I've just read Marie A. Rhodes' book CCSVI as the Cause of Multiple Sclerosis (highly recommended, especially if considering angioplasty) which was published in 2011. At the same time I've been watching the videos taken of the CCSVI Symposium 2011 which feature Robert Zivadinov, Professor of Neurology at Buffalo New York "CCSVI and Brain Perfusion", Ivo Petrov "Stenting in CCSVI" as well as "Combined CCSVI and Stem Cell Treatments", Clive Beggs "Venous Hemodynamics in CCSVI and MS", Salvatore Sclafani "Intravenous Ultrasound", E Mark Haake "Flow Quantification in CCSVI by MRI". The website CCSVI Alliance features a 2013 Doctors Roundtable exploring CCSVI and CSF in Neurological Disease of the 3rd Annual Satellite Synopsis at the Society of International Radiologists. In addition to IRs, the Chiropractor Dr Scott Rosa spoke on "Observations at the Cranio-Cervical Junction, CTE and Observations of CSF" which highlight the possibility of skeletal obstructions to blood/CSFflow. (Elsewhere Dr. Damadian expands on the role of skeletal obstruction in MS.) During 2011-2012 exciting research into the CCSVI connection to MS found coverage on You Tube Videos such as these only to retreat in response to the May 2012 FDA declaration that angioplasty for veins of MS patients is "experimental". Research was thus restricted and insurance companies no longer paid for a procedure considered routine for other circulatory disorders. Research and videos such as the 2013 Symposium on CCSVI Alliance continue, but the FDA restrictions have created a serious financial burden on patients and researchers which is hampering development of the procedure in the United States.
I have yet to integrate what I've recently learned into my main paper, but I have concluded that my original insight holds true. Childhood stress actually deforms the veins of the central nervous system which leads to CCSVI MS, and stress after MS onset triggers "attacks" leading eventually to degeneration of the Central Nervous System.
October 5, 2013 I posted an article on Thisisms.com titled "Five CCSVI MS Types", the five being 1) Congenital 2) Developmental 3) Aging 4) Skeletal and 5) Toxic. I later divided Toxic into Toxic and a 6th Infectious, though as I explained I believe they perform in similar ways. Toxicity/Infection can both damage the vein walls AND create a tension which impedes the circulatory system. (Same Blogs found here.)
The overwhelming response on the Thisisms website was that the origin of MS is "Truncular" which happens to be the position of the Society of Interventional Radiologists as well as Dr. Sclafani. Apparently "truncular" means congenital, embryonic and/or originating in the main "trunk" venous lines (Jugular, Vertical and Azygous). In short one is born with whatever venous malformations exist.
I disagree and so does Dr. Zivadinov, Professor of Neurology who states in the CCSVI Symposium of 2011 in his lecture "CCSVI and Brain Perfusion" that Venous Malformations can be either Congenital or Acquired. Congenital malformations are 1) Truncular (Embryonic) or 2)Physiological. Malformations are Acquired through 1) Aging 2) Inflammation (leading to numerous disorders, for example CCSVI heart disease, as well as MS) 3) Vascular risk factors and 4) Infective agents (EBVirus being prominent.)
Dr. Zamboni, professor of médicine at the University of Ferrara as well as director of their Vascular Diseases Center is an expert in venous insufficiency and chronic venous disease (CVD). He recognized the signature of venous disease in MS lesions which are situated next to the veins and "expand opposite the normal blood flow" implying a blood reflux. For over 150 years the venous involvement in MS lesions had been observed, but no one paid much attention until Dr. Zamboni sought an answer to his own wife's MS illness.
Now let's read the following quote from the Wikipédia entry on Chronic Venous Insufficiency. CVI disease has been known since ancient times, and the phenomena of varicose veins or phlebitus is well known today. So why should venous problems be confined to the legs, what is so difficult to understand that the same problems can affect veins leading from the brain and spinal cord?.
