Friday, January 16, 2009

Sleep: Timing of Melatonin, Light, Dark, & Use of Other Aids

When to take Melatonin, how much, and whether to take the quick-release or the extended-release form can be a confusing issue. And what else can we do to help with sleep problems?

Since sleep is so critical to the health of body and brain, and as seen in our story -- sleep issues can cause mental symptoms -- we have accumulated some "tricks-of-the-trade" covering proper melatonin usage as well as other effective aids.

Here is information gathered from parents and doctors to help clear up some of that confusion about what to take and/or do, and when.  But be aware, that there may be even deeper underlying medical issues which, if addressed, may help alleviate some sleep problems (such as healing gut issues, nutritional issues, food and chemical sensitivities, allergies, hormonal issues, etc.- See books: It's Not Mental, Is This Your Child,  and Our Toxic World - Don't dismiss books and other information sources aimed at helping children heal just because you are an adult! Those are usually on the leading edge--ahead of their time-- because we will do anything to heal our kids! We adults can learn and implement techniques for ourselves as well!)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Brain Health: The Gluten (Dis)Connection

Can symptoms called "mental illness" in some people be cured just by going gluten-free?

Research (below) suggests the answer to that is, "Yes."
(NOTE: In our personal experience we had to also eliminate casein [dairy] in order to be recoverED.)

A group of Scandanavian researchers even suggests that partial or complete symptom alleviation in a subset of patients labeled “schizophrenic” can be achieved with the simple solution of withdrawal from gluten. [1]

(Here is an audio about some severe intermittent psychosis or hallucinations.)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Managing Symptoms Vs Treating Illness

Ever hear doctors claim labels for severe mental illnesses--like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc.-- are "wastebasket diagnoses"? Have you ever stopped to think why some say this and what that means about our treatment of patients with these diagnoses?

Listening to some Continuing Medical Education (CME) about mental illness can be quite thought-provoking… revealing the huge gap between research and practice, and between medical and “mental.”

In this psychiatric medical discussion about schizoaffective versus schizophrenia[1] they boldly used the term "wastebasket diagnosis" for the DSM diagnosis of schizoaffective when talking about its diagnosis and treatment. But let's take this conclusion about this one diagnosis (and treatment) a step further.