Thread: MS

1. "RE: MS" In response to message #0 LAST EDITED ON Aug-19-09 AT 01:50 PM (CST) I've never heard of any connection between HSV and MS. My understanding is that an MRI of the brain is the way they diagnose it (along w/hist. and current symptoms, obviously). Is the spinal tap being done to look for alternative causes? I presume they've ...

2. "RE: MS" In response to message #1 No spinal tap is more specific than MRI -- it detects certain proteins in the CSF characteristic of mylin breakdown. The "herpes" association is with Herpes 6a and with EBV, not herpes simplex.

3. "RE: MS" In response to message #2 J, are you sure about that? I've found a couple studies on pubmed linking hsv2 with ms but couldn't get the full texts (not even from the med school library).

4. "RE: MS" In response to message #3 Anyway, the spinal tap and MRI have confirmed MS. The doctor said it shouldn't get worse though in his hand - I'm not sure how a doc would know that though.

5. "RE: MS" In response to message #4 We're looking into things still. The meds he needs are about $1783.00/mth.

6. "RE: MS" In response to message #5 Oh, wow. Does he have insurance? If not and if that amount of money is a hardship for him, he could look into patient assistance programs from the pharmaceutical companies who make his various meds--assuming they are not generics (when they lose the patent they don't generally provide assistance for ...