Re: An Introduction To Alternative Medicine For Psychiatric Conditions

[Guest guest]

I agree with him. When I was an addictions counselor in a parole

program for mentally ill addicts, I met a woman who was pretty

mentally ill. She/her mother told me that she had food allergies to a

number of common foods like wheat, dairy, sugar and if she avoided

them all was very sane. When she grew up and started living on her

own, she lacked the self discipline to maintain such a hard diet and

really went downhill, selling herself on the streets for $3, the price

of a hit of crack.

I thought it was an isolated thing, until my own daughter was

discovered to have a dairy sensitivity that affected her behavior very

similarly to that of my client so many years earlier. I thank God for

meeting her and hearing her story as otherwise I doubt I would have

determined what was wrong with my daughter so early, and she could

have wound up with a psychiatric diagnosis, and mind-damaging

medications!

Now hearing the link between diet and autism, I wonder how pervasive

the neurological effects of food sensitivities/malabsorption are.

[Guest guest]

Dear Heacklers:

I just spent the better part of an hour replying to your post, but

when I went to post it, it seemed " to get lost " before it was sent.

If this post did not make it into this egroup I will type it in

again soon.

I do think the link between food allergies, candida, and the like

and a wide range of mental and physical conditions is pervasive.

The anecdotal evidence is almost overwhelming in this regard.

Simply link the words food allergies or candida with almost any

condition one may suffer from and you may find a ton of results.

(Such as google search depression candida, or anxiety food

allergies, etc. etc.)

All the best,

--- In , " haecklers " <haecklers@...>

wrote:

>

> I agree with him. When I was an addictions counselor in a parole

> program for mentally ill addicts, I met a woman who was pretty

> mentally ill. She/her mother told me that she had food allergies

to a

> number of common foods like wheat, dairy, sugar and if she avoided

> them all was very sane. When she grew up and started living on

her

> own, she lacked the self discipline to maintain such a hard diet

and

> really went downhill, selling herself on the streets for $3, the

price

> of a hit of crack.

>

> I thought it was an isolated thing, until my own daughter was

> discovered to have a dairy sensitivity that affected her behavior

very

> similarly to that of my client so many years earlier. I thank God

for

> meeting her and hearing her story as otherwise I doubt I would

have

> determined what was wrong with my daughter so early, and she could

> have wound up with a psychiatric diagnosis, and mind-damaging

> medications!

>

> Now hearing the link between diet and autism, I wonder how

pervasive

> the neurological effects of food sensitivities/malabsorption are.

>

[Guest guest]

Dear penciloid:

Food allergies/food sensitivities are funny creatures... we tend to

crave and/or become addicted to the very foods which hurt us.

Your brother may have allergies to the gluten grains, dairy, and

eggs (a related food to chicken, and both are common allergens)...

in essence your brother may have allergies to most of the foods he

favors. This is really quite common... for a person to be eating a

diet heavily laden with their food allergens.

A high craving for sugar is indicative of malabsortion or

maldigestion (when we don't get the nutrients we need, we strongly

tend to crave cheat fuels such as coffee, sugar, alcohol, and

stimulating drugs).

A high craving for sugar is also indicative of candida. A simple

yeast questionnaire such as that found on http://flora-

balance.com/candida_questionnaire_long.asp may be helpful. Also a

a yeast spit test may be helpful as well. (A simple google search

of " yeast spit test " without the quote marks generated: Results 1 -

10 of about 122,000 for yeast spit test.)

I don't know an easy way to boost health without eliminating serious

health glitches such as food allergies or candida, but I am seeking

the same. I am currently self experimenting with a baggie of a wide

range of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, amino acids, and

various cofactors that may be helpful. The baggie I take uses about

25 to 30 different bottles of ingredients... the goal being to boost

one's nutrient status and boost one's ability to function better...

even if the serious problems of food allergies and candida are

initially ignored. However, I have only been self experimenting

with this approach for a month or so. Incidentally, my 15 year old

son is taking this same baggie (of over 60 individual tablets or

capsules) as well. Although both my son's and my results thus far

are very promising, I just don't know yet whether such a shotgun

nutrient approach is widely applicable to many other persons (such

as your brother). Nor am I in much of a position to find out, as I

am not a doctor and don't get a chance to " treat " people that often.

