http://www.leaderpost.com/health/Walk+renews+debate+liberation+therapy/9782560/story.html

When Jayme Pfeifer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in March 2013, everything changed for the Regina-based lawyer.

"I shut down. I was a zombie for eight months. It was not something that I easily absorbed," said Pfeifer, 29, one of the participants in Sunday's MS walk at Wascana Park hosted by the MS Society of Canada (Saskatchewan branch). By 10 a.m., about 640 people registered for the event. Last year, the walk raised about $190,000 in Regina and $650,000 across the province.

Multiple sclerosis, a disease that attacks the central nervous system, can affect anyone at any age.
But the most common ages are between 15 and 40. Roughly 3,500 people in Saskatchewan and 100,000 people in Canada have MS.

In September, the Saskatchewan government's plan to enrol 86 MS patients in a liberation therapy phase-three clinical trial in Albany, N.Y., fell apart when the principal investigator stopped the study due to low enrolment. The province set aside more than $2.2 million for the study. Liberation therapy, a procedure that widens veins in the neck, has been questioned for its effectiveness and whether narrow neck veins are related to the disease.

A month later, the government indicated it was still interested in finding another liberation therapy clinical trial for patients. On Friday, attempts to speak with an official from the Ministry of Heath to see if this is still the government's position were unsuccessful.

Pfeifer was asked if she would be willing to try liberation therapy.

"If it doesn't hurt, (then) why not. Why wouldn't you try it? ... There is a lot of controversy around it, but ultimately, I've talked to people that it's helped and I think that's excellent," she said.
"If it has made their standard of living a little better, if it has helped them be able to walk a little easier, be in less pain on a daily basis, then why are there so many obstacles to something that's obviously helped people in such a huge way?" Pfeifer added that she doesn't think liberation therapy is a cure for MS, but it is "one way of coping with symptoms." She explained more research needs to be done to find ways to alleviate symptoms and ultimately a cure beyond liberation therapy because MS affects people differently.

"The same treatment does not work the same way on everyone, and it's trial and effort mostly," she said.

Virginia Harper, communications manager for the MS Society of Canada (Saskatchewan branch), said the organization is providing funding into research to see whether liberation therapy is effective. She agreed that an obstacle is that the disease affects everyone differently, so treatment options and medication need to be determined on an individual basis with a patient's health care provider.
Pfeifer says that living with MS is difficult. "I think I have my symptoms and health under control and then all of a sudden I develop a new symptom. And there is really nothing that can be done."

The pain and fatigue she experiences have also made it difficult for her to type on her computer keyboard. To accommodate, Pfeifer's employer. Kanuka Thuringer LLP. provided her with a software program and a microphone so she can use her computer and send emails vocally.

Since being diagnosed, Pfeifer has made a few changes in her life, including eating healthier, exercising and participating in yoga. She has also joined a support group to help her deal with the effects of MS.

"I think attitude makes a really big difference. If I wake up and I dwell on the fact that I'm in pain and my health is declining, then it makes the day a lot harder than if I have a positive attitude," she said.