When YOU hear the words "behavioral health" (or 'problem'), "mental health" (or 'problem'), "psychiatric", "psychological", or any of the 'labels' that go along with it from organized medicine (ADD, ADHD, depression, mood disorder, personality disorder, etc.) what is your presumption about what has contributed to the lack of wellness in that individual or group of people? And -- is it accurate today? Are you holding onto a pre-conceived notion, past learning, and have not replaced old information with new? I see open-minded, avid learners even getting hung up because what they have learned and believed about themselves and others is so ingrained, they have difficulty accepting new and convincing, valid information. So YOU will benefit with your time/ energy learning, I presumed, if I pointed this out up front and center like this.

Someone once described it as a blanket that was wrapped around them that had served them well, and it's scary to take that blanket off and wrap up in a different one. I used to think of it as a trapeeze act, where you'd been on the old trapeeze and then saw the other one and have watched it swinging where you can pick it up if you JUST have the right timing to make the 'leap'. Sometimes things aren't THAT difficult to embrace, but other times it's a major and difficult 'leap' to embrace new beliefs. When it applies to yourself, all those years you'd examined things from a certain perspective and now you have to re-assess everything. "All those years I was struggling with learning disabilities and I thought it was great to get vision therapy and specialized lenses in adulthood, NOW I find out I just needed different nutrition? Oy!"

My experience has been that most of us have 'grown up' infused in the conventional information that is taught and repeated in a multitude of ways. From the schools (I had psyhology in my senior year of high school and again in university), from news magazines, newspapers, and books (I gave an oral book report in eighth grade on the book I'm Okay, You're Okay which my mother had around the house, as she was a school teacher and interested in human behavior to a moderate degree). So my classmates were exposed to that 10 minutes of 'angle' about things. Generally, our training in the mainstream as consumers or professional providers has been very heavily aimed at the effects of actions causing any issues that makes the person be less than ideally well.

People increasingly were aware of genetics, and naturally the 'nature versus nurture' discussions have gone on too. Just in my lifetime, more things were being attributed to a mix, or interplay, of both than in the past, when it was more popular to blame the majority of things on 'nurture'. Usually the blame was attributed to the mother. I'd learned that narcissism was from 'over mothering' -- but then I met my first known narcissist and met the mother, who I just could not see how she could have affected someone to create that kind of behavior based on what I observed about her. The siblings weren't narcissists and were highly accomplished human beings. The one that was the narcissist had more of a problematic or at least unusual life. Then I had a conversation with the father and I remember being on the phone and thinking "this has to be genetic, listen to him!'.

And then as the Internet came along and also more research was done and produced for people to learn from (which is also not ever all there is to learn from as much is never put out for the public's consumption, naturally), things started confirming my suspicion on the phone that day. So I have had to 'shift' my view, or put on different lenses when looking at situations to incorporate what now seems to be the reasons for conditions. So I encourage people reading this to think about what mindset YOU currently have, and if you're not taking into account newer or other information that you were unaware of before.

One of the resources I turn to a lot is Evolutional Psychiatry, written by a young woman psychiatrist on the East Coast of the US. You'll see a great example of her style at this topic, as she shares about the massive storm that had come to her area as she was working on this information, and how it had affected her supply of food that she'd ordered in, as she is apparently eating according to what she has been learning about diet and wellness. I was seeking specific information about ADD / ADHD / AD/HD and Lyme disease and thought to see what Emily Deans said at Evolutionary Psychiatry. I'm glad I did, and I hope you will appreciate what she says at this link:

If Borrelia burgdorfi is related to psychiatric problems, there are two main mechanisms which could be responsible. Patients vulnerable to psychiatric disease may also be more susceptible to Lyme or neurotoxic effects due to genetic or other factors. Second,Borrelia may cause psychiatric symptoms, which is the most parsimonious explanation. PCR analysis and other advanced methods ought to be employed in the future, and more surveys run on the population to better clarify this phenomenon.

This concluding sentence, above, in Dr. Deans' concluding paragraph of this blog topic is simply the best overview there is about this topic. If this is all the further you get reading this topic at Lumigrate, and go away operating off of that information, I think YOU will be the better for it. Diet, restorative sleep, sunshine (and I'd say connection with nature/the Earth) and stress reduction (which includes connection with nature, self, spiritual beliefs and many other things, naturally).

But there is much more. Let me go on now with one of my 'new favorite things', which is pyroluria, also know as pyrole disorder (and the related methylation issues).

I've been very excited about having discovered the immensely common, but little known condition, called 'pyroluria' or 'pyrole disorder', and I created the first topic about it in this forum in the spring of this year (2014). It is now early August and I've had more experience talking with people about it and thinking about it as a possibility when I see people mentioning symptoms that are in the 'mental health' realm.

Today it was phobia of heights that I saw someone say they were trying to not pass off to their younger relatives they are the role model and adult guide for. So I was curious and did a Search using Google. I never did see at the source where fear of heights was mentioned, but I was glad I looked because this was a really interesting source of information I'd never seen before. The topic at the link was about the book The Mood Cure, by Dr Julia Ross.

What amazes me about pryole disorder / pyroluria is when I put specific key words with it, such as 'fear of heights', I find new resources that hadn't come up before in my searches, and in this case it was yet another website resource that I wanted to include at Lumigrate.

It/ Cassiopaea dot org is a little more 'outside the box' than some of the other sources I link to, but it has a very valid and solid feel to it for me. For one thing, it's 20 years old. Lumigrate's only five to put it in perspective. I work to provide a variety as our YOUsers are varied as well.

This actually had some specific information about chronic Lyme disease causing pyrole disorder / pyroluria as one of the examples of people who can get pyrole disorder/ pyroluria anew, not having it running in the family. This thread at the link provided actually has a lot of information about a broad variety of nutritional supplements and herbs, etc., to address a variety of mental health issues. So here's the link, please go:

cassiopaea.org/forum/ [2] To encourage people to go, here is what you'll find at the top of a very long and thorough thread by users of the Cassiopaea website, who appear to be very eloquent and experienced or qualified learners and 'sharers' of what they know.

Just finished another fabulous book, right in line with the diet and health posts here. The Mood Cure by Dr. Julia Ross. (These amazing books are practically falling into my hands now!) Below is a quote from a reviewer that explains better than I can.

Quote from Martin Brodeur
"The book has a good name given its content: The Mood Cure is intended for those who are in search of a cure for their mood. According to Julia Ross, much of the psychological suffering we endure in North America is due to our bad nutrition. She suggests us an interesting way of alleviating this pain and maybe do the first steps towards a renewed and freshened life so as to get our mood cured. The book is talking about how our mood relates to the food we eat. It aims at relieving sadness and heavy feelings by ensuring she gets the key nutrients missing in our brain. The solution lies in a knowledge of which chemicals are necessary in our brain to create "good moods". Conversely, knowledge of how "bad moods" are caused up with the depletion or proliferation of different chemicals in our brain is necessary. Knowing how moods are made present by these chemicals is then put in relation with the food we eat.

The book starts with four questionnaires aimed at determining what kind of problems you may have with your brain. The first is called "Are You Under a Dark Cloud?", the second "Are You Suffering from the Blahs?", the third "Is Stress Your Problem?" and the fourth "Are You Too Sensitive to Life's Pain?". These four charts list the symptoms of what her team in San Francisco have determined to be general categories of uneasiness that are linked to particular causes. Each chart identifies specific substances that, when insufficient, can lead to the symptoms the chart indicates. In the case of the first chart, low-levels of serotonin are the cause. In the case of the second chart, depletion of catecholamines' and thyroid functions under normal are the cause. In the case of the third chart, adrenal overload is the cause. And in the case of the fourth chart, it is low levels of endorphins that are at fault. In all cases, it is depletion of a substance that drives the bad mood. And it is essentially because our bad eating habits have destroyed our reserves of these basic good mood nutrients that we need to be hoisted up.

