Believe me I've went through the entire spectrum of diets. When I first got diagnosed, the diets you would find after digging in a bit where "low-fat", and also dairy-free. I didn't stay low-fat for long, such a diet is extremely hard to stick to, and very though energy wise but also taste-wise. Going from a typical student diet of pizza and various things of the sort, to this, would have been very though.
I then discovered Paleo, and then Paleo "AIP" (autoimmune Paleo). It made a tremendous difference. I followed it quite closely over the years, with moments of stumbling with various "compatible on paper" foods but not really in spirit. I was mostly symptom-free during that period wrt. to overt symptoms (I still experienced depressive states, but that I would also attribute to tweaking of the diet). Over the years I started forgetting I had to deal with this and started having chocolate, various non-gluten grains, coffee, etc., to sort of self-medicate the mental issues I was having. That didn't suit me well. Not even the coconut oil, which I later learned about why.
Then a few years ago I discovered carnivore/zerocarb. But I wasn’t consistent for long and added fruit etc. Also there was a learning curve. Frankly my best period was when I was eating mostly raw ground beef and was very strict no-dairy / no-coffee / no-carbs. Subsequently as soon as I started adding even fruit, first of all I started binging on it when my emotional state was getting worse because of the lack of ketosis, and later when I had forgotten how it even felt to feel good I started with chocolate, coffee, later MCT oil, etc.
As I state elsewhere here I've recently gone back on it, mostly by cutting all of the above foods. It's just evident my gut is super sensitive, and I swear i can feel it. To be clear, when I had the period where I felt really good, the feeling I felt was emanating from my gut. I thought it had something to do with gut biome (which it probably did), but moreso I think it's because it fixes "leaky gut" (I know, it's "alternative" but there is research on this).
Anyway, thank you for suggesting it. I've avoided going into this too much in comments because it's always quite controversial, but it's what I'm putting my faith in, from experience. I actually like veggies, would love a salad sometimes… I would like to have some, but they do seem to be non-optimal for some with very sensitive guts.
Good advice. I'm going to start LDN soon. I tried it briefly years ago but didn't feel I needed it that much at the time and I was already taking many other things.
I just remembered that I've also seen B1 megadosing used for MS, with good research. Didn't know about the link with myelin. I took it regularly for certain periods but can't say it made a huge difference, altough research says it does, but it's hard to say and I don't think I was doing it correctly, it looks like it has to be spread out throughout the day.
I just reread your comment and wanted to wish you prompt success on your consulting search. And consider putting an email address in your profile so that you may be contacted should your community idea materializes.
I'm 38. It didn't improve any symptoms. It's supposed to lengthen the periods between attacks. I never fully recovered from the last attack, so I have a new set of symptoms I just have to live with.
Someone posted a Discourse invite link here, I suggest you (and others) add their email addresses in their profiles so that we have a possibility to follow up on this idea.
I would like that to be not so but my understanding is that MS is a continuous process from the start, and that the relapsing/progressive distinction is mainly a factor of its effects relative to age.
I like your attitude, I mean, specifically that you are so resourceful. I think this kind of thing can bring it out of people. I wish you all the best, friend.
I wanted to give some advice as someone else who has to go it alone. I'm guessing that you're either from poverty/a lower class background like I am OR that you have an abusive family controlling resources (like my mother's family). Making it as a disabled person looks very different depending on whether or not you have a safety net/professional network/etc.
Another thing to keep an eye on since you mentioned being a bit blindsided by the cognitive effects is emotional effects. I can still program, but my ability to emotionally regulate has gone way down and I'm very emotionally labile in a way I wasn't before. Which means I can't exist well in a professional environment because white-collar work means you have to mind your Ps and Qs, hide your impoverished background (always be careful about what you say), etc. Which I can't do. Everybody in retail/service work is traumatized, so they'll overlook a random crying session or a rant with a few f-bombs a lot easier.
I then discovered Paleo, and then Paleo "AIP" (autoimmune Paleo). It made a tremendous difference. I followed it quite closely over the years, with moments of stumbling with various "compatible on paper" foods but not really in spirit. I was mostly symptom-free during that period wrt. to overt symptoms (I still experienced depressive states, but that I would also attribute to tweaking of the diet). Over the years I started forgetting I had to deal with this and started having chocolate, various non-gluten grains, coffee, etc., to sort of self-medicate the mental issues I was having. That didn't suit me well. Not even the coconut oil, which I later learned about why.
Then a few years ago I discovered carnivore/zerocarb. But I wasn’t consistent for long and added fruit etc. Also there was a learning curve. Frankly my best period was when I was eating mostly raw ground beef and was very strict no-dairy / no-coffee / no-carbs. Subsequently as soon as I started adding even fruit, first of all I started binging on it when my emotional state was getting worse because of the lack of ketosis, and later when I had forgotten how it even felt to feel good I started with chocolate, coffee, later MCT oil, etc.
As I state elsewhere here I've recently gone back on it, mostly by cutting all of the above foods. It's just evident my gut is super sensitive, and I swear i can feel it. To be clear, when I had the period where I felt really good, the feeling I felt was emanating from my gut. I thought it had something to do with gut biome (which it probably did), but moreso I think it's because it fixes "leaky gut" (I know, it's "alternative" but there is research on this).
Anyway, thank you for suggesting it. I've avoided going into this too much in comments because it's always quite controversial, but it's what I'm putting my faith in, from experience. I actually like veggies, would love a salad sometimes… I would like to have some, but they do seem to be non-optimal for some with very sensitive guts.