Some interesting reading came up when I 'Googled' "B404", it's often a room number in meeting places discussing schizophrenia drug trials, etc and it's AstraZeneca's code number for a possible new schizophrenia and Alzheimers drug. Maybe a book title, "Room B-404" would be good?
This is a thinking out loud post about Schizophrenia treatment and cause via some articles:
Too Many Amino Acids Flood the Brain in Schizophrenia
There is massive evidence that schizophrenia is organic. There are metabolic errors involving amino acids. This points towards a diet as a treatment.
Too many amino acids flood the brain
"The Russian scientists concluded that the morphology was consistent with "a fear reaction". Rats in the third group (chronic schizophrenia) had "sharply pronounced dystrophic changes". This disproves the popular neurodevelopmental theory of schizophrenia.
The pituitary and the adrenals showed "reaction in response to stress". There were "severe, even leathal, dystrophic changes in neurosecretory cells."
The results are consistent with my theory of amino acids flooding the cells. Some excess amino acids would be converted to fat. Thus the fat droplets are explained. If this theory is true, a diet very low in amino acids is suggested.
Fruits are very low in both amino acids and fats. The diet that I am proposing is very high in fruit."
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Justifications for the Amino Acid Theory of Schizophrenia
"My theory is that amino acids flood the brain in psychiatric disorders. This is why glucose metabolism is slow. The brain is burning the amino acids for fuel."
Amino acid theory of SZ
"The swollen cells described by the Michigan workers are consistent with a toxic factor. In one patient the "face and extremities became cyanotic" and cold. This appears to suggest a partial failure of energy metabolism.
The "ameboid degeneration of all types of glia" confirmed previous work by Alzheimer.
Scharenberg & Brown (1952) found neurons which "contained large amounts of lipoids which stained well with oil red". The myelinated fibers were "greatly swollen". This confirmed earlier findings of lipoids by Alzheimer (1897, 1913) and others.
They suggested "a profound disturbance of metabolism". My view is that they were correct. The swollen cells support the theory of amino acids flooding the cells."
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"B404 is a neuro-nicotinic receptor agonist, which we licensed for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive deficit in schizophrenia. We’ve now confirmed the early promise of this agent and it has now entered definitive Phase Two study."-AstraZeneca earnings transcript 2007
AstraZeneca, B404 Schizophrenia drug in pipeline
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My thoughts
I've often thought and written about the potential of Alzheimer's and SZ treatment being one and the same ideally, there is a connection to the brain functioning, and if there is a drug to be created for SZ it is one that will be for Alzheimers in my opinion.
Based on my comparing anecdotal stories of my daughter and a friend who has Alzheimers, both declined similarly and behaviors and cognitive abilities are at times equal.(to the point it is not easy to dismiss the possible connection in the brain, and metabolic syndrome is a theory for my daughter due to damage(metabolic syndrome)from Zyprexa use for 6+ years while her brain was growing from age 11 through 18.
Could a change in diet treat Schizophrenia? What do you think? one thing that is fact, the drugs are not efficacious or the psych wards would be empty and my daughter would be well.
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7 comments:
I would say Yes a change in diet help Schizophrenia. Hospitals may be changing the food given to patients un-anounced. I have not been in hospital in some time, but I do remember they no longer served wheat products. It was rice that accompanied food instead of pasta.
Secondly as Philip Dawdy remarked that he can not be undiagnosed a Manic Depressive, a Schizophrenic can not be undiagnosed schizophrenic.
Ones voices in ones mind , to a "normal" person are their own. Treated with alcohol , work addiction, or whatever. But the schizophrenis will believe the voices come from outside him/herself until educated otherwise.
But then maybe the voices do come from others, no way to prove anything , one way or the other.
I tried out dietary changes. No sugar, no gluten, no artificial additives, no caffeine, you name it. Instead lots of vitamins and other healthy stuff.
It did have some sort of effect, just as I think, changes like these do affect anybody, labelled or not.
Nevertheless, the real change didn't happen before I'd sorted out the existential meaning of the "symptoms" I was experiencing, in relation to my past. That is, it didn't happen before I'd reduced psychological stress.
