Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Why Do Some Folks Show NO Improvements After Angioplasty For CCSVI?

Time and time again I receive letters from folks like this: "Dear Ginger, I had my angio two weeks ago and still no improvements."

This is my response:

Great to hear about your angio. I am sorry you haven’t noticed any immediate improvements but there are no guarantees, unfortunately. When I went to Poland I told myself that if the treatment just stopped my attacks and progression I would be content. If you think about the research around CCSVI and what they have found I am not surprised that many people felt no immediate improvements. Bad or no blood flow was causing a reflux of deoxygenated blood to be forced back up into your brain. Over time this created iron build up which in turn caused inflammation. The inflammation signaled your immune system to go up to your brain and "fix" it. SO then the blood brain barrier jump occurred as the vein walls were weakened in your brain due to the reflux. PRESTO! MS! This all did not happen over night. Why do we all expect to be 100% over night then? I was very lucky to get benefits right away but some didn’t come until months later like my bladder spasms going away. By having the angio you just fixed a major vascular issue in your body! The fact is you may have more blockages throughout your body that they didn’t even look for. BUT you stopped the reflux into your brain. YOU ARE CURED OF CCSVI! Now you need to go to physio religiously. Exercise at the gym at least 3 X a week. You need to drink lots of water every day. Look into increasing your vitamin D intake to 10,000 IU's per day. Go on the Swank MS diet or other MS diets and sleep inclined every night. (Google inclined bed therapy) Don’t expect that by just having angio you will be 100%. Our bodies need help and time to heal themselves. If you truly want to get better then do EVERYTHING possible to help your body. There is also a chance of re-stenosis so getting proper follow up and after care are essential. PS QUIT SMOKING

10 comments:

  1. Hurray, Ginger, excellent post as usual.

    The nutrition side of things is definitely something that everyone should be considering, not just people with MS. Did you know that the number of items in a typical grocery store have increased from around 7,000 at the end of the 1960's to more than 50,000 today? Sure, the convenience factor has increased, but so has our loss of control over the things we're eating.

    We need to get back to basics and turn our backs on the food giants. We need to stop being lazy: and cook things again, and grow things again and can things again, eat seasonal fruits and vegetables - even if they are difficult to prepare and perhaps not as palatable. Not only will this shift help people with diseases like MS but it will help folks on head-on collision courses with heart attacks and strokes -- and it will eventually reduce healthcare costs and increase lifespan.

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  2. Thanks Ginger for this post. I had the procedure 2 weeks ago and still waiting for improvements but understand it could take time. Why do you say that sleeping inclined is better. I was sleeping inclined before the procedure but now that my jugulars are flowing properly, I think flat is better now?

    Sue

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. It is estimated that the failure rate of the “liberation therapy” may be 50% or higher, even through the most experienced surgeons in Poland & Albany. As more people receive the therapy there is growing concern amongst patients that http://www.ccsviclinic.ca/?p=765 the procedure needs to include a post-procedure protocol that is more effective than simply releasing the patient from the hospital within a day.

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  5. It should be mentioned that our research is under much scrutiny & attack from elements that are trying to control the industry & the dialogue.We would ask you to have the independence of thought to see through their campaign of deceit. http://www.ccsviclinic.ca/?p=783Regular research updates will be published on the Clinic website. Questions about participation may be directed toward the Clinic administration at 888-419-6855.

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  6. There is a difference between responsible reporting and what Melissa Martin chose to write about the CCSVI Clinic in this article. She was in possession of factual information and documents that put the CCSVI Clinic in a favorable light but chose to withhold the information she received from the physicains and researchers at CCSVI Clinic that would have conflicted with her agenda to smear our reputation in order to sensationalize her story. At no time did anyone from the CCSVI Clinic pressure patients into going to India for the Liberation Procedure. She should have considered that the one single person who made that claim clearly had her own agenda because she was disheartened by her 'borderline' results. We simply provide information to people about our enhanced hospital stay and aftercare program should a patient decide to have the procedure. You can't pressure someone to make an important decision about their health and all of our literature clearly states that. These MS patients are more knowledgeable about the CCSVI condition and about the options for treatment than most physicians are. To suggest that they can be pressured into a decision to have the procedure done in India is ludicrous. Patients who have signed up to be part of our open-ended study on the safety and efficacy of an enhanced aftercare protocol to reduce the rate of re-stenosis versus having the procedure on an outpatient basis (which may be contributing to long term failure of the procedure) have done so to ensure that they are getting the best care possible and because they want to be part of the important work we are doing for MS patients. http://www.ccsviclinic.ca/

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  7. CCSVI Clinic Receives Joint IRB Approval for Aftercare Protocol Study.

    Dr. Don Simonson, the Principal Investigator for the study agrees; “Of course there are other reasons that patients restenose, depending on the condition of their veins in the first place, and operator inexperience, so we have designed a study that isolates the aftercare protocol because we feel it may be at least as important, and in any case well worth studying.”
    CCSVI Clinic is already sponsoring patients for this protocol with a 10-day stay in the hospital where patients will be imaged daily, post procedure. If there is evidence of re-occlusion, they will be taken back to the OR and re-treated. To comply with the IRB approval, once home, patients will be examined and/or surveyed at regular intervals by a Principle Investigator (PI) for several years after the treatment to study the changes. Patients will have regular consults with the surgeon who performed their procedure as part of the protocol.
    More and more MS patients are reporting initial success (including vascular and some neurological differences) as a result of the venous angioplasty (liberation therapy) but then regression to previous symptoms sometimes within weeks post-procedure. It is estimated that the failure rate of the “liberation therapy” may be 50% or higher, even through the most experienced and best-known surgeons. Consequently, there is increasing concern amongst patients that the liberation therapy hypothesis needs to include a post-procedure protocol that is more refined than simply releasing the patient from the hospital or clinic within hours or a day of the procedure. If the study hypothesis is correct, it means that there are many other considerations that indicate a post-procedure stabilization period, re-examination, and re-treatment if necessary.Please log on to http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=830 for more information.

