The Suit Magazine

              So Dr. Brunes takes the time to analyze and treat each individual case, knowing that the warning signs vary widely from person to person, and therefore her treatments must be tailored to the patient.  Sometimes, the solution emphasizes a healthier lifestyle.  “You have to detect what symptoms are connected to which transmitter deficiency or imbalance,” she explained.  “The [neurotransmitters] have to be produced by the brain, and by the nerve cells from precursors you get from the food you eat.  So if you don’t eat good food then you don’t have precursors that are good enough for your transmitter production,” she explained. 
 
              Dr. Brunes said the number of MS cases are staggering. There are an estimated 200 cases of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that are diagnosed each week in the United States.  The most common medical solutions for this chronic disease seem to rely solely upon mainstream pharmaceutical prescriptions.   Swedish doctor Birgitta Brunes, however, has found a more effective, holistic way to treat MS and decrease its symptoms using a combination of traditional medicines and alternative approaches.
 
            She has owned a private practice in Sweden called Brunes Pharm AB for more than 25 years.  At her practice, she works with a method which she created and labeled PNIT (Psycho-Neuro-Immuno-Toxicology), which addresses brain and immune system (changes) resulting from MS.  The disease affects the central nervous system; the body attacks the protective myelin which surrounds nerve fibers, and nerve signals to the brain cannot be transported properly.  Brunes believes that “if it is possible to amplify the signal then a stronger signal will reach its destination despite the leakage from the myelin sheath. The signal can be amplified using medicines with an effect on neurotransmitters.”  In addition, the patient’s mental state is a factor.  According to Brunes, “[MS] is actually not like a disease, it’s more like a state, sometimes you are in a good state and your symptoms hardly show, [but] then if you come into stressful situations or physical [challenges], then the symptoms appear again.  So you can manipulate your symptoms by what you are doing.  And once you start to find out, you become like a detective to see the cause and effect.” 
 
            She delves into each case differently.  “You have to detect what symptoms are connected to which transmitter deficiency or imbalance,” she explained.  “The [neurotransmitters] have to be produced by the brain, and by the nerve cells from precursors you get from the food you eat.  So if you don’t eat good food then you don’t have precursors that are good enough for your transmitter production,” she added.  When Brunes first receives a patient, she asks them a series of questions about how their body is functioning in order to find exactly which neurotransmitters are lacking.  From there, she combines natural precursors, prescription medications, and a diet of amino acids and proteins, in a way that caters to the individual and helps the brain produce more neurotransmitters.  With this method, she says, “you can relieve many MS symptoms from the patient; you can make the bladder start functioning again if it has been dead for some time, and it can make you more energetic, or less sleepy… it [makes] you more happy, or [you’ll have] no sensitivity disturbances or [you’ll get] more strength in your muscles.  So you can address almost everything.”      
 
            Before she treats her patients, however, Brunes offers a 10-day course at a small conference center to inform and educate patients on “psychological factors (feelings, stress etc.), social factors and medical treatment.”  If they choose to begin treatment then the doctors at her practice emphasize constant contact, in order to monitor patients’ status.  “We follow up often – every week or every ten days – and talk to each other about how to decrease or increase the medication and what effects it is giving.  So they are well followed-up with and we are always there to be talked to; that’s also a strength in this kind of treatment,” she said.  This personal attention to individual needs and case details is one of the factors that make Brunes’ methods so unique.  
 
           Brunes’ approach takes into account the physiological factors, the psychological factors, and also the environmental factor.   Brunes explained that different metal allergies make or break a diagnosis.  “Success is very [dependant upon] whether they are metal allergic or not.  Many of our MS patients are nickel allergic, so that makes them more sensitive to other metals as well,” she said.  Amalgam fillings on teeth are one of the most prevalent dangers her patients face.  “Amalgam fillings were considered safe until last August by the FDA.  But last year [the FDA] changed its mind and said it is not suitable for women of child bearing age and for children because of its effects on the brain; dentists were really surprised because they hadn’t had any information on this before,” she said.  She advises MS patients to work around their fillings if they already have them rather than risking a dangerous drilling procedure to remove them.  She also urges people to take the Melisa test, which measures what metal allergies provoke and hurt their own immune systems.  These are lifestyle concerns not only for MS patients, but for the rest of us as well.  The constant increase of mercury in the environment is another factor working against MS patients.  At a recent EU conference, many environmental ministers (including US representatives) gathered to limit the use of mercury, which seems to be increasing consistently in the environment.  Brunes believes this is America’s and Europe’s first priority in creating a safer environment, especially for MS patients.  Recognizing the importance of environmental factors, her book, “From MS Diagnosis to Better Health”, has immunology and toxicology chapters which detail the environmental influences on brain chemistry.  
 
           The idea of using anything other than prescription medications in order to treat MS is a revolutionary idea in the United States.  Although some American doctors know about this research, many have not implemented it.  Brunes feels that mainstream pharmaceutical companies ignore this research because it goes against their economic self-interest.  “Pharmaceutical companies all around the world don’t want this to surface because you cannot [trademark] these natural substances, and so no one is interested in [this type of] research,” she said.  But Dr. Brunes is fighting back, as usual, in her own way.  She hopes to receive enough support and funding to publish the English translation of her book, and funding to help her patients pay for the 10 day private courses she offers, so that she can spread her message as far as possible.      
     
           In addition to her analytic approach to the use of prescription medicines, diet, behavioral changes to avoid stress, and the elimination of environmental irritants, Brunes also feels it is important to give her patients a sense of empowerment and control over their situations, telling us, “It’s not a secret, you see.  If you are an MS patient and you only are met with the medication that the mainstream medicine has, you will not be [as] happy.  And if they say that you cannot do anything at all by yourself, you are just like a leaf in the wind,” she described.  “This is what all patients coming to us must know, that they will have [help] coping and that they are not like a leaf in the wind.”  A beautiful thought being put to good use by a very competent and compassionate professional.
   
  As a medical detective, Birgitta Brunes has left no stone unturned in her mission to solve the therapeutical mystery of MS and to improve the quality of life for people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis.

< Prev		Next >