There are two completely different worlds coexisting in multiple sclerosis.

In one world, people are told that the cause of MS is unknown, there is no cure, and the goal is to manage the disease and hopefully slow its progression.

But there is another world.

More and more people are questioning whether symptom management is the only path available to them. They are changing their diets, investigating what may be driving inflammation, looking at their gut health, examining infections and other underlying factors, and taking a much more active role in their health.

And more people diagnosed with MS are living active, healthy, normal lives decades later.

 

How can both of those realities exist at the same time?

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 28.

At the time, I only knew the first world.

I had severe optic neuritis and other neurological symptoms. I was told that the cause was unknown and there was no cure. I accepted that because I did not know there was anything else to question.

Then my mother-in-law gave me a book called The Yeast Connection.

For the first time, I was introduced to the possibility that Candida and other chronic infections might be connected with chronic illness.

That opened the door to a much bigger question:

What if something is driving the immune activation and inflammation we see in MS?

That question changed the direction of my life.

Over the years, I began following research into inflammation, vascular dysfunction, the gut microbiome, Candida, fungi, Lyme disease and Borrelia, protozoa, worms, parasites, neurological lesions, and other factors that rarely seemed to be discussed together.

Eventually, a much bigger picture began to emerge.

This article is the roadmap.

Over the next several weeks, I am going to take you through the research one piece at a time.

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988 at the age of 28 and have lived free of MS symptoms for more than 37 years. Over that time I have coached thousands of people navigating MS and other chronic diseases, and have spent nearly four decades following research that standard care rarely discusses. What I share in this series comes from that journey.

Clue #1: Inflammation in Multiple Sclerosis

The first clue is obvious, but the question behind it is often overlooked.

MS is an inflammatory condition.

The immune system is activated. Inflammation occurs in the brain and spinal cord, and that inflammation is associated with changes to myelin and nerve tissue.

But inflammation tells us that something is happening.

It does not automatically tell us why it is happening.

That led me to a very simple question:

What is driving the inflammation?

That question became the starting point for everything else.

Clue #2: Vascular Dysfunction in MS

The second clue is the vascular system.

There is a strong relationship between MS lesions and veins. Blood-brain barrier dysfunction is part of the MS disease process, and vascular involvement in multiple sclerosis has been investigated for over a century.

Research has also reported brain microbleeds in people with MS and increased rates of vascular and cardiovascular problems, including stroke, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and heart disease.

So I began asking:

Why are the blood vessels so involved in MS?

That becomes particularly important later in this series when we look at infections and organisms that can affect blood cells, circulation, blood vessels, and the blood-brain barrier.

Clue #3: Gut Dysbiosis and Multiple Sclerosis

Then there is the gut.

Research has found increased digestive problems in people who later develop MS, sometimes years before their first neurological event.

Constipation is extremely common in people with multiple sclerosis. Irritable bowel syndrome is also common.

Researchers consistently report differences in the gut microbiome of people with MS, including reductions in some protective bacteria and greater microbial imbalance, commonly called gut dysbiosis.

Inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis also occur together often enough that researchers continue to investigate the relationship.

That made me wonder whether we were making a mistake by looking at every symptom and diagnosis as a separate problem.

What if some of the things we call separate health problems are not separate at all?

I often explain dysbiosis using the example of an overgrown garden.

Once a garden becomes unhealthy, you rarely find one weed.

You find many.

The entire ecosystem has changed.

That concept eventually became extremely important as I started looking at infections.

Clue #4: Many Different Parasites Can Cause CNS Lesions

This was one of the biggest clues for me.

Most people with multiple sclerosis are very familiar with the word lesion.

But lesions are not unique to MS.

Medical research already documents multiple infectious organisms and parasites capable of invading the brain or spinal cord and producing inflammation and neurological lesions.

These are not all one type of parasite.

They include protozoa, roundworms, tapeworms, and flukes.