One of the best things that your brother could do is educate himself

on the subjects of food allergy and yeast, and apply to himself what

he has learned. There is tons of stuff on the net on this.

I see many in your brother's shoes... with no place to turn for real

answers to their problems without going broke seeing an alternative

doctor on a repetitive basis, when in truth almost all of the work

and healing can happen at home if the patient was properly

educated. This is one reason why I am proposing a different model

of healing (vs. going to see doctors) called a " healing house " . I

introduced this concept of a healing house in a prior post that I

recently made to this egroup on sleep issues.

After this post, I will drag out an old rough post that I made on

the subject of food allergy and post it here. Perhaps something in

here might be of use to you or your brother.

All the best,

--- In , " Penciloid " <penciloid@...>

wrote:

>

> My brother is much nicer, less stubborn, less moody and angry, and

more

> cooperative when he avoids gluten. Unfortunately, he doesn't avoid

it and is

> totally addicted to white flour and sugar. He likes cheese,

yogurt, and

> chicken fajitas. Those are about the only remotely healthy things

he eats.

>

> Is there something easy he can do to start improving his health

enough that

> he'll eventually consider giving up gluten and sugar? I don't

think he'd be

> willing to do so now but we need to find a way to reduce his sweet

tooth.

>

[Guest guest]

> Food allergies/food sensitivities are funny creatures... we tend to

> crave and/or become addicted to the very foods which hurt us.

>

> Your brother may have allergies to the gluten grains, dairy, and

> eggs (a related food to chicken, and both are common allergens)...

> in essence your brother may have allergies to most of the foods he

> favors. This is really quite common... for a person to be eating a

> diet heavily laden with their food allergens.

>

> A high craving for sugar is indicative of malabsortion or

> maldigestion (when we don't get the nutrients we need, we strongly

> tend to crave cheat fuels such as coffee, sugar, alcohol, and

> stimulating drugs).

>

> A high craving for sugar is also indicative of candida. A simple

> yeast questionnaire such as that found on http://flora-

> balance.com/candida_questionnaire_long.asp may be helpful. Also a

> a yeast spit test may be helpful as well. (A simple google search

> of " yeast spit test " without the quote marks generated: Results 1 -

> 10 of about 122,000 for yeast spit test.)

>

> All the best,

>

>

, for what it's worth, a whole community of people at

radiantrecovery.com agree with you on the role of nutrition with

respect to mental health.

It's a whole-foods approach (instead of capsules of individual

nutrients) but people are all the time reporting that they are

healing from depression, addictions of all types, anorexia, bulimia,

ADD, bipolar, even schizophrenia, allergies, obesity, autoimmune

diseases and so on and so on. And it only costs the costs of real

food! No docs required. Truly amazing.

The 'working theory' over there on why we are addicted to things we

are sensitive to, goes like this:

- start with a person who has genetic low beta-endorphin and dopamine

(family history of addictions, alcoholism, obesity, diabetes), or

through trauma or lifestyle, has low systemic beta-endorphin

- this means their brains have up-regulated to have a lot of receptors

- eat a food that's not good for that body, and the body responds by

releasing a flood of pain-killing endorphins

- because the person has so many receptors, the endorphin rush feels

really good - good enough to want to do, again and again!

Dopamine is in there too but I don't understand the mechanism so I

will stop.

Connie

[Guest guest]

That happened to me, too. Once I got my fat content up to about 60 or

65%, I lost my cravings for carbs, and I can waltz right by the donuts

and candy at work. I never have been able to do that before. Now,

give me cream and butter instead any day!

Ann

> > I have battled a sweet tooth all my life and my daughter has the

same problem. > I find if I eat 4-6 tblsp. of coconut oil (spaced out

through the day) it takes away > my craving for sweets. I have been

eating a more high protein diet for a few >years and if you stick with

it you will get over the sweet tooth.

>

> I remember a year or two ago there was someone who was trying a

> low-carb diet on the list, and was having trouble with carb cravings.

> Idol was telling him he wasn't eating enough saturated fat, and

> that if he ate more, his carb cravings would go away. The guy

> couldn't believe how he couldn't be eating enough, he ate steak, put

> butter on everything, and so on. Then at one point the guy wrote to

> the list again and said that was totally right. He *thought* he

> was eating a lot of fat before, but after he put gobs and gobs of

> butter on his steak, he lost his carb cravings!

