Managing MS Naturally

Tessa Buckley grew up near Epsom race course in Surrey. As a child, she spent a lot of time writing and illustrating stories. After leaving school, she studied interior design at Chelsea College of Art and worked in architecture and design in London until 1989, when she was forced to give up her career after developing multiple sclerosis. That was when she decided to fulfil her long- held ambition to become a writer. She has written extensively about health and nutrition and family history, and a new edition of her self-help book, The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book, was published in 2017. She is also the author of two children’s novels. She now lives by the sea in Essex with her husband, where she is a regular contributor to the Essex Book Festival.


The majority of people in this country know very little about multiple sclerosis, which is a disease that affects the body’s central nervous system, and can cause a bewildering range of symptoms, from the mildly annoying to the totally disabling. Although there are drug treatments available for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), there is, as yet, no cure. This is why a diagnosis of MS often comes as a devastating blow, particularly if – as is often the case - the patient is still quite young.

The good news for anyone who has been diagnosed with MS is that there are a range of things you can do to help yourself. You seldom hear about self-help techniques from either GPs or neurologists, as I discovered when I first became an MS patient in 1989. Finding out what would help me, and what wouldn’t, was a question of trial and error. However, by the early 1990s, I was cautiously confident that my future was not going to entail, as the doctors obviously believed, a slow decline into disability and dependence. This is what I discovered:-
You are what you eat. It’s true – even if you are 100% fit and healthy, your body still needs a certain set of nutrients, consumed at regular intervals, to keep you that way. If you have a serious medical condition like MS, you are likely to need an even more nutritious diet to help alleviate symptoms and to prevent your condition from deteriorating. Think of your body as a car; it needs a regular supply of the correct fuel in order to perform well.

The prevalence of fast-food outlets, take-aways, and heavily processed food, means that it is all too easy to end up eating a junk food diet without even realising it. Changing your eating habits, either in addition to, or instead of, taking disease-modifying drugs, is now being advocated by doctors who themselves have MS, such as Professor George Jelinek in Australia, and Dr Terry Wahls in the USA.
Meanwhile research into food and MS is accumulating. Current research suggests that a lack of vitamin D may be a key factor in susceptibility to MS, and that taking extra vitamin D could reduce damage to nerves. It is difficult to get enough vitamin D from food, or from the sun – especially if you live in a country like the UK where sunny days are unpredictable. Vitamin D supplements are cheap and easily obtainable, so why not take them? And the healthy eating diet that the medical profession recommends suggests we cut down on saturated fat, sugar and salt, all of which can be harmful to people with MS.

Exercise is another thing which we now know has proven benefits for people with MS. You may think that, if you suffer from MS fatigue, or are confined to a wheelchair, exercise is just not possible. What I found was that as soon as I changed my diet, my energy gradually returned, and I was able to exercise once more. Although it is many years since I was able to run, or use a bicycle, I have a regular exercise routine using a bar fixed to the wall, plus exercises on a chair and lying on my bed. I also make sure I stand up and walk around for at least an hour each day whilst cooking supper, as too much vegetating in a chair allows muscles to deteriorate. And loading up a dishwasher is a great bending and stretching exercise!

Mental attitude is also very important when dealing with a chronic medical condition. It’s easy to feel powerless after a diagnosis of MS, but doing things to help yourself puts you back in charge, and that in turn helps to generate optimism for the future, which has been scientifically proven to encourage a better medical outcome. Joining one of the many MS online communities where you can chat to others MSers is also useful, and will make you feel less isolated. A tranquil mind is also beneficial when dealing with an illness like MS. Living in our fast-paced, ever-changing twenty first century world is often stressful, and stress can exacerbate MS symptoms. Professor George Jelinek suggests a daily meditation session, but mindfulness, yoga, or even just a walk in the countryside may work just as well for you.

Here are a few ideas on where to start:

Managing MS Naturally: a self-help guide to living with MS by Judy Graham 

The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book by Tessa Buckley 

MS UK for information, advice and their brilliant bi-monthly magazine, New Pathways.