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From:	ric (pool-71-171-216-137.chi01.dsl-w.verizon.net)
Subject:	testimony (updated...)
Date:	January 7, 2007 at 9:32 pm PST

In Reply to: my recovery from schizophrenia and major depression (testimony)... posted by ric on January 7, 2007 at 6:59 pm:

Sorry, I didn't expect to be posting an update *this* quickly. This adds information regarding the drugs I received at the second hospital stay, and clarifies the chronology with which I received them. All else is the same.

...thank you for your patience with me. - ric

My recovery from schizophrenia and major depression...

The psychosis symptoms of my illness were repeating sounds...what I mean by this is...if I heard a real sound that was of a "cycling" nature...such as a bell, tone, electric motor, internal combustion motor, etc...the sound would repeat like an endless recording in my mind. Eventually the sounds would dissipate, but it would take many days. The sounds would appear to come from the same spatial direction that I originally heard them. At one time I had 5 identifiable sounds playing in my mind.

During a hospitalization, a nurse (testing me) hit two notes (an octave apart) on a piano...and the notes kept "playing" in my head and I informed her of that. She then talked to me for about 15 minutes (in order to distract me), and following that, she asked me to hum the notes....which I did. She found the notes I hummed to be on-pitch (compared to the notes keyed again on the piano). Till that time, she did not believe me. After that experience, she said she would always remember me.

On one occasion I heard screaming, and on another a baby crying, but other than these isolated incidents, I heard no voices. (I never heard voices speaking to me.)

Depression symptoms included incapacitating sadness and crying at inappropriate times, such as at work.

I also experienced an extreme super-sensitivity to sound called Hyperacusis... All sounds (as the illness progressively got worse) became excruciatingly loud. I could not hear "better" than other people, but I perceived sounds as being loud. Ultimately, even the sound of my own voice and the sound when I was chewing food caused pain. I also had (and still have) tinnitus, which was easily elevated by common sounds of normal loudness.

Here is how the disease unfolded...

I had always been more sensitive to sound than others. There is a small percentage of persons who have physical pain with loud sound, and I am one of them. But I was progressively becoming more and more sensitive to sound. I discovered foam ear plugs and they were helping...and I thought the plugs would be a lasting solution to the problem.

Along that time, (I am an electronics tech), I had spent a day checking continuity of circuits at work with an audible tester (1000 Hz tone). When I left the workplace at the end of the day, I was still "hearing" the tone. I knew this was not normal, but I kept it to myself.

Also...the ear plugs were no longer sufficient in dealing with my increasing sensitivity to sound. Now, nearly all sounds were a problem and causing pain, even with the plugs. My work involved being in some relatively noisy environments, so my employment was becoming affected. I was desperately and frantically trying to research what was wrong with me. I got so far as finding the name of the hearing sensitivity (hyperacusis)...but things were spiraling downward too quickly...and as I realized I was losing the battle, I became severely depressed.

I was finally unable to attend my employment. I was at home. I just wanted quiet...and to find someplace even quieter. Although I was depressed, I never at any time considered suicide a valid option.

I was then hospitalized at the Cleveland Clinic (CC) two times for a total of 1.5 months. (P building, seventh floor.)

The first (short) stay at CC, I was given an antidepressant drug, (an MAO inhibitor), and sent home. The drug made me hysterical. Also, at that hospital stay, I was subjected to an audiology lab test that involved a 90 dB word tape being played through headphones. This seemed a good bit of torment, especially after I had clearly told them how sensitive my hearing was. At this point, with the treatment and the prescribed drug that made me much worse, I totally lost faith in the Cleveland Clinic.

Now, my sleep had left me...and even the strongest of souls - when they are sleep deprived - are going to lose their health.

When I made a phone call...the sound of the touch-tones in the hand-set played back in my mind as if they had been tape recorded, and then the tape was cut up and spiced back together out of order... I was "hearing" a jumble of touch-tones in my mind in an endless loop. As more and more sounds were sticking in my mind, I feared an eventual "wall" of sounds being present in my head.

I made some contacts at this time with some folks (in Oregon) who also suffered hyperacusis, and felt as if I was making some progress. I started on a drug the Oregon folks suggested (Prozac). Also, I wasn't eating much, and I now believe this "fast" of sorts was helping me...and allowed me to sleep for the first time in days...but, I was awakened from that sleep... Some MD's had determined that I must return to the CC. Their statement was that it was for my own safety...yet I had uttered no threats against myself or anyone else...neither had I harmed myself or anyone else.

