I was one of the first to openly declare that Birth Control Pills increase the risk of getting Multiple Sclerosis. The marked increase in female cases following the introduction of « The Pill » in 1960 sticks out like a sore thumb. In 2014 Mike Gaskins refers to the obvious as « the elephant in the room ».
Neurologists fixed on the auto-immune theory of MS can’t apparently let it go. So they reject out of hand the idea that MS is a vascular disorder and refuse to consider CCSVI. Not scientific, they say as they continue to dole out DMDs (Disease Modifying Drugs.)
Well, the scientific research is slowly coming in. But first we will begin with the ideas which I believe merit study.
On February 11, 2013 I posted an article on the ThisisMS
Website www.thisisms.com/forum/chronic...venous.../topic21681.html
under Vesta titled MS : More Women Than Men ? The following quote comes from that post.
To conclude, if more women than men develop MS it could well be because 1) female hormones
compromise the vascular system itself and 2) women have gynecological issues
which stress the body – menstrual cramps – and problems whose treatment poisons
(antibiotics, hormone therapy.) leading to further stress leading eventually to a blood reflux.
An epidemiological questionnaire should ask 1) if the woman experienced
menstrual cramps, starting when and with what severity 2) cystitus following
intercourse, treatment and frequency 3) birth control pills 4) endometriosis
5) any other gynecological disorder requiring hormone modifying treatment.
Gynecologists could expand on this.
So I think I need to back-track on the personality factor in female MS (suggested in earlier posts) and
simply consider 1) the negative impact of female hormones on the vascular
system and 2) the gynecological problems which cause stress and may require
treatment leading to toxicity.
A year later I read an article by the well known Canadian researcher Professor George Ebers (sorry, can’t find it now), that fifty plus years ago men and women suffered the same incidence of MS, but that now women greatly outnumber men.
For me, the « coincidence » stuck out like a sore thumb. The Birth Control Pill was introduced in 1960, 50 plus years ago, and Birth Control Pills are known to impact the cardiovascular system adversely – enhanced risk for stroke, deep vein thrombosis, arterial and venous blood circulation problems and migraine headaches.
In his article dated Jan 9, 2017, Mike Gaskins calls this « coincidence » the « elephant in the room ». Nobody wants to think Birth Control Pills increase the risk of getting MS (they do), nor that MS is a vascular disorder (it is).
So let’s be scientific and look at research released to the press on February 27, 2014 to be presented to the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.
https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1251
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, February 27, 2014Do Obesity, Birth Control Pills Raise Risk of Multiple Sclerosis?PHILADELPHIA –
The role of the so-called “obesity hormone” leptin and hormones used for birth control in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) is examined in two new studies released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014…
For the birth control hormone study, researchers identified 305 women who had been diagnosed with MS or its precursor, clinically isolated syndrome, during a three-year period from the membership of Kaiser Permanente Southern California and who had been members for at least three years before the MS symptoms began. Then they compared them to 3,050 women who did not have MS. A total of 29 percent of the women with MS and 24 percent of those without MS had used hormonal contraceptives for at least three months in the three years before symptoms began. The majority used estrogen/progestin combinations. Women who had used hormonal contraceptives were 35 percent more likely to develop MS than those who did not use them. Those who had used the contraceptives but had stopped at least one month before symptoms started were 50 percent more likely to develop MS. “These findings suggest that using hormonal contraceptives may be contributing at least in part to the rise in the rate of MS among women,” said study lead author Kerstin Hellwig, MD, from Bochum Germany, post-doctoral research fellow, Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
See also https://www.hormonesmatter.com/multiple-sclerosis-birth-control-..
Author : Mike Gaskins, Jan 9, 2017
Multiple Sclerosis’ Growing Gender Gap
You may wonder how all this talk of T cells and endocrine disruptors translates to actual women. Unfortunately, the results are just as you would suspect. Kaiser Permanente released a study in 2014 disclosing that women who had taken The Pill were 35% more likely to develop Multiple Sclerosis than women who hadn’t. The study also found that women who had used contraceptives but had stopped at least one month before symptoms started were 50 percent more likely to develop MS.
Multiple Sclerosis has always been a discriminatory disease for the reasons outlined by Dr. Rose earlier in this article. However, all indicators point to a dramatic widening of the gender gap since the introduction of birth control pills. According to Gary Cutter PhD., professor of biostatistics at the University of Alabama, in 1940, twice as many women as men had Multiple Sclerosis. By 2000, four out of five MS patients were women. That’s a 50% increase over each decade!
A report published in the Neurology Journal confirmed the increased gender gap as a global trend. After reviewing worldwide epidemiological data, the researchers found that the female-to-male ratio was approximately 1.4 in 1955, and had jumped to 2.3 by the year 2000. Sreeram Ramagopalan, PhD, research fellow at University of Oxford, offered this commentary on the study:
“This intriguing epidemiological phenomenon warrants particular attention because the sex ratio of MS parallels MS incidence, and the increasing frequency of MS among females is a key driver of the increasing prevalence of this devastating disorder worldwide. A change that occurs within a century is too short a time for a genetic cause. This suggests that environmental factor(s) are at work in a sex-specific manner.”
