The Prevalence of Alternative-complementary Therapies in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating/degenerative disease of the central nervous system that causes disability in young adults. Complementary medicine (CM) and alternative medicine (AM) as a concept is outside the scope of traditional medicine and generally includes all diagnostic and treatment methods for which scientific data are insufficient. Facilitating access to alternative-complementary therapies makes their use widespread. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge level of patients with MS by using a questionnaire and the knowledge of the perception of AM.
Materials and Methods: Patients who were definitively diagnosed as having MS-clinically isolated syndrome in the clinic of our hospital were included on a voluntary basis. Sociodemographic characteristics, type of MS, date of diagnosis, number of attacks, and MS disability scale were recorded. The questionnaire, which was prepared for alternative or complementary therapies used, was completed by the same researcher. Data were analysed using SPSS 21 program
Results: Two hundred ten patients with MS were included in our study. It was determined that all patients were aware of AM/CM treatments, the highest rate of information was obtained from the internet (76%), 1.4% AM, 49% CM was used. Ninety-seven % of the patients received TT for the purpose of relieving their symptoms (p≤0.005). Mostly garlic (83.4%), caper (79.6%), ginger (69.9%), and goat’s milk (60%) was used. CM was statistically significantly higher in the first decade (p≤0.005). It was observed that 32% of the patients used TT after the 2nd MS attack without any significance.

Conclusion: Our study showed that patients with MS used CM temporarily and with high rates. In contrast to the literature, the rate of use in the first period of the disease was found to be significantly higher. This condition was interpreted as the fact that at the beginning of the disease it could be made with the hope of fighting MS and fully recovering, but after the understanding of the nature of the disease, the use of AM/CM decreased.