger MS.

Epstein-Barr, human herpesvirus 6, and Lyme disease can all be triggers, as well as potentially others. If we’re practicing root cause medicine, it’s a good idea to work with your practitioner on trying to figure the problem.

In my world, MS is a description. We know what’s happening in the body but we don’t necessarily know why. [TWEET THIS]

I’ve had this discussion with my neurologist and I’m not sure they’re completely on board. We’ve gotten evidence that different microbes can be a trigger for MS. If someone comes to me and says they’ve been given a diagnosis of MS, we do testing to find out if they have Lyme disease. If they do, I find as we’re treating their Lyme, their MS symptoms improve. It’s important to investigate all different potential triggers; it will help you make better decisions about your health.

Reading all of the above, you may get better answers on how you need to proceed in improving your health. I hope you found this helpful.

Thank you for joining me as we continue our series about MS.

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I hope you enjoy the tips and leave your comments below!

Thanks so much.

Darin Ingels, ND, FAAEM, FMAPS

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