Her experience as a nutritional psychologist has shown her that even if people started to eat well (lots of proteins and vegetables) and stopped eating junk food, the relapse was too hard to be shunned for most of them, as the call for coffee or tempting foods, such as sweets and refined starches, took them over. People with depleted stocks of essential nutrients are low to build them up again, and before the stocks rebuild, many of her clients did fall.

Around 1980, Blum's results concerning amino acids on alcohol as well as drug addicted individuals came to Ross' attention: Blum found that "the addicts who took the amino acids were able to stay away from drugs and alcohol. Those who took no aminos had four times higher relapse rates" (p. 7). This is the heart of the book: Ross suggests using amino acids as a spring-board to avoid relapses when we make our first steps towards a good mood nutrition. In fact, the four charts are based on relapses and on our addictions. All these are normal for Ross: our addictions rest on the fact that we are using this very addiction to boost, artificially though, the now depleted but usually present substance. For example, in the case of the second chart, it is normal that one of the symptoms is "Do you feel the need to get more alert and motivated by consuming a lot of coffee or other "uppers" like sugar, diet soda, ephedra, or cocaine?" (p. 17) since these substances increase catecholamines levels temporarily, but leaving your body totally depleted afterwards in catecholamines, which means that you'll further seek these substances, which gets you in a circle that doesn't break. Her solution is that our addictions should to be replaced by nutritional supplements that will naturally fulfill the needs of our body. This is the very reason why we get to know the aminos that are missing in our brain so that we start right now building up our stocks.

Our knowledge in the field of neurotransmitters has shown links between the mood of people and their inner balance of elements in their brain. Neurotransmitters are chemical elements that are necessary to the neurons to "communicate" with their neighbours: these substances are the messengers. These are in fact interacting in the neighbouring of the contact of two neurons: this is the interface where all of human cognition is centred. Imagine: millions of neurons interconnected in this way constitute our intelligence, solely.

But when we get to feel bad and low, researchers have identified that we are then low on certain of these neurotransmitters. A chief one is serotonin, a natural element present in all of our brains. This lays the bases for pharmaceutical companies who produce antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.: knowing what deficiency a brain has (serotonin here), we will try to tweak in some artificial reaction that can help to sustain the element that interests us. These antidepressants have, to a variable extent, an effect on the subject that is usually beneficial but often unstable in many cases, coming with numbers of side effects. In fact, it is a very known fact that almost all of antidepressants have a long list of side effects. We are tempted to think that maybe an artificial solution isn't the right one after all? That is what Ross believes. And this explains her enthusiasm.

She gives us the example of the SSRI's. They are technically called "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" (SSRI's). Here's basically how it works. When the day finishes off, serotonin, from the catecholamine family, breaks into melatonin and 5-HIAA. So, said the biochemical scientists of these companies, since serotonin is the element we are interested in, let's stop the normal reaction that converts serotonin into less complex forms. "The individual will be better " they thought. The idea, essentially, is fine. But they didn't foresee that melatonin and 5-HIAA were also essential to a good mood! In fact, melatonin is a very good molecule, by getting us to sleep, and 5-HIAA, by being an efficient protector against "negative moods like violent crimes, suicide, severe insomnia and addiction" (p. 224). Our body was designed so that serotonin decomposes itself into the forms of melatonin and 5-HIAA: that's the way our body was built, naturally. It is then more than normal that major side effects to SSRI's (except Prozac) are bad sleep and violence (either internally or externally directed)! The thing is: natural substances like serotonin and melatonin and 5-HIAA can't be patented. They are, let's say, public. So why then do you think the child in our schools are getting Prozac and other drugs? Ross shows evidence that these natural ways of balancing our moods are often more effective than the artificial ones… and without the well-known side effects.

In the case of SSRI's, she proposes an interesting alternative: the amino acids. These are "concentrates of common proteins found in food" (p. 7). Instead of going for artificially acting antidepressants and the like, she urges us to go for what our brain naturally asks for, simply, certain proteins in a sufficient amount. In the case of serotonin, she asks us to get serotonin boosters, simply, like 5-HTP and Tryptophan. And these boosters are naturally present in our brain, so they won't alter our natural balance if taken with care. So her book is telling us two things : 1) North Americans have poor diets, and what a good diet should look like and 2) the solution proposed by the pharmaceutical industry to bypass bad moods are far from excellent, and a good diet should do the trick along with the necessary "recovery" regimen of amino acids.

For each of the four charts of symptoms, Ross indicates a somewhat complex program. The book in general is written in a quite technical language, making it a complete but a little abstruse text. It will be hard for the first-comer in neurotransmitters' talk to get to understand fully what is the thing going on. Nonetheless, the steps she proposes us are quite easy to go through.

The problem though with this text is that recommendations are entwined in the text, making it somewhat delicate, I felt, for someone with absolute no scientific knowledge to use this book. I felt this book was designed for educated people and couldn't really be called a "self-help" book in the broadest sense of the term since it demands of the reader a certain responsibility over his own self that some may lack. On the other hand, this book is so complete that I am assured someone could start his own clinic using this book as it is full of instructive insights into such a practice.

From the very end of the long and very good thread, this is what is said about pyrole disorder / pyroluria: They were cutting and pasting in something from another thread they wanted to splice in on this thread.

It took a little doing for me to find the area About the people behind the website. Here's what's at the link:

Welcome [4]

Welcome to the Cassiopaean Website, the repository for the work of scientific mystic, Laura Knight-Jadczyk. Laura is married to theoretical/mathematical physicist Arkadiusz Jadczyk who introduces his wife’s work in the following extract:

For millennia the knowledge of the true nature of reality has been denied to humanity. Religion has offered false hopes and beliefs about the plight of humanity and science has divorced itself from what it means to be truly human. In a world where science and spirituality have ceased to complement each other in the search for meaning, we are still left pondering the questions: What is it to be truly human? Why is the world in the state it is? Why is there evil? Is our way of life the best one possible? What is the reality of higher worlds? And most importantly, what can be done to better ourselves and humanity?

All of these issues and questions occupied Laura’s mind for her entire life. The story of how she came to embark on what has come to be known as “The Cassiopaean Experiment” is beautifully told in her book “Amazing Grace” which is no longer in print but is available in its entirety with updates on this website.

The Cassiopaean Experiment proper has been in process since summer of 1994 and is still ongoing. The experimenters refer to it as “superluminal communication” to avoid the negative connotations that have come to be associated with the word “channeling.” Is it reasonable to say that ALL channeling is junk and nonsense? Well, the vast majority of channeled material IS nonsense. Most of it is either incomprehensible mumbo jumbo, word salad, or more clever deception and disinformation, combined with high sounding words aimed at keeping people deluded and in their current miserable and oppressed state.

Many years of research, experience, and constructive curiosity led to Laura’s experiment in Superluminal Communication that eventually, after two years of experimentation and fine tuning, which included contacts with “dead dudes” (alleged discarnate entities) and deceptive sources posing as higher sources of knowledge, resulted in the Cassiopaean Transmissions. All these years the process has gone through refinement and adjusting all “instruments” for higher accuracy and facilitation of better communication. These communications ARE different from most other channeled information. It is “critical channeling” that discourages blind devotee-ism. The Cassiopeans themselves do not demand to be worshipped or deified in any way and, in fact, admonish against such an attitude toward them. They encourage researching and networking with others to verify the information they transmit and do not demand that anything be taken at face value without questions.

