MS is not an immune deficiency!

I often observe that there is a relatively vague knowledge about the immune system among the population, which is often fed by various advertising messages. When you are sick, it’s due to “a weakness of the immune system” – if you want to get healthy, then you have to “strengthen the immune system” – so the simple message goes. Therefore, it is not surprising that many MS patients believe they suffer from an immune deficiency. They are therefore receptive to anyone who offers measures to strengthen the immune system – be it the family doctor, the naturopath or the internet mail order business. I am often told that someone has received a vitamin shot to strengthen the immune system, or that globules have been prescribed so that the immune defense works better again – all conceptually quite nonsense, but thankfully not dangerous.
What is really bad is when patients tell me that they have undergone fresh cell cures, or “stem cells” have been transplanted to restore the immune system. In these measures, foreign materials – usually animal cells – are indeed introduced into the body to “boost” the immune system. Mostly nothing happens, but the maximum form of this “boosting” would be the so-called anaphylactic shock, which is life-threatening.
Therefore, the clear appeal – Multiple sclerosis is not an immune deficiency. The immune system of MS patients is usually as competent as that of any healthy normal person. The problem of MS sufferers is not a weak immune system, but a “too strong” reaction of the immune system. Due to a lack of tolerance of the immune system, the body’s own structures are recognized as foreign and attacked. Therefore, the general strategy in autoimmune diseases like MS is to curb the immune system’s reactivity with drugs and to restore tolerance.
Strategies to “boost” the immune system of MS patients are therefore conceptually nonsense. As long as attempts are made to achieve this with expensive yogurt or vitamin supplements, it is not a problem because these measures have no real influence on the immune system. But measures that can provoke an immune reaction, such as the introduction of animal cells, are definitely counterproductive in MS patients.
To illustrate that MS patients do not need activation of the immune system, it is worth remembering what happens in a very ordinary infection – a bladder infection or a cold. In such diseases, the immune system is generally activated – it is supposed to fight off the pathogens – and this often leads to a significant deterioration in the condition of a patient with MS during an infectious disease.
So – as an MS patient, stay away from everything and everyone who promises to strengthen the immune system – that’s exactly what you don’t need as an MS sufferer!