MS and Nutrition Dissertation

[KayleighRayner]

Hi, my name is Kayleigh Rayner and my Mum has Multiple Sclerosis.

 

Due to this, I have taken a keen interest in Multiple Sclerosis. I am currently doing a degree in BSc Food Science and Technology, and I am in my final year and therefore doing my dissertation.

 

My dissertation in on the role of nutrition in managing the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.

 

I really need people to take part in a questionnaire that I have developed, in order to see what diet alterations have worked for people, what the effects were, and if they would be willing to try other things.

 

If you would be willing to fill in a questionnaire, please reply to this.

 

Kayleigh

[debzsanderson]

my other half has secoundary progressive ms and we have found that going wheat and dairy free has really helped his general well being -if not the ms!! I would be glad to fill in a questionaire for you if you still need more people.

 

debz xx

[Marina]

Hi Kayleigh and welcome to our forum :-)

 

It's very commendable of you to be so interested in your mum's MS and to the point of doing a dissertation on diet and MS

 

May I please ask roughly how questions are there and how long would it take to fill out? Is it in paper form or is it online somewhere where we might be able to take a peek at it or even fill it in? We've had students here before with dissertations and questionnaires and they usually have them online somewhere like Survey Monkey; I was wondering if yours was too? If it's in paper form, I'm wondering if people would be reluctant to give our their contact details for security reasons..?

[KayleighRayner]

Hi Marina,

 

There are 20 questions in the questionnaire, and it shouldn't take too long to fill in.

 

Currently I am sending the questionnaires by email, as this seems to be the prefered way.

 

Here is a copy of the questions:

 

Q1. Are you male or female?

 

 

Q2. In what year were you diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis?

 

 

Q3. What symptoms do you generally suffer from?

 

 

Q4. Have you ever been advised by a health professional (doctor, dietician etc.) to follow a certain diet to help combat the symptoms of your Multiple Sclerosis?

 

 

Q5. Have you ever been advised by any other means (friends, relative, magazine, book etc.) to follow a certain diet to help combat the symptoms of your Multiple Sclerosis?

 

If the answers to both questions 4 and 5 are no, please go to question 11.

 

 

Q6. If you heard about the diet from a non-professional, how did you find out about the diet?

 

Q7. Can you briefly outline the details of the diet that you were advised to follow?

 

 

Q8. Did you decide to follow the diet? If so, how long ago did you start, or how long did you follow it for?

 

 

Q9. Did you notice any beneficial effects either on your symptoms or on your relapses whilst following the diet?

 

 

 

If yes, please outline what these were.

 

 

 

Q10. Would you recommend this diet to other people? Why?

 

 

Q11. Would you be interested in altering you diet if there was a chance that it could help either slow down the progression of your Multiple Sclerosis, or lower the severity of your symptoms?

 

 

Q12. Have you ever used nutritional supplements to help alleviate the symptoms of your Multiple Sclerosis?

 

If no, please go to question 15.

 

 

Q13. Which supplements have you tried, and how long did you use them for? (Please list all)

 

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Q14. Whilst using the nutritional supplements, did you notice any change in your symptoms, or in the frequency or severity of your relapses? (Please give as much detail as possible, regardless of how relevant you feel it may be)

 

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Q15. Have you ever changed your diet for weight loss or general health, and found an improvement in your symptoms or relapse frequency/severity?

 

If no, please continue to the end of the questionnaire.

 

 

Q16. What changes were made to your diet?

 

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Q17. How long were you on this diet before you noticed a change in your symptoms?

 

 

Q18. What changes occurred to your symptoms? (Please give as much detail as possible)

 

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Q19. How long did you continue the diet for, and how long did the effects on your symptoms last?

 

 

Q20. If you stopped following the diet, why was this?

 

 

I am new to this forum so I am unsure of whether you can message me personally rather than posting to the whole forum. If so, people willing to fill the questionnaire could do that.

 

All individual results would obviously be kept confidential.

 

Thank you for your interest :)

[Marina]

Thank you so much, Kayleigh, that's very helpful Sorry I couldn't reply sooner, I had a full day at the dentist yesterday (2 hrs!) and it seemed to trigger something or other in me where I ended up in bed most of the day...

 

Anyway, re your questionnaire, what people could do to email it to you is:

• Copy your questionnaire.
  
• Click on your Profile to see your profile.
  
• Look on the left hand column in your profile and scroll down to "Send an email" (right at the bottom of the left hand column)
  
• Paste the questionnaire and their replies into the message box provided and send it to you.
  

You would then get it by email in your mailbox.

 

The sender, however, won't have a copy of it, so I suggest that anybody who wants to do the questionnaire should first copy it into a document somewhere on their computer, add their replies and save the document (as a copy for themselves), then copy the lot into the email message box provided in your profile.

 

I hope this helps and I wish you success with it

[KayleighRayner]

Hi Debs

That would be brilliant if you could please! Marina seems to have cracked how to do it confidentially, so if you could follow her instructions that would be great!

 

Thanks so much,

 

Kayleigh

 

PS. Marina, thanks for all your help!

[Hezza]

Hi Kayleigh,

I'd be happy to complete your questionnaire, will aim to get it to you over the weekend.

[KayleighRayner]

Thanks :) x