>

> Chris

>

> --

> Dioxins in Animal Foods:

> A Case For Vegetarianism?

> Find Out the Truth:

> http://www.westonaprice.org/envtoxins/dioxins.html

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Connie:

I wish to thank you and the community of people of folks at

radiantrecovery.com in regard to agreeing with me on the role of

nutrition with respect to mental health. I agree in a big way with

you too. Diet is an absolutely crucial key to recovery from mental

illness for sure. Perhaps addressing why our dietary nutrients just

don't arrive in the body (malabsorption) is another crucial key to

recover from mental illness as well.

The biggest chemical intervention we humans do every single day is

the food (and water) that we put in our mouth. How much longer can

conventional allopathic medicine ignore this simple basic truth? Do

they think we can eat Twinkies and ice cream, take meds, and get

well?

In regard to your mention of dopamine, perhaps this thought may be

helpful to you. " ANY and ALL neurotransmitter levels can be

significantly and very noticeably changed within a matter of hours

by the use of amino acid and accessory nutrient supplement

precursors " ... once you know what you are doing... and this can be

rather readily taught. You can sure feel the difference in regard

to amino acid ingestion. This knowledge did not just come from

books, it came from my quite literally having taken about 100,000

500 mg. capsules of individual or blended free form amino acids

since 1997.

All the very best,

> , for what it's worth, a whole community of people at

> radiantrecovery.com agree with you on the role of nutrition with

> respect to mental health.

>

> It's a whole-foods approach (instead of capsules of individual

> nutrients) but people are all the time reporting that they are

> healing from depression, addictions of all types, anorexia,

bulimia,

> ADD, bipolar, even schizophrenia, allergies, obesity, autoimmune

> diseases and so on and so on. And it only costs the costs of real

> food! No docs required. Truly amazing.

>

> The 'working theory' over there on why we are addicted to things

we

> are sensitive to, goes like this:

>

> - start with a person who has genetic low beta-endorphin and

dopamine

> (family history of addictions, alcoholism, obesity, diabetes), or

> through trauma or lifestyle, has low systemic beta-endorphin

>

> - this means their brains have up-regulated to have a lot of

receptors

>

> - eat a food that's not good for that body, and the body responds

by

> releasing a flood of pain-killing endorphins

>

> - because the person has so many receptors, the endorphin rush

feels

> really good - good enough to want to do, again and again!

>

> Dopamine is in there too but I don't understand the mechanism so I

> will stop.

>

> Connie

[Guest guest]

A baby step is to try getting him to eat more whole grain foods

instead of white flour, and turbinado sugar (or ideally brown rice

syrup if he will) instead of white sugar. They don't cause the rush

that the pure refined products do that leads to wanting more 20 min.

later.

Often cravings can be satisfied with more fat as well, so if you can

steer him to good fats like whole wheat bagel with lots of butter it

might satisfy him more.

I read somewhere, forget where now that the first few steps to

fixing a diet involve eating more not less. More whole grains, more

vegetables, more fruit, more good fats, three solid meals a day,

omega-3 fatty acids and co-Q 10 and enzymes. When those changes

have been accepted, then start gradually taking away the bad stuff

and it's easier because it's not being fueled by nutritional

deficiencies.

--- In , " Penciloid " <penciloid@...>

wrote:

>

> My brother is much nicer, less stubborn, less moody and angry, and

more

> cooperative when he avoids gluten. Unfortunately, he doesn't avoid

it and is

> totally addicted to white flour and sugar. He likes cheese,

yogurt, and

> chicken fajitas. Those are about the only remotely healthy things

he eats.

>

> Is there something easy he can do to start improving his health

enough that

> he'll eventually consider giving up gluten and sugar? I don't

think he'd be

> willing to do so now but we need to find a way to reduce his sweet

tooth.

>

[Guest guest]

,

Yes, it did get lost!

Wanted to ask you if you've heard of the book " Enzymes for Autism

And Other Neurological Disorders " that pushes an enzyme blend called

Peptizyde for food sensitivities; saying that it will stop the

immune reaction to undigested proteins leaking through the gut so

the gut can heal. I find it is a vast improvement over the high-

maintenance rotational diet for food sensitivities that books

like " Brain Allergies " recommend, which doesn't even address the

cause of the problem or have a strategy for healing!