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  8. A new CCSVI clinic it is available in Bucharest, Doctors team from Bucharest are certified by DR.ZAMBONI in Ferrara and by Dr. Simka in Poland to perform the CCSVI treatment/procedures.

    The price of the treatment INCLUDING Travel Expenses(flight ticket,accomodation,transfers,­all exams,angioplasty) is 8200 USD for USA/CANADA patients and for europe  patients 5100 Euro Incl. Travel expenses.

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  9. After 6 months of offering stem cell therapy in combination with the venous angioplasty liberation procedure, patients of CCSVI Clinic have reported excellent health outcomes. Ms. Kasma Gianopoulos of Athens Greece, who was diagnosed with the Relapsing/Remitting form of MS in 1997 called the combination of treatments a “cure”. “I feel I am completely cured” says Ms. Gianopoulos, “my symptoms have disappeared and I have a recovery of many functions, notably my balance and my muscle strength is all coming (back). Even after six months, I feel like there are good changes happening almost every day. Before, my biggest fear was that the changes wouldn’t (hold). I don’t even worry about having a relapse anymore. I’m looking forward to a normal life with my family. I think I would call that a miracle.”

    Other recent MS patients who have had Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation (ASCT), or stem cell therapy have posted videos and comments on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFQr2eqm3Cg.

    Dr. Avneesh Gupte, the Neurosurgeon at Noble Hospital performing the procedure has been encouraged by results in Cerebral Palsy patients as well. “We are fortunate to be able to offer the treatment because not every hospital is able to perform these types of transplants. You must have the specialized medical equipment and specially trained doctors and nurses”. With regard to MS patients, “We are cautious, but nevertheless excited by what patients are telling us. Suffice to say that the few patients who have had the therapy through us are noticing recovery of neuro deficits beyond what the venous angioplasty only should account for”.

    Dr. Unmesh of Noble continues: “These are early days and certainly all evidence that the combination of liberation and stem cell therapies working together at this point is anecdotal. However I am not aware of other medical facilities in the world that offer the synthesis of both to MS patients on an approved basis and it is indeed a rare opportunity for MS patients to take advantage of a treatment that is quite possibly unique in the world”.

    Autologous stem cell transplantation is a procedure by which blood-forming stem cells are removed, and later injected back into the patient. All stem cells are taken from the patient themselves and cultured for later injection. In the case of a bone marrow transplant, the HSC are typically removed from the Pelvis through a large needle that can reach into the bone. The technique is referred to as a bone marrow harvest and is performed under a general anesthesia. The incidence of patients experiencing rejection is rare due to the donor and recipient being the same individual.This remains the only approved method of the SCT therapy. For more information visit http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=838

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  10. After 6 months of offering stem cell therapy in combination with the venous angioplasty liberation procedure, patients of CCSVI Clinic have reported excellent health outcomes. Ms. Kasma Gianopoulos of Athens Greece, who was diagnosed with the Relapsing/Remitting form of MS in 1997 called the combination of treatments a “cure”. “I feel I am completely cured” says Ms. Gianopoulos, “my symptoms have disappeared and I have a recovery of many functions, notably my balance and my muscle strength is all coming (back). Even after six months, I feel like there are good changes happening almost every day. Before, my biggest fear was that the changes wouldn’t (hold). I don’t even worry about having a relapse anymore. I’m looking forward to a normal life with my family. I think I would call that a miracle.”

    Other recent MS patients who have had Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation (ASCT), or stem cell therapy have posted videos and comments on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFQr2eqm3Cg.

    Dr. Avneesh Gupte, the Neurosurgeon at Noble Hospital performing the procedure has been encouraged by results in Cerebral Palsy patients as well. “We are fortunate to be able to offer the treatment because not every hospital is able to perform these types of transplants. You must have the specialized medical equipment and specially trained doctors and nurses”. With regard to MS patients, “We are cautious, but nevertheless excited by what patients are telling us. Suffice to say that the few patients who have had the therapy through us are noticing recovery of neuro deficits beyond what the venous angioplasty only should account for”.

    Dr. Unmesh of Noble continues: “These are early days and certainly all evidence that the combination of liberation and stem cell therapies working together at this point is anecdotal. However I am not aware of other medical facilities in the world that offer the synthesis of both to MS patients on an approved basis and it is indeed a rare opportunity for MS patients to take advantage of a treatment that is quite possibly unique in the world”.

    Autologous stem cell transplantation is a procedure by which blood-forming stem cells are removed, and later injected back into the patient. All stem cells are taken from the patient themselves and cultured for later injection. In the case of a bone marrow transplant, the HSC are typically removed from the Pelvis through a large needle that can reach into the bone. The technique is referred to as a bone marrow harvest and is performed under a general anesthesia. The incidence of patients experiencing rejection is rare due to the donor and recipient being the same individual.This remains the only approved method of the SCT therapy. For more information visit http://ccsviclinic.ca/?p=838

    ReplyDelete