Thanks for the info, Wolfgang. I found a link to the article at this site which in turn links to the complete article. It's rare for me to find such articles on the web - and when I find an article in a medical journal that I want to read, I have to resort to a bit of subterfuge to get access to it. (sneak into a medical school library and act like I know what I'm doing ;-)) On page 605 of this article it mentions MS and autoimmune diseases, an unbalanced immune system, and of course I'm interested in that. I'll have to spend more time with the reading, but it seems quite good at first glance.

Also, I noticed that Segestrom is at the University of Kentucky. Just a few years ago my son assisted another researcher there in an MS study. I'm on the "leading edge," 10 years now, of the population receiving the Betaseron drug, and as far as I know, there is very little understanding of why it works - pretty much a shotgun approach. But my internist is now questioning whether I'm beginning to experience a weakened immune system - only time will tell.

I'm not sure I understand your statement that "short term stress improves the immune system." (I'll read the article.) But there is anecdoctal evidence that MS attacks occur after a period of physical/psychological stress, which makes sense if we're talking about the same thing.