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Marijuana (Cannabinoids)Multiple SclerosisOmega-3 Fatty AcidsPregnancy

Multiple sclerosis week, 2009

JR

National MS Awareness Week runs from March 2nd to 8th.

Lets review the past year of CAM research in MS.

Use of CAM

  • Up to two-thirds of patients with MS use CAM
  • Most useful CAM according to MS patients.
    • Reflexology
    • Massage
    • Yoga
    • Relaxation
    • Meditation
    • Acupuncture
    • Aromatherapy
  • Patients are motivated to use CAM because of frustration with conventional treatments.

Breast-feeding

  • “Women who have MS may reduce their risk for relapse after pregnancy if they breast-feed.”
  • Check with your doctor on this one.

Marijuana

  • “Smoking marijuana can have a harmful effect on the cognitive skills of people with MS.”
  • No benefits in psychological symptoms, reasoning, abuse, tolerability, quality of life, fatigue, and ability to control movement in patients with MS who had never before been exposed to cannabis.
  • Sativex (spray cannabis) in patients with central neuropathic pain due to MS failed to provide adequate pain relieve after those patients had failed conventional therapy.

Fatty acids

  • “The data available are insufficient to assess any potential benefit or harm from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) supplementation.”

3/5/09 13:52 JR

Hi, I’m JR

John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

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