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My husband and I waved goodbye as we watched our son John (not his real name) board the plane, happily joking with his buddies. The year was 1989. John was 19, and headed for what we expected to be a wonderful youth tour overseas. Four weeks later, we received a shocking phone call. John had fainted and had become paranoid and delusional.
We left on the next plane and returned with a young man who not only looked physically ill and emaciated but also was psychotic. We were devastated.
John was hospitalized for a short time and was released with antipsychotic medication. His personality changed. Our outgoing, friendly, affectionate boy now spent hours in his room, asleep. Awake, he suffered Parkinson-like tremors and tardive dyskinesia, a side effect of his medication. His progress was negligible, fraught with setbacks.
Frantically I searched for answers. Traditional texts left me feeling hopeless. By sheer luck, I came across a book dealing with orthomolecular medicine by Dr. Abram Hoffer, M.D. PhD, and psychiatrist. The book (now renamed Healing Schizophrenia) discussed healthy diets and various nutrients such as Vitamin B3 (niacin) and Vitamin C that could help our sons condition and restore his health.
Orthomolecular medicine is the practice of optimizing health and treating disease by providing correct amounts of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, essential fatty acids and other substances which are natural to the bodys environment. In other words, find out whats missing in the body and give it what it needs and wants.
I became excited. I called Dr. Hoffer, and he directed me to the organization which is now known as the International Schizophrenia Foundation (ISF). I learned that the Foundation with over 40 years of research published in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine (www.orthomed.org), not only offers help for schizophrenia, but also for depression, bi polar disorder, anxiety, autism, dementia as well as other physical disease states.
NUTRIENT THERAPY GETS GOOD RESULTS
According to the Journal and the ISF, if patients are started on the orthomolecular treatment of B3 (niacin) and other nutrients for serious schizophrenia symptoms (including paranoia) those symptoms can be reversed in 80% of cases within two years. Hoffers findings were unheard of in traditional medical circles for mentally ill patients, where treatment was usually based solely on medication. I was directed to a psychiatrist/medical* doctor in Toronto, who combines orthomolecular medicine along with traditional medication.
*Note that some naturopaths also specialize in orthomolecular treatments.
The Allergy Connection
About half of the chemically ill patient population experience allergies to one or more foods. According to Dr. Hoffer, certain foods can cause cerebral or brain allergies in some individuals. This is corroborated by Doris Rapp, M.D. author of books about childrens food allergies and mental health, as well as by H. Philpott, M.D., and W. Kalita, PhD, in their book, Brain Allergies.
John was tested for food allergies, and vitamin/mineral levels. Results of tests showed many food allergies (clear reasons for his ongoing digestive problems), plus nutrient imbalances. He was prescribed Vitamin B3 (niacin or niacinamide; 3,000 mg. to be taken each day in divided dosages), B complex (100 mg. per day), Vitamin C (3,000 mg. per day), zinc (50 mg. per day), plus a multi vitamin/mineral.
Vitamin dosages depend upon each individuals tolerance and needs and can often change over time. Niacin can cause a flush in the body, but is not dangerous. There are non-flush formulas available.
Within three weeks of taking the vitamins and changing his diet, there was a noticeable transformation in our son; his thought disorder and paranoia began to subside. Over the years, other nutrients such as B6, B12 and folic acid were added to his regime of nutrients and medication. Our son was regaining a balanced mental state before our eyes.
Some fear that vitamins in high dosages are risky. Yet testimony before the Government of Canada, House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, by Andrew Saul, PhD, reaffirmed that nutritional supplements overall are indeed quite safe (Ottawa, May 12, 2005). Check http://www.doctoryourself.com/testimony.htm.
BIOLOGICAL CAUSES OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Hoffers pamphlet, Orthomolecular Treatment for Schizophrenia documents schizophrenia as a group of diseases, a syndrome. Several factors lead to the constellation of perceptual disturbances and thought disorders such as:
Cerebral allergies
Vitamin B3 and B6 dependencies
Vitamin deficiencies such as scurvy or pellagra
Essential fatty acid deficiencies
Mineral deficiencies, such as zinc
Toxic reactions to lead or to drugs
LSD and similar hallucinogens
Infections such as rheumatic fever, syphilis, and many others.
While these above factors were identified and documented decades ago as probable causes for mental disorders, mental illness is still regarded as a non-organic illness. Doctors or psychiatrists can look up symptoms in the DSM IV Manual and prescribe medications without necessarily investigating other physical conditions first. This is a grave mistake.
Research studies in the American and British Journals of Psychiatry, Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, Annals of Allergy, and Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases clearly show that B12 deficiencies, thyroid problems, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, hypoglycemia, high homocysteine, and other ailments such as poor bowel ecology, can all affect mental health.
Neuroleptic drugs can help extreme psychiatric symptoms, but Dr.Hoffers research, cited in Outcomes of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Review (Jobe et al, 2005, The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry), concedes that schizophrenia is a poor-outcome disorder and warns that more attention must be given to suicide and early death. Clearly, medications are not a fail-safe approach to mental illnesses.
ORTHOMOLECULAR MEDICINE: HOW DID IT START?
In the early 1950s, funded by the Saskatchewan government and the Rockefeller Foundation, Abram Hoffer conducted the first double-blind studies for the treatment of schizophrenia using nutrients. Hoffer headed up a team of 30 researchers in four mental hospitals and three psychiatric wards in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Initial success with using niacin soon grew into a considerable body of eight double-blind clinical trials. In these early trials, patients recovery rates doubled from 35% to an astonishing 70%. Some attempted to repeat the studies and failed due to poor methodology, but when Hoffers protocols were followed, as they were in the National Institute of Medicine study, the doubling of recovery rates was confirmed.
Orthomolecular treatments (practiced in 39 countries) are inexpensive, safe and effective and can be included with medication to optimize outcomes. However, Hoffer cautions that those with chronic schizophrenia may take longer to show measurable progress.
ROAD TO RECOVERY
As for our son, he persevered with his vitamin protocol, proper nutrition and medication. Because of Johns steady improvement, his doctor has lowered his medication dosage.
Presently, he is thinking clearly with no obvious symptoms of paranoia and enjoys excellent mental and physical health. Due to the addition of the vitamins, John no longer has tardive dyskinesia (characterized by repetitive, involuntary, movements). In his paper, D. Hawkins, M.D. PhD surveyed 57,000 patients taking orthomolecular treatments along with medication and none displayed tardive dsykenesia symptomsreason enough to use vitamins.
For the past ten years, John has lived in his own apartment and presently, he is being retrained for a new career. He has hope for the future. I became so interested in nutrition as a way to better health that I returned to two separate colleges. Since 1998, I have worked as a registered nutritional consultant using holistic nutrition with patients of three Toronto physicians. I am constantly encouraged by patients positive progress from mental or physical symptoms.
There are no instant cures. Nonetheless, John now enjoys a far better life, free of former symptoms and I am thankful. Ive never regretted the decision to embrace orthomolecular medicine and holistic nutritionpowerful therapies for my family and for those I counsel.