Examples documented in the medical literature include:

• Tapeworm larvae associated with neurocysticercosis
• Toxoplasma gondii
• Toxocara
• Filarial worms
• Schistosoma
• Trypanosoma

Broader neurological reviews describe still more parasitic infections capable of affecting the central nervous system.

Depending on the organism, these infections can produce inflammatory lesions, white matter changes, cysts, granulomas, vascular inflammation, neurological symptoms, and in some circumstances demyelination.

If many different infections and parasites are already known to cause lesions in the brain and spinal cord, have infections like these ever been investigated in people with multiple sclerosis?

That question opened another door.

What If the Immune System Is Responding to Something?

Once you start putting these clues together, another question becomes difficult to ignore.

What if the immune system is not simply malfunctioning?

What if the immune activity seen in MS is a response to something?

Before reaching any conclusion, we need to look at the evidence.

And that is exactly what this series is going to do.

The MS Infection Roadmap

When I began following the infection research, four broad categories kept appearing:

Fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and worms.

This was the point when I realized the investigation was much larger than Candida.

1. Candida, Fungi, and Multiple Sclerosis

Fungus was where my search began almost 40 years ago.

Candida was the first chronic infection I investigated after reading The Yeast Connection.

Since then, research has continued examining fungi in relation to neurological and chronic inflammatory disease.

Studies have reported a higher incidence of Candida in people with MS, including findings involving Candida in the blood and central nervous system. Fungal material has also been reported inside brain cells.

Candida also produces metabolites and fungal toxins that can influence inflammation and human physiology.

The question is not simply whether Candida alone explains multiple sclerosis.

The larger question is whether fungal infection and fungal dysbiosis could be one piece of the inflammatory burden in some people with MS.

We will dedicate an entire episode to Candida, fungi, fungal overgrowth, and multiple sclerosis.

2. Lyme Disease, Borrelia, Spirochetes, and MS

The bacterial research goes back much further than most people realize.

Investigations into spirochetes and multiple sclerosis date back to 1911.

Historical researchers in countries including France, Germany, and England reported spirochete-like organisms in people with MS.

More than 50 MS-spirochete references appeared before World War II.

Researchers reported organisms associated with MS brain lesions and nervous system tissue. Some investigators isolated spirochete-like organisms and studied them in animal models.

I want to understand why researchers were investigating spirochetes in MS for decades in the first place.

Today we also know that Lyme neuroborreliosis can involve the central nervous system and can produce neurological symptoms and white matter abnormalities that overlap with MS.

Pathologist Dr. Alan MacDonald has also reported Borrelia in central nervous system material associated with people who had MS.

In this series, we will look carefully at Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, spirochetes, demyelination, MS lesions, cerebrospinal fluid, and more than a century of MS infection research.

3. Protozoa, Malaria-Like Organisms, Babesia, and MS

Then I found another line of historical research.

Protozoa

Research from the late 1800s and early 1900s explored malaria-like organisms in neurological disease, including multiple sclerosis.

Historical physicians also reported changes in some people with MS who were given medications used against malaria, which led researchers to investigate malaria-like organisms more closely.

This became especially interesting to me after learning about the vascular abnormalities in MS.

Plasmodium, the protozoan responsible for malaria, infects red blood cells.

Babesia, another protozoan infection, also infects red blood cells.

When red blood cells are infected or altered, that can have consequences for circulation and vascular function.

Suddenly, two areas of research that initially seemed unrelated began to intersect:

protozoal infection and vascular dysfunction.

That is why an entire episode will examine protozoa, Babesia, malaria-like organisms, red blood cells, vascular inflammation, and multiple sclerosis.

4. Worms and Helminths

The worm research expanded the picture even further.

Again, this is not one organism.

There are multiple groups of worms that can interact with human tissues in very different ways.

 

Filarial Worms

Pathologist Dr. Alan MacDonald reported finding filarial-type nematode larvae in cerebrospinal fluid from people who had confirmed MS diagnoses.

