Perspectives on Mental Illness Including Mental Retardation

 

"The person who says it cannot be done
should not interrupt the person doing it."
-Chinese proverb

Introduction

 

"Early in 1981, the medical and educational establishments were shaken to their

socks. Ruth F. Harrell and colleagues, in Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences, (Ref.1) showed that high doses of vitamins improved intelligence and educational performance in learning disabled children, including those with Down syndrome."

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D.

8 Van Buren Street, Holley, New York 14470 USA

drsaul@doctoryourself.com

  Although I don't agree with doctoring yourself, except in an emergency situation when no doctor is around, Saul is on the ball. This quote is from the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, issue 1, 2004. I have included his reference 1 as my own reference one because I feel that Harrell's work is interesting. She was no longer funded after this finding. I would have funded her to do a larger study.

"I am nice to all
my patients. Only the ones on vitamins
improve." Dr. Abram Hoffer

Schizophrenia

  In 1999 Harrison of Oxford published a review of neuropathology studies of schizophrenia. This review has some good qualities, but I feel that it is flawed. The flaw is regarding gliosis, which has been consistently reported postmortem in schizophrenia for years. Some recent studies have used a flawed technique which is not sensitive enough to detect moderate gliosis. He decided to endorse the false negative results and ignore the century of valid results.

  It seems that the Holtzer stain gives valid results. The flawed technique for gliosis is called "GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) immunoreactivity". This technique gives false negatives. The Harrison article can be viewed free full text at the Brain journal website.

Neuropathology

  Fisman (1975) was from the South African Institute for Medical Research, Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied the brain stem in schizophrenia and found gliosis as well as other positive findings. He felt that the gliosis was the most consistent finding. Gliosis signifies a toxic factor as causing the illness. This disproves the neurodevelopmental theory, a false but popular theory favored by Harrison.

  In 1982 Anders & Orlovskaya of Russia used the electron microscope to study the brains of schizophrenics. They found swelling of the endoplasmic reticulum and some mitochondria. Since the ER houses amino acids, this probably reflects a flooding of the cell with amino acids. The mitochondria can also accept amino acids. The swelling of the mitochondria suggests a disruption of the mitochondria by excess amino acids.

The Feingold Diet

  Dr. Ben Feingold was born in 1899 in Pittsburg. He died in 1982. In 1975 he published a book entitled "Why Your Child Is Hyperactive". He studied allergies in children. He thought that hyperactivity was caused by food allergies. These children are now diagnosed with ADHD and given Ritalin or other drugs. ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Ritalin is an amphetamine analog. Unfortunately amphetamine and its analogs can cause temporary psychosis. Amphetamine was once used as a drug, but it has become a drug of abuse.

  Feingold wanted to restrict certain foods. His diet is outlined in "The Gale Encyclopedia of Diets" (2008) Volume 1. I highly recommend this two volume set. Feingold's views are now considered orthomolecular.

Conclusions

  The repeated finding of gliosis by neuropathologists in schizophrenia supports toxic theories including those of Hoffer, Friedhoff, and myself. My own views are almost identical to those of Friedhoff except that he did not realize that amino acids were flooding the cells and he did not endorse orthomolecular treatment. Both myself and the late Dr. Friedhoff thought that the tozin was DMPEA. Osmond & Hoffer thought that the toxin was the "M-substance", an unknown substance similar to mescaline. My view is that the "M-substance" is DMPEA.

  But what is the treatment? My theory is that amino acids are flooding the brain cells. Therefore a diet very low in amino acids is suggested. The vegan diet is a step in the right direction. I am also looking at the PKU diet and at the raw foods diet. The raw foods diet is similar to the diet eaten by cavemen. I do not suggest raw meat because meat is full of protein. My diet is high in fiber, found only in plant foods, and low in protein because there is a brain allergy to protein. In PKU the brain allergy is to only one amino acid (phenylalanine).

  More information is given in the references. More research needs to be done, but it should not be trail & error. A lot of previous treatments have been trail & error with too many errors. I favor a rational treatment.

References

1. Harrell RF, Capp RH, Davis DR, Peerless J, and
Ravitz LR. Can nutritional supplements help
mentally retarded children? An exploratory
study. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1981. 78: 574-8.

2. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1452386/amino_acids_why_all_the_fuss.html

3. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1457526/advances_in_orthomolecular_research.html

4. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1438824/psychiatry_the_retarded_child_of_medicine.html

5. www.associatedcontent.com/article/1433567/a_theory_for_schizophrenia.html

6. Craft D: Can nutritional supplements help mentally

retarded children? 1998.http://www.diannecraft.Accessed August, 2003.

com/nut-sup1.html

7. Turkel H: Medical amelioration of Down's syndrome

incorporating the orthomolecular approach.

8. Turkel H. The Medical Treatment for Down's Syndrome.Southfield, MI: Ubiotica. 1985.

J Orthomol Psychiat, 1975; 4: 102-115.

9. Bleuler E. Dementia praecox or the group of schizophrenias 1911. Transl. J. Zinkin. New York: International Universities Press; 1950.

10. Buchsbaum MS, Someya T, Teng CY, Abel L, Chin S, Najafi A, et al. PET and MRI of the thalamus in never-medicated patients with schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153: 191-9.

11. Corsellis JAN. Psychoses of obscure pathology. In: Blackwood W, Corsellis JAN, editors. Greenfield's neuropathology. 3rd ed. London: Edward Arnold; 1976. p. 903-15.

12. David GB. The pathological anatomy of the schizophrenias. In: Richter D, editor. Schizophrenia: somatic aspects. London: Pergamon Press; 1957. p. 93-130.

13. Fisman M. The brain stem in psychosis. Br J Psychiatry 1975; 126: 414-22.