© 2008 by Betty A. Iams

MISSION STATEMENT

It is the mission of Betty's House to help all people with Multiple Sclerosis believe that they need not be a victim of MS, but rather that they can be a victor; that they can be "enabled" by their MS rather than "disabled," and that the choice is up to them.

MY NAME IS BETTY IAMS, AND I HAVE MS.  I WELCOME YOU TO MY HOUSE.  I AM DELIGHTED TO SHARE MY VERY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE.   FROM MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AND THE FEAR AND HOPELESSNESS I FELT AT DIAGNOSIS, TO DEVELOPING A SUCCESSFUL HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR MYSELF AND A WHOLE NEW LIFE.  TODAY MY "UNINVITED GUEST," WHICH IS WHAT I CHOOSE TO CALL MY MS, IS A RELATIVELY INSIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN MY LIFE. I HOPE MY STORY MAY BE BENEFICIAL TO ALL WHO VISIT BETTY'S HOUSE. 

There is a lot of information at Betty's House.  Please stay awhile, bookmark the site, and visit often.  Please check out the "What You'll Find at Betty's House" contents below for details of all the information here, including recommended exercise DVDs, diet and nutrition, etc.

I believe proper exercise, basically stretching without overheating the body, together with deep breathing, is absolutely essential if we are to successfully manage MS and prevent its natural tendency to progress.  I also believe that diet must be an essential part of a successful wellness program to manage MS.

Be sure to subscribe to my monthly e-mailed newsletter, Journey to Wellness, below, and read the current issue here.  You may also check out the archives of recent issues below.

Betty

NOW AVAILABLE - NEW E-BOOK

Four Steps to Overcoming
Multiple Sclerosis 

by
BETTY IAMS

Preview here

  Don't miss "Suggestions for the Newly Diagnosed"  This section is a summarized guide to a holistic approach to managing MS.

   The book I wrote in 1997, "From MS to Wellness,"  is still available and relevant.  Preview here.

Click here for ordering information
for From MS to Wellness and Four Steps to Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis

WHAT YOU'LL FIND AT BETTY'S HOUSE:

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How it all began:

At 55 years of age, divorced and in a very successful sales and marketing career, I began to develop a weakness in my right leg.  In retrospect it was really preceded by an increasing bladder control weakness which I at the time attributed to aging, as well as other elusive neurological symptoms, some dating back as far as five or six years.

After being advised by several assorted health care practitioners that the leg weakness related to an old back injury, I continued my hectic life style. After a couple of years, however, during which I noticed some sense of loss of balance and hyper reflexes on my right side, as well as an increase in my right leg weakness, I began a serious search to discover the source of my problem. It became increasingly difficult to continue my state of "denial" when my friends and associates were asking me why I was limping!  My excuse of "new shoes" was getting weak.  And some days I was just too fatigued to make it through a full day.

It took several neurologists and other medical specialists, numerous MRIs and other neurological tests to finally make a diagnosis of Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. That was just two months after my 58^th birthday. I was told I had almost made the record books. It certainly was a distinction I could have done without! MS usually strikes young adults between 20 and 45 years of age.

I was devastated. My mother had experienced her first MS symptoms when I was in my late teens, and she had been confined to a wheelchair for over 30 years. My mother's MS was the relapsing remitting kind (quite different from mine), so her symptoms were not at all similar. I have since learned that no two people experience MS exactly the same way.  MS is a degenerative process wherein the myelin sheath surrounding the spinal chord and brain develops lesions or hardened areas called a sclerosis (scar), hence the name multiple sclerosis, or many scars. The individual symptoms vary widely depending on severity and location of the lesions.

Please stay with me - the story is all up hill from here!

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My Search for Meaning and Answers:

I believe the human body is designed to heal itself. Science calls this the Spontaneous Healing Response. When you cut your finger you can easily see this automatic healing taking place. And your body doesn't know the difference in healing a cut finger and something you or I would consider far more difficult to heal. It is only our perception that makes one hard and the other easy. I believe the body has its own innate intelligence, separate from our conscious mind, and it knows what is wrong and how to correct (heal) itself.  The person who has relapsing remitting MS experiences this healing response during a period of remission.

I believe we all possess a Spirit which is connected inexorably to the one Universal Divine Presence. I believe that at some level we all create our reality. Because of that deeply embedded belief, and after being told by my neurologist that there was/is absolutely nothing allopathic medicine can do for primary progressive MS, I began to search for alternative possibilities. 

I tried just about everything, and the first year and a half spent over $20,000 - all to finally reach the all-important conclusion that the answers I needed were all inside of me!  I researched medical literature. I surfed the Internet for weeks and months on end. I downloaded reams of scientific data. I read every research paper I learned about.  In a few months I came to know more about the MS degenerative process than any neurologist I have yet talked to. 

The important things I learned were:

First: Voila! There are things I can do to stave off advancement of this degenerative disorder. Well, needless to say, I was sure glad to learn that!  I share them with you through the pages of this website, and more importantly each month through my Journey to Wellness newsletter.  Be sure to preview the latest issue below.