So much of what the Cassiopaean source – who identify themselves as Laura in the future – have communicated HAS been verified from a wide range of sources researched, including modern, scientific sources, as well as ancient traditions and sources. There remains much that can’t be verified without more data, and some seems unlikely to be verified at our current level of understanding and “Being”. However, even those things that have not yet been verified are given a marginally higher probability of being true, based on the track record of the source, and no final conclusions are drawn until more data becomes available to make that possible.

When considering “channeling”, we are faced with the situation to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. There have been other pretty good sources of channeled material with a relatively high level of accuracy, such as the Ra entity in the Law of One [5] books and also the sources of Bringers of the Dawn [6] channeled by Barbara Marciniak. They may not be on the same level of accuracy and clarity as the Cassiopaean material, but they DO contain a considerable amount of accurate and useful information that is largely in agreement with the Cassiopaean transmissions. Therefore, we can posit that most who are open minded and sincere, as well as adventurous and curious, will agree that it is not reasonable to declare ALL channeled material as being nonsense and/or fraudulent. Whenever someone claims: “All white is black”, we should immediately suspect their motives and knowledge base. Not because white being black is impossible, (we know there are paradoxes), but because they use the word “all“.

After all, the old-time religions, particularly monotheistic ones, have imposed a ban on spiritual communications as being the “work of the devil” (and it CAN be, but doesn’t HAVE to be, not to take the word “devil” too literally) even though much of their own claims, creeds, practices, and beliefs were channeled from a self proclaimed “higher source”!

What if the Monotheistic religions are right? Even if we consider it as highly improbable, what if they ARE right? Can they be right?

Approaching the question with a scientific mind, we have to consider this possibility, however improbable it may appear to be, and we conclude that such a claim cannot be truth.

Let us reason via “reductio ad absurdum” — which is often used in logic and in mathematical proofs. You assume something to be true, and then by a chain of logical deductions you come to the conclusion that your assumption cannot be true. Somewhat tricky — but useful.

Applying this method to the claims of the monotheistic religions that all Spiritual Communication outside of their approved context is 100% “of the devil”, let us suppose it is true. In order to be true it must include ALL spiritual communication at ALL times.

But if that is the case, then why would the sources of the Monotheistic religions be exempt from this rule? Does their god make rules only to break them, and then claims to be the only authority underwriting his/her/its breaking of said rules with no yardstick by which to measure or evaluate such claims? That would be a god of confusion and instability.

Putting aside philosophical issues, it is easy to see that, by logic, the Monotheistic religions are also being influenced by spiritual communications that are “of the devil” (if everybody is, then so are they).

So we see that starting from the assumption that the Monotheistic religious claims are right (Spiritual communications are 100% of the devil) we come to the conclusion that what they say is wrong (because they are simply repeating the “lies of the devil”).

But we can go even further. Can we see a reason why the Monotheistic religions would propagate such evident nonsense? Why?

Well, here we can have a hypothesis too. If, as we know by the above analysis, NOT ALL spirit communication is from “the devil”, that SOME channeling can provide us with real information from “benevolent higher beings”, from “us in the future”, or from the Cosmic Mind, call it as you will, then it is only natural that there will be forces trying to discredit TRUE channeling.

So, we have solved one problem here and exposed another. Since the Mainstream Monotheistic religions describe channeling and other spirit communication as “of the devil,” and if they are right, or even partly right, then we have reasons to suppose that these institutions are themselves agents of those forces.

These Monotheistic monopolies, imposed on humanity by coercion, force and violence, should be rejected whether they are demanded in a religious/spiritual context or a corporate business context, or any other for that matter. No inherent right to monopolize anything should be recognized. On the contrary, any such demands should be regarded with suspicion, questioned, and rejected. No one can claim a monopoly on Truth and no one can claim ownership either.

The reader might wish to begin with The Wave Series. “The Wave” is a term used to describe a Macro-cosmic Quantum Wave Collapse producing both a physical and a “metaphysical” change to the Earth’s cosmic environment theorized to be statistically probable sometime in the early 21st century. This event is variously described by other sources as the planetary shift to 4th density, shift of the ages, the harvest etc., and is most often placed around the end of 2012. The Wave Series includes a UFO abduction account, a transcript of an actual hypnotic regression session, that refers to a global cataclysmic change. Please note that we do not, however, subscribe to the notion that such events can be exactly predicted as to whether or when they might occur. Quantum physics talks about statistical probabilities, not prophetic certainties.

The Wave series of articles demonstrates the unique nature of the Cassiopaean Experiment. In her skillful collecting of the pieces of the puzzle from throughout the transcripts, in-depth research, personal experiences, then weaving them into a finished product, Laura brings added depth and dimension to the original transmissions. Laura presents what the Cassiopaeans – We are YOU in the future – have to say about the eventuality of The Wave – FROM the future – including an exploration of the limitations of man’s present estate, in cognitive, biological, historical and ontological terms.

The publishing of the Cassiopaean communications in The Wave Series and the establishing of the network of dialogues among those interested in this material – later to become the Quantum Future Group – was followed almost immediately by numerous attacks on Ark and Laura from various individuals. These events led to intensive research into psychopathology, guided by the Cassiopaean source and the findings were added to The Wave series which is also ongoing. In the later chapters you will find in depth information on COINTELPRO and Secret Government projects, details about Nobel Prize Winner John Nash and Game Theory, Ira Einhorn and the creation of the New Age Counter Intelligence Program, Andrija Puharich, Alternative Three, Mind Control Research, the Philadelphia Experiment and the suicide of Morris Jessup, cyclical cataclysms, cometary impacts and meteorite showers, and most important of all: the problem of psychopaths in our society. Laura’s compilations on the topic of Psychopathy is very popular which attests to the fact that psychopathy is epidemic in our times.

The research in psychopathology led to the realization that our world is ruled by psychopaths. This, then, led to the establishing of The Signs of the Times, an ongoing News Resource Project that is updated daily. Be sure to check it out for all the latest News, Current Events, and in-depth commentary by Quantum Future Group members. If you are interested in the events surrounding 9/11, you’ll want to check out our American Coup d’état page, as well as Laura’s book: 9/11 The Ultimate Truth [7].

The events of 9/11 have reshaped the political, social and cultural scene more than any event since the Second World War. We see the effects all around the world with greater and greater impediments to travel, “preemptive wars” that give the US the “right” to strike who they will when they will, and draconian laws that are said to target “terrorists” but which are aimed at local populations to better bring them under control. But to understand what is happening today, one needs the overview of human development that history provides. Laura’s book, The Secret History of the World [8], is the most complete source for her research and analysis of history.

Laura and Ark continue to research the mysteries of life and the universe in their quest to understand the human condition. Join them… you’ll be glad you did!

Again, the link to the website is AND PLEASE GO if this has resonated with you. We have a varitey of YOUsers and live in a time with a variety of information to consult with, so I try to provide a range in the 'outside the box' realm. I will presume the inside the box information is easy for people to find on their own from established, conventional sources. Good to study a bit from both camps and naturally, decide what you believe and then act upon that. The important part is that YOU are proactive with how you're leading your life.

