My wife was diagnosed with MS by the foremost MS expert in the intermountain west. She was put on a regimen of expensive MS drugs to little benefit and extensive side effects. At one point, she went to a seminar for MS sufferers and the main speaker was the MS expert. His presentation focused on the benefit of drugs he prescribed for her. A bit of research revealed he was paid a couple hundred $K annually to “consult” for the drug manufacturer.
After a year of the drug regimen and no benefit, her research led her to investigate CCSVI as the cause of her symptoms rather than MS. Against the “expert” physician’s advice and actually hostile reception to treatment for CCSVI, we traveled to another state to get treatment for CCSVI. Her symptoms were completely relieved by the treatment (off-label use of stents in veins as opposed to FDA approved use of stents in arteries).
If she had simply followed the advice and treatment provided by the “expert” physician who limited his practice to treating MS patients, she’d likely be in a wheelchair now, 15 years after he first saw her. Blindly following “experts” of any stripe is a fool’s errand; individual research and personal involvement in medical treatment isn’t just a good idea, it’s mandatory if you’re at all interested in the best possible outcome.