I don't doubt, that there are people, who experience extreme states of mind because of food sensitivities, for instance. Or that a healthy diet can relieve also "symptoms" of psychological distress - mens sana in corpore sano, as it goes. It just didn't do the whole trick in my case. And a purely physiological causation doesn't explain, how people can recover by means of psychological or psycho-social approaches, without radical changes in diet (Joanne Greenberg, Catherine Penney, Soteria, etc.).
In my opinion, there is no one single cause for the "symptoms" of "schizophrenia". But there's one thing, all possible causes seem to have in common: they're toxins, who inflict stress on the mind. Either directly, as in "toxic" relationships, "toxic", dysfunctional communication, abuse, etc., or indirectly through the body, as in toxic, unhealthy foods, drugs, etc.
Adding to that poisoning with just another substance, isn't the way, imo. Eliminating the toxins is. This B404-drug reminds me somewhat of a new diet-pill, that is going to hit the market here in Denmark in a couple of months. It reduces fat absorption with 25%. Meaning, you can keep eating lots of junk food, and still lose weight. Somehow, I don't like the idea...
BTW: the cognitive deficit, I experienced, lasted for about 5 or 6 weeks - during the acute crisis. Stress reduces cognitive abilities. I was extremely stressed. - Another thing, that reduces cognitive abilities is sedation. Almost everyone I know, who takes neuroleptics, has some sort of cognitive deficit.
My daughter just spent 2 separate week long stints in an adolescent psych ward. Both times she has suicidal ideation, a plan and was doing self harm. She had a psychotic break a year and a half ago. The daughter I had before the break is gone. She was initially diagnosed with Schizphrenia and I do still believe that is her current diagnosis, however, her current pdoc seems to like to lump everyone into bipolar. Since changing pdocs (which I can't do much about because I am on medicaid) I have had conversations with my daughter's previous pdoc and psychologist, as early as last week. They insist her diagnosis should still be sz. I called them because the hospital was putting my daughter on a Risperdal rollercoaster. For the first hospitalization they reduced Risperdal from 5 to 1. She came home very unstable. When she returned for the 2nd hospitalization, they increased the Risperdal to 3, then brought it back to 2. I was concerned that this rollercoaster was in itself a problem and her previous providers confirmed this.
Sorry, back to my point. In those 2 hospitalizations my daughter's diet was not modified at all. She had white bread, pasta, sweets galore. My daughter's previous psychologist always taught us that sugar should be limited because it messes with dopamine and seratonin levels. My daughter was having chocolate pie, chocolate milkshakes, chocolate cookies, chocolate cake. And there was no limit. If she wanted to order 2 chocolate shakes for lunch, she could! How was that helping her. Oh wait, that hospital wasn't helping her at all in the first place. The doctor assigned to her refused to communicate with me and when he did he gave out incorrect information as to her actual medication at the time. She won't be going back there again. We will take her elsewhere if the need arises.
It's got nothing to do with your post, particularly (or maybe it has, in some oblique way), but I saw the last 10 minutes of a documentary, tonight, which involved a couple of British teens going to school in Jamaica, for a brief period.
A couple of the teachers singled out this boy, who had written an extraordinary poem that had caught their attention... Their analysis was that he had no confidence in his own abilities, but that his talent with words was there for all to see. He just wouldn't have it. "Nobody's ever said that to me, back home," he said (or words to that effect), as though this were proof that what these Jamaican teachers were saying wasn't true. In fact, he got really quite angry at the suggestion that he was anything other than crap! Imagine that! Defending one's right to be shit, in the face of a compliment!
As I've written, many times: you just wouldn't believe the things that people believe of themselves! Or perhaps you would.
Matt
295.90 Schizophrenia Undifferentiated Type
that's the first time that code showed up on the clozaril blood work lab paper (i got it today for her test tomorrow for the CBC)
all of these years they never labeled her that. it was ocd, bipolar then pdd, then autistic, then no one changed the charts until now.
i really appreciate and thank all of your comments above, wow everyone has really written their personal stories here.
lola--my daughter was in and out of a teen psych ward so much i truly feel (because she always wanted to go back there)it's like a cult--sounds harsh but some teens are being drugged and are impressionable...i can write in length about that later.
Matt, I think that's a great story, and I think it can easily happen, i am that way, it's a total effort to see myself positively, which of course is not a good thing, but i work on it.
DSM codes as an FYI if you see it on insurance paperwork etc:
http://www.psychnet-uk.com/dsm_iv/_misc/complete_tables.htm
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