To be or Not to be Liberated ? That is the question: (Personally I dislike the word "Liberated", however I'm sure old Bill Shakespeare would have approved !!!)

There has been so much "chatter" about CCSVI lately; skeptical comments abound, expressing doubt and asking for proof - one of the latest from the Quebec College of Physicians. Although surprisingly, Neurologists seem to have gone to ground recently, and we are not seeing many quotes from people like that stalwart naysayer Mark Freedman. Even the dreaded "placebo effect" seems to have died down. We do still however have Colin Rose, but he's just a heart-fart with vein envy (sorry Colin, but if you can refer to Prof Zamboni as a "varicose vein doctor" then I think it only fair that we get to denigrate you too).

Maybe the previously outspoken naysayers are keeping their heads down because so many have been outed as being major beneficiaries of pharmaceutical dollars; perhaps they are even embarrased by their blatant conflict of interests.

But it's not just the naysayers and skeptics that are making the question more difficult. We are seeing more and more accounts of procedures that either didn't provide benefits, or that have resulted in worsening of symptoms. The use of stents and possible clots as a result, and the questions being raised regarding blood thinners are creating scarey situations.

Since the "start" of the whole CCSVI issue (which for probably most of us was the CTV W5 program aired November 2009), even the physicians involved and in favour of the treatment, including Zamboni himself, have all stated the need for more research. That treatment should only be undertaken within the controls of a recognized study. Of course us desperate M.S.er's (and although I am only an "in-law" to MS - it's my wife who is the sufferer but I consider myself one of the family) all began pushing to get treatment, and suddenly Medical Tourism is becoming a booming industry:

"Come to ................ (you can insert pretty much any Country you want - oh except Canada) for Zamboni Protocol CCSVI Treatment: We'll take care of you",

and to prove that they do, the tourism companies post testimonials of how well they provide this treatment.

..........THE WORLDWIDE WEB HAS A LOT TO ANSWER FOR..........

In addition to the naysaying experts, in addition to the sceptic - oops, skeptics, in addition to the physicians in favour of CCSVI but who need to see research and studies, we also now have some serious M.S. sufferers / commentators who are strongly suggesting that patients wait; wait for more research, wait for better treatment procedures anbd science, wait for the follow-up support to be more firmly in place.

Yes, the question To Be or Not To Be Liberated is getting harder to answer every day. And who can you turn to for advice ????

You would think that the M.S. Societies would be the first place, as aren't they the ones who have the slogans "find a cure" and "end MS" emblazoned on their web-site and letter heads. Regretably their reliance and involvement with Neurologists (advisers) puts the Societies way down the list for giving sound / impartial advice on this issue.

How about your Neurologist, the MS Specialist you visit at least once a year. Surely they should be able to give you the truthful and impartial advice you need to make this decision. I'm going to poach a quote from a blog I just read - this comes from Duncan Thornton and it seems to sum up how much advice you'll get from your Neuro:

"No one knows why MS attacks only the nerve cells where it does instead of all over your body; no one knows why it starts or why it seems to go away and then relapse in the early years, or why it creeps along steadily later. No one knows what it will do next. But what your Neurologist does know is that it has nothing to do with blood flow."

Thank you for that Duncan.

So these days it is likely that the best source of information and even advice is the Internet: for that we need to thank our lucky stars for all the sites that have been set up to provide us with a wealth of information - and not just YouTube, although some of the treatment results are wonderful and we do get to see the Doctors discussing the treatment. No here I'm talking about sites like -

CCSVI Locator, CCSVI Alliance, Direct-MS, M.S. Resource Centre, This is MS, and there's probably a lot more that I have visited over the last year or so that I never book-marked.

We owe a huge debt of thanks to the wonderful people who set these sites up and who put so much effort into their up-keep.

Unfortunately, it is up to us, if we are thinking about the treatment, to search for the information to make the decision of to be or not to be. It is necessary to go through the information available to seek out the answers; read all the skeptical responses, read all of the unsuccessful procedures, and then weigh those against the positive impacts treatments have given.

One of the things that to my mind "tips the scales" in favour of CCSVI was the history of this disease (see MS-MRI.Com). Since its first diagnosis, MS was thought to be a blood problem; of course its only in the last 10 / 15 years that "we've" invented the imaging equipment that can show things like the Iron Deposits in the Brain which cause the lesions, equipment that can show the Blood Flow, its Turbulance and its Reflux, and equipment that can allow the surgeon to see the wire in the vein and show how a baloon can open a blocked / narrowsed vein.

Before all that technology became available, some neurological researcher decided that because of his input, a rat showed symptoms similar to M.S. - and Bingo Bango we had the autoimmune theory for this disease. A theory that has never really been proven - thanks Dr Hubbard for exposing this myth - but a theory that has become "the answer". It's a theory on which hundreds of millions of dollars, possibly billions of dollars have been spent to no avail. Sure we now have "Disease Modifying Drugs" which can help SOME symptoms in SOME people SOME of the time, but what I find difficult to understand (I'm being skeptical maybe) is why after all that money and research, why don't we have a cure ? So if anyone wants to be a skeptic, how about turning your attention to the money that's being spent (much of it donated by honest, hardworking people who trust their donations are doing some good in the fight against this disease), money that's going somewhere but not producing any significant results.

Don't get me wrong, healthy skepticism is a must. Why just the other day it was annouced that two women were being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame - two WOMEN !!!! I was skeptical, how could this be ???

Just joking, those two great female atheletes / hockey players - Cammi Granato and Angela James absolutely deserve that recognition for their years of devotion to the sport.

But I also believe that CCSVI as part of the MS disease also deserves recognition. We are seeing more and more World Class Physicians supporting this treatment, Doctors Dake, Haake, Hubbard, MacDonald, Sclafani and Siskin, and I'm sure there are lot more that I should have named - and they are not charlatans, they are not preying on us desperate MS'ers. These Doctors recognize the potential of this treatment, they may not yet fully understand it, but creating proper blood flow from the brain must be a good thing and they believe it will help us.

So before you answer the question, Do your "homework", fully consider the risks (the procedure although simple is still a risk, there is the risk it won't work for you, there is the risk of something going wrong after the treatment and then what will you do), recognise that you might restenos and require another round of treatment. After all that - TO BE OR NOT TO BE LIBERATED, I say TO BE but that's my answer - what do you think ??

To help you in your decision, these words of wisdom: "I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way; So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness."