Since my last post was about serotonin deficiency and MS, I thought I should write  about Sara’s story, who was treated successfully by Dr. Brunes. Her MS treatment was based on her  symptoms of low  serotonin (relative to norepinephrine).

Sara’s story comes from Dr Brunes book “Blurred Signals.”I talked about Dr. Brunes method of treating MS in this article. 

Classical symptoms of  serotonin deficiency (relative to norepinephrine)

  • Restless, depressed mood (which can be expressed as anger)

  • Fatigue due to sleeping problems

  • Obsessive, negative  thoughts following the same pattern

  • Constantly worried

  • Lack of impulse control

  • Pain  

  • Dizziness

  • Loss of appetite

Sara met first Dr. Brunes at age  45, two years after she received the diagnosis of MS.

She worked as a teacher in Copenhagen. According to Sara, her job can be quite demanding at times, but she used to enjoy it. She was a popular teacher, children and colleagues alike enjoyed working with her. Sara also enjoyed her job, interacting with children and colleagues. She felt is valuable and needed at work. However, she started to feel less enthusiastic about her job. She later experienced pain as well as tingling in her legs, which would be aggravated by fatigue. She tried some pain medication, but with no success. Sleeping troubles further worsen her condition. She would have repetitive thoughts about her aunt who had a hard time dealing with her condition (MS). Her doctor recommended painkillers to manage her pain, yet these pills made her feel more tired.

She reveals a trauma from her childhood: her father used to abuse alcohol, and her mother would deny his drinking problems. Sara’s reaction was to hide in her room, and feel shame. She never told anyone about her father, and kept his alcohol abuse as a deep secret.

As a child, Sara ate a lot of sweets, thus taking frequent trips to the dentist, who used amalgam fillings.  

Sara is sympathetic, and has a vibrant personality. She was a great student in college, got a job afterwards and got married. One year later, she had her first baby. Her husband was travelling often for work, and Sara was wondering whether or not he has affairs. At this time she experienced strange, constant feelings in her legs, as ants were crawling up her legs. Her sleep was not restful, so she started to take sleeping pills. Her husband changed his work, traveled less and got to spend more time with Sara. After a while, Sara noticed her husband has the same problem as her father: drinking problems. She could not accept the idea to live like her mother, hiding this issue. Tried working with a psychologist and gave her husband two options: either stop drinking or get divorced. He chose the second option.  

Sara felt a huge relief as she felt in control of her life. She felt strong, become more active and those strange feelings in the legs disappeared. Her sleep improved as well.

Her biggest concern was that her daughter was growing older, and needed a father. Sara admits she always wanted to be in control. She would not allow her daughter to have too much freedom and always checked on her, feeling distressed if her daughter would want to sleep over some friends.

Her second husband, very supportive and calm made Sara feel happy again. At the time of the consultation, she was married with her second husband for 10 years.  She enjoyed giving up control, as her husband would take care of all the responsibilities. The couple welcomes a second baby, a boy. After his birth, Sara noticed again symptoms in her legs, as well as a feeling of having a tight band around her waist. The band would feel so tight at times, to the point of interfering with her breathing. She had some investigations done, but no diagnosis made, so her doctor recommended more sleeping pills and painkillers.

Her symptoms, particularly the pains in the legs and the pressure around her waist made her visit more doctors, and the neurologist confirmed the diagnosis of MS.  

 

Dr Brunes  comments

Sara’s pain, unusual feelings in the legs, sleeping issues , along with her restless mind and repetitive thoughts support  serotonin deficiency (with a relative increase in dopamine and norepinephrine ). Keeping the secret (her father’s alcohol abuse) likely contributed to her need of to be control, which creates anxiety and further promotes serotonin deficiency.  The mercury from amalgam fillings also affect serotonin levels.

Dr. Brunes recommended a treatment plan which included serotonin support. Sara also started psychotherapy, which helped her deal with the need of being in control, and being more relaxed. Sara had her amalgam fillings removed.

Sara’s story,  following  Dr. Brunes treatment  is a success story of managing MS.

 

My comments :

We  live in a modern word, with so many medical investigations available. Wondering how come no one thought of  referring Sara to a neurologist. Why did it take so long to get the diagnosis of MS. The symptoms in her legs -of crawling insects is a sign of neuropathic pain, and the MS hug (tightness around her waist) in a young woman living in temperate climate should have been evaluated properly and promptly -within months, not years. 

Secondly, I wish I would have more info about Sara’s health. Any troubles around digestion, any signs of impairment in gut-brain axis ie bloating, changes in bowel movements, issues digesting foods, food sensitivities, etc. Maybe brain fog, too?

Thirdly, I really like  Dr.Brunes approach – how she  treats neurotransmitter imbalances and connects the emotional traumas and the need of being in control (a sign of high dopa/norepi in this case of  serotonin deficiency) with her symptoms. Chronic stress has a huge impact on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the progression of MS (more about stress in another article). 

 

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