Cassiopaea has a lot of topics showing much diversity, and they show the amount of traffic they have, which is a good guide for how many people value the information, and what I saw was very impressive: (naturally, disinformation and junky commercial websites can also have a lot of traffic, they can pay to play too, in terms of getting up in the search engine optimization.) I have a hunch Cassiopaea has gotten to where I found them by having a lot of content, they're doing keywords well and they've just been on the Internet a long time and get up in the organic search due to the ranking of the website. Again: cassiopaea.org/forum/ [2]

Comments

Wed, 09/03/2014 - 12:18pm

#1 [10]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Introverted writer's blog about Outgoing Introverts. Biochem?

This seems to be a well-respected blog from a writer who is an introvert, but as I say -- I'm a friendly introvert. I actually test on the line in Myers-Briggs testing between extro and intro vertednes. You'll see that in this topic, he and the commenters talk about nervousness over performing in public, having to regroup for days after having been 'on', and how they seem very outgoing when they are out and going.

It made me wonder how many people there are who have taken the standard psychological tests and are looking at their symptoms through the 'lens' they are aware of, without yet having learned about the things that have to do with biochemistry that affects how people feel about stressors and etc. And this seemed like a great topic to plug this onto as a comment.

introversioneffect.com/2014/07/22/18-struggles-of-having-an-outgoing-personality-but-actually-being-introverted/ [11]

As I frequently do, to encourage YOUsers seeing the links to go, if they have more of a sense of what will be there when they take the trip to see the sites, here's some of what you'll find at the blogsite/link:

Christian Marcus Lyons does a lot of very introverted things. He is an award-winning writer in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and screenplay. His work has been considered by some of the thoroughbreds in the film industry -- James Cameron, Barry Sonnenfeld, Ryan Reynolds, Jim Carrey -- and works as a professional freelance writer and legal specialist.

Christian can often be found in independent bookstores or out-of-the-way coffee shops, writing, daydreaming, or plotting to overthrow the world. He has a highly developed right-side brain, but sometimes allows his more analytical side to come out and work its magic.

He maintains other blogs, which you can link to below, or find his author page on Facebook.

http://AuthorChristianMarcus.com [12]

http://IntuitusTarot.wordpress.com [13]

19 Struggles Of Having An Outgoing Personality But Actually Being Introverted

Posted on July 22, 2014 [11] by Christian [14]

Like many categorizing systems, the separatist thinking behind them attempts to firmly place us in one container or another. The flaw in these types of systems is that they don’t always take into account the middle areas of the spectrum. And any system is just that: a spectrum. I’ve long stated with unequivocal certainty that I’m introverted. My friends, however, look at me askance, because I’m actually very fun-loving and outgoing when I need to be. So on that introvert/extravert spectrum, I fall somewhere to the introverted side, but exhibit limited extroverted tendencies. Here is an article found online [15] that I have updated to reflect this spectrumized system.

1. You’re not anti-social, you’re selectively social.

2. At any given point, you have one (maybe two) best friends who are your entire life. You’re not a “group of friends” person. You can’t keep up with all that.

3. Social gatherings that are supposed to be “rites of passage” like prom and dances and other such typical nonsense is just… not for you. You don’t understand it. You want nothing to do with it.

4. When you do choose to grace a party with your presence, you are the life of it. You’re dancing on the table and doing body shots until 3 a.m.

5. … You then retreat into three days of complete solitude to recover.

6. You go out of your way to avoid people, but when you inevitably have to interact with them, you make it seem like there’s nothing in the world you’d rather be doing.

7. Dating is weird, because you’re smiling and laughing and talkative at dinner, and then you don’t want to answer their texts for four days, because like, you just want to be left alone…

8. You’re accused of being flirty with everybody, which is hilarious, because in reality, you can only tolerate like four people.

9. You retain an air of mysteriousness about you, completely unintentionally. (There’s no mystery. You just feel no need to update the social sphere on what’s going on in your life every two hours.)

10. Not to mention the fact that you either have days in which you’re tweeting and status updating every five minutes… or you delete your accounts for a month.

11. You become unintentionally awkward because you at once feel the need to be a social life jacket for other people, though you’re just as uncomfortable yourself.

12. You’ve never really understood the whole “introvert vs. extrovert” dichotomy (can we call it that?) Because you’re… both…

13. You’re always run through the ringer because people think you’re best suited to be the one who gives the presentation, confronts the boss, gives the speech, etc. Meanwhile, you’re practically throwing up over the thought of it.

14. You ebb and flow between wanting to be noticed for your hard work, reveling in the attention and achievement you receive, to sinking and panicking over the thought of somebody else paying more than 30 seconds of attention to you.

15. The entirety of your being is a conundrum, so needless to say, indecisiveness is your Achilles’ Heel.

16. You’re at your happiest in places like coffee shops and cafés: surrounded by people, but still closed off and keeping to yourself.

17. You prefer to travel alone, but meet up with people once you’re there, on your own terms and at your own speed.

18. It’s taken you years to figure out that you’re different than many introverts you know. Literal years.

19. While we were chastised as children for daydreaming, we do so deliberately as adults, as our inner lives are rich, fertile, and sustain us.

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [9] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Mon, 09/22/2014 - 9:56am

#2 [19]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

ADD, ADHD, AD/HD - Root Causes per Arizona Advanced Medicine

There is a treasure trove of information at Arizona Advanced Medicine's website. I was searching for information about attentional problems, commonly referred to as attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder AND Lyme (chronic Lyme, specifically, which is basically referred to as "Lyme" now, same as most diabetics are type 2 so if you're talking about type 1 you specify the 1).

It seems that many, many people have heard for so long that they have ADD or ADHD, but they were only aware of the organized medical or school's system paradigm of how to address it, they are unaware of the other 'models' of what causes it, such as with functional medicine model. Naturally, at Lumigrate we've presented since day 1 in 2009 from the functional medicine model, using an 'integrative medicine' approach (mind, body, spirit). Functional medicine is expected to replace allopathic medicine as the 'conventional' and 'mainstream medicine' in the near future. It currently has rapid growth among people who have learned about it and are going out of their way to utilize it as their preferred model of health care.

I highly encourage YOU to take the link and go see the AAM website and this topic. As usual, I'm going to provide the example of the information you'll find there, so that you'll have a sense here what is at the link that I'm encouraging the trip off of Lumigrate and to their website for 'continuing education'.

arizonaadvancedmedicine.com/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-add-and-adhd/ [20]

Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder – ADD and AD/HD

The American Psychiatric Association gave official recognition to attention deficit disorder (ADD) in 1980. The drug Ritalin® became a household word. Then in 1997 with the epidemic standing somewhere around 500,000 to 700,000 nationwide, the American Psychiatric Association rewrote the diagnostic criteria by adding the term “hyperactivity” to the attention deficit disorder. ADD became AD/HD.[1] Mostly.

ADD differs from AD/HD because there is an absence of hyperactivity. These children are withdrawn, they display what some might describe as the “lights on, but nobody home” type behavior. Usually, people say ADHD when talking about attention deficit disorders.

Three types of ADHD are diagnosed:[2]

80% = combined inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive
10%-15% = predominantly inattentive
5% = predominantly hyperactive and impulsive

A study released by the Centers for Disease Control in November, 2010, found that 9.5 percent of parents said a doctor or health care provider had told them their child had ADHD. That means nearly one in 10 children aged 4-17 years is diagnosed with ADHD. That is an increase from a 2003 study that found about one in 8 children had been diagnosed with ADHD. The study’s lead author, Susanna Visser of the CDC, suggests greater awareness and stepped-up screening efforts as part of the explanation. The study also found that about two-thirds of the children with ADHD are being medicated.[3,4]

Diagnosis comes down to an opinion. There is no physiological process of degeneration or disease that characterizes the disorder. The diagnosis of ADHD is most often made after a doctor or psychiatrist observes behavior and deems the patient has ADHD.

