Click to watch on YouTube

If you’ve ever been to a neurologist to treat your MS, you know there is one supplement that is necessary for your health: vitamin D. But more and more, science is leading us to look at other nutrients and how they can affect inflammation (and MS).

For instance, we know today that how inflammation affects your health and how your body processes nutrients. If your body does not properly process nutrients from food, supplements become a viable option. MyCounterpane recently chatted with osteopath Dr. George Kessler about the microbiome (the microorganisms in your body), which supplements to take, and why it’s best NOT to buy supplements at your local pharmacy.

In fact, Dr. Kessler begins treatment of a new patient by working to understand each individual before working to normalize gut function first. He revealed to us that if the body does not process nutrients properly (because of a damaged gut), the supplements you are taking won’t digest properly, and therefore won’t work as intended. This applies even to supplements that are medical grade.

Dr. Kessler goes on to explain:

“The fact is that we live in toxic environments – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat – are all loaded with chemicals that are foreign to our bodies and which we have to do battle against on a daily basis. Our immune systems are overloaded and can’t keep up with let alone win these battles….Truth be told, if you put a 1000 of the smartest doctors in a room together, we know only a tiny amount of what mother nature knows. Modern science has come to the realization that it does not have all of the answers. We certainly don’t have a cure for MS, but studies have shown that harnessing the power of the innate forces we have within our bodies can be a huge benefit towards finding health. Science has validated many things which just five years ago modern medicine considered alternative or ‘voodoo.’”

Dr. Kessler is currently the adjunct assistant clinical professor in both family medicine and osteopathic medicine at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, a Clinical Instructor of Medicine at the Weill Cornell College of Medicine, and an attending physician at the New York Presbyterian Hospital at Cornell. He’s worked with patients and supplements for over a decade. He has also treated MyCounterpane founder Kate Milliken and you can watch her intense vitamin regimen by clicking the image above.

Dr. Kessler recommends if you want to buy supplements, you buy them from a reputable source that has pharmaceutical grade level manufacturing (there are many of them online). These will prove to be more expensive than options you find in your neighborhood vitamin store, but more potent and effective. Additionally, here is a list of supplements Dr. Kessler recommends for MS.

• Co-Q 10- increases oxygen to tissues
• Tumeric has been found to be helpful in MS. and Alzheimer’s. It improves detoxification, is anti-inflammatory, and can prevent or reverse DNA damage
• Evening Primrose Oil- helpful to form myelin
• B12-helps neurologic conditions
• Alpha Lipoic Acid-sulfa containing fatty acid decreases free radicals. Can prevent, delay or improve disability.

Feel free to share with anyone you feel may benefit!

Have you improved your MS symptoms with supplements? We’d love to hear from you. Please share your experience in the comments below, or log in to MyCounterpane.com/MS to share your experience with other MSers who can relate.