Schizophrenia
THE
MEDICAL RENAISSANCE GROUP
Dear
Friends
Following
Prof Noel Campbell`s Letter It is obviously important
not to ignore other forms of treament ie Nutrional and Environmental
Medicine when treating the Mind.Body
Warmest
Wishes
Michael
Inside
Schizophrenia: Before and After Treatment
Introduction
Early in July 1995, a severely agitated and depressed young woman came into my
office. She complained that she was experiencing visual and auditory
hallucinations, the voices coming from outside of her head. A few days before,
she had been seen in the Emergency of the hospital and was diagnosed as
borderline personality disorder. The night before she saw me, she "flipped
out" and began to break up the furniture in her apartment. Thirty minutes
later she ran from her apartment to seek help, and she decided she would not go
back until she was better. She had all the classical symptoms and signs of
schizophrenia, including hearing voices and seeing visions. The voices laughed
at her. She showed her husband where the visions were, and asked if he could see
and hear them. It was like looking at a TV box hung in the air with a person's
face, usually a woman's, on the screen. The world was very unreal. She was
delusional, paranoid, had thought blocking, and her memory and concentration
were very poor. She was disturbed by the hostile ideas.
I started her on niacin 1
gram tid, ascorbic acid 1 g tid,
Mycostatin (1) 1.5 mcg. tid,
and Neuleptil (2) 10 mg hs.
At the next visit I changed the drug to Etrafon D (3), 2 at bedtime.
The average score for
schizophrenics, obtained from several thousand tests, is around 65. Scores for
all other diagnostic groups, excluding patients with delirium, are under 30,
and most normal subjects score less than 15. As the patient improves, the
scores decrease. The test is a diagnostic aid and also helps to determine
whether or not improvement is occuring. Decreasing
scores with repeated tests shows that the patient is improving, while rising
scores show they are getting worse. Patients have a right to be given the most
accurate diagnosis, because their lives will surely depend upon that.There is an increasing tendency for psychiatrists to
avoid diagnosing schizophrenia. This reminds me of the state of diagnosis
before 1960 when it was considered a breach of ethics to tell patients that
they had schizophrenia. Today, this has been replaced by the avoidence of the diagnosis altogether, unless that person
fits some stereotype of the chronic schizophenic.
Usually a combination of
thought disorder and perceptual disturbances such as voices and visions is
enough to make the diagnosis. But this has been replaced by two other terms,
one being bipolar, because this allows the psychiatrist to use lithium. They
consider that the response to lithium is proof that the bipolar disorder was
present, and ignore all the perceptual changes which schizophrenics have. If
they complain of depression they are lumped in with the mood disorders. The
second habit - more and more common - is to call them BPD. This has the
advantage that they no longer have to be treated, since no one expects that a
personality disorder can be treated with medication.
This is what happened in
this patient's case. It is likely that had she not started on the
orthomolecular regimen, she would have spent the rest of her life in and out of
institutions, or in and out of the streets, until she would have died by
suicide, by exhaustion, or by homicide. Had she been able to survive, she would
cost the
The following is the
patient's account of her illness prepared in November and December, 1995.
A. Hoffer M.D., Ph.D.
The warning
signals were evident by age 14. 'Early sexual abuse' and 'inadequate parenting'
were cited as precipitators of the symptoms (I certainly dispute both as
possibilities). Nightmares, vague fears and insecurities were what I reported
to various counsellors and one psychologist. As time passed, I was able to be
more specific in my expressions. I feared best friends were aliens and I
anxiously awaited evidence of their traitorship. I
had an enemy - a man, tall, heavy set, his face cast with shadow. Only I saw
him tower above me, wielding a knife, threatening. When I did not see him, I
otherwise sensed his presence; felt his arm brush my sleeve, heard his
footsteps trace my path. Sheer panic alternately paralyzed
and energized me. After a successful escape, I would wither at my front door -
upon realizing he was now inside. Regular episodes of terrorizing delusions
were destroying my last measures of security. I learned to effectively, though
temporarily, numb the pain. Bashing my head and body on sinks and walls,
cutting my arms... Peace eluding me, suicide became an option. After high
school, I did find times of respite. I became accustomed to my peculiar
experiences and worked around them as necessary.
At 20 years of age, severe
confusion and depression forced me to withdraw from social circles and from
work. Debilitating fatigue had set in. Isolated again, I discovered a strange
companionship in my own brain. It seemed to me I had two brains. I wondered
whether they were two levels of consciousness, conversing with each other. When
these chattered at an increasingly loud volume or fast note, I would beg them
to cease. I could no longer control and direct my own thinking. I felt
controlled. My brain was working with or without me. At times, my newly
independent brain shut down entirely. No thoughts or images would occur.
Therefore I was unable to either speak or move at times. I was terrified again.