I was woke from sleep. An MD had summoned the police, who cuffed me and transported me to the local ER. An ER MD served as judge and jury to determine if I should be moved to the CC. I calmly explained that I had been woke from sleep and was of no harm to anyone...I explained I was making progress with help from contacts in Oregon...and I explained my lack of faith (and reasons for such) with the hospital they were determined to move me back to. (I would have happily gone for treatment to any psychiatrist anywhere...I simply did not want to go back to the CC.) Other words were spoken to the ER MD out of my hearing, which I had no opportunity to answer.

The judgment of the ER MD was that I go back to the CC. I was then strapped to a cot. A nurse appeared with a syringe loaded with a drug to sedate me. I made enough fuss that the drug was not injected in me. (Apparently I had a legal right to refuse a drug at that point.) As we neared the CC, I was vomiting. I asked for some of the bands to be removed so I wouldn't regurgitate on myself, (I had been strapped lying on my back). Inside the hospital, I was threatened by an MD with possible less gentle treatment and (legal) involuntary drugging if I did not sign a form stating my admission to the CC hospital was voluntarily.

I signed the form.

With this trip to the CC and the associated trauma it entailed, I was engulfed in sickness. The repeating sounds were in full bloom, and this brought me the schizophrenia diagnosis. At that time, I felt I would never recover well enough to work or drive a car again. One nightshift nurse on duty told me he believed I was headed for long-term hospitalization.

I was immediately started on Orap (anti-psychotic) when I arrived at the hospital. I had very uncomfortable side effects with this drug...more on that later. I was still not sleeping. They were giving me Benadryl which had a tranquilizing effect (which was slowing losing effectiveness). Eventually they quit giving me Benadryl altogether. They continued with the Prozac which I had started on at home, but then that was pulled. It wasn't until much later in the stay that was placed on Trazadone (another anti-depresant), which had a sedating effect that assisted me with sleep. I could never understand why there was such a delay in getting some meds to me, as I was hospitalized and being observed 24/7. This was a training hospital, so I did not have "one" MD to go to. I had to wait for the "panel" of MD's and MD's in-training to all be assembled. I would be seated before the row of MD's and answer their questions. Then they would together deliberate on the treatment adjustment (if any) for that day. This slowed everything down.

Full-on psychosis is the worst sick I have experienced. It's like endless waves of the worst nausea ever, with no relief in sight. People with schizophrenia are not in a state of bliss, by any stretch.

Puckering mouth and drooling were among the side effects of Orap. I recall begging for something to help. The panel of doctors that controlled my treatment refused to help me. One MD in that group made me write out a list of my complaints...and then forbade me from talking about anything I had written. Because this was a teaching hospital, with the semester change I got a brand-new group of MD's controlling my treatment. I brought the very same complaints regarding the side-effects I was suffering to this new group, and immediately they gave me Cogentin, which helped greatly. (Eventually, after being "broke in" with the Orap, I no longer needed the Cogentin.)

The drugs reduced the pain with sound, and slowly began dissipating the repeating sounds. Anti-psychotics are neuron pathway blockers. They work in a shotgun manner, randomly blocking neuron connections in your brain. This, of course, impedes the good with the bad. A tranquilizing effect results, reducing/eliminating the hallucinations...but reducing positive mental capacity along with that. There are also well known, long term physical side-effects associated with the meds.

After leaving the hospital and a subsequent few month leave from my job, I returned to work.

I eventually (months later) migrated to Risperdal and Prozac. I remained on those drugs for many years. The drugs did control my illness and allow me to work...but the side effects began causing a general health decline. With the drugs, I gained weight, eventually reaching 275 pounds, 46 inch waist (5' 11"). Weight gain is a side effect of Risperdal...I was not over-weight when I started the drugs. I have recently read news reports that Risperdal is causing tumors. While I was taking the drugs, I always adjusted them to the minimal effective dose, no matter what the prescription said.

My first discovery that my illness was diet related, was when reading a book called, "Beyond Pritikin" by Ann Louise Gittleman. She had worked as Director of Nutrition at the Pritikin Longevity Center, and had seen the negative results of the high-grain Pritikin diet. I had been on the Pritikin Diet for several years when I got sick.

Ann Gittleman noted in the book that gluten grains (wheat, oats, rye, and barley) cause intestinal gas and bloating with persons who have Celiac disease. I always knew gluten grains did that to me...but thought it was just "normal" (for me). What Celiac means is that the intestinal villi (hairlike projections) are being destroyed, causing mal-absorption of nutrients and thence all manner of diseases (up to and including cancer). The destruction of the villi can become permanent over time if gluten is not permanently removed from the diet of one with Celiac.

