Schizophrenia and the Brain

Schizophrenia
The brain is one of the most vital organs of the central nervous system along with the spinal cord. It controls physical body functions like the heart rate and respiration, and also controls our emotions, thoughts, etc. The brain is a collection of 10 billion interconnected neurons in which messages are passed from one neuron to another through neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Schizophrenia is a syndrome characterized by disturbances in emotions, thought, activity, and language, that leaves patients fearful and withdrawn.

Orthomolecular Treatment of Cancer

Between 1978 and March, 1999 I have seen over 1040 patients suffering from cancer who came to me for nutritional and psychiatric counseling. This is no longer a surprising combination as it was when I first started to practice psychiatry in 1952. I attended my first annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Los Angeles, in 1952. I did not meet another psychiatrist there with a PhD in Biochemistry. Since then many more scientists with the double degrees have become active in this field but of these very few actively pursue this particular combination. Orthomolecular theory and practice drives these two together. I have retained my interest in the biochemistry and clinical aspects of nutrition combining this with my education in medicine and later in psychiatry. The recovery of my first patient in 1960 from terminal bronchiogenic cancer of the lung arose from this coalescence of these two disciplines. Continue Reading >>

Nutrition and Your Mental Health

Nutrition and Your Mental Health

What does nutrition have to do with mental health? You might be surprised to find out the truth behind what happens when a person has a nutritional deficiency.

Nutritional deficiencies can cause all sorts of psychiatric symptoms including apathy, low energy, irritability, insomnia, low energy, agitation, fatigue, concentration problems, aches and pains, weight changes, including weight loss or weight gain. Sound a lot like the symptoms of depression? The truth is the average American diet of fast food is low in vital nutrition that you need for your body to function correctly.

This isn't to say that all depression is caused by bad nutrition but it's certainly a contributing factor in many cases and poor nutrition will always make depression worse. Antidepressant drugs also do not correct nutritional problems. So if your depressed because of nutritional problems an antidepressant will only partially cover up the problem and you body still won't function correctly.




Please visit Natalie's website at

http://www.nutritionbynatalie.com

To find out more about orthomolecular psychiatry visit,

http://orthomolecular.org/index.shtml

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© Copyright 2007 Zoe Sofia. All Rights Reserved.

DEPRESSION, MENTAL ILLNESS CURED WITH NUTRITION

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 7, 2005

Mental Health Treatment That Works
(OMNS) Doctors report that mental health problems including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, anti-social and learning disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders often have a common cause: insufficient nutrients in the brain. Nutritionally-oriented physicians assert that the cure for these problems is to give the body the extra nutrients it needs, especially when under abnormal stress.

Orthomolecular medical researchers say the future of psychiatry is in nutrition because nutrition has such a long, safe and effective history of correcting many mental problems. Nutrients such as the B-vitamins are most successful when taken regularly, taken in relatively high doses, and taken in conjunction with vitamin C, the essential fatty acids (EFA’s), and the minerals magnesium and selenium.

A summary of what has worked for many people follows below. The safety of vitamins and minerals is extraordinary, and the expense of trying them is much less than the cost of hazardous pharmaceutical drugs. These nutrients can be purchased in a discount or heath store.

Taking 1,000 mg of vitamin B-3 three times a day often cures mild to moderate depression. Dramatic results are often achieved within one week of beginning this nutritional program, especially in alcoholics. (1)

Sometimes a simple deficiency of vitamin D causes depression. 3,000 I.U./day from all sources can alleviate the problem. (2)

3,000 mg/day or more of niacin (vitamin B-3), along with the same quantity of vitamin C, taken in divided doses throughout the day can successfully treat both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. (3)

Vitamins B-3, B-6, C and the minerals magnesium and zinc frequently produce a good response in ADHD and autistic children. (4)

Vitamins B-6, folate, and B-12 taken together lower elevated homocysteine levels in the elderly while improving mental function. (5)

As pointed out by chemistry professor and vitamin discoverer Roger J. Williams, PhD (6), each individual has different nutritional needs and responds differently to nutrients. Are you tired of being depressed, suffering from anxiety, paying huge prescription drug bills for unsafe prescriptions that don’t solve the problem or produce undesirable side effects? Are you tired of the piece-meal trial and error approach to finding a solution to your mental or emotional problems? If so, adults should consider the following nutritional protocol, which will bathe your brain and nerves in natural nutrients and may well produce dramatic results. The cost of trying the program below is less than the cost of a typical doctor’s office visit. It is safe and convenient. All of these nutrients can be purchased at large discount stores. Continue reading >>

Treatment Protocol for Alcoholism

A Message from Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.:

"Ever since I met Bill W, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous and we became close friends, I have had a personal interest in the treatment of alcoholism.

Bill taught that there were three components to the treatment of alcoholism: spiritual, mental and medical. AA provided a spiritual home for alcoholics that many could not find anywhere else and helped them sustain abstinence. But for many AA alone was not enough; not everyone in AA had achieved a comfortable sobriety. Bill recognized that the other two components were important. When he heard of our use of niacin for treating alcoholics, he became very enthusiastic about it because niacin gave these unfortunate patients immense relief from their chronic depression and other physical and mental complaints.

"Niacin is the most important single treatment for alcoholism, and it is one of the most reliable treatments. And it is safe, much safer than any of the modern psychiatric drugs. Niacin does not work as well when alcoholics are still drinking but in a few cases it has decreased the intake of alcohol until they were abstinent. This conclusion is based on the work my colleagues and I have done since 1953.

"I know of many alcoholics who did not want to stop drinking, but did agree to take niacin. Over the years, they gradually were able to reduce their intake until they brought it under control. Some alcoholics can even become social drinkers on a very small scale. I have not found many who could. But I think that if started on the program very early, many more could achieve normalcy. I suspect that treatment centers using those ideas will be made available one day, and will be much more successful than the standard treatment today. This all too often still consists of dumping them into hospitals and letting them dry out, with severe pain and suffering. When they are discharged, most go right back to the alcohol, the most dangerous and widely used street drug available without a prescription. Continue reading >>