I've been giving my daughter peptizyde daily and whenever she has

pasteurized dairy and she is no longer having any behavoiral

disturbances, which is awesome! You really can't expect a child to

live their lives without eating ice cream and pizza. (Don't scold

me, I know they're not so good, but come on, there are so many

birthday parties!)

Regards,

Renate

>

> Dear Heacklers:

>

> I just spent the better part of an hour replying to your post, but

> when I went to post it, it seemed " to get lost " before it was

sent.

> If this post did not make it into this egroup I will type it in

> again soon.

>

[Guest guest]

I do believe that you can quickly change the level of

neurotransmitters floating around - but how quickly does the body then

re-regulate receptors? My dopamine question is not so much about the

level of dopamine, or the state of dopamine receptors, but instead how

beta-endorphin triggers it.

Connie

[Guest guest]

Dear Connie:

I admit that I took a lot of liberty in my reply to your post

mentioning dopamine... and that what I said was not really answering

your question. I just could not help but try to sneak in the fact

that any and all neurotransmitter levels are readily changeable at

will with nutrient precusors such as amino acids, etc... even if such

did not quite answer your question to me.

In honesty, I don't know hardly anything about beta-endorphins or how

beta-endorphins relate to either dopamine or dopamine receptors.

About the only thing I know about endorphins are that they are

the " feel good " chemistry that is the result of exercise. I'm not even

sure if beta-endorphins and just " endorphins " are the same.

I do know that tyrosine is one of the key nutrient precursors to both

norepinephrine and dopamine. I also know that the thyroid hormone

thyroxine is produced by attaching iodine atoms to the ring structures

of tyrosine molecules. Boosting tryrosine levels by the ingestion of

tyrosine orally does tend to boost all of the chemistry that tyrosine

makes in the body. However, this effect does not last, as whatever

hormome or neurotransmitter tysosine (or any other amino acid) makes

is eventually used up and needs to be replaced.

My knowledge of changing neurotransmitter levels with amino acids,

choline, vitamin and mineral cofactors, etc. is based on a few books

(such as " The Way Up From Down " by Priscilla Slagle, " The Mood Cure "

by Ross, and " The Amino Revolution " by Erdmann). My

knowledge of changing neurotransmitter levels is also based on a great

deal of self experience in regard to taking the nutrient precursors of

neurotransmitters. I have taken many thousands of doses of free form

amino acids (almost always with vitamin and mineral cofactors) since

1997. Doing such increases my body and brain chemistry in a manner

which is obvious (I can sure feel the effect of taking amino acids).

However, such " boosted brain and body chemistry " does not last that

long... as neurotransmitters and hormones in the body are continually

being depleted on a daily basis, and they need to be replaced. I just

try to ensure that I give my body and brain what nutrients they need

to build an adequate supply of neurotransmitters, hormones, and

enzymes as best as I can, and let nature do the rest.

I'm afraid I also have to admit that I don't know the answer to your

question below of " how does the body then re-regulate receptors? " . I

just do not know, nor do I really know where to go to find out.

The human body does always seem to attempt to right itself and find

it's own balance (if it can). This process is called homeostasis, I

believe. The body, the brain, and other organs and glands do an awful

lot of regulating of all sorts such that they stay in balance as best

as they can. However, I don't know if this answers your question to

me at all. I am not knowledgeable on the topic of re-regulating

receptors.

All the best,

--- In , " cbrown2008 " <cbrown2008@...>

wrote:

>

> I do believe that you can quickly change the level of

> neurotransmitters floating around - but how quickly does the body

then

> re-regulate receptors? My dopamine question is not so much about

the

> level of dopamine, or the state of dopamine receptors, but instead

how

> beta-endorphin triggers it.

>

> Connie

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Renate:

I have heard of the book " Enzymes for Autism And Other Neurological

Disorders " but I have not read it yet. (I know I should read this

book, but poverty has been a part of the last three years of my

life, and my book budget is almost zero at this point.)

I am somewhat familiar with a egroup called

and have followed it from time to time over the years. This 5700

member plus egroup is associated with the author of the book above

( Defelice).

I do believe in the use of digestive enzymes for neurological

conditions (and many other conditions of ill health as well). Both

my 15 year old son and I regularly use digestive enzymes and find

them helpful, just as your daughter does.