Gittleman also wrote of the link between gluten intolerance and schizophrenia (p.24) and depression (p.25). I had finally learned the cause of my illness. I was a Celiac who was eating gluten grains...which was causing nutrient mal-absorption...which brought on the mental illness. My baby book says I was taken off wheat cereal as a baby and placed on rice cereal, so apparently I have had a gluten allergy since birth. This could have been helpful information for the long term, had I been told the implications.

I once counted all the psychiatrists that I had been face to face with through the course of my illness... I counted fifteen of them.
How many asked me what I was eating? Zero.

The cause of my schizophrenia and depression? Diet. Specifically gluten grains and possibly a B12 deficiency...more on that later.

I was fed gluten grains every day at the Cleveland Clinic. As far as I can remember, gluten was a component of nearly every meal.

There are people in high places in the medical establishment that are aware of the gluten/schizophrenia link. I have corresponded with one of them who is trying to get a study conducted, (William W. Eaton, PhD, see below article). Celiacs are 3.2 times more likely to be schizophrenic than the general public. Thus far research moneys have not been granted to establish this link on an "acceptable" scientific level, in order that removal from gluten grains can be administered to appropriate patients as a normalized (general) treatment for schizophrenia. There is no need to wonder why there is no research money to finally "establish" the gluten/schizophrenia link.

At this point I will insert a Herbert Shelton quote, found inside the back cover of Victoria Bidwell's 'The Health Seekers' Yearbook.'

A WARNING FROM DR. SHELTON FOR OUR CAREFUL CONSIDERATION:

"Doctors are not supermen and superwomen, elevated above the great mass of mankind and freed from the immoral and selfish interests and forces against which we all struggle and to which many of us frequently succumb. No "healer" and no school of "healing" should be regarded as any more than it is - a tradesperson and a tradeschoolexploiting the sick for profit. Why one cult should be woven into the warp and woof of our government, exalted -- by law - to the position of deity, and permitted to use the advantages thus gained, to crush out all other cults and all antimedical movements, is difficult to understand. Why in choosing the cult to thus enthrone, was the most destructive and deadly of all the cults selected? This cult has been permitted to use public funds to carry on its propaganda and to employ the police power to force its schemes and methods upon the indifferent or even antagonistic public. It has gradually worked its way into the public schools, the army and navy, and among the elderly, and has gained complete control of these. State medicine is the result. All of this has been done, of course, under the pretense of "protecting the public health." But their real motives are both apparent and transparent. The Allopathic Cult has no more interest in the public health than any of the other cults; and none of them are bent on preserving public health, since this would ruin their incomes! The Physician does not secure his fees from the well, but from the sick. He is, therefore, interested in the sick -- not in the well!" --- Dr. Shelton

I did a recent Google search on the phrase "there is no cure for schizophrenia." I got 519 hits...most from drug companies and their surrogates. The lie serves them very well. Why establish a treatment that uses a simple dietary adjustment as curative means, when you can sell a lifetime of drugs to the masses? That would simply make no "business sense" to the medical/pharmaceutical establishment.

I began experimenting with a grain free diet, but fear of a relapse should I quit the drugs kept me on my meds....but as long as I stayed on drugs...I could "get away" with eating the grains...a catch 22 of sorts...and a snare to me.

I would not get off of grain consumption. I grew up baking bread and even dreamed of being a bread baker, even after I became an electronics tech. (Before my illness, I once drove to Cleveland and looked a whole grain bread bakery franchise, with the idea of perhaps buying my own.) The food item that causes the illness - the cerebral allergen (see below) - tends to be a favorite food. Obviously, if it isn't a desired food, it wouldn't be consumed in the first place. Yes, I never quit with the grains until after I discovered raw and stopped my meds...and even then I had intervals of grain consumption. But then, without the symptom masking effect of the drugs, I could sense myself on the verge of regaining the symptoms of both major depression and schizophrenia, so I would quit the grains again.

My intro to raw (6.5 years ago) was the Hallelujah Diet (HD), which is 85% raw, with juicing. My attraction to the HD was for weight loss, which happened wonderfully, (I eventually got down to 166 lbs, 33 in. waist). I went to HD Health Minister training, and there was assured by founder George Malkmus that he had heard schizophrenia testimonies. With his encouragement, after 10 years of being on drugs, I quit them. I was six months into the Hallelujah Diet at that time. Note: The Hallelujah Diet (unfortunately) allows grains...but I did the HD without gluten grains when I quit the meds (November 2000). (Over the next two or three months I took about 5 individual Prozac pills, and have had zero pills since then.) Again, I did stray back to grains for some short intervals, until the symptoms would, without fail, begin to reappear.