He described larvae, eggs, worm fragments, clusters, and other structures.

In his broader series, he reported finding filarial-type worms in every MS subject he examined.

That is why I believe MacDonald’s work deserves much more attention and independent study.

 

Larger Roundworms

Larger roundworms provide another important part of the roadmap because we already know that certain roundworm larvae can invade the nervous system.

Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati, associated with dogs and cats, can cause neurotoxocariasis.

Research has documented inflammatory and white matter brain lesions associated with these infections.

There is also research examining associations between Toxocara exposure and multiple sclerosis.

For many people, this completely changes the idea that neurological parasitic disease is something confined to faraway tropical countries.

We will look at Toxocara, roundworms, childhood animal exposure, neurological infection, demyelination, and MS in its own episode.

 

Tapeworms and Neurocysticercosis

Tapeworm larvae provide one of the clearest examples of a parasite causing neurological disease.

Neurocysticercosis is a medically recognized infection caused when tapeworm larvae form cysts in the central nervous system.

Those cysts can produce inflammation, seizures, neurological symptoms, and brain lesions.

Neurocysticercosis has been called a neurological “great imitator” because its presentation can resemble other diseases.

Published medical literature has specifically discussed the diagnostic challenge of differentiating neurocysticercosis from multiple sclerosis in some patients.

MacDonald has also published observations of tapeworm larval structures in cerebrospinal fluid collected at autopsy from people who had MS.

Those specific MS findings require independent replication.

But neurocysticercosis itself is not controversial.

Parasite-induced brain lesions are established medicine.

That is what makes the question so important.

 

Flukes and the Nervous System

Flukes provide yet another example.

Certain Schistosoma species can affect the spinal cord or brain.

Neurological schistosomiasis can produce myelopathy, weakness, sensory changes, bladder dysfunction, mobility problems, seizures, and inflammatory lesions.

Other flukes can occasionally migrate outside the organs they normally inhabit and reach other tissues, including the nervous system.

Once again, the point is not that one particular fluke explains every case of multiple sclerosis.

The point is that multiple entirely different parasitic organisms are already medically recognized as capable of affecting the nervous system.

And that brings us to the bigger picture.

 

What If Different People Are Dealing With Different Drivers?

At the beginning of my journey, I was looking for one answer.

One infection.

One cause.

But the more research I followed, the more difficult it became to believe that every person diagnosed with MS must be dealing with one identical underlying problem.

That brings us back to the garden.

If the microbial ecosystem has become dysbiotic, one person may be dealing with a different combination of microbial problems than another.

• Fungi.
• Bacteria.
• Protozoa.
• Worms.
• Gut imbalance.
• Vascular problems.
• Environmental toxins.
• Nutritional deficiencies.

Different combinations may create different burdens in different people.

That does not make the situation hopeless.

It actually helps us to understand where to look.

Instead of asking only:

“What causes MS?”

I believe we also need to ask:

“What is driving the disease process in me?”

That is the question that changed how I approached my own health.

Why I Believe the Second World Matters

I have now lived nearly four decades since my MS diagnosis while continuing to live an active, healthy, normal life.

But my story is not the only reason I continue to investigate this.

Over the years, I have coached thousands of people, including people who have made profound changes in their health and maintained those changes for years.

People like Terri and Melissa.

Wellness Champions who returned to walking, working, traveling, caring for their families, exercising, and participating in everyday life in ways they once feared they were losing.

Their experiences do not prove that every person with MS has the same underlying identical problem.

They show us that the future may not be as fixed as people are sometimes led to believe.

And they give us a reason to keep investigating what changed.

The Live Disease Free Recovery Roadmap

After years of doing this work, the general path I use can be summarized in four steps.

1. The Live Disease Free Diet – Stop feeding the problem

Start with the Live Disease Free diet.