Pardon me for pointing to the elephant in the room, but evidence has already mounted against one particular sex-specific environmental factor that’s been influencing the rise in MS among women over the past 50 years.
And now more research which points to MS being a vascular disorder.
Much to the profession’s disappointment, Beta Interferon drugs (the first DMDs) have proven of limited effectiveness as well as increasing the risk of – you guessed it – vascular problems – migraines, stroke.
Evaluating the safety of β-interferons in MS
www.neurology.org/content/88/24/2310.long -
A series of nested case-control studies
ABSTRACT
Objective: To examine the association between interferon-β (IFN-β) and potential adverse events using population-based health administrative data in British Columbia, Canada…
Conclusions: Among patients with RRMS, IFN-β was associated with a 1.8- and 1.6-fold increase in the risk of stroke and migraine and 1.3-fold increases in depression and hematologic abnormalities…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating and degenerative disease of the CNS causing pronounced neurologic disability. MS affects ≈2.3 million individuals worldwide1; ≈85% are initially diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), characterized by clearly defined exacerbations and periods of disease stability after recovery. Several pharmacologic treatments have been developed for RRMS, including the first-line therapy interferon-β (IFN-β). The IFN-βs are modestly effective, reducing relapse rates by about one-third and having a beneficial effect on imaging outcomes,2 but findings regarding longer-tem effects on disability have been mixed…3..,
Interferon B drugs include Avonex, Betaseron, and Rebif.
I am writing this MSCureEnigmas site to encourage MSers to find better ways (like my 5 steps to MS health) to enhance their health than to take marginally effective drugs which increase the risk of stroke and migraines (among other things.) Also, to recognize the vascular connection in MS. Finally, to seek ways to minimize the deleterious effects of Birth Control Pills which apparently double the synthesis of inflammatory C-Reactive Proteins. Would diet correct that danger?
Tags : Multiple Sclerosis, Birth Control Pills, estrogen, MS Gender Gap, Professor George Ebers, Professor Helen Tremlett, vascular system, T-cells, endocrine disruptor, B-interferon, Avonex, Betaseron, Rebif, stroke, migraines, depression,
I
Neurologists fixed on the auto-immune theory of MS can’t apparently let it go. So they reject out of hand the idea that MS is a vascular disorder and refuse to consider CCSVI. Not scientific, they say as they continue to dole out DMDs (Disease Modifying Drugs.)
Well, the scientific research is slowly coming in. But first we will begin with the ideas which I believe merit study.
On February 11, 2013 I posted an article on the ThisisMS
Website www.thisisms.com/forum/chronic...venous.../topic21681.html
under Vesta titled MS : More Women Than Men ? The following quote comes from that post.
To conclude, if more women than men develop MS it could well be because 1) female hormones
compromise the vascular system itself and 2) women have gynecological issues
which stress the body – menstrual cramps – and problems whose treatment poisons
(antibiotics, hormone therapy.) leading to further stress leading eventually to a blood reflux.
An epidemiological questionnaire should ask 1) if the woman experienced
menstrual cramps, starting when and with what severity 2) cystitus following
intercourse, treatment and frequency 3) birth control pills 4) endometriosis
5) any other gynecological disorder requiring hormone modifying treatment.
Gynecologists could expand on this.
So I think I need to back-track on the personality factor in female MS (suggested in earlier posts) and
simply consider 1) the negative impact of female hormones on the vascular
system and 2) the gynecological problems which cause stress and may require
treatment leading to toxicity.
A year later I read an article by the well known Canadian researcher Professor George Ebers (sorry, can’t find it now), that fifty plus years ago men and women suffered the same incidence of MS, but that now women greatly outnumber men.
For me, the « coincidence » stuck out like a sore thumb. The Birth Control Pill was introduced in 1960, 50 plus years ago, and Birth Control Pills are known to impact the cardiovascular system adversely – enhanced risk for stroke, deep vein thrombosis, arterial and venous blood circulation problems and migraine headaches.
In his article dated Jan 9, 2017, Mike Gaskins calls this « coincidence » the « elephant in the room ». Nobody wants to think Birth Control Pills increase the risk of getting MS (they do), nor that MS is a vascular disorder (it is).
So let’s be scientific and look at research released to the press on February 27, 2014 to be presented to the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Philadelphia.
https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1251
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, February 27, 2014Do Obesity, Birth Control Pills Raise Risk of Multiple Sclerosis?PHILADELPHIA –
The role of the so-called “obesity hormone” leptin and hormones used for birth control in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) is examined in two new studies released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26 to May 3, 2014…
For the birth control hormone study, researchers identified 305 women who had been diagnosed with MS or its precursor, clinically isolated syndrome, during a three-year period from the membership of Kaiser Permanente Southern California and who had been members for at least three years before the MS symptoms began. Then they compared them to 3,050 women who did not have MS. A total of 29 percent of the women with MS and 24 percent of those without MS had used hormonal contraceptives for at least three months in the three years before symptoms began. The majority used estrogen/progestin combinations. Women who had used hormonal contraceptives were 35 percent more likely to develop MS than those who did not use them. Those who had used the contraceptives but had stopped at least one month before symptoms started were 50 percent more likely to develop MS. “These findings suggest that using hormonal contraceptives may be contributing at least in part to the rise in the rate of MS among women,” said study lead author Kerstin Hellwig, MD, from Bochum Germany, post-doctoral research fellow, Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
See also https://www.hormonesmatter.com/multiple-sclerosis-birth-control-..
