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This conversation came up on one of the HSCT Facebook pages and it got me thinking. On paper, this treatment is most effective early in the disease process (and safer and easier to recover from as those newly diagnosed tend to be less disabled). And if you ask those who have been through the procedure, most would say they wish they had gotten it done sooner (if possible, I would have). So logic says it would be smartest to treat those who have just heard the words "you have multiple sclerosis." There's just one problem.
I remember when I was diagnosed, and I'm pretty sure my reaction was not much different from most. I was a basket case, in a panic, and gobbling any and all information that might prevent me from the fate of a wheelchair. I wasn't thinking very logically—I was grasping at straws.
To make a decision of this magnitude—where the risk of death falls somewhere between going into space and climbing Mt Everest—at the most chaotic time of your life is potentially foolhardy. You are almost certainly not in a position to reasonably weigh risk.
That said, research away. Heck, start saving your cash. But hold tight. At this point, the decision is not one that's really debatable, as there are no facilities anywhere in the world (to my knowledge) that will treat MS this aggressively this early. But down the road as HSCT becomes safer and safer (with not only a lower risk of death but also a lower risk of lifelong complications), it would not shock me if HSCT became a first-line defense option for those newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis....
I remember when I was diagnosed, and I'm pretty sure my reaction was not much different from most. I was a basket case, in a panic, and gobbling any and all information that might prevent me from the fate of a wheelchair. I wasn't thinking very logically—I was grasping at straws.
To make a decision of this magnitude—where the risk of death falls somewhere between going into space and climbing Mt Everest—at the most chaotic time of your life is potentially foolhardy. You are almost certainly not in a position to reasonably weigh risk.
That said, research away. Heck, start saving your cash. But hold tight. At this point, the decision is not one that's really debatable, as there are no facilities anywhere in the world (to my knowledge) that will treat MS this aggressively this early. But down the road as HSCT becomes safer and safer (with not only a lower risk of death but also a lower risk of lifelong complications), it would not shock me if HSCT became a first-line defense option for those newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis....
Infection so far hasn't been an issue as of yet not even a sniffle. 
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