Multiple Sclerosis Forum - MS treatments and causes

Hi everyone. I have a friend that was very recntly diagnosed with MS based on a bout of optic neuritis and an MRI that showed a few inactive lesions and one active one. Since I heard the news, I've been doing some reading up, but there are still a lot of questions that I have.

First of all, my friend is female, 27 years old and she had some double vision about a year ago that her physician considers to be probably her first episode. Her doctor put her immediatley on betaseron injections, and from what I have heard from her, he didn't really present her with other options. I haven't really seen too many people talking about betaseron. Anybody have experience with it and how it worked for them, expecially anyone that took it newly diagnosed? Anyone have any recommendations for treatment for someone newly diagnosed that doesn't know how their MS will really be affecting them?
Does anybody have anything that they regret doing or not doing when they were first diagnosed or that they would change if they could go back and do so?

Next I have a fiarly good understanding of the theories of the processes that cause MS, but I have some questions about MS that i've been unable to find an answer to. If MS involves the eating away of the myelin sheath on nerves, then why is the damage limited to the nerves in the central nervous system? Why aren't periferal nerves affected? Or are they affected and I am mistaken?
They say that whatever immune response is triggered in MS, or whatever substance in the immune system is causing the damage is present throughout the whole body and not just in the brain and spinal column. So has there been any research as to why the damage is limited to just the central nervous system. Is there some innate difference in nerve cells in one place or the other?

Also, I've read that everyone has, in their immune system, the t-cell that have the potential to attack nerve cells, they just don't get "turned on" in most individuals. But i've also read that people with MS might have some issues with the blood brain barrier, since lymphocytes don't typically migrate into the brain. So, if you took a person that didn't have MS and stuck some of their lymphoctyes into the brain, would it activate that same immune response and do damage to the myelin in them as well? In other words, do people who do not have MS, simply don't have it because their lymphoctyes stay out of the brain? or would no immune response occur anyway, even if the lymphocytes of person without MS were introduced into the cerebrospinal fluid?

I've also read about attempts at filtering antibodies out of the blood stream, where the blood is run through a machine and back into the body, of which the results were that it seemed to help but only for a limited time. Does the body constantly produce the components of the immune system? Like T-cells, B-Cells, etc etc. Do they only live for a limited time and there is a a constant stream of new ones being made, and that is why the blood filtering only worked for a little while? What about if you replaced all of someone's blood with transfused blood from a healthy individual, would the same thing occur-- that there might be a temporary improvement but that the healthy immune components- or components that might inhibit the irregular immune response that might be present in the transfused blood-would eventually die out and the regular unhealthy parts of the immune system would continue to be reproduced?

Just out of ignorance, is there such a thing as a cerebrospinal fluid filtering? Has it ever been tried? What about a cerebrospinal fluid transfusion, like a blood transfusion?
Has there ever been an attempt to transplant brain cells, and if so, was there a similar immune response to the transplanted cells as you see in multiple sclerosis?

I was also wondering if anyone has heard anything about or has had done that new test to see how the immune system is functioning-called immuknow by cytex? It was developed for transplant patients who are on immunosuppresants to see what type of drugs would work best for them and what dosage is ideal. Do people with MS ever take a maintence of immunosuppresants as a transplant patient would?
Also I've heard that bone marrow transplants may hold some promise as a treatment for people effected with MS, but I've had trouble really finding any recent information about it. Does anyone know of results of such studies or know of anyone that's had that done?

Next, this is kind of an area that I don't think has been looked into very much lately at all but it interests me because of what i see as the coincidental timing of the development /appearance of MS most occurs most often in young adulthood, and the termination of the thymus's active role in the regulatory development of components of the immune sytem. There have been studies that environmental factors that change in the years before puberty, can have a change on a person's risk factor of developing MS. It then seems possible to me that there could be something that happens during puberty that triggers the disease, or that the ending of the period of the thymus being active, ends the period when a person still has a "chance" to develop the balance or regulatory components needed to stay healthy.

So, I've also read that they have tried Thymus transplants, which didn't seem to have much effect. Has there ever been tried a simultaneous bone marrow and thymus transplant of a immature thymus?

Also, have there been any studies done that anyone knows of that explore commonalities in people who develop MS? Especially things that are in common that happen before or during puberty? Well I've actually heard that they think that contracting Epstein Barr may have some impact on the immune system that could trigger MS. They have also done studies about genetic components that may mean a higher risk of developing MS. I've heard they've identified at least one possible genetic contributor. Have they done any studies to see who or how many people have this genetic characteristic in common, and if so, tried to find differences between someone with that genetic characteristic that hasn't developed MS and someone that has?
I've also heard that a deficiency in Vitamin D may contribute to the risk of developing MS. I know that exposure to sun light helps the body develop vitamin D, would using a lamp that is supposed to simulate sunlight also do that?
I've also read that allergies to certain food products could inhibit the absorption of vitamin D. My friend had an allergy that she attributed to oats and oat products since she was young. I think she told me that they tested her for food allergies and didn't find any allergy to oats but everytime she ate something like oatmeal she would get sick (vomiting). Do you think this might be significant to her development about MS.
Another sort of unusual thing about my friend is that she started puberty at a fairly young age (around 9). Has this ever been linked to MS as a risk factor?

I guess i'm just looking for some answers though i know i'm unlikely to really find any. But any information that anyone has about the things i've asked would be very much appreciated. The more answers the better.

RainRabbit