After starting the raw vegan path, I also strayed into some goat and cow milk cheeses (mostly raw) for a few very short intervals. These times were normally after reading someone fear mongering that animal products are essential in the human diet. I totally reject that notion. The symptoms resulting from the dairy consumption were acid stomach, constipation, depression, sinus mucus, and skin rash.

I should say, after I had been exposed to Hallelujah Acres, I could never deny the effectiveness of nutritional means in eliminating disease. From then on, I basically knew the road to travel...it was just a matter of staying on the road from that point on.

I was drugged from ages 33 to 42. I think of that as my lost decade. I am now 49.

For the last few years I have been moving towards Dr. Doug Graham's 811 plan, (all raw, low fat, no juicing, no grains allowed). The last 9 months I've done a true 811...and have achieved the best health results ever... With 811 I achieved 157 lbs., 32 inch waist, 11.9% body fat (Bod Pod). Everything is easier when on this diet...work and exercise, study and play, sleep and rising...all are easier. The feeling of well-being is ever with you, and is the strongest possible incentive to stay with the program.

It has been over 6 years now, that I have been free of all prescription and OTC drugs. I have not suffered schizophrenia or major depression through this time frame, though intervals of grain consumption have brought me to their door. I still have tinnitus and very mild hyperacusis, (which requires minor lifestyle alterations, but interferes in no way with my employment). I stay away from loud concerts and other amplified sound. My hyperacusis is much better now than when I was on drugs. The tinnitus is unchanged from high school days. The tinnitus was brought on by an M80 at close range in the high school hallway...and by the self-abuse common to the rock and roll age. The only thing I know that tinnitus has going for it, is prevention. Avoid loud sounds...and if loud noise is unavoidable, wear ear plugs and/or industrial muffs.

My diet is

1) Low fat vegan - All raw.
2) Zero grains.
3) Main fruits are bananas, persimmons, mangos, oranges, papayas, peaches, nectarines, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, watermelon and other melons, blueberries, strawberries, black berries, raspberries.
4) Pounds of leafy greens/celery every day.
5) I do like and highly recommend spinach.
6) Overt fats (sparingly) most days...I like avocados, Brazil nuts, walnuts, and seeds (sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, and especially flax seeds). I grind the seeds in a Braun coffee mill.
7) No vegetable oils, no condiments, no spices, no harsh herbs, no hot peppers, no garlic, no onions.
8) I tend to eat nothing until lunch time.
9) If organics are available, I buy organic. My main foods (bananas, lettuce, and celery) are almost always organic.
10) I make good use of a K-Tec/Vita-Mix style blender, blending fruit together with lettuce and celery. I blend about half of my food.
11) I get outside and exercise often (very important).

I take a B12 supplement (the only supplement I use). The dose is a one mg., sublingual, vegetarian, methylcobalamin tab every 4 to 6 weeks (on an as needed basis). If I am under extreme stress...and depression or an "unreal" feeling is starting to creep up on me, the single dose makes me feel better for a month or longer. I hope to one day eliminate this supplement, but I don't feel bad about taking it.

If I take too much B12, I - without fail - feel a tremor in my left hand...sort of like what I imagine a pre-Parkinson's symptom would be. I believe supplements are usually dangerous or simply worthless. In rare instances they are of some value...but even then, there is still the risk of over-dosing on them. Supplements should be used on an as-needed basis, and not routinely. Though I have not read of a risk of over-dosing B12...the symptom I have when I take too much of it is very troubling. Please be careful with supplements.

Unless one is firmly dedicated to their recovery, and fully compliant to the 811 raw food diet/lifestyle plan, I recommend they not quit an anti-psychotic/anti-depressant drug program. If drugs are eliminated, I recommend that one be monitored by a qualified person. The idea is to first eliminate the cause of the disease (i.e. diet/lifestyle error). Drugs do not cure disease...drugs are used to mask problems caused by diet and/or lifestyle error. Correct the errors, and in most cases the problem will "go away" on its own. Provided with the correct natural environment of whole/raw/ripe/fresh/organic food, fresh air, clean water, sunlight, proper rest, positive attitude, and physical exercise...the body/mind works magnificently well. The body/mind is always working and striving towards health...simply cooperate with your body's efforts by supplying it with the fuel it is designed to run on and the environment it is designed to thrive within.