"CVI has been reported in the CNS of several persons.[2] When it appears into the CNS is called Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). It can be seen using Transcranial doppler sonography or MRV (magnetic resonance venography)
This disease was only recently described (2006) and the first international symposium took place on September 8, 2009 in Bologna, Italy. The causes of venous insufficiencies were discussed, and it was mostly shown that it is due to venous stenosis which is subsequently due to genetics or embryonic problems.[3]
The known consequences of the disease are hypoxia, delayed perfusion and iron deposits in the blood vessels, with unknown final effects for the health of the patients. A connection with MS has been proposed (all cases of CCSVI in one particular study were found in MS patients[2]) but the possible relationship is still under study.
It can be treated currently in two ways: Balloons to open the veins, in the hope they will remain open, and venous stents, to keep them open permanently.
Other research groups have found jugular veins reflux in other neurological diseases. In particular in Transient Global Amnesia,[4][5] Leukoaraiosis,[6] and general myelopathies.[7] All of them have been linked to venous reflux with different names like Cerebral Venous Outflow Impairment. At this moment is unknown if these conditions can be considered related to CCSVI."
I was hoping to write a coherent paper on my current understanding of my recent research. But I'm not doing well. Why? Two weeks ago I remarked to my Physical therapist how strong I felt as my muscle strength improved. Then suddenly I fell apart. I could feel the tension restricting blood flow through the CNS, my walking was laboured. I forced my self to go out but returned home exhausted. Then the origin of the problem dawned on me. Grief. My dearest friend lives in San Francisco and when he called I could feel that he was suffering. He is in his 80's and I believe he has received inadequate health care. He was surprised to learn of what is a fairly routine procedure in France. I had sent him the information I found on the internet, he had consulted another Doctor in his health group. Now he was to return to the first Doctor to get a referral to a specialist at UCSF. All of this should have been done 2 years ago at the time of surgery. He was suffering and discouraged and wants to die and I can't really help him. We've been friends since 1970, he is my artist/philosopher "lover" in the ancient Greek sense of Agape - a meeting of mind, spirit and values. When his voice is silenced I will be very much alone.
I'm someone who "somatises" emotion, detached from my feelings which express themselves physically. So there lies one likely source of my current "relapse". Grief expressed as physical wounding.
I'm extremely sensitive to external énergies. I'm one of those animals who senses a change in the electromagnetic field preceding an earthquake. On October 17, 1989 I felt in imminent danger and an urgent need to leave San Francisco. At around 2 p.m. I had to park on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge to calm my pounding heart and a mounting panic before driving on north. I reached safety in Healdsburg 2 hours in advance of the Loma Prieta earthquake which struck at 5:04 p.m. Though no longer in an earthquake zone, it occurs to me that I'm feeling a rise in world tensions likely to explode within the next 2 weeks. Sometimes I don't know until AFTER the event the origins of the tension. But tension it is..
Almost every night I dream that a man or men want to kill me but they can't reach me. Last night I threw the knife in the water as the car sped off. Nonetheless, the dreams are unsettling, and inhabitual. I sense they are related to this site or what I am writing on Thisisms. Even though I've found all the papers and journals needed to continue my blog, I can't seem to proceed. I see before me a tangled, obstructive underbrush which bars the way. But beyond lies a clear blue, open sky, the way is open if I can just get beyond these obstacles. And I sense I am being censored. Too bad. I am not that far off from finding a solution.
I also have not been following my own advice. I haven't had an acupuncture treatment since last October. The daily TENS self treatments help keep my afloat but I really should get the batteries re-charged once a month. Tuesday I did so and am recovering.
I mention this to say that my hesitation to undergo an MRI or other diagnostic exams is founded on an extreme sensitivity others may not have. I'm also sensitive in a positive sense to Homeopathic remedies which can relieve the kind of tension I've been feeling. I also confess that I've been cheating a bit my diet the worst infraction being a once a day Expresso. Once a week OK, but Coffee antidotes homeopathic remedies for me and irritate the Gall Bladder meridian down the left leg.
So let's try to understand what is happening with MS. In 2011 Dr. Zivadinov states that MS is an auto-immune disease because the DMD's "work". Except recent research reveals that they don't, at least in the long run. (See blog post the MS Drug/MRI Fallacy) They apparently treat the Inflammation of early RRMS. Once the Progressive stage sets in, they don't work and decline sets in. What appears to be happening is that the brain atrophies as do the veins draining the brain. It has been demonstrated that blood transit time in MS patients is one half that of normals. The question is one of perfusion ie blood flow, volume and mean transit time. ALL brain fluids contribute to adequate blood flow.