I am glad to hear that you find that your daughter can sometimes eat

pasteurized dairy products, and no longer have any behavioral

disturbances as a result of digestive enzyme use when she eats

dairy. This interests me, and I may have learned something from you

here.

Some claim that enzymes can, or help, to resolve food allergies,

some claim (Jordan Rubin is one) that straightening out gut flora

can, or help, to resolve food allergies, and some claim that NAET

therapy can, or help, to resolve food allergies as well. Some

persons claim that resolving leaky gut syndrome can, or help, to

resolve food allergies. Some persons also claim that identifying

(via an elimination diet) one's food allergens and eliminating them

from one's diet is the best way to go. I believe that there is

some, if not a good deal, of truth to all these claims... and I am

still learning in this regard.

I think that assuming a lack of an adequate supply of digestive

enzymes, assuming a lack of proper gut flora, and assuming the

presence of leaky gut syndrome is very wise insurance for any person

that is seriously health compromised (either mentally or

physically). Issues such as these should always be assessed and/or

addressed in any case of serious neurological compromise, in my

opinion.

I have yet to try NAET therapy to eliminate food allergies, but I do

believe that this therapy has been very helpful to many in regard to

resolving food allergies.

I do have a good deal of experience with using an elimination diet

and " suspect food " challenges in regard to determining which foods

are helping me and which foods are hurting me. And despite both

regular digestive enyme use and straightening out my gut flora, I

still seem reactive to some foods for sure... and I am wise to avoid

them.

In regard to my rewriting the answer to your other post to me

that " just got lost " , please be patient with me. I've got a lot of

writing tasks at the moment that take precedence... the most

important being a definition of a " healing house " .

All the best,

--- In , " haecklers " <haecklers@...>

wrote:

>

> ,

>

> Yes, it did get lost!

>

> Wanted to ask you if you've heard of the book " Enzymes for Autism

> And Other Neurological Disorders " that pushes an enzyme blend

called

> Peptizyde for food sensitivities; saying that it will stop the

> immune reaction to undigested proteins leaking through the gut so

> the gut can heal. I find it is a vast improvement over the high-

> maintenance rotational diet for food sensitivities that books

> like " Brain Allergies " recommend, which doesn't even address the

> cause of the problem or have a strategy for healing!

>

> I've been giving my daughter peptizyde daily and whenever she has

> pasteurized dairy and she is no longer having any behavoiral

> disturbances, which is awesome! You really can't expect a child

to

> live their lives without eating ice cream and pizza. (Don't scold

> me, I know they're not so good, but come on, there are so many

> birthday parties!)

>

> Regards,

>

> Renate

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks Wanita! Duh to me on wikipedia!

And allen, thanks for writing on the receptors. We have a theory

that receptors re-regulate " at the speed of growing things " based on

our experience, and being indidual whether it's serotonin or

endorphin; but what growing things? each seems to be at a different

rate.

Connie

>

> Connie,

>

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphin

> Beta-endorphin has the highest affinity for the Mu1-opioid

receptor, slightly lower affinity for the Mu2 and Delta-opioid

receptors and low affinity for the Kappa1-opioid receptors. Mu

receptors are the main receptor through which morphine acts.

Classically, Mu receptors are presynaptic, and inhibit

neurotransmitter release; through this mechanism, they inhibit the

release of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, and disinhibit the

dopamine pathways, causing more dopamine to be released. By

hijacking this process, exogenous opioids cause inappropriate

dopamine release, and lead to aberrant synaptic plasticity which

causes addiction.

>

> .

> The amino acid residue sequence (primary structure) of â-

endorphin is: Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met-Thr-Ser-Glu-Lys-Ser-Gln-Thr-Pro-

Leu-Val-Thr-Leu-Phe-Lys-Asn-Ala-Ile-Ile-Lys-Asn-Ala-Tyr-Lys-Lys-Gly-

GluOH (Fries, 2002

>

> I've heard of calming results combining niacinamide and GABA.

Niacinamide and valium use the same pathway according to statement

from valium's manufacturer after patent ran out.

>

> Wanita

>

> > I do believe that you can quickly change the level of

> > neurotransmitters floating around - but how quickly does the

body

> then

> > re-regulate receptors? My dopamine question is not so much about

> the

> > level of dopamine, or the state of dopamine receptors, but

instead

> how

> > beta-endorphin triggers it.

> >

> > Connie

>

>

>

>