Second: The most important thing I learned early on to do for myself was to meditate each day, and thereby "tune in" to the infinite part of my nature. I call it the God within, but whatever one calls it does not matter.   I just know that the process changed my life in a very positive way.  I recommend it for everyone.  Meditation is also widely accepted by the medical community as a very effective way to reduce stress.  If you would like some help with meditation, and you are serious about it, send me an e-mail and I'll send you some help in getting started.  Contact

Third:  I discovered the healing powers of QiGong (chi gung), the healing form of Tai Chi, and later Yoga.  They are great healing tools for anyone, and especially persons with limited mobility.  Be sure to check out the information on the exercise videos I use.  Videos

What I believe Today About MS

I guess everyone who lives with MS develops their own theory or theories about the cause or causes of MS.   If dealing with MS, first with my mother for over 40 years, and now myself for the past over 13 years, plus many, many hundreds of hours studying everything I can get my hands on about not only MS but auto-immune problems in general, classifies me as an expert, then I believe I am entitled to an opinion on what it is not, as well as what it is.

First of all, I do not believe MS is either an illness or a disease, as we generally define those words.  I believe it is rather a degenerative process, and a syndrome of otherwise unexplained neurological symptoms, most usually sharing the characterization of lesions (hardened areas) in the myelin which insulates the spinal cord and/or brain. I also believe that what we call MS today is probably a group of different but closely related neurological problems.

I believe the cause/causes are multifaceted.  I think that given an underlying genetic predisposition or factor which is not yet fully understood, there are a number of triggers which can precipitate the presentation of from one to several neurological symptoms which ultimately are called Multiple Sclerosis.  I believe some of these triggers are societal, while others are personal.

Some of those common triggers are stressors of various kinds - psychological, environmental toxins, food allergies, physical traumas, etc.  Sometimes it seems that several of these stressors being present at a given time, when an underlying predisposition exists, pushes the body "over the edge" and we end up with a diagnosis of MS.  In other words, it is simply lifestyle related.  As with many other physical disorders, MS is a demonstration of a body out of bio-chemical balance.  The challenge, of course, is how to return our body to a state of perfect balance, or homeostasis.

Because there is no single cause of MS, there will, in my opinion, never be a real cure, until the genetic predisposition is unraveled.  Most scientific and allopathic medical research into MS has been directed toward a "magic bullet," which after hundreds of millions of research dollars has failed miserably to help the vast majority of people with MS.  Given the unfortunate status of MS research today, those of us who live with it as part of our daily lives are on our own.  Fortunately genetic research is today beginning to open the door to understanding a whole host of physical challenges which have a genetic origin of some kind.

But for now, in order to manage MS where we can live relatively normal, healthy lives  ­ -  and I truly believe that we can do that  ­ -  we need a multi-faceted approach.  In the "Suggestions for the Newly Diagnosed" section of this website, you will find an extensive guide for starting on a holistic program to manage what we call MS.   Actually, this information applies equally to both the newly diagnosed and the person who has dealt with MS for a longer period of time.  The earlier one begins this program after the onset of MS symptoms, however, the better our chances of preventing major neurological damage.

I also strongly recommend this program for anyone with any degenerative or auto-immune physical challenge.  I believe all will respond positively to this program. 

Note about Stem Cells:  The research world and media is abuzz with conjecture regarding the potential for treating many disorders, including multiple sclerosis, by implanting stem cells.  It remains to be seen whether this potential promise materializes.  I continue to watch news of this research.

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Subscribe to Journey to Wellness Newsletter:   I invite you to subscribe to my JOURNEY TO WELLNESS monthly newsletter.  It is free; a notice is delivered to you by e-mail each month when it is posted at this website.  It contains lots of information to help us all live healthier, happier lives with MS.  Just enter your e-mail address below. Please also know that I fully respect your privacy. Your email address is never sold, shared or traded. My publisher will unsubscribe you upon your request.

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JOURNEY TO WELLNESS ARCHIVES:

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Current Updates and Contact Information:

Betty Iams  o  Davis, California  o  USA
Contact:

PLEASE NOTE:   I AM NOT A MEDICALLY TRAINED PERSON, AND I DO NOT GIVE MEDICAL ADVICE.  BUT I HAVE BEEN A VERY SERIOUS STUDENT OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS FOR MANY YEARS, AND I HAVE DEVELOPED A PROGRAM THAT KEEPS ME RELATIVELY SYMPTOM FREE, ABOUT 15 YEARS NOW SINCE PRIMARY PROGRESSIVE MS FIRST MADE ITS APPEARANCE IN MY LIFE.

Biographical Information:

My name is Betty Iams (yes, just like the pet food company!), I am retired, and I live in Davis, California, USA.  I have a small but wonderfully supportive family.  My daughter-in-law Christine together with my twelve-year-old grandson Zachary also live nearby in Davis, which is near Sacramento.  Chris is a human resources executive.  Zachary is a great and wonderful joy who never ceases to amaze and delight me.  He is getting to be quite a young man.  I was born for the grandmother role!  My daughter Evonne also lives in California.  She is single, also has MS, and works for a major corporation.

LAST UPDATED 4/13/08

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PLEASE VISIT THESE FRIENDS ON THE INTERNET:

  Ashton Embry's Essay on Diet and MS http://www.DIRECT-MS.org