Dr. Harris Responds to Dr. Oz Segment on CCSVI
11/04/2020
Montel Williams took the time to share his private experience with the CCSVI procedure on “The Dr. Oz Show” this week. Montel was treated at a center in California, but is not a patient of Synergy Health Concepts. Many of the topics Montel discussed about his procedure and his results are important points that I feel can help other patients better understand CCSVI.
Montel explains that the treatment for CCSVI involves “angioplastying and coming through both jugular veins and the azygos vein.” Other veins throughout the body which are not involved in drainage of blood from the brain or spine are not treated. These three veins are examined from the skull base down to the level of the heart to evaluate for compression or valvular abnormalities. Synergy Health Concepts, as well as several other centers, have found that blockages within the veins are caused by abnormal valves in the lower portion of the jugular veins. The CCSVI treatment is focused on opening these valves and restoring normal blood flow from the brain.
One of the most important topics that we discuss during all of our consultations at Synergy is to help patients differentiate between MS and CCSVI. Centers that have extensive experience with CCSVI procedures like Synergy Health Concepts, report that their patients often see immediate improvements in CCSVI symptoms after the procedure. These CCSVI symptoms include heat intolerance, fatigue, brain fog and cognitive impairment, cold hands and/or feet, morning headaches and poor sleep among others. At Synergy, we do our best to help patients understand that the dense, motor and sensory symptoms of MS are NOT likely to improve from the CCSVI procedure. When describing which symptoms improved, Montel said he had seen “no benefit as far as my gait, no benefits as far as my neuropathic pain.” These symptoms are likely caused by lesions within the brain which the CCSVI procedure does not improve.
Our staff was excited to hear Montel Williams reinforce this important point: “What’s been touted on the Internet is that some sort of Liberation Therapy from MS. I am going to say now, unequivocally, it is not.” He continues to say “What this surgery does is, it is extremely important maybe symptomatically.” This is the same differentiation that we have been making to our patients at Synergy for the past year, as we have learned which symptoms improved and which ones did not as a result of the CCSVI treatment. In our research over the past six months, we have found an almost uniform improvement in CCSVI symptoms, while we have seen only small changes in the motor-sensory symptoms of MS. Synergy is working diligently to publish these results as soon as all the data is analyzed. We are conducting studies to learn more about the CCSVI treatment, and how it can improve the quality of life for those who are affected by CCSVI.
By opening the blockages within the jugular and azygos veins, it is hypothesized that the blood flow through the brain is improved, and that increased venous pressures within the brain are reduced. Montel explains that “because of the blockages I have slowed down reflux in my brain, the blood flow pattern is obstructed.” These changes in blood flow are not going to cure the lesions within the brain causing MS. However, with the decreased intra-cranial venous pressure after the CCSVI procedure, patients with CCSVI symptoms can see immediate improvement. “Immediately, the next day and it’s been there since, it gave me back the ability to be outside in the heat,” Montel said. “This was not a cure of the MS symptom, this is a reduction of the symptom because as the blood flow increases in my brain it increased to my thalamus.”
When Dr. Oz asked Montel, “Put the disappointment about the relief of [pain] symptoms aside, are you glad that you had the procedure done?,” Montel responded “If the doctors told me that I needed to have this procedure done again next month, I’m in.” This sounds like one of the many testimonials that Synergy has received from our patient’s everyday for the past year and a half.
Montel finishes by saying exactly what Synergy feels is the most important point about CCSVI: “I want them to stop saying this is a cure for MS because it’s not. But I want them to start offering the patient, the people, the relief that they need. It’s not going to work for everybody. But this does work and it’s worked for me.”
Todd S. Harris, MD
Synergy Health Concepts
(877) RX-CCSVI
(949) 221-0129
[email protected]
www.synergyhealthconcepts.com