ADHD is characterized by the “inability to marshal and sustain attention, modulate activity level, and moderate impulsive actions.”[5] This results in behavior which is markedly inappropriate to the child’s age, and often gets them in serious trouble in school. These children are typically impulsive, often aggressive. They cannot seem to control their level of activity, and they spend three times as long as other children doing their homework. Even at that, they usually require the presence of a parent or other caregiver to enable them to finish their homework at all.

The diagnosis and treatment of ADHD has generated controversy. The DSM-IV (the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), lists 14 symptoms; the diagnosis of ADHD can be made if a child is found to have 8 of them. ADD2

often fidgets or squirms
has trouble staying in one’s seat
is easily distracted
cannot wait one’s turn
blurts out answers
has trouble following instructions
cannot sustain attention
shifts from one activity to another
does not play quietly
talks excessively
interrupts
cannot listen
loses things
does dangerous things

If you’re thinking that sounds like you as a child and some adults you know today, you’re not alone.

Research in 2010 suggests that nearly 20 percent of the children in the U.S. are potentially misdiagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder simply because they are the youngest – and most immature – of their kindergarten class.

Using a sample of nearly 12,000 children, Michigan State University economist Todd Elder examined the difference in ADHD diagnosis and medication rates between the youngest and oldest children in a grade. He found the youngest kindergartners were 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than the oldest children in the same grade. Similarly, when that group of classmates reached the fifth and eighth grades, the youngest were more than twice as likely to be prescribed stimulants.

“If a child is behaving poorly, if he’s inattentive, if he can’t sit still, it may simply be because he’s 5 and the other kids are 6,” said Elder. “There’s a big difference between a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, and teachers and medical practitioners need to take that into account when evaluating whether children have ADHD.”[7]

Stimulant Drugs

Drug therapy is the most common form of allopathic medical treatment for ADHD. Ritalin, Concerta or Adderall are the most popularly prescribed drugs. Focalin, another methylphenidate drug, is the latest. There is little doubt that stimulants help to control behavior in many cases. There is much doubt whether they in fact improve scholastic performance.[8] And concerns about the drugs’ side effects are mounting. Prescription drugs for ADHD are almost all stimulants and come with “black box” warnings, meaning they carry significant risk of serious or even life-threatening adverse effects. These drugs have been linked to cardiovascular problems, sudden death and violence. The more common side effects can be so devastating or unpleasant that many kids just don’t want to take them.

Long term, drug therapy may turn out to have been a very costly short term fix.

There is evidence that the use of stimulants increase the risk of substance abuse in later life by over 50%.[9] There is substantial evidence that stimulant drugs increase the risk of hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular disease.[10] Many parents, and even some researchers, are questioning whether the use of stimulant drugs is warranted, given that other therapies are more effective in the long run.[11]

In April 2009, USA Today editorialized that we need more education, less drugs.[12] The paper reported that according to the government’s leading, multiyear study of 579 children[13], the effectiveness of the popular drugs for ADHD can dissipate after 14 months of use. By the six- and eight-year mark, across 30 measures of behavior and academics, children still given medication fared no better than their non-medicated counterparts, despite a 41% increase in the average total daily dose, failing to support continued medication treatment as salutary. The drugs can stunt growth. After three years, medicated children have grown almost an inch less than non-medicated ADHD kids. They also suffer from more muscle tics.

The editors wrote,

“Response to what the study itself calls its “failure to find better outcomes associated with continued medication treatment” has been troubling. Psychiatrists who’ve publicly favored drug over non-drug therapy have downplayed the findings. And the website of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, a leading ADHD advocacy and support group, buried mention of the study in a blog without noting any findings. Perhaps not coincidentally, 30% of CHADD’s revenue is from drug companies. Such denial risks real harm. It’s time for those with ADHD children in their care to recalibrate their enthusiasm for long-term use of the drugs and to engage in some behavioral modification of their own.”

School officials are prohibited from implying that medication is a requirement for school attendance but teachers, more than parents or doctors, refer children for an ADHD diagnosis. Drugs are the usual consequence. Yet most teachers surveyed are ignorant about many of the drugs’ basic aspects, says a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire study.[14]

California neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman, author of The ADHD Fraud, How Psychiatry Makes “Patients” Out of Normal Children, spearheads the arguments against the exploding AD/HD diagnosis and increased drug treatment:

“The single, biggest heath care fraud in US history – the representation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) to be an actual disease, and the drugging of millions of entirely normal American children, as “treatment,” is spreading like a plague – still. Once children are labeled with AD/HD, they are no longer treated as normal. Once methylphenidate hydrochloride, or any psychiatric drug, courses through their brain and body, they are, for the first time, physically, neurologically, and biologically abnormal.”[15]

Some psychiatrists, including Peter Breggin, worry about the drug therapies too:

“…we abuse our children with drugs rather than making the effort to find better ways to meet their needs. In the end, we are giving out children a very bad lesson – that drugs are the answer to emotional problems. We are encouraging a generation of youngsters to grow up relying on psychiatric drugs rather than on themselves and other human resources.”[16]

We need only look around us at the children today to see that something is clearly amiss.

The U.S. government admits that 1 in 6 children is born today with some kind of brain impairment.[17] By age 3, an increasing number of children exhibit autism and other forms of toxicity related illness such as asthma, diabetes, ADD, and depression.

Getting to The Root Cause

Root causes of the ADHD syndrome may be multiple, including brain processing abnormalities, problems with the entire listening/hearing system, food or environmental allergies, metabolic insufficiencies, or heavy metal toxicity [21], among other things.

Researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain and M.I.N.D. Institute found that two brain areas fail to connect when children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder attempt a task that measures attention.[18] The researchers measured electrical rhythms from the brains of volunteers. When part of the brain is emitting alpha rhythms, it is disengaged from the rest of the brain and not receiving or processing information optimally. “This is the first time that we have direct evidence that this connectivity is missing in ADHD,” said researcher Ali Mazaheri in 2010.[19]

According to current models of how the brain allocates attention, signals from the frontal cortex – such as the “V” and “A” cues – should alert other parts of the brain, such as the visual processing area at the back of the head, to prepare to pay attention to something. That should be reflected in a drop in alpha wave activity in the visual area. However, children with ADHD showed no such drop in activity, indicating a disconnection between the center of the brain that allocates attention and the visual processing regions. “The brains of the children with ADHD apparently prepare to attend to upcoming stimuli differently than do typically developing children,” Mazaheri concluded.

coloreddyes We know many cases of AD/HD behavior have been cleared up by making a few extremely important changes in diet. Removing sugar [22] has stopped some children from “bouncing off the walls.” Removing specific foods to which they are sensitive has been the answer for others. Harvard and Columbia researchers recommended that artificial food colorings are one reason for the surge in children’s hyperactivity and attention problems. They asked, “Do children’s foods really need to be colored with petroleum-based dyes like Red 40 and Yellow 5 when there are plenty of natural dyes available? Are food manufacturer’s profits worth the tradeoff in our children’s health?”[20]

In 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics said the 2007 Southampton/McCann Study finally convinced them to reverse their long-standing position on food additives:[21]

“Thus, the overall findings of the study are clear and require that even we skeptics, who have long doubted parental claims of the effects of various foods on the behavior of their children, admit we might have been wrong.”

“In real life, practitioners faced with hyperactive preschoolers have a reasonable option to offer parents. For the child without a medical, emotional, or environmental etiology of AD/HD behaviors, a trial of a preservative-free, food coloring-free diet is a reasonable intervention.”

