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Commentary on Nutritional Treatment
of Mental Disorders
from Willam Walsh, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Pfeiffer Treatment Center
www.hriptc.org
(The following information is taken from Dr. William Walsh's discussion on Safe Harbor's "Integrative Psychiatry" email list for professionals. To preserve Dr. Walsh's wealth of information, we have posted his comments here, with the notation of added commentary [with the date] as discussion goes on.)
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Index Page
Articles F-L
Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome
We have seen
dozens of patients with a diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome.
Most of them had an associated diagnosis of ADHD or a behavior
disorder. We've never done a formal outcome study on this
group, so I have no treatment efficacy statistics. However, I
remember years ago being surprised that so many of these
children were responsive to our treatments and turned out so
well. An even bigger surprise to me was learning that many
cocaine babies become highly-functioning, well-adjusted
children. It looks like the dire predictions of severe dysfunctions for these persons have been grossly exaggerated.
(Feb 20, 2003)
Hair Analysis
I've done hair
analysis proficiency testing for more than 25 years. I've
never yet found a lab that can reliably assay barium in hair.
The same is true of more than 10 other elements routinely
reported by the hair analysis labs. Strontium has a history of
strange results since typical levels are close to the
detection limit for most labs.
In contrast, you can usually depend of hair assays for copper,
zinc, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, lead, cadmium,
phosphorus, chromium, sulfur, and a few others. (April
22, 2003)
The Johnson's baby
shampoo recommendation is intended to minimize exogenous
contamination from shampoos. Bob Smith who was previously
president of Doctor's Data and later Great Smokies hair analysis
efforts.... has a lot of data which shows this is the best
approach.
Uranium is an analysis that I have very little confidence in.
I've done quality assurance testing of hair analysis labs and
find some of the elements assays to be highly reliable and
others to be nearly worthless. Uranium is NOT one of the good
elements. (July 1, 2003)
I've done proficiency testing on Doctor's Data, Inc and Great
Smokies hair analysis facilities and believe that they are the
two best commercial HA labs in the world. They both report
findings for 35 to 40 elements, but only about half of their
assays have precision, accuracy, and clinical significance. I've complained to both labs about
releasing meaningless levels..... they maintain that these
speculative elemental levels may eventually have research
significance.... so they provide the data.
The "good" elements are Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Na, K, S, Mn,
Fe, Pb, Se, P, and Cd.
Others that are decent (qualitative relevance) are Sb, As, Hg,
Cr, Mo, Li, Ba, Ni, Sr, and Co.
Terrible assays (according to my tests) are: Al, Be, Bi, Pt,
Th, Tl, U,Ag, Sn, Ti, V, B, I, Ge, Rb, and Zr. However, it's
certainly possible that individual labs may have improved
their capabilities in the past two years.
On the positive side, hair analysis is actually a very
valuable tool & I love the ability to obtain meaningful
assays of a dozen or so metals with non-intrusive sampling and
very low cost. (July 3, 2003)
Head
Injury
Many years ago,
the great Carl Pfeiffer told me that head injury patients
often respond well to supplements of octacosanol
(2,000 to
4,000 micrograms daily), taken together with zinc, B-6, and Vitamin
C (common daily dosages 50 mg Zn, 300 mg B-6 and 2,000 mg
Vitamin C).
He said that it helped repair damage to myelin sheaths in the
brain. I've used this many times over the years with apparent
excellent success, based on anecdotal case histories (which of
course have limited scientific value).
A few years ago,
we collaborated with a doctor from the Schwab Rehabilitation
Hospital which specializes in head and spinal injuries. We
provided the above nutritional supplements to about a dozen
persons with severe brain injuries. About 2/3 of them reported
very nice improvements. One man who had been on a plateau
after 2 years of Schwab's physical therapies was able to walk
again after 3 months of octacosanol, etc. Another head injury
client with aphasia was able to talk coherently after a few
months. (June 2, 2003)
Histamine
Histamine is a
neurotransmitter itself, and Carl Pfeiffer originally believed
that innate histamine abnormalities in the brain were
responsiblefor many mental problems. However, it now appears
that whole blood histamine is really a "marker" for
methylation, in an inverse relationship. High bloodhistamine
indicates undermethylation, low serotonin levels, etc..... low
blood histamine the opposite.
The five groups refers to the biochemical classification of
depression that I developed a few years ago. At that time, I
observed that 90% of all new patients who presented at the
clinic with a diagnosis of clinical depression fit into one of
5 chemical classes:
1. Overmethylated
2. Undermethylated
3. Hypercupremic
4. Pyrrole Disorder
5. Toxic Metal Overload
Each of these conditions is associated with a syndrome
involving specific personality traits, physical markers, and
symptoms. (June 16, 2003)
We use whole blood
histamine as a marker for methylation. Persons with high
histamine ( > 70) are believed to be undermethylated;
persons with low histamine (< 40) are considered
overmethylated. We believe that methylation imbalances have a
major impact on synthesis of serotonin, dopamine, and
norepinephrine. The reason is that methyl status isn't easy to
decisively determine...... and is very important clinically.
For example, more than 40% of all clinically depressed men are
undermethylated and benefit from therapies which enhance
methylation. Another 15% or so are overmethylated and need to
head for the other goal line...... namely avoidance of
methylating supplements and use of folate therapy.
In many cases, this is the dominant innate factor predisposing
to depression (or other disorder)..... Blood histamine is one
of the best ways to get hard evidence regarding this factor.
(July 1, 2003)
Hives
Most persons who
develop hives are undermethylated persons who have a genetic
tendency for elevated blood histamine. Often the hives occur
after outdoor physical activity, especially during times of
high levels of ragweed or other inhalation allergins.
Temporary relief can often be achieved using Benedryl..... A
long-term preventative approach involves therapy with
methionine, calcium, magnesium, B-6, and Vitamin C. (Aug 9,
2003)
Learning
Disabilities
In my experience, the most effective nutrient for speech stimulation is Dimethylglycine (DMG). This is especially effective for undermethylated children.
Many anxious children are overmethylated and thrive on DMAE which passes the blood-brain barrier and enhances acetylcholine (which suppresses dopamine). Since DMAE tends to lower Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Noradrenaline..... anxiety may be lessened and expressive language improved. Of course, DMAE is effective only for children who have a genetic tendency for elevated levels of these three neurotransmitters.
DMAE is usually indicated for children who are "space cadets" who have high anxiety, little motivation for learning, and poor organization. DMG is usually indicated for intense children who are strong willed, competitive, and exhibit obsessive/compulsive tendencies. (Oct 1, 2003)
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