Second Guessing Schizophrenia

This is plausible for a couple of reasons I can think of, maybe more.

 

Often in mainstream psychiatry anti seizure medications are used to "treat" the DSM category.  One long term effect of seizure medication can be "seizures". Others can be associated with fluoride and aspartame sometimes used as ingredients in these products.

 

Newer SSRI and SNRI drugs have many deleterious side effects that impact brain function.

 

Brain allergy is oft overlooked as a causative factor but this is linked back to the beginnings of orthomolecular medicine in over 60 years ago.

 

I mentioned recently about my own exposure to cigarette smoke that is now recognized as a risk in mental health, just as is exposure to chemical smoke, wood smoke and forest fires. 

 

Brain allergy can often cause seizures.

 

Dr Hoffer relied on Vitamin C and Vitamin B3 (niacin) to help people recover from "schizophrenia".

 

Perhaps today a broader perspective should be taken my mainstream shrinks.

 

Schizophrenia and epilepsy have 'strong link'

People with schizophrenia are six times more likely to develop epilepsy, says a study which finds a strong relationship between the two diseases.

Writing in Epilepsia, researchers in Taiwan say this could be due to genetic, neurobiological or environmental factors.
The study followed around 16,000 patients with epilepsy and schizophrenia between 1999 and 2008.
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Selections from Natural Health News

 

Natural Health News: Death Effects and Schizophrenia Drugs

Apr 29, 2010

BACKGROUND: The introduction of second-generation antipsychotic drugs during the 1990s is widely believed to have adversely affected mortality of patients with schizophrenia. Our aim was to establish the long-term ...

Where are the Niacin Studies for Schizophrenia? - Natural Health ...

Jan 16, 2011

The researchers suggest low omega-3 may be linked to the information-processing problems found in people with afflictions of the nervous system including schizophrenia and bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, attention-deficit ...

 

Natural Health News: Flu, Pregnancy and Schizophrenia

Jun 12, 2009

ScienceDaily (2009-06-11) -- When mothers become infected with influenza during their pregnancy, it may increase the risk for schizophrenia in their offspring. Influenza is a very common virus and so there has been ...

 

O, Oprah

Oct 06, 2009

Not far from Chicago is an excellent researcher who heads an organization that over the years has helped many children, adults and families with many forms of mental illness, including schizophrenia. ...

Cancer, Alzheimer's

Flaraxin is effective in 90% of oncologic diseases

Alzheimer's = Flaraxin + B3
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/05/alzheimers-what-you-wont-see-on-hbo.html

Missing Vitamins and Bacterial Resistance

One of the services offered by CHI is a review of the drugs you are taking and what nutrient depletion they cause.

This has been a specific interest of mine since the early 1980s.
Today I was gladdened by a report on a study that looked at how a form of vitamin B3 might be helpful in reducing your risk of contracting a secondary infection as a result of being prescribed antibiotics.

Prior to this news report today. back in 2001 it was a concern in Public Health

THE RISE OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE: DEPLETING A PUBLIC RESOURCE
January 10, 2001 RFF's 1st Floor Conference Room : 1616 P Street NW Washington D.C. 20036-1400 U.S.A.
In recent years bacteria have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics, leading to a decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating infectious disease. The particular approaches that individuals and physicians use in selecting an antibiotic have been identified as a primary cause of this decline. Laxminarayan will suggest that bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics can be considered a public good (or common property resource). As such, it lends itself nicely to analysis, and he will address key economic issues and tradeoffs related to drug resistance. Researcher: Margaret A Walls.

Antibiotics: Besides destroying beneficial gut bacteria that aid digestion, protect against infection, and synthesize certain nutrients, tetracyclines (achromycin, sumycin, tetracap, panmycin), penicillins, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, and sulfonamides, deplete the body of B1, B2, B3, B6, B12, biotin, inositol, vitamin K, iron, and magnesium. The complete reference can be found at http://www.leaflady.org/drugsdeplete.htm

Today, UPI reports that B3 may combat fungal infection, but B3 might not be enough.

MONTREAL, July 12 (UPI) -- Canadian researchers say vitamin B3 may be effective in fighting infections
Researchers at the University of Montreal say studies in mice indicate C. albicans enzyme, known as Hst3 -- essential to the growth and survival of the yeast infection Candida albicans -- can be inhibited with nicotinamide, a form of vitamin B3.
"There is an urgent need to develop new therapies to kill C. albicans because it is one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections and is associated with high mortality rates," researcher Martine Raymond said in a statement. "Although many issues remain to be investigated, the results of our study are very exciting and they constitute an important first step in the development of new therapeutic agents to treat fungal infections without major side effects for patients."
The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, concluded both normal and drug-resistant strains of C. albicans were susceptible to nicotinamide.

In the early 1970s when I started working in ICU the issue of secondary infection from overuse of antibiotics was constantly in discussion.

And here we are now...

Niacin Beats Zetia

Once again vitamins top the list for better health.

AHA: Niacin Bests Ezetimibe
Boosting HDL cholesterol with extended-release niacin (Niaspan) is a more effective way of slowing atherosclerosis in high-risk patients on long-term statin therapy than seeking additional LDL cholesterol reductions by adding ezetimibe (Zetia), researchers here reported.Anthony DeMaria, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, noted that "this is a small trial with a small number of cardiovascular events."...