Sometimes fish oils correct a fatty acid deficiency and restore normalcy. A 2005 Oxford study of 117 underachieving children found 40% of them made dramatic improvements in reading and spelling when given fish oil supplements high in omega-3 fatty acids.[22]

Australian researchers tracked a group of 1,799 children from their birth in 1989.[23] As young teens, some consumed relatively high amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and fish. This diet pattern delivered more omega-3 fatty acids, folate (a B vitamin involved in brain health), and fiber. Others consumed a typical “Western” diet pattern – takeout foods, sweets, pastries, and processed, fried, or refined foods. This diet pattern delivered less omega-3s but more total fat, saturated fat, omega-6 fats, refined sugar, and sodium.

Out of the total of 1,799 teens, 91 boys and 24 girls had been diagnosed with ADHD by age 14. After adjusting the results to account for various known social and family influences on ADHD risk, the Aussie team found that the kids who ate the “Western” diet were more than twice as likely to have received an ADHD diagnosis. Omega-3 fatty acids are thought to hold benefits for mental health and optimal brain function.

The chicken or the egg?

It’s not always clear which came first – the processing problem or the metabolic insufficiency. For example: Children raised on commercial baby formulas (some are 50 percent corn syrup), likely have been metabolically challenged since their very beginning. They may have lost brain function because they took in more manganese than what is in breast milk. Manganese occurs at very low levels in breast milk, but it is added to infant formula made from cow’s milk and occurs naturally at even higher levels in soy formula. It is dangerous for infants to consume more manganese than they would get from breast milk because infants have no capacity to excrete excess amounts until they are older. The effects of too much manganese include inattention, impulsivity, and hyperaggression.[24] Soy baby formulas do not contain nearly as much protein as breast milk, depriving the developing brain of what it needs. Researchers at Brown Medical School compared premature infants fed with breast milk to those fed formula and found breast fed babies clearly did better on tests of mental development by age 18 months. The more breast milk they consumed, the better they did on the tests. Ingredients in breast milk, particularly fatty acids, seem to help the brain develop properly.[25] Additionally, breast milk builds a strong immune system.

“In some cases, ADHD can be vanquished by eating foods that build strong bodies and learning how to eliminate those foods to which a child is allergic. I call that – the power of the refrigerator. You’ll love the control it gives you.”

Some children are impacted by the high body burden [21] of heavy metals which interfere with the normal developmental processes. Take lead for example: Children with higher exposures to lead are more easily distracted, less organized, and apt to be hyperactive, impulsive, aggressive, and easily frustrated. Sound familiar?

Governmental research reports the average American baby, at birth, has more than 200 chemicals [23] in its body.[26] Even after 9 months of growth in the womb, the infant’s nervous, respiratory, reproductive, and immune systems are not yet fully developed. They are in a dynamic state of growth with cells multiplying and organ systems developing at a rapid rate. Pound for pound, children take in more air, food, and liquids than do adults. For example, carpets are typically made with toxic materials; children tend to make direct contact with carpet with their faces and hands as they play.

Neurotoxin experts Philippe Grandjean and Philip Landrigan reported in 2006 that the widespread use of pesticides, cleaning products, glues and other chemicals that contaminate our air, water, and homes are causing a “silent pandemic” of brain diseases in children. When children reach their “toxic overload” point, out-of-control behaviors can be the result. Medical schools do not train physicians in detoxification procedures, nor does medical school curriculum yet embrace the mounting evidence that environmental toxins cause breakdowns in body systems that cannot be corrected simply by adding a prescription drug – yet another toxic substance.

The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center study is the first to examine how genes, toxins and gender interact to shape ADHD. “Our analysis confirms a suspected link between prenatal tobacco exposure and ADHD, and it demonstrates that the greater the level of blood lead, the greater the risk of ADHD, says Bruce Lanphear, MD, director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Cincinnati Children’s and corresponding author of the study. “These findings underscore the profound behavioral health impact of these prevalent exposures and highlight the need to strengthen public health efforts to reduce prenatal tobacco smoke exposure and childhood lead exposure.” Investigators found approximately 270,000 cases of AD/HD attributable to mothers smoking during pregnancy. Children exposed to tobacco before birth had a 2.5-fold higher risk of ADHD compared to children not so exposed to tobacco. The study is based on data gathered between 1999 and 2002 from a parent or guardian of 4,704 children.[27]

Food sensitivities [24] and heavy metals [25] create inflammation [26] in the GI tract. If we have an inflamed “gut,” we are not able to efficiently process and absorb the nutrients in the food we eat. As some wise person once said: we are not what we eat, we are what we absorb.

It is important to have a strong body biochemistry and metabolism[28], so that the brain processing can be corrected, and will hold fast even under stress.

Lyme Disease and ADHD

There is growing evidence that some children with ADHD symptoms actually have Lyme disease. Lyme’s effect on the brain can appear as increasing anxiety, irritability, chronic depression, cognitive decline and memory loss, and much stronger ADHD tendencies.

Lyme Disease [27], like its predecessor syphilis, is called “The Great Imitator” since it can affect the entire body in a myriad of ways. It is often misdiagnosed as ADD, ADHD, rheumatoid arthritis, autism, depression, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, and more. The co-infection bartonella has been associated with neuropsychiatric disease.

Most experts agree that the incidence of pediatric neurological dysfunctions, including autism and ADHD, has increased at least four to five times in the last decade. The vast majority of promising evidence connects many of these dysfunctions to the emerging inter-relationship of the neurological and immune systems.

Non-Drug Approach

At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, comprehensive and holistic treatment for ADD and ADHD includes brain processing, food sensitivities, environmental allergies, heavy metal and other toxicities, metabolism, and function of the intestinal (GI) tract, so we can determine the origin of the problems.

brain It is well known that people with ADHD, depression, head injury, and other forms of brain dysfunction often have a slowing of the activity in the frontal lobes – that area of the brain in charge of executive function: planning ahead, decision-making, judgment, language, and other important cognitive functions. Sometimes an ADHD individual has been robbed of the ability to hear and process specific frequencies, because of chronic ear infections, severe allergies or lots of very loud concerts. The ear becomes unresponsive and must be stimulated, in order to be able to tune into the desired sound. Attention, focus, learning, and language abilities can all be improved by retraining the brain to listen using different frequency sounds, so that whatever is available is working at maximum capacity. This kind of brain dysfunction can be treated without drugs.

Hemoencephalography (HEG) uses light to measure activity in the frontal lobes by measuring the oxygenation in the blood. Oxygenation of blood flowing to the frontal lobes can be increased through a computer-assisted biofeedback mechanism. This can improve all the functions dependent upon frontal lobe activity. This can bring order from chaos in the brain of a child – or an adult – with ADHD. As oxygenation increases, neurons are able to make new connections.

The pieces of the puzzle necessitate a focus on nutrition. In some people, ADHD symptoms can be reversed by eliminating sugar, wheat, corn, and chemical additives from their diets. Parasitic infections are common with ADHD and good homeopathic remedies can correct the problem. Sleep deprivation is another piece of the puzzle that can be addressed through both behavioral and nutritional means, sometimes with specific supplements.

Some children have turned around just by removing specific foods to which they are sensitive and adding omega-3 fish oils to correct a fatty acid deficiency. Others get a big boost with chelation to remove metals which are silently warehoused in brain and bones and gum up the works.

By treating the origins of the dysfunction, and determining if Lyme disease is also a factor, we can avoid the need for dangerous stimulant medication. But most importantly, we give parents a way to restore their child’s health naturally and bring forth the person who got lost when the body’s functions got confused.

