Posted by bleauberry on August 9, 2008, at 19:03:45
In reply to So many meds, no relief, I need help, posted by jbarton83 on August 9, 2008, at 14:20:38
So sorry for your troubles. You are a very strong person and deserve a ton of respect. My hat's off to you. Best wishes on the Parnate too.
When people are very ill and not responding to multiple meds, I believe, as does my doctor, that we have to look beyond the brain and correct every single problem we can find or suspect. And even fix some blindly that may or may not be involveld. Basically, rule out nothing. With you there is obviously something going on in your body that is impacting the brain, but it may not be the brain itself at fault. Is that making sense?
Things to consider:
1) Do you have silver fillings? If yes, they HAVE to come out. Healthy people can handle the constant mercury exposure, ill people cannot. It is a very powerful nervous system toxin.
2) Adrenal and thyroid need to be optimized. Within normal range is not good enough, and is in fact not helpful. We can measure thyroid in blood but we cannot measure what it is doing in the cells. Only trial and error can tell us if thyroid treatment is helpful or not. It is not uncommon in psychiatric disorders. For adrenals, suggest a 24 hour 4-sample saliva cortisol test. If the curve is not normal, you will need either licorice root, adrenal cortex extract, or physiological replacement doses of hydrocortisone (1.25mg to 20mg) for about a year. When the adrenals are weak, the entire body malfunctions.3) Test for hidden food sensitivities. Gluten is the primary one. You would be amazed how badly a person can feel when they are reacting to a food they eat all the time and don't even suspect it. Believe me I know, I am gluten intolerant and suffered a long time before diagnosed. The second most common intolerance is the casseine protein found in dairy.
4) Healthy people can handle all kinds of lousy diets, but ill people need very special attention in diet. Low or no caffeine, low or no sugar, heavy on proteins, heavy on raw fruits and raw or slightly cooked veggies. Lots of water that has been purified, either purchased or through a good kitchen faucet filter (Aquasana brand). There are enough microbes, heavy metals (lead solder on your pipes), and flouride to further burden an already weakened person. No hydrogenated oils. Instead, olive oil, flax oil, and things like free-range organic eggs, avocados, walnuts, almonds. A low dose of purified fish oil is healthy too. Eating and drinking this way takes a couple months to get used to, especially when you have to replace wheat with rice, corn, potato, tapioca, and bean flours like I did (gluten) but after some time you actually prefer your new diet over the old one. May not be a miracle cure, though it has sometimes been, but benefits can be seen as early as 3 months and continue to grow for up to 2 years. Your body and brain need all the help you can give them. Feed them the right stuff that they can maximize their own genetically programmed defenses and healing.
5) Known infections, and even unknown ones, should be treated as long as it takes. You already know of one. That should be at the top of the list.
6) Consider meds from other countries. For example, the number one performing antidepressant in Japan is different than anything in the USA. I myself, who failed multiple drugs and ECT, find this particular med is showing me promise like I haven't seen in some time. The internet and mailorder opens up a whole new world in treatment.
7) Other supplements: Vitamin C and E, selenium and zinc. If you don't react badly to it, add magnesium. For liver support and overall cleansing, Milk Thistle herb. For any other meds, but not Parnate, I might have also mentioned SAMe. Not cool with MAOIs, and not cool if you have silver fillings.
8) You've had a number of strange physical problems in the past. Those should not be taken as random weird events. They are telling a story. Something is going on. Something that is not likely to spare the brain.
Basically, as my doc put it, we have to attack these things from multiple angles. We need to remove as many burdens on our body as we can that we know of, and remove other burdens blindly. To focus only on psych meds is only part of a larger treatment protocol, and a part that is likely to be fruitless unless other things are addressed simultaneously.
Hope this helps.
poster:bleauberry
thread:845173
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080805/msgs/845217.html