It seems that almost anyone with an interest in Multiple Sclerosis has an opinion on the Liberation Treatment Multiple Sclerosis alternative first developed in Italy. There are as many advocates as there are critics. One thing there is a shortage of, however, is a controlled clinical trial to study the Liberation Treatment MS results. And that is at the core of the controversy.
The Liberation Treatment MS alternative has gained instant believers
The Liberation Treatment MS idea originated in Italy by a researcher named Dr. Paolo Zamboni to save his wife from the disease. Since its announcement, many media outlets and internet sites have been touting 90% success rates. There is no clinical evidence to support these claims, but that hasn’t stopped patients from demanding approval and seeking the treatment in foreign countries with little regulation.
Even with the name Liberation Treatment, Multiple Sclerosis patients are given a sort of false hope. And the advocates exploit that in the media. Essentially, all the necessary components of a good story exist: Liberation Treatment, MS patients desperate for hope battling a crippling disease, and the backdrop of the romantic story of a doctor coming up with a way to save his beloved wife.
Patients are calling and hounding doctors to offer Liberation treatment. Multiple Sclerosis forums are filled with anecdotal success stories. And factions of the Canadian Parliament are giving in to political pressure to bring the procedure to Canada and even fund it.
Been down this road before
The media gets it wrong on medical stories more often than not. Think about how often you hear claims retracted or altered. And MS patients have lived with hype and hope in the past. In the eighties, hyperbaric oxygen therapy was promoted endlessly as a way to increase blood supply to the brain as an MS cure. Literally thousands of MS patients got into pressure vessels and got hooked up to oxygen to get cured. The result? The result was no result. In 2004 the final consensus was that there was no benefit at all in treating MS this way. No quick fix with pressurized oxygen.
The bottom line is that the Liberation treatment MS alternative is unproven and the best results in small groups have been in patients with the mildest form of MS. It may be that clinical trials, if ever conducted, will bear fruit and the Liberation therapy will be claimed a legitimate success. But it’s not likely. Patients are better advised to exercise, change their diet, and stick with other therapies we know work and provide benefit. Much money, talent, and educational resources are going into battling MS and it will pay off at some time.
