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WZTV FOX17 :: Newsroom - Special Reports - UPDATE: Stacy's Story: Living with MS
Last month, FOX17's Stacy Case shared publicly her diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, and she did it because she believes her silver mercurty dental fillings triggered her symptoms. Tonight, she takes you along on her annual checkup with her neurologist, a pivotal Dr. visit that shed a lot of light on her prognosis.

"Just go as fast as I can?" asks Case.

"Just walk normal," says Dr. Moses.

A battery of neurological tests, checking for problems with coordination, strength, vision and balance.

"Now turn around," says Dr. Moses. "Look here at my finger please. Okay, push up. So, that's very good. Now try to walk one foot in front of the other heel to toe."

"Can I look?" asks Case.

"If you want to," says Dr. Moses. "Most people on a tight rope don't look."

"I've got to look," says Case.

"Okay," says Dr. Moses. "So that's pretty good, a little labored, a little difficult."

"Yeah," says Case.

Though she sailed through all of her other tests, this last drill shows she'd have a hard time passing a standard DUI test, though she doesn't drink and drive.

"What about the toe to toe out there?" asks Case. "I wasn't happy with that."

"It's not perfect," says Dr. Moses.

"Okay," says Case. "I did not like that."

"These are things we look for," says Dr. Moses. "We will keep an eye on that."

She says, to be honest, it scared her a little. Until that specific test, She had not noticed any balance issues in 3 years, since the first attack of MS-like symptoms that left her unable to walk correctly for a few days, dazed and confused with blurred vision in one eye. That was July 2008. Her children were just 2 and 3 at the time. After a look at outward symptoms, next a look inside her brain, from her annual MRI taken in May. Her neurologist is looking for white lesions. Multiple Sclerosis turns a person's own immune system against the coating that protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord, cutting off communication from point A to point B. Each divot creates a neurological deficit. Finally, the words she'd been praying she'd hear!

"The good news is these changes have remained stable," says Dr. Moses.

Stable, stable, stable. In layman's terms that means she has no white lesions, no new damage, no active disease, for the 3rd year running! That's why this visit is so critical. The fact that she's made it 3 years with no new white spots is promising - so promising, her Dr. who first told her he was 99% sure she had MS 3 years ago, now says each year of good check ups brings an even better prognosis. She never thought she'd hear something this good 3 years in!

"Your likelihood of having MS lifetime is actually quite low," says Dr. Moses.

"My what now?" asks Case.

"Likelihood of having a 2nd attack of developing MS is actually quite low," says Dr. Moses.

"So since I've been coming to you, you've told me that you do think I have MS. Now you're saying I may not?" asks Case.

"Well, I'm not 100% sure," says Dr. Moses. "Some of the changes on the MRI look like they could be due to MS, but they could also be due to other things."

Those other things she thinks are heavy metals toxic to the body accumulated over time. Then, she thinks dental work in 2008 just before her onset of symptoms tipped the scales of toxicity, giving her a life changing dose of mercury. Silver fillings are 50% mercury, and she let a mainstream dentist talk her into having four 30 year old silver mercury fillings replaced with more silver mercury fillings. In hindsight, she thinks that was stupid. Once she got the diagnosis, she spent several months researching and after much thought and prayer, finally decided to have the new silver fillings and the rest of her old ones all removed, the right way, with a holistic dentist who used every precaution to protect her then failing health. Within a week of having the mercury fillings taken out, the only safe way there is, she was 50% better. Since then, she's spent the last 2 years undergoing intravenous chelation, which acts like a magnet to draw stored heavy metals out of the body. Tests continue to show her heavy metal levels are high. Though she respects her neurologist and the MS Society for all they do, this is where they differ. They do not acknowledge a link between silver fillings and the disease. Again, she thinks she's walking proof.

"You understand how I feel about it," says Dr. Moses. "I don't think the chelation business and some of these other things make a big difference, but it's not like I think it's a terrible idea. I'm not certain it's helping, but that's fine. So, we have a difference of opinion around that, and that's perfectly okay."

Bottom line: she's gotten better with each passing year since that terrible episode in 2008 that scared her family to death.

"So that's very reassuring again," says Dr. Moses. "I'm hopeful if your MRI is stable in the next 2 years, we might just see how that goes."

"Would you call that an undiagnosis?" asks Case. "or how would you phrase that medically?"

"I would say you're at risk," says Dr. Moses. "but I think your risk continues to diminish."

She's just happy to be where she is, even if there's a disagreement on how she got there. She has chosen to share her journey because she believes others can benefit from what she's learned by experimenting on her own body and ridding herself of heavy metal toxicity. You can to her website here. Click FOX LINKS and look for Stacy's Story.UPDATE: Stacy's Story: Living with MS

Friday, July 1 2011, 12:35 AM CDT

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