Think of it this way. Arterial blood flows into the brain rich in oxygen and nutrients (glucose) to penetrate the brain through the capillary bed blood flow after which the blood returns to the heart through the veins. But if that flow is impeded because of venous obstruction (for example), this could lead to tissue hypoxia (death).
"The data generated by SWI (Susceptibility weighted Imaging MRI) has bearing on the debate about CCSVI because it is able to image very small veins, oxygen saturation and iron in tissue. In MS pathological iron deposits are extensive and associated with disability, while inflammatory lesions in white matter are less correlated with disability.(Bakshi et al.2002: Zhang et al 2007a: Neema et al.2009)" quoted from pg 125 Marie Rhodes CCSV! as the Cause of Multiple Sclerosis
It may be a reductive, materialistic bias that refuses to consider that plain old body tension induced by emotional stress can set off the whole process of MS "attacks". Let's say I have a venous stenosis. The Doppler ultrasound found no stenosis, but only one out of the Zamboni 5 criteria was studied, and Jeff Beal's Ultrasound was also negative even though both of his Jugulars were stenosed. Presumably he had these stenosis for a while (since birth?) or they had been developing for a while (my opinion). A stress event could cause them to close off triggering an important reflux - hence an "attack". Once relaxed, the blood flow resumes, though at a slower rate than "normals".
Let's return to me. Tension induced by stress (emotions, toxicity, infection?) literally squeezes the fluid circulation inducing an "attack" as the blood brain barrier is breached and blood floods the tissue provoking inflammation and an immune system response. Eventually the tension is relieved, the attack stops and the tissue gradually heals, though not entirely. Loss of myelin gradually undermines corresponding physical processes. What I need to do is relieve the tension and get the blood circulating. I also need to nourish the brain tissue in particular. When
I swim the crawl I feel "oxygenated". When I drink freshly extracted raw vegetable juice I enjoy a similar relief. It may be more accurate to say I feel "nourished", the swim gets the oxygen into the cells, the raw juice penetrates the blood Stream directly.
I may have a stenosis, but not a thrombosis. The blood flow or perfusion is inadequate but apparently not closed off. I probably am now in a Progressive stage with slow blood "perfusion" and occasional setbacks brought on by body tension. Dr. Zamboni's insight has opened the door to diminishing this Progression. I am otherwise in excellent health, largely thanks to the measures I've taken to control the MS.
Further discussion on this theme in the blog posts of June 1, 2012, "Success Stress", and July 4, 2013 "Rigidity Disease".
Work in Progress
Tags: CCSVI, Multiple Sclerosis, Chiropractic, Fluid Mechanics, Stress, Blood Perfusion, Venous Disease, Phlebitus, Electro-Magnetic field Earthquake
Also
I have yet to integrate what I've recently learned into my main paper, but I have concluded that my original insight holds true. Childhood stress actually deforms the veins of the central nervous system which leads to CCSVI MS, and stress after MS onset triggers "attacks" leading eventually to degeneration of the Central Nervous System.
October 5, 2013 I posted an article on Thisisms.com titled "Five CCSVI MS Types", the five being 1) Congenital 2) Developmental 3) Aging 4) Skeletal and 5) Toxic. I later divided Toxic into Toxic and a 6th Infectious, though as I explained I believe they perform in similar ways. Toxicity/Infection can both damage the vein walls AND create a tension which impedes the circulatory system. (Same Blogs found here.)
The overwhelming response on the Thisisms website was that the origin of MS is "Truncular" which happens to be the position of the Society of Interventional Radiologists as well as Dr. Sclafani. Apparently "truncular" means congenital, embryonic and/or originating in the main "trunk" venous lines (Jugular, Vertical and Azygous). In short one is born with whatever venous malformations exist.
I disagree and so does Dr. Zivadinov, Professor of Neurology who states in the CCSVI Symposium of 2011 in his lecture "CCSVI and Brain Perfusion" that Venous Malformations can be either Congenital or Acquired. Congenital malformations are 1) Truncular (Embryonic) or 2)Physiological. Malformations are Acquired through 1) Aging 2) Inflammation (leading to numerous disorders, for example CCSVI heart disease, as well as MS) 3) Vascular risk factors and 4) Infective agents (EBVirus being prominent.)