Author : Mike Gaskins, Jan 9, 2017
Multiple Sclerosis’ Growing Gender Gap
You may wonder how all this talk of T cells and endocrine disruptors translates to actual women. Unfortunately, the results are just as you would suspect. Kaiser Permanente released a study in 2014 disclosing that women who had taken The Pill were 35% more likely to develop Multiple Sclerosis than women who hadn’t. The study also found that women who had used contraceptives but had stopped at least one month before symptoms started were 50 percent more likely to develop MS.
Multiple Sclerosis has always been a discriminatory disease for the reasons outlined by Dr. Rose earlier in this article. However, all indicators point to a dramatic widening of the gender gap since the introduction of birth control pills. According to Gary Cutter PhD., professor of biostatistics at the University of Alabama, in 1940, twice as many women as men had Multiple Sclerosis. By 2000, four out of five MS patients were women. That’s a 50% increase over each decade!
A report published in the Neurology Journal confirmed the increased gender gap as a global trend. After reviewing worldwide epidemiological data, the researchers found that the female-to-male ratio was approximately 1.4 in 1955, and had jumped to 2.3 by the year 2000. Sreeram Ramagopalan, PhD, research fellow at University of Oxford, offered this commentary on the study:
“This intriguing epidemiological phenomenon warrants particular attention because the sex ratio of MS parallels MS incidence, and the increasing frequency of MS among females is a key driver of the increasing prevalence of this devastating disorder worldwide. A change that occurs within a century is too short a time for a genetic cause. This suggests that environmental factor(s) are at work in a sex-specific manner.”
Pardon me for pointing to the elephant in the room, but evidence has already mounted against one particular sex-specific environmental factor that’s been influencing the rise in MS among women over the past 50 years.
And now more research which points to MS being a vascular disorder.
Much to the profession’s disappointment, Beta Interferon drugs (the first DMDs) have proven of limited effectiveness as well as increasing the risk of – you guessed it – vascular problems – migraines, stroke.
Evaluating the safety of β-interferons in MS
www.neurology.org/content/88/24/2310.long -
A series of nested case-control studies
- Hilda J.I. de Jong, PhD, Elaine Kingwell, PhD, Afsaneh Shirani, MD, Jan Willem Cohen Tervaert, PhD, MD, Raymond Hupperts, PhD, MD, Yinshan Zhao, PhD, Feng Zhu, MSc, Charity Evans, PhD, Mia L. van der Kop, MSc, Anthony Traboulsee, MD, Paul Gustafson, PhD, John Petkau, PhD, Ruth Ann Marrie, PhD, MD and Helen Tremlett, PhD On behalf of the British Columbia Multiple Sclerosis Clinic Neurologists [email protected]
Helen Tremlett, PhD
Professor
Canada Research Chair in Neuroepidemiology and Multiple Sclerosis
Faculty of Medicine (Neurology)
University of British Columbia
ABSTRACT
Objective: To examine the association between interferon-β (IFN-β) and potential adverse events using population-based health administrative data in British Columbia, Canada…
Conclusions: Among patients with RRMS, IFN-β was associated with a 1.8- and 1.6-fold increase in the risk of stroke and migraine and 1.3-fold increases in depression and hematologic abnormalities…
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating and degenerative disease of the CNS causing pronounced neurologic disability. MS affects ≈2.3 million individuals worldwide1; ≈85% are initially diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), characterized by clearly defined exacerbations and periods of disease stability after recovery. Several pharmacologic treatments have been developed for RRMS, including the first-line therapy interferon-β (IFN-β). The IFN-βs are modestly effective, reducing relapse rates by about one-third and having a beneficial effect on imaging outcomes,2 but findings regarding longer-tem effects on disability have been mixed…3..,
Interferon B drugs include Avonex, Betaseron, and Rebif.
I am writing this MSCureEnigmas site to encourage MSers to find better ways (like my 5 steps to MS health) to enhance their health than to take marginally effective drugs which increase the risk of stroke and migraines (among other things.) Also, to recognize the vascular connection in MS. Finally, to seek ways to minimize the deleterious effects of Birth Control Pills which apparently double the synthesis of inflammatory C-Reactive Proteins. Would diet correct that danger?
Tags : Multiple Sclerosis, Birth Control Pills, estrogen, MS Gender Gap, Professor George Ebers, Professor Helen Tremlett, vascular system, T-cells, endocrine disruptor, B-interferon, Avonex, Betaseron, Rebif, stroke, migraines, depression,
I
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