MS is a disease with a natural tendency to remit spontaneously, and for which there is no universally effective treatment and no known cause. These factors open the door for an array of unsubstantiated claims of cures. At one time or another, many ineffective and even potentially dangerous therapies have been promoted as treatments for MS. A partial list of these "therapies" includes: injections of snake venom, electrical stimulation of the spinal cord's dorsal column, removal of the thymus gland, breathing pressurized (hyperbaric) oxygen in a special chamber, injections of beef heart and hog pancreas extracts, intravenous or oral calcium orotate (calcium EAP), hysterectomy, removal of dental fillings containing silver or mercury amalgams, and surgical implantation of pig brain into the patient's abdomen. None of these treatments is an effective therapy for MS or any of its symptoms.
Drugs Used to Treat Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis
Symptom | Drug | Spasticity | Baclofen (Lioresal) Tizanidine (Zanaflex) Diazepam (Valium) Clonazepam (Klonopin) Dantrolene (Dantrium) | Optic neuritis | Methylprednisolone (Solu-Medrol) Oral steroids | Fatigue | Antidepressants Amantadine (Symmetrel) Pemoline (Cylert) | Pain | Aspirin or acetaminophen Antidepressants Codeine | Trigeminal neuralgia | Carbamazepine, other anticonvulsant | Sexual dysfunction | Papaverine injections(in men) | |
Current as of February 2010