Dear Editor,
Do you have a diagnosed medical condition with no known cure? If there were a treatment that improves your quality of life that can and has been done in a British Columbia hospital would you as a BC resident expect that treatment to be available to you? Well if you, as I do, have multiple Sclerosis you cannot get treated for a circulatory problem that slows or restricts blood flow from exiting the brain and spinal column.
CCSVI, Chronic Cerebral Spinal Venous Insufficiency, is a blood flow problem. Nothing more. It’s not like some magical mid-century autoimmune theory, as endorsed by those who live off MS, Multiple Sclerosis.
We all know that reduced blood flow in any part of your body, causes problems. Let us pretend we are talking about Venous Insufficiency only. Pull MS out of the equation. Let us say you simply want to gather as much information on this condition as possible. Would you only go to Neurologists to learn about a vascular issue? Of course not. No one would do that. It’s not a medical issue Neurologists are trained in. They are experts on the nervous system, not the vascular system.
If you were doing a High School science project on blood flow complications, and based it on data gathered from Neurologists, you would get an F. The teacher would say that your story lacks credibility, because you failed to engage any vascular experts, to support what you wrote in your school paper.
Sadly, this is exactly what we have seen unfold in many reports on this issue. The CCSVI articles are hard hitting and far from balanced. For some reason, they are not able to report on a vascular issue, using information gathered from blood flow experts. This only adds to the confusion and keeps those of us wanting treatment and follow up care from getting the treatment that we need.
As we have seen so often, the same worn-out talking points surface, to discredit Dr. Zamboni and to prop up roadblocks to investigation, treatment and hope. This is the first treatment that I have undergone since my diagnosis in 1982 that actually gave me some very significant symptom improvements that the drugs that I tried did not.
I recognise the need for patient safety. I also recognise that angioplasty has been performed since 1974 when Andreas Gruentzig performed first peripheral human balloon angioplasty. It is performed daily in hospitals all over Canada. If MS is in your medical portfolio you can’t have it done regardless if there is a stenosis. Discrimination? I’m not a lawyer or legal professional but I smell a rat.
We are right in the middle of a big medical paradigm shift. We are seeing power struggles unfold. Those that continue to reap huge profits from the current treatment regime seem to me to be holding on to whatever they can to keep the MS patients on their list. Their livelihood depends on keeping us unhealthy.
People from coast to coast simply need a safe angioplasty treatment that’s freely offered to any other Canadian, who is not wearing an MS armband. Sadly roadblocks exist. Warning shots have been fired across the bows of GP’s and IR’s, to not allow people with MS, access to Doppler testing, MRV’s, and Vascular Doctor referrals for angioplasty treatment. It seems like 75,000 Canadians are not allowed to have normal blood flow from the main organ that controls our body.
Over 2,000 people are being treated each month, for real and documented Venous Insufficiency conditions. The cat is out of the bag. Many of these “experts” who live off MS continue to say that CCSVI doesn’t even exist, and latch on to any bogus study that says so.
Many CCSVI clinics have already opened in America. One clinic I know has 12-IR’s doing this procedure. 100’s of Canadians stream across the border every week, to get a simple treatment that provides more benefit than any other MS treatment. This is crystal clear to everyone treated and you can bet Big Pharma knows this too.
Those who oppose CCSVI will look back with great shame. Their day is coming when a vast majority in society will never forgive them for the needless suffering they have imposed. We will remember your names, your political agendas, and your bullshit arguments. You enabled roadblocks and denied precious hope from the very people who need it most.
Chris Hambruch,
Golden, B.C.
http://www.bclocalnews.com/opinion/letters/123856029.html