PLEASE REFER TO THE LINK, I did not include the REFERENCES used in this topic from the Arizona Advanced Medicine Center's website. They have an incredible complement of topics, all on this caliber. Outstanding resource! The link, again, is: arizonaadvancedmedicine.com/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-add-and-adhd/

__________________

Tue, 09/23/2014 - 2:53pm

#3 [28]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Lumigrate Presents About Lyme / Fibromyalgia Overall & Foods

This topic at Lumigrate is one that I have gotten some very nice compliments on, and it's personallyone of my favorites, and what it includes is so supportive of what is presented, above AND adds a unique perspective as well, to extend beyond what is covered at these previous topics. This is from an area of Lumigrate that's at the top of the chronic pain and fatigue area of the website, and is one of the top topics in that forum, but I still wanted to be certain that people reading this thread caught the information we've had, going back to 2010 (but I've added onto it as well). Things like 'the issues are in the tissues' and 'full barrel syndrome'.

I'll provide the graphic for that here so you get the visual on that:

So please follow to the link if you're interested in what's there, here it is:

www.lumigrate.com/forum/my-interview-naturopathic-medicine-cfs-and-fms-cinda-crawfords-website [29]

__________________

Thu, 10/09/2014 - 11:25am

#4 [30]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

The Special Symptoms and Remediation for those with ApoE4

I like to include a bit about how I find things, so that YOUsers can, if they're not yet finding things they like on the Internet, become more self sufficient in getting quality information. But then it is a matter of deciding what to follow in the results, and that is maybe a skill, maybe a gift, maybe a bit of both. I Googled apoe4 and Google gave a list of suggested other things after it, so I selected the one that had exercise. And from the results I found something that initially was interesting and then the continuing comments made it a particularly good resource, I thought. So, knowing there are scads of things to look through about ApoE4, I thought I'd add this comment on here.

I liked this because it answered a lot of my questions and also it had the positivity about it, that this is something that is perhaps a selection into the mix of humans on Earth to make it a better mix all around. I bought a book about ADD 20 years ago because I had recently had problems with attention that someone erroneously diagnosed as ADD without looking at the underlying reason WHY, since it was a CHANGE from my baseline. Anyway, the book was about hunters in a gatherer's world, and surmised that there were different genes and more of them in the US because the 'gatherer' types didn't take the risks to get across the ocean or rivers or borders to come here in such high numbers. That kind of made a lot of sense. And it showed the benefits of having hunters and people with ADD brains on teams, as well as the others without.

Note when you go to the link, the information about the better memories when young. I know that people I grew up with just remarked about my recollection of details of things that they'd forgotten about, though I think many of them were remembering things I didn't remember so I really did not think anything of it. Note, I've not had genetic testing so I don't know about this aspect and am just going by symptoms and best guesses.

primale4.wordpress.com/page/2/ [31]

__________________

Tue, 10/28/2014 - 6:43pm

#5 [32]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Bipolar from Dr Ben Lynch, ND's perspective - dysfunct'n biochem

Not only does Dr Ben Lynch have much to say about bipolar disorder that aligns with what I have come to believe, he offers good lifestyle solutions -- typical for naturopathic doctors from Bastyr's naturopathy program, as he is. And he also offers solutions that have to do with products in the supplements realm that he's developed and markets / distribues that offer true 'functional medicine' solutions to the underlying cause or causes for the symptoms that are classified by organized / typical medical, as he calls it, as 'bipolar disorder'. Please take the time to listen to his podcast as there's so much that you glean from hearing how he speaks about things.

Here's the link for the podcast: www.seekinghealth.com/natural-health-podcasts/bipolar-natural-treatment-suggestions-and-causes.html [33]

AND what you'll see there as the overview:

Bipolar Natural Treatment Suggestions and Causes

Bipolar is simply a name for a bunch of symptoms that standard medicine labels people with.

Bipolar, in my mind, is simply a matter of dysfunctional biochemistry. Replenish the missing nutrients and symptoms of 'bipolar' go away and stay away. It is a shame that millions suffer from this condition because it is easy to overcome when a physician understands that the patient is merely deficient in nutrients or contains an excess of disruptors (toxins, heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides).

In this podcast, Dr Ben explains more in detail and gives some bipolar treatment suggestions. Do NOT stop your medications without conferencing with your prescribing physician first.

Supportive supplements which Dr Ben recommends for those experiencing Bipolar:

Magnesium Plus [34]: to support neurotransmitter production and establish a sense of ease and calmness.
Ashwaghanda [35]: to support an individual experiencing stress, anxiety and weak adrenal or thyroids.
Whey Slim [36]: to support neurotransmitter production and balance blood sugar
Optimal Fish Oil Liquid [37] or Optimal Fish Oil capsules [38] to support neurotransmitter production, hormone production and decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Vitamin D360 Liquid Vitamin D3 [39] or Vitamin D3 5,000 IU capsules [40]: low vitamin D3 is commonly found in those with depression, schizophrenia and other mood disorders.
Pantothenic Acid [41]: to support the adrenals which are key to balancing stress hormones, energy, thyroid and blood sugar.
Active CoQH [42]: this soy-free active CoQ10 in the form of ubiquinol is effective at restoring low levels of CoQ10. Research shows those with bipolar may be low in CoQ10.
Optimal Multivitamin [43]: this multivitamin is comprehensive, contains potent B vitamins along with the active form of 5-MTHF. Many with depression, actually 7 out of 10 people, have a genetic mutation in the folic acid pathway. It is crucial to obtain numerous nutrients in a comprehensive multivitamin as biochemical reactions in the body do not go forward without them.
Taurine [44]: has a calming effect in bipolar patients. It is actually being studied in a clinical trial [45]. Results not yet released. The study is using 2 grams of Taurine twice a day. Given that it is calming, it is best taken on waking and before going to bed.

Lab Testing:
1) Ask your doctor to test you for the 5-MTHFR genetic mutation. If it is positive, then you need higher amounts of active folate which is 5-MTHF.

HomocysteX [46] contains high amounts of 5-MTHF along with active B12 and B6.

2) Ask to test for Reactive Hypoglycemia. This is not a fun test but many bipolar patients I have seen in the past have reactive hypoglycemia which further supports the importance of eating smaller, more frequent meals with protein.

If a person with 'bipolar', or anyone, experiences gas, bloating, constipation or diarrhea, this has to be fixed. If not, nutrients do not get absorbed.

Digestion must be fixed first before anything else otherwise you simply have expensive stool as the nutrients from food and vitamins go right into the sewer.

To improve the digestive system, consider taking:

Pro-Digestion Intensive [47]: 1 capsule with meals that cause gas and bloating. Increase to 2 capsules if a large meal.
PreGestion [48]: 1 capsule or more with main meals. Always take with food. Increase as needed. Do not take more than 4 at once.
ProBiota 12 Powder [49]: 1/4 teaspoon after dinner for 2 weeks and then 1/2 teaspoon until the bottle is gone. Then switch to 1/16 teaspoon after meals and stay on that or switch to ProBiota 12 capsules and take 1 capsule after dinner.
Taurine [44]: supports fat digestion in the liver so if have symptoms of constipation or diarrhea with fat ingestion, Taurine is a huge benefit.

