<p>COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVEMEDICINE USE IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSISSeda Dağlı, Melike Doğan Ünlü, Serpil DemirciSuleyman Demirel University School of Medicine, IspartaBACKGROUND: Most people with MS try complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches and many continue to use themjust to control disease progression and improve the quality of their lives. The reported prevalance rates of CAM use is quite large and rangesbetween 33% to 70%. Among many, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidantsand diet ranks the first.OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of CAM use between relapsing-remitting (RRMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS) patients.METHODS: The study group is composed of 100 MS-patients (87with RRMS, including 3 CIS cases, and 13 SPMS cases. Mean age was35.9±9.8 years (18-59 years) and 68.3% was female. Disease duration was5.2±4.8 years and EDSS was 1.8±1.7.RESULTS: Nineteen percent (20 cases) of patients reported CAMuse. Three of the twenty patients had stopped their MS medication; theremaining was taking them as an adjunct. The rate of CAM use was morethan twice in SPMS (31%) group in comparison to RRMS group (18%).No correlation was detected between CAM use and age, gender, education level, disease duration, EDSS and quality of life measures. In bothgroup capers and black seed use was remarkable. All had given up CAMuse because of lack of efficacy.CONCLUSION: The use CAM is considerably high in MS patients.Keywords: alternative medicine, complementary medicine, multiplesclerosis<br></p>