Much mental illness is caused by cerebral allergens... My main cerebral allergen is gluten, (the protein aspect of many grains). Even non-gluten grains, when they are processed into dry (boxed) cereals and rice-cakes, cause severe mental distress for me. This process involves steaming at high heat/pressure, and instantly releasing the pressure to "pop" the cereals. With this event, the protein molecules of the grains are deranged...making them extremely toxic.

Cerebral allergens are found among the following:
1) Foods - usually a favorite food - (such as grains, meats, dairy, sugar/additives);
2) Tobacco products;
3) OTC, prescription and recreational drugs (I have read of a case where aspirin was the culprit).

With the 811 diet and lifestyle, *every* cerebral allergen that I know of is eliminated. 811 is the *only* diet for which I can say this.
Beyond this, I have no answers. I urge all health seekers to adopt 811 within your health arsenal. With 811, you will be doing the BEST you can do. I know of no other means to gain ultimate health and the freedom that provides, than 811 raw vegan.

Please see "The 80/10/10 Diet" by Dr. Douglas Graham for complete details.

Most mental illness is unnecessary and avoidable. I heartfully commend the 811 diet to everyone, and especially to the suffering.

thank you,
ric

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Ps103:1-5

Article - Gluten/schizophrenia link:

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Thursday, February 19, 2004

Feb. 20, 2004 -- Intriguing early research suggests that people with a genetic intolerance to gluten may also be at increased risk for schizophrenia. Investigators say the link, if proven, could lead to new treatment options for a small subset of schizophrenic people.

Using a Danish health registry, researchers from John's Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health found people with the genetic digestive disorder known as celiac disease to be three times as likely as the general population to develop schizophrenia. Lead researcher William W. Eaton, PhD, says the next step is to determine if following a gluten-free diet makes a difference in the symptoms of schizophrenic people with celiac disease. He estimates that 3% of schizophrenic people could potentially benefit from such a diet.

Celiac disease is a lifelong (chronic) condition in which foods that contain gluten damage the small intestine. Gluten is a form of protein found in some grains (notably wheat, barley, and rye). The damage to the intestine makes it hard for the body to absorb nutrients, especially fat, calcium, iron, and folate, from food.

"We can now screen for celiac disease, so it is at least conceivable that we can locate the folks with schizophrenia for whom gluten withdrawal might work," he tells WebMD. "But we still have to do those studies."

More Study Needed

Eaton and colleagues examined the medical histories of 7,997 schizophrenics admitted to a Danish psychiatric facility between 1981 and 1998. For each case they identified 25 people without the mental disorder, matched by sex and year of birth.

The researchers found no differences in the rates of other digestive disorders such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis between the groups, yet people with schizophrenia were 3.2 times as likely to have a history of celiac disease as the comparison group. The findings are reported in the Feb. 21 issue of the British Journal of Medicine.

It is estimated that about 1% of the population of the U.S. has celiac disease. Eaton says he hopes to identify a group of people with schizophrenia who also have celiac disease and then put some of them on gluten-free diets to determine if the intervention is of therapeutic value.

Many Different Causes

He says the latest findings support the growing belief that schizophrenia has many different causes.

"The thinking is that instead of finding the magic gene or an environmental influence that is responsible for most cases, we will find dozens and maybe a hundred causes that each may each explain a small percentage of cases," he says.

Schizophrenia researcher William T. Carpenter, MD, of the University of Maryland, says it is now almost certain that no single gene will be implicated as the cause of the disease. He adds that seven different genotypes have been linked to schizophrenia so far and others are likely to be discovered. Carpenter is director of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center at the University of Maryland.

The thinking is that genetically susceptible people develop schizophrenia when they are exposed to certain environmental triggers. Environmental influences that have been linked to the mental disorder include pregnancy problems, particularly in the second trimester; difficult delivery; having a father who is older; and the use of certain recreational drugs.

"For example, you may have a situation where a person has eight vulnerability genes and their mother had the flu in mid-trimester," Carpenter tells WebMD. "That double hit just might increase the likelihood of developing schizophrenia."

SOURCES: Eaton, W. British Medical Journal, Feb 21, 2004; vol 328: pp 438-439. William W. Eaton, PhD, professor and interim chairman, department of mental health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. William T. Carpenter, MD, director, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center; department of psychiatry, University of Maryland. WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise: "Celiac Disease."

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