My wife, Barbara, who was born in Europe, became curious if the MS patients with whom we came in contact had been breast fed, or not, as babies. It was tradition, in her part of Yugoslavia, that all children be breast fed until they were at least two years old. It seems, at least as far as she was aware, that none of the people in her area had ever contracted MS. It struck me as possibly significant, because her people were German immigrants to Yugoslavia who ate the traditional beer and butter diet that Dr. Swank believes is a prime cause of MS. Yet these people, according to my wife, have not had the high incidence of MS that could be expected from such a group under Dr. Swank’s theory.

According to my mother, I was only breast fed for a few days, Barbara and I asked 35 or so patients about breast feeding before the first printing of the book and none of them who knew had been breast fed more than a month or two. If Dr. Horrobin’s theory on prostaglandins being involved in MS has any validity, this might be significant, because the myelin is not formed completely in humans until after birth. If gamma-linolenic acid (found in mother’s milk) is needed for proper formation of the myelin, as well as for the production of the one series prostaglandin (PgE1), then a lack of breast feeding as an infant might be one of the keys to MS.

It seemed to be more than mere chance could account for that none of the patients we had asked were breast fed, so we have continued to ask over the last few years. We are now at around 700 MS patients questioned about being breast fed and so far only 3 have claimed to know for a fact that they were breast fed exclusively for more than 8 to 12 weeks.

We have almost no records on this question up to this point, but we have mailed over 300 questionnaires to MS patients who have this book. As these questionnaires come back, I think they are showing a tremendous ratio that were not breast-fed. So far we have only 3 who know they were breast fed for one year exclusively.

According to a few researchers surgical operations of one kind or another also seem to be possibly involved with the onset of MS in some patients. If that were indeed the case, I would surely qualify. From tonsils and adenoids, as a kid, to one knew, a wrist and three separate operations on one ankle, I’ve has my share of first-hand acquaintance with scalpels. A few years ago, it was also reported that men who, specifically, had undergone vesicotomy operations were more likely to develop MS than other groups. I underwent such an operation in 1956. Whether there is any significance to all this or not, I just don’t know. But, I guess, when we are searching for answers, everything needs to be considered.

Also a few years ago, Lancet, the English medical journal, took note of the fact that many MS patients who had been interviewed had severe emotional shocks in the year immediately preceding their first onset of the disease. Dr. Emanuel Cheraskin at the University of Alabama, made parallel observations in his book on disease predictability, “Predictive Medicine.”

Several years ago, I met the harbor pilot who was at the helm of the ship which ran into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge here in St. Petersburg in 1980 and which resulted in the loss of 35 lives. He developed MS shortly after that disaster. I understand that John has now changed his diet and by following a macrobiotic diet, his disease has stopped progressing.

Americans seem to be in agreement with the British findings. Almost every patient I have questioned on this point can recall a major emotional shock shortly before the onset of the disease.

Could the trigger for the onset of MS be emotional? Or perhaps, some chemical or hormone produced by the brain during severe emotional stress? I do know, to my own satisfaction, by subjective reasoning as well as by observation, that most new attacks in already diagnosed patients follow some type of stress situation, either physical or emotional.

It has been my observation that the outward symptoms of people diagnosed as having MS are so different, both in the way and in the speed with which they become disabled, that it is as if they had totally different diseases with the same basic symptoms. By this I mean that in a case such as mine, you have a roller coaster effect. You get a pattern of an attack followed by a remission. During the remission, you don’t come all the way back to normal, but you approach normal. Then the pattern repeats.

Other patients many times go into an almost continual attack, without any significant remissions. They go straight down to the wheelchair stage following their first attack. Can both these different progressions really be the same disease? Same cause, same cure? Or are we dealing with several diseases: different causes, different cures, but similar gross symptoms?

It has become apparent many MS patients have a number of food allergies beside the “hard fat” problem. The more allergies we have, the more problems we seem to have and so I would suggest that each patient determine what, if any other food allergies might be present. There are several ways to do this. Probably the new cytotoxic testing is the best. If that is not available in your area, try getting a book called, The Pulse Test, by Dr. Coca from a used bookstore. (The book is out of print at the time and no one seems to know if it will be reissued.) If you can find a copy it will guide you in determining your own sensitivity to foods.

I recently had the opportunity to discuss the possible involvement of MS and Candidiasis with Dr. William G. Crook, author of The Yeast Connection. He states flatly that several diagnosed MS patients with whom he has come in contact, had severe, recurring exacerbations that were affected by yeast infections and that when the yeast problem was solved in those patients, they went into prolonged remissions. This is another new area of involvement that needs looking into by the researchers.

Smoking and drinking are two things, which seem to be controversial. From a general health standpoint, they are not good for anyone, MS’ers or not. However, many people do one or both as a matter of choice. There doesn’t seem to be any direct connection between smoking and MS and for someone who is really hooked on nicotine, trying to I may add so much stress to their life that quitting is not really worth the effort unless they develop other smoking related problems. A really stressful withdrawal could perhaps trigger an MS attack. But I would certainly suggest trying to quit and see how it goes. For many, quitting is not that difficult.

Alcohol is a different story. MS patients are many times very near the edge of uncontrolled anger just because of their frustrations with the disease. Drinking can easily reduce the inhibitions far enough so that the MS patient becomes totally out of control with even a moderate amount of alcohol. I know that in my own case, I had to stop almost all alcohol early on because of my lack of control. Trying to cope with multiple sclerosis alone puts enough severe pressure on a relationship: Don’t add more by letting alcohol get involved. If you do, I predict the relationship will not last long.

Some doctors recommend that female MS patients avoid pregnancy at all costs; others don’t feel that it is that detrimental. Both of these views come from doctors’ own experiences with their patients and point up the problems. Pregnancy is totally devastating for some, yet just a matter of course for others. I’m sure no expert on the subject, but from my observation, I would say that if a woman has an active case, i.e., regular attacks, avoid pregnancy as it adds more stress, both emotional and physical.

One other thing, which might point to fat involvement in MS, is the seeming tendency of MS patients to have elevated cholesterol. No matter what their diet. Even on a low fat diet like the Swank diet, MS patients tend to have high cholesterol counts.

My final thought on things, which might be significant in MS, is a general observation about the people I have come in contact with who have the disease. As a group we (I include myself in this observation) seem to be less sure of ourselves and have more of a need to prove ourselves than the average person. For lack of a more precise description, I’ll call it “group inferiority complexes” on a grand scale, or maybe what the psychiatrists call Type A personalities.

Many of the MS patients with whom I’ve come in contact, never seem to be quite comfortable with their place in the structure of things. Not that we are not achievers, because we are many times over-achievers. But we seem to feel that no matter what we have been able to achieve, it probably could have been done just a little bit better by someone else. It is as if, in our own minds, we think we are never really quite good enough to be where we are and if we don’t try a lot harder, someone else will take our place.