Quite the breakthrough.. but how/why does sodium accumulate in the brain?
Posted by annxyzz (Member # 20404) on :
Glad to see something like this as so much money has been donated for MS in US with almost no results. I know a first rate neuro who says the best drugs ( which make most people feel sick ) do little to help and we know thay co$t a fortune .
Interesting that this is discovered in a country with socialized medicine . I often wonder if we reall want to cure cancer or MS in the US . It is awfully profitable to pass out poison that costs a lot and accomplishes nothing .
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
Hypernatremia could be the cause. More people are suffering from dehydration then realized. The cure is drinking more water.
Interesting info on www.watercure.org Not saying this is the only cause. Doctors usually fall short of getting to the cause of disease and only deal with symptoms.
Gael
Posted by VV (Member # 38828) on :
"Hypernatremia could be the cause. More people are suffering from dehydration then realized. The cure is drinking more water."
Hypernatremia is not "the cause". It is the phenomenon they are describing, localized in the brain. The word "hypernatremia" means too much salt. It's like saying "the cause of a stuffy nose is having mucous in the nose". You have not elucidated anything with such a statement.
The article should prompt further research into why the salt deposits remain in the brain.
Furthermore, drinking more water is not how to correct dehydration. You need balanced electrolytes and glucose, otherwise more water can actually cause dehydration.
I'm really tired of some of these bad hypotheses.
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
VV,
I didn't say that hypernatremia IS the cause. I said COULD be. Maybe I wasn't as clear as I should have been. I was referring to hypernatremia as a possible cause for dehydration.
Yes, I am VERY aware of the necessity of balancing electrolytes, however, just drinking more water for simple dehydration is usually enough.
Drinking more water can only cause dehydration if you don't have enough salt. Furthermore, I was alluding to the fact that the medical community usually does not get to the cause, just the symptoms of the disease process.
QUOTE" I'm really tired of some of these bad hypothesis"
Frankly, I have noticed your sarcasm on some other posts in response to several long time very knowledgeable members on this board trying to help you.
People may not always be correct in their answers, however, they are trying to help in anyway they can.
The high end academia medical community really hasn't been of much help when it comes to this disease, so I doubt if their answers to some of your queries will have much merit at all.
Gael
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Chronic or acute inflammation for ANY reason can interfer with the sodium channels in the brain. With any swelling, will come sodium retention.
Various infections, including lyme, other tick-borne infections (including parasites) . . . heavy metals . . . gluten intolerance . . . mold reactions . . . MCS . . . can all interfer in this way.
Adrenal dysfunction (also with kidey stress) can be involved. Liver stress, too, if the body is not able to move out waste products effectively.
Trauma, too. Even slight bumps to the head can cause swelling (as in soccer balls, or walikng into a door jam, etc.).
The wrong kind of salt in the diet - and processed foods - may also be a contributing factor.
Not a complete search, of course, just two abstracts I just stumbled upon at PubMed that hold some interest:
Rapid sodium channel augmentation in response to inflammation . . .
. . . Thus, the regulation of sodium channel synthesis may play a role in the generation and maintenance of the hyperesthetic state seen in chronic inflammation. . . .
& regarding low grade inflammation and a cousin to Bb:
Delayed Invasion of the Kidney and Brain by Borrelia crocidurae in Plasminogen-Deficient Mice
Sep 2001 - authors at link - from Sweden
Excerpts:
. . . The frequency of spirochete dissemination from the blood to brain was high: 93.3% in plg+/+ and 53.3% in plg−/− mice with brain invasion and 86.7% in plg+/+ and 60% in plg−/− mice with kidney invasion.
For brain, the numbers of mice with spirochetes associated with vessels on day 2 p.i. were the same, i.e., two in each group, and no apparent difference between the mouse groups was noted in the numbers of spirochetes associated with vessels at this stage.
Despite this fact, a higher percentage of all spirochetes detected in brain were located extravascularly in plg+/+ mice than in plg−/− mice on day 2 p.i.
This finding may indicate that the association with, and possibly adhesion to, vessels is the same whether Plg is present or not and that the Plg-related difference is to be found in the actual barrier crossing. . . .
. . . Thus, the findings indicate that spirochete invasion in low numbers may lead to absence of invasion sequelae, masking a process during which the asymptomatic individual may acquire Borrelia persistently residing in tissues.
The extent to which spirochetes residing in low numbers are
*** associated with low-grade inflammation that does not manifest as clinical symptoms ****
and the extent to which such spirochetes may cause a more significant inflammation at a later stage are unclear at this point. . . . -
[ 04-11-2013, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posted by annxyzz (Member # 20404) on :
For the sake of those suffering, let's pray they find ANSWERS ! I have had four friends suffer terribly with this . One died at young age , the others function very poorly and need constant care . Whden I think my life is hard , I remember their trials. Thank you keebler !
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- In the meantime, and while addressing the causes, what helps? Magnesiusm & Fish Oil.
And the scientist theorize that a defect/mutation in a protein called the huntingtin protein may be weakening the brain cells ability to pump out excess sodium from the brain.......(the huntingtin protein exists in everybody.) Your brain cells will normally try to pump out excess levels of sodium. But if there is a brain protein defect then the brain cells cannot pump out this excess of sodium and thus sodium can buildup in the brain.
Quote from the top link:
"Because of the salty environment that our brain cells live in, they constantly need to pump out excess sodium, in order to maintain the right level.
One effect of the mutant huntingtin protein that causes Huntington's disease may be to weaken cells' ability to pump out excess sodium. That would cause sodium levels in Huntington's disease brain cells to be higher than normal. It could also affect how well the cells work.
Another possible explanation for the increased sodium concentration in Huntington's disease is that the mutant protein is causing brain cells to die.
So when the scanner looks at a particular brain area, it will contain fewer cells, and more of the highly salty fluid between cells. That means that the average salt concentration in the brain area will be higher."