Can a Modern Paleo Diet Beat Chronic Pain? It Worked for This Doctor

A bleak beginning

“When I was first diagnosed with MS, I sought out the top experts in the field, but two years in, I was still declining,” says Dr. Wahls, whose MS had by then progressed to secondary progressive MS. As her back, and stomach muscles became weaker and weaker, Dr. Wahls found herself unable to walk without support or even sit up straight. She spent much of her time confined to a tilt-recline wheelchair. A mother of two who had relished the outdoor life, she started to fear that eventually, she would become completely bed-ridden. Dr. Wahls tried everything that state-of-the-art medical science could throw at her, including chemotherapy and the best disease-modifying drugs available. Nothing they tried had a meaningful impact. Even worse, the doctors were clear that her debilitation would never be reversible. Their goal in treatment was to slow down or stave off the disease’s inevitable progression, not to help her regain lost function. Dr. Wahls decided it was time to take matters into her own hands.