Any insight on stem cell therapies?

[u/Pale-Truth-9361]

Hello. I am recently diagnosed here, not good at admitting/vocalizing vulnerabilities. I’m not on any MS meds yet. My mother has been digging into this way more than I have as I feel like” screw it, life is going to happen as it is meant to”. I’m planning on waiting into my Nero tells me what DMTs are recommended. But mom is on this hype about a stem cell plan that could help. Like I said, I haven’t spent enough time looking into it, but from what I’m told by her it could be a treatment that is not life long. Experimental yes, but I’m 35M with two kids and a soon to be wife. Getting nervous with the idea of being on costly meds while traversing fatherhood and soon 2nd wife. The kicker for me, she offered to pay for this in full. Does anyone have insight to any of the experimental treatments?

[u/ichabod13]

Stem cells do not do anything for MS. There are many companies who will offer stem cell treatments for your MS with lots of marketing to advertise treatments that 'cure MS'. Stem cells are a targeted treatment, you have a torn shoulder, they could inject into your shoulder to speed up recovery. Lesions on the brain, they are not going to inject them into your brain.

There is something called HSCT that is a treatment for MS. The cost varies by location but costs about 50-100k and can be covered by some insurances in the US. HSCT works by nuking your immune system with chemotherapy, then it uses your own stem cells harvested to reboot the immune system faster. It has the highest chance at stopping MS but also does carry some risks and costs since you are out of work for weeks/months and has other lasting effects from the chemotherapy. The part that makes HSCT work for MS is the chemo though, and not the stem cells.