The Live Disease Free Diet greatly reduces food for the infections while supplying the nutrient-dense whole foods your body needs to restore energy, stabilize blood sugar, support digestion, and calm immune dysfunction. When this diet is followed properly, people can begin to notice improvements in mental clarity, balance, energy, digestive health, sleep, pain, and many other symptoms in as little as two weeks or less.

This is why food is the first place I begin.

2. Support the Body

That includes:

• Adequate sleep
• Good nutrition
• Hydration
• Regular bowel movements
• Support physiology
• Reducing  environmental toxins

3. Investigate Underlying Drivers

This is where the process becomes more individual.

Different people may need to investigate different combinations of gut problems, infections, nutritional deficiencies, environmental exposures, vascular factors, and other potential contributors with appropriate professional support.

4. Maintain Optimal Health

Health is not something we work on for a few weeks and then forget.

The habits that create a healthier internal environment need to become part of how we live.

Where Can You Start Today?

You do not have to wait until you understand every study in this series before you begin supporting your body.

For me, the first practical step is the Live Disease Free Diet.

It is designed to create a healthier internal environment while supporting nutrition, digestion, bowel function, and metabolic health.

Over the coming weeks, I will explain much more about why diet is such an important foundation.

Diet is not the whole plan. But it is where I would start.

Where This Series Is Going

This article is only the roadmap.

Over the coming weeks, we are going to start with the most established pieces of the puzzle and progressively go deeper.

We will investigate:

1. The Biggest Cause of MS: The Roadmap – this topic
2. The Theory of Autoimmunity vs Dysbiosis
3. MS and Gut Problems
4. The Live Disease Free Diet: Why Food Is the First Step
5. MS Is a Vascular Disorder
6. MS and Lactic Acid
7. MS and Fungus
8. MS and Lyme Disease
9. MS and Malaria, Babesia-Type Protozoa
10. MS and Filarial Worms
11. MS and Large Roundworms
12. MS and Tapeworms
13. MS and Flukes
14. Parasites Cause Brain Lesions
15. MS and Viruses: Epstein-Barr
16. Why Doesn’t Standard Testing Catch This?
17. The Live Disease Free Plan: A Step-by-Step Approach to Recovery
18. Meet the Wellness Champions

This research exists. It has been published. It deserves to be examined. I have spent nearly four decades studying it, and I have seen what becomes possible when people start asking different questions and taking a different path.

That is why I am sharing it. I am not asking you to take my word for it. I am asking you to look at the evidence with me.

Which World Will You Choose?

So let’s return to where we started.

There are two worlds coexisting in MS.

One says the cause is unknown, there is no cure, and the best you can do is manage the disease and hope to slow its progression.

The other asks a different question:

What if there are underlying factors we can investigate and change so that we can take back our health and our life?

More and more people are choosing to ask that question and choosing a new path.

They are learning about inflammation.

They are supporting their gut.

They are changing their diet.

They are investigating and treating infections and other possible underlying drivers.

They are becoming active participants in their own health.

They are experiencing changes that they thought was impossible.

That is the world I chose.

It is the world I have been living in for nearly four decades.

And it is the world I want to show you over the coming weeks.

You do not have to accept that your future has already been decided.

You can keep asking questions.

You can keep learning.

You can start supporting your body today.

And you can choose the path that leads to meaningful recovery.

There are real solutions to recover from parasites today!

To restore health, we must focus on treating the cause of inflammation, which are parasites. First, identify the enemy (parasites), then support the body and treat the parasites while following a holistic approach. When parasitic infections are treated effectively, we can overcome inflammation or disease.

If you’re frustrated with the fact that our standard of care STILL doesn’t offer a real solution for treating MS and other diseases, then click on the link below to watch Pam Bartha’s free masterclass training and discover REAL solutions that have allowed Pam and many others to live free from MS and other diseases.

CLICK Here to watch Pam’s masterclass training

* Each of the above topics will be presented weekly and references for each topic will be provided with the topic.