Welcome To The Multiple Sclerosis And Neuroimmune Summit

Welcome and Summit Introduction 0:00

Welcome to the multiple sclerosis and Neuro Immune Summit. I'm Dr. TERRY WAHLS. I am your host, and I am so glad that you are here so I can empower you with the knowledge and skills that there is. So much that you can do to help stop the damage and begin restoring function and getting your life back. Now, 20 years ago, walking with my wife a half mile from home, my left leg grows weak, dragging it. I hobble home. When I see the neurologist, he says, Terri, this could be bad. Or really, really bad.

At night, as I lay in bed next to Jackie. I think about the two years of worsening little face paints that I've already endured. And I pray secretly for a fatal diagnosis because I do not want to become disabled. A burden to my family for three weeks we go test to test the test.

Terri Wahls' MS Diagnosis and Decline 1:12

Finally, I hear the words multiple sclerosis. I see the very best M.S. center in the country. I take the newest drugs three years later, a year tilt, recline, wheelchair. My ten year old daughter hugs me as to stream down my face when those electrical face turns on yet again. But am I really doing all that I can? I am a physician. Night after night I go to PubMed to read the basic science and I develop the theory that mitochondria are the driver of disability and I create a supplement cocktail to support my mitochondria.

The speed of my decline slows and I am so grateful, but I am still declining. I discover a study using electrical stimulation muscles. I ask my physical therapist, Can I try that? He calls it Eastham. He says it's for athletes and that it's painful. And he knows I have so much pain from the arms. But he does give me a test session and it hurts. It hurts bad. Really, really bad. But when it's over, I feel great. He says it's because of the endorphins and we add them to my physical therapy. I discovered the Institute for Functional Medicine.

I take the course on neuroprotection. I have a longer list of supplements that support my mitochondria and then I have an AHA. What if I redesign the paleo diet? There have already been following for five years. What if I redesign it based on all the supplements that I'm taking?

Discovering Mitochondria, EMS, and Diet Changes 3:00

That's more research and I begin this new way of eating. December 26 227. Now, at that time I tried. General Neuralgia has been relentlessly worse. A breeze I touch when it's turned on can trigger the pain. Chewing. Swallowing can trigger the pain. I'm very afraid that I will soon be permanently on risk. Speaking and swallowing would trigger the intense electrical pain. I am weak. I cannot sit up anymore. I'm in a zero gravity chair with my knees higher than my nose. I have one where I staff the resonance because I'm too weak to see patients directly.

I've another one at home and I'm in that zero gravity chair for my meals and times with my family. I am beginning to have brain fog and the fatigue is severe. I know I will soon be having to apply for a medical disability and I start this new way of eating this highly structured paleo diet. December 26th and in January, at the end of the month, my physical therapist is teary. You are getting stronger. He advances my exercises and I realize that my fatigue is less. My mental clarity's improved. And then in February, I begin walking first with two walking sticks and then with one.

And then I tell my family I would like to try riding my bike. Something I have not done for six years. And

Severe Progression and Starting the Wahls Diet 5:00

Jack says, Well, maybe in the fall, if things continue to go well. But two weeks later, on Mother's Day, I tell my family I really want to try. And Jackie tells my big 16 year old son, six foot five football player sack, you run alongside on the left. And she tells my 13 year old daughter, Zeb, you run alongside on the right. We all get in position. Jack gives the signal. I get on my bike and I pedal around the block. You know, that big 16 year old boy, he's crying that my 13 year old she's crying, Jackie's crying.

And and I cried. And tears come to my eyes every time I tell that story, because it was at that moment that the understanding of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, I knew it was incomplete, that who knew how much recovery might be possible. And I began biking a little bit more each day. I did my physical therapy and then in October, Jackie said, Let's sign you up for the courage ride. Its 18.5 miles, however far you go, will be a triumph. And once again, when I cross that finish line, my kids are crying, Jackie's crying, I am crying.

And it changes how I think about disease and how it will change. The way I practice medicine and the focus of my research. I enter walls. I am clinical professor of medicine at the University of Iowa. I do clinical research, testing my protocol and others with progressive

Recovery Milestones and Returning to Cycling 7:00

M.S., secondary progressive, primary progressive, relapsing remitting. We've been able to show that, yes, other people can implement these complicated regimens and that they can experience reduced fatigue, reduced anxiety, reduced depression, improved quality of life, improved walking function, and function. They too can get their lives back. So if I can come back from such profound disability there absolutely is hope for you that you can come back, that you can get your life back. And that's why I'm hosting this summit.

So you can learn from other clinicians, other scientists that there are interventions under your control that can stop the damage and set the stage for repair, and that you can begin the process of restoring your mental clarity, restoring your energy, reducing your pain, improving your quality of life. I've written several books that will help you in your journey. The first book, mind you, my mitochondria, told my story and discussed the experiments that I was just beginning to conduct. My very first study, the next book that I wrote, came out are The Walls Protocol, which describes the Walls diet and the various levels from level 1 to 3 elimination diet that you can take your current diet and steadily improved at the pace that you and your family can achieve.

We also talk about the supplements that are used, the detox pathways, the electrical stimulation of muscles, and the functional exercises that are used for my recovery

Research, Books, and Hope for Recovery 9:00

and behavior change. How we can improve our self-care routine so that we can make forward progress and the supplements that are used. And my rationale, this is much more than just a diet. This is a comprehensive roadmap that I used for my own recovery, and I've used for thousands of others. And then we also, because food is such a big part of your healing journey, because the food you eat will become the body, the nerves, the spinal cord, the brain, the cranial nerves that you have tomorrow. We need proper nutrition to maintain and repair ourselves to help make that easier.

We wrote a cookbook, The Walls Protocol, Cooking for Life. That is a marvelous resource to help you learn how to prepare meals that it's not complicated cooking. It is food that you can make even if you're fatigued, even if you have only your local grocery store in rural, small town America, we've had thousands of individuals, hundreds of thousands of individuals whose lives I've touched through my books, who have used my books to deepen their understanding of what is possible, that there is so much that they can do and in the gifts for you, we have copies of the first chapter for mind you my mitochondria for the Walls Protocol and from the cookbook we'll have some recipes from the cookbook as well.

Now, once again, I am so thrilled that you were here. The Summit, multiple sclerosis and never immune. You will hear from other clinicians and scientists who have used these concepts to help their patients stop the damage, begin their recovery and begin getting their lives back. I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to Summer or change your life.