"This trial doesn't quite put the nail in the coffin for ezetimibe, but it pushes it way down on the list of medications for cholesterol-lowering therapy," he said.

Jim Stein, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, had even stronger advice for colleagues:

"Doctors need to stop using so much ezetimibe. Using this drug is not practicing evidence-based medicine. It is taking a path of least resistance -- the easy way out of getting numbers to targets. But we don't treat numbers, we treat patients, and are obligated to use drugs that are proven in clinical trials to reduce things they care about -- heart attacks, strokes, and death -- and to do so safely."...

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE

Primary source: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0907569
AP report
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Originally posted September 2007
If vitamins don't help you why this?

Imagine this: a patent on a common B vitamin known for a very long time to reduce your cholesterol. Health freedom fighters have been warning of vitamin control almost as long as B3 has safely reduced your cholesterol, raised HDL, reduced LDL and those deadly triglycerides.

Merck wants you to shell out big bucks for their new drug under the guise of an added chemical that will "inhibit an often intolerable niacin side effect called flushing".

They don't tell you that there is a form or two of niacin (B3) that does not cause flushing, nor do they tell you that the flushing is an indicator that the benefit of B3 is actually doing something to benefit your health when you experience the flushing.

Niacinamide is one form of niacin that is "flush-free". You do have to take higher amounts of this form and it may take longer to get the desired result.

Inositol hexanicotinate is a second option which promotes liver health and achieves LDL reduction.

You might get either of these starting at $8.00 - $12.00.

And in case you want that tingly niacin, start out with 100 mg. tablets and work up slowly to a higher, more therapeutic dose over time. This is usually what I suggest and it gives your body a better chance to adapt to the changes forthcoming.

Not sure what enormous amount Merck plans to market this new product for but you can bet it won't be inexpensive.   (The cost of 500 mg dosage of Niaspan is $25.97 for 30 capsules.  Note that the chemicals required to allow for extended release have been reported to be problematic, so I'd opt for just plain B3)

Merck niacin drug controls cholesterol

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer2 hours, 11 minutes ago

An experimental cholesterol treatment touted by drugmaker Merck & Co. significantly reduced artery-clogging fats in late-stage testing, but it got a mixed reception from Wall Street analysts Tuesday.
The drug, called Cordaptive, can both raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol. It combines an extended-release form of the B vitamin niacin with a chemical to inhibit an often intolerable niacin side effect called flushing — redness, burning and tingling of the face.
At a European cardiology conference Sunday, Merck for the first time reported results of a major study of Cordaptive. The 24-week study, which included about 1,600 patients, found that compared with dummy pills, Cordaptive produced an 18 percent drop in levels of LDL-C, or "bad" cholesterol; a 26 percent drop in another type of blood fat called triglycerides, and a 20 percent increase in levels of HDL-C, or "good" cholesterol.
Those results were about the same whether or not patients were also taking cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins. Among study patients taking Cordaptive, 29 percent had moderate flushing or worse, versus 56 percent of patients taking just extended-release niacin and 6 percent of those taking a dummy pill.
Analyst Steve Brozak of WBB Securities said the safety profile for Cordaptive, which is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval, wasn't perfect but is "not problematic."
"I think that the FDA will be predisposed to approve it," Brozak said, given the many people with heart disease or uncontrolled cholesterol, which contributes to hardening of the arteries.
Joseph Tooley, an analyst at A.G. Edwards Pharmaceutical Group, wrote that Cordaptive appears as safe as niacin and that its reduced flushing differentiates it from existing products.
But Cowen and Co. analyst Steve Scala wrote that Cordaptive's safety profile "trended less favorably" than extended-release niacin, with measures of substances in the blood that can indicate potential liver damage, muscle damage and blood-sugar problems a little worse for Cordaptive than the extended-release niacin.
"We think there's no difference between those, especially given the size of the trial," responded Dr. John Paolini, head of the Cordaptive product development team at Merck. "Most importantly, there were no cases of hepatitis" or symptoms of liver damage in the patients.
Any worrisome changes in blood levels of enzymes were temporary and ended when patients stopped taking Cordaptive, he said.
Niacin has been used to control cholesterol for decades, and an extended release version, called Niaspan, has been on sale for years. The flushing problem, however, has prevented many patients from reaching the most effective dose and caused many others to stop taking niacin or Niaspan altogether, Paolini said in a telephone interview from the conference in Vienna.
In a statement Tuesday, Abbott Labs, maker of Niaspan, countered that facial flushing is generally a temporary side effect, which can be easily managed with aspirin.
Cordaptive would beef up Merck's cholesterol franchise, a key area because its statin drug Zocor, which had been Merck's top seller, has seen sales plunge since it got generic competition a year ago. Merck and partner Schering-Plough Corp. jointly market two other cholesterol drugs, Zetia and Vytorin.
Scala forecast $150 million in Cordaptive sales in 2008, with revenue growing to $700 million in 2012. Banc of America Securities analyst Chris Schott predicted $665 million in 2011 sales.
Morgan Stanley analyst Jami Rubin agreed that sales could top $700 million by 2011, but noted that Abbott Labs is developing a concentrated version of its niacin drug.
Merck shares fell 13 cents to $50.04 in trading Tuesday.

See http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com/2009/08/arthritis-drugs-pose-cancer-risk.html