{"id":17342,"date":"2025-09-12T05:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/17342\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T05:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:01:09","slug":"new-scan-method-offers-hope-of-better-ms-management-for-gisborne-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/17342\/","title":{"rendered":"New scan method offers hope of better MS management for Gisborne woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf we can detect and treat inflammation before it leads to irreversible damage, we could significantly delay progression and reduce the long-term impact on patients and the healthcare system,\u201d Bydder said. <\/p>\n

Jo Stewart wants to ride that train. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping that M\u0101tai can help me be more proactive with my MS by understanding where my scars and lesions are,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI will then be able to prepare for the next stage of MS.\u201d <\/p>\n

Stewart turns 52 in November. Born and raised in Gisborne, she was 33 and living in Scotland when she was diagnosed with MS<\/a>, a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). <\/p>\n

In 2021, New Zealand had 4130 reported cases of MS, up from the 2896 cases reported in 2006. <\/p>\n

The disease has no known cure and, despite advances in treatment, diagnosis remains challenging, particularly for progressive MS, where low-grade disease activity continues without visible relapses or new inflammatory lesions. <\/p>\n

Stewart\u2019s MS was relapsing-remitting \u2013 where new symptoms develop over days or weeks of a relapse, followed by remission that can last months or even years \u2013 but it has advanced to secondary-progressive. <\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of having a relapse once every six months or once a year, with recovery, I now have no recovery and the relapses are quieter but constant,\u201d Stewart said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI find myself quietly getting worse every day, but the signs are so small they are not noticeable to most.\u201d <\/p>\n

Stewart\u2019s symptoms include cramps in the feet, fatigue, pains in the hands and back, sensitivity to the cold, ringing in the ears and forgetfulness. <\/p>\n

She follows as closely as she can the recommendations of Recovering from Multiple Sclerosis, by George Jelinek and Karen Law. <\/p>\n

It means she limits herself to 50 grams of fat a day, and only five grams of that can be saturated. <\/p>\n

She has had to relearn how to cook and how to process food \u201cso it doesn\u2019t kick you in the guts afterwards\u201d.<\/p>\n

She uses cannabis to relieve some of the symptoms. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps get rid of stress. It relieves anxiety and depression. The only prescribed medication I have is to help me sleep. I also take Vitamin D, Vitamin C and flaxseed oil. <\/p>\n

\u201cI struggle to eat three meals a day. I don\u2019t have the energy to prepare a meal and then sit down and eat it. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be looking to go into residential care within a year, maybe two years.\u201d <\/p>\n

That, too, could be problematic, as many care homes have a minimum age for residents.<\/p>\n

Stewart will be out of town for MS Awareness Week<\/a>, which starts on September 15. Her son is having his 21st birthday in Fife, Scotland, and she will be there for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIf we can detect and treat inflammation before it leads to irreversible damage, we could significantly delay progression…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[19190,9442,14768,2082,12506,134,5838,2883,3012,424,9554,1044,19188,19033,2510,117,111,139,69,1118,8617,10710,19187,19189,6934,1361,1354],"class_list":["post-17342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-affects","tag-better","tag-every","tag-for","tag-gisborne","tag-health","tag-help","tag-hope","tag-hopes","tag-life","tag-manage","tag-management","tag-method","tag-ms","tag-multiple","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-offers","tag-resident","tag-scan","tag-sclerosis","tag-stewart","tag-that","tag-woman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}