Other experiences included
being invisible, floating and dissociating. I did not recognize my own face in
the mirror, and my body parts detached themselves from my core... At the most
debilitating point of my illness, I was barely able to lift myself from bed for
three months. A shower, until I gave up on taking one all together, exhausted
me, forcing me to sleep on the bathroom floor.
After progressing to the
point of eating one meal and bathing in a single day, I began to research.
Eventually, a naturopath placed me on an anti-candida
diet. Recovery! And three weeks later severe depression set in. For another
year I battled hallucinations, (visual and auditory), persecutory delusions,
resulting anxiety attacks and debilitating fatigue.
Sudden changes occurred in
my circumstances. I accepted a proposal to marry and moved to
Regarding the diagnosis of
adjustment disorder, I was assured by the psychiatrist that effective treatment
would consist of ... getting a job! It had been determined that my recent move
and marriage had rendered me shaken, and that employment would see me back to
routine and its benefits. Three months after beginning day treatment I
discharged myself and returned to work. In March, five months into my new job,
depression became unbearable. I was started on Prozac. When unrelenting
confusion, disorientation, delusions, and agitation were reported, my dosage
was increased. My husband decided I was in need of more effective treatment
and, convinced I would receive this at the Eric Martin Institute in
I was to attend the 6B
afternoon program for support and for observation. It was suggested I may have
manic depressive disorder. One "expert", after a 10 minute interview,
concluded I had Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The nurse present at
this interview recommended I discontinue lithium and leave the hospital as it
was "not possible for the hospital to treat a person with BPD," but
that that person could only help himself!
I later learned that more
involved staff rejected this "expert" diagnosis. Severe agitation, a
painfully heightened sense of hearing and violent (suicidal and homicidal)
tendencies tormented me. I came to "understand" that my
"mission" was to exterminate 2/3 of the world's population. I desired
to destroy and I feared myself now as well as others.
Spring of 1995, I was at
the emergency ward of the
By the summer of 1995 I had
wearied of the mainstream medical system. I was getting worse instead of
better. Having had some success under naturopathic care, but knowing I could
not afford to pay out for this alternative care even with the promise of reimbursement, I sought out a medical doctor with experience
in naturopathy. I visited Dr. N. and described my symptoms. He asked a new
variety of questions and I hoped his different approach would find a solution.
Eventually he became confident of the cause of my difficulty. Diagnosis? Spirit possession! This was definitely
alternative! Dr. N. assured me it was a good spirit, probably one of an
individual who had died in a car accident or other traumatic circumstance. This
spirit was likely confused, angry and unsure of his destination and was
expressing this turmoil through me. The doctor could employ some assistance in
calling on this one, and ultimately exorcising it. My personal beliefs prompted
me to reject this notion and this doctor's care. I appreciated that at least he
believed me and took my anguish seriously.
It was at this time that a
friend introduced me to Dr. Hoffer. On my first visit
I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Three weeks, five books and two "Our
Club Outreach" worker visits later, I was convinced he was 'dead on'.
My husband and I were
flabbergasted that this had not been recognized before. Dr. Hoffer
started me on a drug called Etrafon D (two before bed) and of course, the
orthomolecular treatment: sugar free diet, niacin and vitamin C. I felt so good
after two weeks that I quit the program, believing my system had finally
'kicked in'. I relapsed severely.
When my husband expressed
his refusal to live with my psychotic behavior, I
found my incentive to pursue effective treatment. I immediately started on the
vitamins and Etrafon D and a week later, after further study, began an
elimination diet (October, 1995). I have been well since then, except for three
brief psychotic periods, two after eating chocolate and another at the time of
a flu virus.
I am certain of what has
treated me. It is both the elimination of allergens plus the vitamins
themselves. (I stopped the drug Oct. 1995.) I am, for the first time since my
preteens, relaxed, calm, stable and energetic. I am able to concentrate,
converse and read without a "second brain's" interference. I am no
longer forced to rely on a day planner to remind me to eat, to bathe, to sleep,
to rise. I do at times continue to experience some physical symptoms of ill
health. I believe these to be allergy or yeast related and am
confident Dr. Hoffer and I will resolve this with
further orthomolecular treatment.
Presently I am doing
volunteer work and pursuing paid employment in the health care field. My
husband and I are in the process of implementing our shared long term goal of
relocation to
December, 1995. I am
visiting with my family. My mum, who was appalled at the sight and observation of
me in August, has written to my brother that I am now "looking and feeling
great." I'm already excited about getting back to
Ms. J.M.
1, A
pseudonym
2. 3A-2727
Notes
1. An antifungal medication
used to treat Candida infections.
2. A low dose tranquilizer
3. A combination of an antidepressant, Amitryptiline
25 mg and a tranquilizer, Perphenazine 2 mg.
4. Hoffer A, Kelm H &
Osmond H: The Hoffer-Osmond Diagnostic test. RE
Krieger Pub Co. Huntington, New York, 1975.Test kit available from Behavior Science Press,
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