Dr. Zamboni, professor of médicine at the University of Ferrara as well as director of their Vascular Diseases Center is an expert in venous insufficiency and chronic venous disease (CVD). He recognized the signature of venous disease in MS lesions which are situated next to the veins and "expand opposite the normal blood flow" implying a blood reflux. For over 150 years the venous involvement in MS lesions had been observed, but no one paid much attention until Dr. Zamboni sought an answer to his own wife's MS illness.
Now let's read the following quote from the Wikipédia entry on Chronic Venous Insufficiency. CVI disease has been known since ancient times, and the phenomena of varicose veins or phlebitus is well known today. So why should venous problems be confined to the legs, what is so difficult to understand that the same problems can affect veins leading from the brain and spinal cord?.
"CVI has been reported in the CNS of several persons.[2] When it appears into the CNS is called Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). It can be seen using Transcranial doppler sonography or MRV (magnetic resonance venography)
This disease was only recently described (2006) and the first international symposium took place on September 8, 2009 in Bologna, Italy. The causes of venous insufficiencies were discussed, and it was mostly shown that it is due to venous stenosis which is subsequently due to genetics or embryonic problems.[3]
The known consequences of the disease are hypoxia, delayed perfusion and iron deposits in the blood vessels, with unknown final effects for the health of the patients. A connection with MS has been proposed (all cases of CCSVI in one particular study were found in MS patients[2]) but the possible relationship is still under study.
It can be treated currently in two ways: Balloons to open the veins, in the hope they will remain open, and venous stents, to keep them open permanently.
Other research groups have found jugular veins reflux in other neurological diseases. In particular in Transient Global Amnesia,[4][5] Leukoaraiosis,[6] and general myelopathies.[7] All of them have been linked to venous reflux with different names like Cerebral Venous Outflow Impairment. At this moment is unknown if these conditions can be considered related to CCSVI."
I was hoping to write a coherent paper on my current understanding of my recent research. But I'm not doing well. Why? Two weeks ago I remarked to my Physical therapist how strong I felt as my muscle strength improved. Then suddenly I fell apart. I could feel the tension restricting blood flow through the CNS, my walking was laboured. I forced my self to go out but returned home exhausted. Then the origin of the problem dawned on me. Grief. My dearest friend lives in San Francisco and when he called I could feel that he was suffering. He is in his 80's and I believe he has received inadequate health care. He was surprised to learn of what is a fairly routine procedure in France. I had sent him the information I found on the internet, he had consulted another Doctor in his health group. Now he was to return to the first Doctor to get a referral to a specialist at UCSF. All of this should have been done 2 years ago at the time of surgery. He was suffering and discouraged and wants to die and I can't really help him. We've been friends since 1970, he is my artist/philosopher "lover" in the ancient Greek sense of Agape - a meeting of mind, spirit and values. When his voice is silenced I will be very much alone.
I'm someone who "somatises" emotion, detached from my feelings which express themselves physically. So there lies one likely source of my current "relapse". Grief expressed as physical wounding.
I'm extremely sensitive to external énergies. I'm one of those animals who senses a change in the electromagnetic field preceding an earthquake. On October 17, 1989 I felt in imminent danger and an urgent need to leave San Francisco. At around 2 p.m. I had to park on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge to calm my pounding heart and a mounting panic before driving on north. I reached safety in Healdsburg 2 hours in advance of the Loma Prieta earthquake which struck at 5:04 p.m. Though no longer in an earthquake zone, it occurs to me that I'm feeling a rise in world tensions likely to explode within the next 2 weeks. Sometimes I don't know until AFTER the event the origins of the tension. But tension it is..
Almost every night I dream that a man or men want to kill me but they can't reach me. Last night I threw the knife in the water as the car sped off. Nonetheless, the dreams are unsettling, and inhabitual. I sense they are related to this site or what I am writing on Thisisms. Even though I've found all the papers and journals needed to continue my blog, I can't seem to proceed. I see before me a tangled, obstructive underbrush which bars the way. But beyond lies a clear blue, open sky, the way is open if I can just get beyond these obstacles. And I sense I am being censored. Too bad. I am not that far off from finding a solution.
