Multiple Sclerosis Case Study 10
10) Karin Mertens - aged 43 years from Weißenfels
(name and location changed to protect identity)
Background of Mrs. Karin Mertens, age 43 years from Weißenfels, working as a dental technician and was a very active woman involved in gymnastics, trained rescue dogs, and was on a team as a rescue swimmer.
Duration of DATMS Therapy – November 2005, October 2006, 45 days for each treatment
Diagnosis of MS – 2002
Type of MS – Relapse and remission MS
Investigation method – MRI
Symptoms before DATMS Therapy
Altered Sensation – Numbness in the face. Burning sensation in the left eye. Feeling of “Electrified sensation” in the right ear area and the ear is getting hotter during cold seasons which is associated with pain in the same area. During these times she has to lie down and take rest. Sometimes this symptom will be there continuously for a week. Aggravating factors include cold climate, stress and menstruation. These symptoms may last about 30 – 60 minutes.
Gait – she could walk 4-5 km on a flat surface, at the end she may hold the hand of her husband for support. However she could not increase the walking speed. While walking she drags her left leg more than the right, a visible abnormality. Climbing stairs is difficult, she could do so only by stepping sideways.
Left hand – Tremor while holding the hand straight; she was unable to hold small objects with the thumb and the forefinger. Difficulty in fine movements. She instinctually avoided using left hand in various situation and that is apparent.
Body weight – 49-50 kg. She lost 7 kg within 14 days during 2002. Cause was unknown. Her height is around 6 feet.
Vertigo and Balancing – while walking she was unable to turn her head because she may lose her balance; difficulty in balancing while walking through a narrow path or between parked cars. Balance tends to deteriorate with the distance of walking. In order to walk long distances she has to hold the hand of her husband.
Eye - In the left eye she feels flickering or feeling of movement in the eyelids.
General Vegetarian
Psychological - calm and collected.
Special findings – As a young girl she developed hypothyroidism.She was working as a dental technician and made amalgam where mercury is an ingredient. She was working unprotected bare hands.
A few months after the diagnosis she had lost 5 kg within 14 days. This is significant since she had a stable weight of around 60 kg for many years.
She was in a study group for but gave up after 6 months because of tachycardia caused by the complications of beta interferon.
After DATMS Therapy in Nov 2005 and Oct 2006
Gait - The dragging of the left foot has reduced considerably (video taken earlier and now reveals that). The exertion for walking has reduced. She can walk 5 km on average without holding the hand of her husband. The maximum distance she has walked was 7-8 km without having problems. The visible abnormality of dragging her left leg while walking was reduced.
Balance & Vertigo - Balance improved, now she is able to turn her head while walking which was not possible earlier.
Left hand - Left hand is more efficient, she started to use a spoon with her left hand, other fine and gross movements are done easily and more precisely (earlier the left hand was somehow avoided during various activities.)
Body weight - Body weight was reduced during the time of treatment (46.5 kg during the treatment ), 2 weeks later at home, the body weight improved to 51 kg.
General health - there is a general improvement in her health condition and she is looking more energetic and younger.
2nd DATMS Therapy
She is feeling good and the improvement she got in the first year of treatment is unaltered and no exacerbations or appearance of any new symptoms of MS.
Gait – the dragging of the left leg has visibly changed and it is sometimes almost normal.
Balance – her balance had improved and she told of an incident where she climbed 200 narrow steps in the Castle of Heidelberg and she did not experience balance problems or problems while climbing (where before the treatment she could only climb stairs by keeping her left legs sideways.)
During this time care was taken so that she did not loose weight, but had increased a few hundred grams.
Left hand - Her left hand got better and she spontaneously start to use her left hand in various activities. An example that I noticed was in the beginning she used to open the door with the right hand by turning sideways to avoid using the left hand and now it is spontaneous that she uses her left hand which is normal in this case. This gives an idea in real life how her left hand is starting to be used regularly and almost normally for gross movements.
What we are mainly looking forward to is for her to walk more than 8 km, to normalize the gait pattern, to have better balancing while walking, (which used to vary on some days) and eventually making her to run some distance. We all hope will happen in the near future.