"No new lesion in the brain and the one i had in the neck is no longer visible"
During my medical studies, I had chairs in Neurology where we dealt with diseases of the neurological tissue, among which were autoimmune diseases of the brain. The most common of these is probably multiple sclerosis.
Sharing the most up-to-date definitions and knowledge, we were told that multiple sclerosis would be a chronic disease, with different variants, treated with some form of immunosuppressants that reduced symptoms and could slow down the progression of the disease. Depending on the variant, there would be a "worse" or "less worse" prognosis, with no possibility of return.
Over a decade later, consulting leading medical websites we see not much has changed in the way the future with the disease is explained:
"At least 50% of those with relapsing-remitting MS eventually develop a steady progression of symptoms, with or without periods of remission, within 10 to 20 years from disease onset. (...) There's no cure for multiple sclerosis. However, treatments can help speed recovery from attacks, modify the course of the disease and manage symptoms", Mayo Clinic
"It's a lifelong condition that can sometimes cause serious disability, although it can occasionally be mild. In many cases, it's possible to treat symptoms. Average life expectancy is slightly reduced for people with MS. (...) Unfortunately, there's currently no treatment that can slow the progress of a type of MS called primary progressive MS, or secondary progressive MS in the absence of relapses." National Health System
"If you have been diagnosed with MS, the National MS Society recommends you consider treatment with one of the FDA-approved "disease-modifying" drugs as soon as possible following the definite diagnosis of MS with active or relapsing disease. These medications help to reduce the frequency and severity of MS attacks, the number of new lesions in the CNS and may slow the progression of disability." National MS Society
The description that the Mayo Clinic, the UK National Health System and the National MS Society give of Multiple Sclerosis is similar and much the same as what I learned at college: there are different types of multiple sclerosis with different developments, affecting different people differently.
More importantly, nowhere does it say that it is possible to reverse permanent symptoms or make brain lesions, described on MRI scans, disappear. It is something that is not predicted, not supposed to happen and treatments can only "reduce the number of new lesions", not reduce the number of lesions.
I am bound to say that it is absolutely true that this is the most usual path. Most people diagnosed with this disease will see their condition worsen throughout their lives, the number of lesions increase and the extent of the limitations grow over time. This is the message that is implanted in them at diagnosis and that there is no way off this path.
But it is also absolutely true that it can be another story! The disease can stop, the symptoms can diminish, the lesions can disappear!
A few days ago I had the privilege of receiving this message from a patient:
Dear Dr.Damas,
Good morning from Thessaloniki. I am writing this email not to ask for advice-as usual, but to inform you about my MRI scan results. No new lesion in the brain and the one i had in the neck is no longer visible. I had these great results although i am struggling to get the PTH in the right number. Even today PTH is 13,8- although the results couldn't be better. I am writing this email in order to thank you for all the support i had from you and your team. I know the journey is long but what a great start!
Truly thankful
Alexaki Stella
It is a testimony of someone who decided to try to change her treatment because the ones she was taking were not having any effect or controlling the progression of the disease. That was the reason that led her to change: to look for therapeutic strategies that could have an effect because the ones she was following were not having any effect. She started the Coimbra protocol and after a year and a half she had documented data that her nervous system was recovering.
In my view, the essential question is not even the positive impact that the use of high doses of vitamin D has on autoimmune diseases. And obviously the vast majority of people who follow the Coimbra protocol cannot achieve this result, even if they do experience clinical improvements in their symptoms.
The most important thing is what is possible and how different the stories can be. Cases like this force a rewriting of the perspectives of this disease, that it is possible to improve symptoms even when they are already permanent, reduce brain damage or even recover neurological integrity.
It is at least fair to say that, although unlikely, it is possible to win the battle against multiple sclerosis.
I can only thank our hundreds of patients all over the world who for over 6 years have shown me that the impossible can happen and allowed me to watch their stories of overcoming.
P.S.: When I asked the patient for permission to share her email, this was her response:
"Dear Dr.Damas,
Good morning from Thessaloniki, Greece. I have already made a post in the facebook group Coimbra Protocol: North America (English) under #progress, but you are totally welcome to share my news and my name however you believe it would empower more people to trust coimbra protocol. I am available if I can help in any way, because I am really grateful that Coimbra Protocol exists.
Best wishes
Alexaki Stella"