I also have not been following my own advice. I haven't had an acupuncture treatment since last October. The daily TENS self treatments help keep my afloat but I really should get the batteries re-charged once a month. Tuesday I did so and am recovering.
I mention this to say that my hesitation to undergo an MRI or other diagnostic exams is founded on an extreme sensitivity others may not have. I'm also sensitive in a positive sense to Homeopathic remedies which can relieve the kind of tension I've been feeling. I also confess that I've been cheating a bit my diet the worst infraction being a once a day Expresso. Once a week OK, but Coffee antidotes homeopathic remedies for me and irritate the Gall Bladder meridian down the left leg.
So let's try to understand what is happening with MS. In 2011 Dr. Zivadinov states that MS is an auto-immune disease because the DMD's "work". Except recent research reveals that they don't, at least in the long run. (See blog post the MS Drug/MRI Fallacy) They apparently treat the Inflammation of early RRMS. Once the Progressive stage sets in, they don't work and decline sets in. What appears to be happening is that the brain atrophies as do the veins draining the brain. It has been demonstrated that blood transit time in MS patients is one half that of normals. The question is one of perfusion ie blood flow, volume and mean transit time. ALL brain fluids contribute to adequate blood flow.
Think of it this way. Arterial blood flows into the brain rich in oxygen and nutrients (glucose) to penetrate the brain through the capillary bed blood flow after which the blood returns to the heart through the veins. But if that flow is impeded because of venous obstruction (for example), this could lead to tissue hypoxia (death).
"The data generated by SWI (Susceptibility weighted Imaging MRI) has bearing on the debate about CCSVI because it is able to image very small veins, oxygen saturation and iron in tissue. In MS pathological iron deposits are extensive and associated with disability, while inflammatory lesions in white matter are less correlated with disability.(Bakshi et al.2002: Zhang et al 2007a: Neema et al.2009)" quoted from pg 125 Marie Rhodes CCSV! as the Cause of Multiple Sclerosis
It may be a reductive, materialistic bias that refuses to consider that plain old body tension induced by emotional stress can set off the whole process of MS "attacks". Let's say I have a venous stenosis. The Doppler ultrasound found no stenosis, but only one out of the Zamboni 5 criteria was studied, and Jeff Beal's Ultrasound was also negative even though both of his Jugulars were stenosed. Presumably he had these stenosis for a while (since birth?) or they had been developing for a while (my opinion). A stress event could cause them to close off triggering an important reflux - hence an "attack". Once relaxed, the blood flow resumes, though at a slower rate than "normals".
Let's return to me. Tension induced by stress (emotions, toxicity, infection?) literally squeezes the fluid circulation inducing an "attack" as the blood brain barrier is breached and blood floods the tissue provoking inflammation and an immune system response. Eventually the tension is relieved, the attack stops and the tissue gradually heals, though not entirely. Loss of myelin gradually undermines corresponding physical processes. What I need to do is relieve the tension and get the blood circulating. I also need to nourish the brain tissue in particular. When
I swim the crawl I feel "oxygenated". When I drink freshly extracted raw vegetable juice I enjoy a similar relief. It may be more accurate to say I feel "nourished", the swim gets the oxygen into the cells, the raw juice penetrates the blood Stream directly.
I may have a stenosis, but not a thrombosis. The blood flow or perfusion is inadequate but apparently not closed off. I probably am now in a Progressive stage with slow blood "perfusion" and occasional setbacks brought on by body tension. Dr. Zamboni's insight has opened the door to diminishing this Progression. I am otherwise in excellent health, largely thanks to the measures I've taken to control the MS.
Further discussion on this theme in the blog posts of June 1, 2012, "Success Stress", and July 4, 2013 "Rigidity Disease".
Work in Progress
Tags: CCSVI, Multiple Sclerosis, Chiropractic, Fluid Mechanics, Stress, Blood Perfusion, Venous Disease, Phlebitus, Electro-Magnetic field Earthquake
Also
RSS Feed