Our journey with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) and Omega 3s
- Fleur Missaghian
- Jun 6
- 6 min read
I send you greetings from Dormagen in Germany! I am here with Ramin (my hubby) on a family visit and also for him to receive his medication (Rituximab) that keeps his MS dormant (Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune illness that affects the brain and central nervous system). We are so grateful that Ramin is now 21 years relapse free, after a year of severe multiple relapses back in 2003-2004 that severely affected every part of him. His journey back to health has been long, but joyfully made - and I’m in the final chapters of writing a book about it all, called ‘The Keeper of Memories’ as my working title. For Ramin, alongside his medication (and infusion every 9 months) eating healthily has been a part of his healing , as well as brain training, physiotherapy, daily reminders and encouragement, love and laughter, prayers, reading, weekly Tai Chi sessions and recently he’s been going to the gym 3 times a week and I think he’s now fitter than me!
One of the changes we made when Ramin was diagnosed with MS was including Fish Oil (Omega 3 EFAs) and Evening Primrose Oil (Omega 6 EFAs) supplements as part of his daily diet. In my blog post on Omega 3s, you can read about why essential fatty acids are so vital for life. https://www.fleur-nutrition.com/post/day-7-omega-3-fatty-acids
If you have MS, or know someone who has it - I recommend reading this article which can assist you to decide whether to include this in your diet. Ramin's cognitive abilities have improved and we understand this is due to many factors, one of them being daily Omega 3 supplements. https://willner.com/articles/omega3-fatty-acids-for-MS-understanding-science-behind-benefits
In the article, written by Arnold Gitomer, R.Ph. states:
"A recent study of multiple clinical trials found that individuals with MS with higher levels of the Omega-3 fatty acid DHA experienced significantly fewer symptoms of muscle weakness, loss of balance, uncontrolled movements, tremors, speech and vision difficulties, and memory loss….Omega-3 fatty acids can aid as a part of a comprehensive treatment plan for MS. These acids can assist in forming cell membranes and making them more pliable.
They can also reduce overall inflammation and help protect the integrity of the myelin sheath of neurons.”
How to include more Omega 3 EFAs in your diet (the reccomendation is to eat fish twice a week):
Eat oily fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel and sardines
Eat chia seeds soaked in water, milk, coconut milk, yoghurt or kefir (or a mix of yoghurt and kefir) - an excellent source of fibre also
Eat ground flax seeds sprinkled on porridge or yoghurt
Eat hemp seeds - sprinkle on salads or desserts
Eat walnuts - also good for the brain! They are one of those foods that look like the part of the body they are good for (such as kidney beans for the kidneys!)
You can read my first blog post for recipes here: https://www.fleur-nutrition.com/post/day-7-omega-3-fatty-acids
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Added bonus: Here's an extract from my work-in-progress book, The Keeper of Memories! I would love feedback - so please do email me your thoughts: info@fleur-nutrition.com
Chapter Eight: The impact of short term memory loss and cognitive challenges
Ramin’s memory was massively affected by the different MS relapses he suffered over the course of the year. For a very long time, I would say around 6 or 7 years, it wasn’t possible to have a proper conversation together as he couldn’t remember the subject we were talking about. So we became used to making short decisions together, or Ramin would just trust in my judgment. One of Ramin's cognitive challenges is that his brain needs time to process a conversation, and one of my challenges is being patient with this. When he was first recovering he often couldn’t keep up with the natural flow when we were in a social situation with friends. It’s much better now, but he still needs to be wide awake to be able to join in, otherwise he will fade into the background and sometimes fall asleep!
Ramin’s brain suffered badly through the repeated relapses where his immune system attacked itself, and ate away at the myelin sheath around the nerves in his brain and left lesions, which are now seen as white scars in hi MRI scans. Retaining short term memories was not possible at first, then became possible but fragmented and now has much improved (in 2025) although there are still systems we have to put in place for him to follow the flow of a day. In the past, these cognitive challenges made it very difficult to follow the thread of a conversation, to remember what had happened the day before or to remember what was planned for the rest of the day, let alone a day or two into the future. His long-term memory is still as good as ever and for many years the contributions Ramin would make to conversations were repeated memories from his childhood; his love for his nieces and nephews, memories of happy times with his Persian grandmother, Mama Aziz or German grandfather, Opa, his time in School or memories from when we first met - all before his MS began. He still sometimes does this, but is now more aware that he’s told me the same story and consciously tries not to but also his cognitive abilities and even his memory are improving, which is amazing!
I remember a time we were visiting my good friend Sarah in Northern Ireland and the three of us went to visit a mutual friend called Leigh and his pregnant wife who lived in Belfast. We had a really lovely time, full of laughter, good food and connection. Yet I noticed that Ramin was finding it difficult to follow the threads of the conversation and would often talk about something that he connected with a few sentences or some minutes back. We were talking quickly and the conversation was flitting around from subject to subject, especially as both Leigh and Sarah are naturally very funny people and I was happy caught up in the conversation. I was trying to figure out why Ramin was talking about a subject again as it seemed to me that he wasn’t really listening and was chipping in whenever he liked. At the time I even thought he was being a bit disrespectful to our friends. It was quite uncomfortable for us both, but at the time we couldn’t figure out why. After our visit, we reflected together on this experience and realised that Ramin was doing his best to be part of a conversation but was taking a while to process the information, think about it and respond with his thoughts. I feel terrible now, when I think back to that time, as I had no idea that Ramin’s cognitive abilities were so affected - I just thought he was generally experiencing memory problems. I would have been far more patient if I had realised this and I’m afraid at the time I became impatient with him. So he not only had to deal with feeling lost in a conversation but also with an irate wife! Poor guy. It’s certainly a humbling thing when you realise how ignorance of a condition and a lack of patience can cause you to react rather than be supportive. Luckily for me because of his huge heart, Ramin forgave me and also to be honest because of his sketchy memory he forgot this even happened. Yet as the keeper of our memories, I remember and have learned from this experience.
In the past two or three years, I have noticed his engagement in conversations is so much better than before. He’ll often stun us with a spiritual truth or a thought about an event, or a connection to a concept, so much that I’ve had to remark on how amazing it was that he just said that! I’ve noticed his short term memory is still patchy, but effectively holds more water now than before. We can see that he is stronger cognitively also which I believe is due to the healing power of time, good nutrition (especially since I became a Nutrition Advisor), practice from reading, being part of spiritual conversations and consultation where he is invited to make his contribution and our daily discussions where we make decisions about our day to day life. We were told by his Neurologist way back in 2004 that it is possible for the brain to heal, as actions that would normally take place in parts of the brain that are damaged or lost (lesions that happen due to a MS relapse are like holes in the brain - you can see them as dark spots on MRI scans) can be learnt by other parts of the brain. He told us an incredible example of a woman who had been in a terrible car accident where she had lost half of her brain. It took her many years, but she managed to regain almost all of her functions through training, patience and time. Thank God, Ramin is now doing this too - and we have learned so much together that we can only feel gratitude.
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