__________________

Fri, 11/14/2014 - 11:19am

#6 [50]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

MTHFR Gene Mutations in 50% of People; Folate is a Big Deal

There are currently almost 10,000 people in Carol Savage's MTHFR Gene Mutation group on Facebook. She's an MD who is recovering her health level from having complex chronic illness involving Lyme, etcetera, and is a fabulous resource. She was late to become an MD, and is looking forward to retiring and doing something really FUN next. For now, she's sharing her journey learning about more and more by teaching others, who also often know things she's then learning from. It's a great group. Here's a great synopsis she posted about MTHFR and folic acid:

50 % or more of the people in the population do NOT have the MTHFR mutations, but they may have terrible diets and do not eat enough Dihydrofolate because they do not eat many greens and beans. These individuals will be helped by taking Folic ACID. Folic ACID does eventually get made into L-Methyl Folate.

BUT.... those with the MTHFR C677T mutations will have difficulty biochemically making enough L-Methyl Folate, and when their blood stream has more Folic ACID and not enough L-Methyl Folate the Folic ACID will actually prevent what little L-Methyl Folate the person can make from getting into their brain because Folic ACID blocks the Folate Receptor alpha [FRa] receptors on the Blood Brain Barrier [BBB].

__________________

Fri, 03/27/2015 - 11:34am

#7 [51]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Washington's Dr Rawlins on MTHFR Deficiency and What to Do

New approach to medical problems from the Human Genome project

Goal of the project was to identify genetic disorders that cause disease and then treat the cause not just the symptoms. MTHFR is the first one to have an FDA approved treatment. There are two common variants that can be tested (677, 1298) but as many as 50+ variants. If both genes are defective the pathway functions on about 10-15% at best.

FDA reviewed treatments are for

Anxiety, Depression Deplin

Memory Loss Cerefolin

Diabetic neuropathy (nerve Pain) Meta NX

High Risk Pregnancy Neevo, Neevo DHA, Prenate Elite, Thorne

Other symptoms that are treated by this pathway but don have FDA approval

Elevated Homocysteine, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, Irritable Bowel, Migraines, Alzheimers, Chronic pain, Bipolar, Schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, as well as prevention of Congenital anomalies, Down’s Syndrome. Without treatment people are more prone to viral infections because the Methylation process is critical in shutting off viral replication as well as retaining heavy metals and other environmental toxins.

Who Benefits?

30 % of the US population have both genes defective, 40% have one gene defective

100% are exposed to environmental toxins that affect this pathway (BPA)

Effects of low Methylfolate

Low Serotonin, Dopamine, Norepinephrine

Low Glutathione. Needed for toxin removal and Memory

Low Tetrahydrobiopterine. Critical in nerve protection, neurotransmitters

Things that aggravate the genetic disorder

Heavy Metal load (fish, water, food) (mercury, lead, aluminum)
Poor diet (highly processed foods)
Medications (Glucophage, Birth Control, Levodopa)
Anesthesia (Nitrous Oxide)
Other enzyme defects (B6 conversion, Methionine synthase and reductase)
Other diseases (diabetes, Lymphoma)
Leiden Factor V, Prothrombin 20210

MEASURES THAT IMPROVE SYMPTOMS:

Dietary, vegetables, berries, fruits (better if fresh) Berries have the active form of folic acid already
Mathematics, Accounting, Piano, Classical music - Suppress the overactive areas of the brain
Exercise

THIS WAS THE END OF THE FIRST OF THE THREE PAGE PDF, the link and other information about that is 'looped' at this link at another topic at Lumigrate where I've also been compiling and advancing information as I come upon it. To find your way to that topic's comment where the rest of the information is at about Dr Rawlins (he has a great video of a presentation to watch (4 parts listed there) and much other information): www.lumigrate.com/forum/memory-loss-and-nutrition#comment-2750 [52]

NOTE: Be sure to catch the part of his advise that has to do with starting ONE supplement at a time. Having the knowledge about all this is very important, so study enough to be effective as do it yourself (which is a LOT of study involved) or get advisors on your team to help YOU.

Naturally there is a sensible order to which gets started first. I've seen people started on supplements in a sensible way with advisement from someone fairly qualified but they were apparently unaware of the folate form / MTHFR information even though I'd stated to them up front that I suspected they'd be one to think that was a likely factor. With the supplement brand recommended / sold to them having folate, it's suspicious to me that flu like symptoms the person reported were actually caused by further detoxification problems. Remember, you don't have to stop a relationship with one provider to add a relationship with another -- make that YOU team robust if you can and wish (and need)!

Live and learn. Learn and live better! ~ Mardy

__________________

Mon, 03/30/2015 - 8:26am

#8 [53]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Great graphic and info on the brain cell biochemistry w MTHFR

Nancy Mullan is an MD in Southern California that also shouts at the top of her lungs that YOU have to get on board figuring out what's going on with you and what to do about it (or those you are advocating on behalf of).

nancymullanmd.com/mistakes-mthfr-brain-function/ [54]

Live and learn. Learn and live better! ~ Mardy

__________________

Mon, 03/30/2015 - 8:26am

#9 [55]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Great graphic and info on the brain cell biochemistry w MTHFR

nancymullanmd.com/mistakes-mthfr-brain-function/ [54] A bit of what you'll see there, to show you why I suggest this as something YOU take the link out to and study:

Make no mistakes about MTHFR and brain function.

March 16, 2015 By Nancy Mullan, MD [56] Leave a Comment [57]

Keep Methylation Central

To understand attention, attention based learning, motivation, pleasure, and the other functions of the neurotransmitter dopamine, you have to know something about D4 dopamine receptors. And critical to the function of dopamine receptors is the MTHFR C677T gene and enzyme.

- See more at: http://nancymullanmd.com/mistakes-mthfr-brain-function/#stha... [58]

Live and learn. Learn and live better! ~ Mardy

__________________

Fri, 04/03/2015 - 5:22pm

#10 [59]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

A Genetic Cause of Pain and Anxiety. COMT. MAO. MTHFR

This is a website from a provider and clinic in Idaho that had a very nice way of presenting the information. There's a video as well.

redmountainclinic.com/a-genetic-cause-of-pain-and-anxiety-comt-mao-and-mthfr/ [60]

Some of what you'll find:

Do you find yourself worrying excessively about the future, about money or about fearful things in general? Does a small amount of stress cause you to feel very stressed out? Do you feel good while you exercise, but afterwards feel drained and worn out? Are you easily agitated, nervous or upset? Is your behavior erratic and combative when stressed? Do you organize your life very carefully, living with rules like careful eating and other disciplined behavior? Do you make efforts to fix problems as soon as they show up? Do feel you have to use meditation, prayer, yoga, or other mindful pursuits just to stay level-headed? Are you diligent about being organized even to a fault? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you may have a genetic imbalance in your catecholamine neurotransmitter pathway – your dopamine, adrenalin and noradrenalin system.

The genes mainly responsible for these behaviors are called MAO-A and COMT.

... additionally:

Slowing down these enzymes will impact our lives and our behaviors because the catecholamines – dopamine/noradrenalin/adrenalin – are broken down by the COMT and MAO enzymes. This means that a small stressor can make us feel very stressed out. Believe me…I know first hand because like you, I also have these genes. It is the quest to understand WHY we feel so stressed out that has led me to uncover the genetic roots of our stressed-out state of mind.

Since the moment of conception we are programmed to respond to stress in our environment. It is how we survive. People with MAO and COMT have a unique ability in that they are able to produce an excess of adrenalin. The body uses adrenalin to shift resources around during stress, aka fight or flight. Adrenalin helps sharpen our focus, releases stored energy, increases blood pressure and muscle strength. In fact, we are lucky to have adrenalin. We’ve all heard about that mother who, when her child was trapped under a vehicle during a car wreck, was able to physically move the car and save the child. Such is the power of adrenalin!

Anything that powerful must be kept under tight control, otherwise we will develop other issues that can damage our health. Some common issues that result from too much adrenalin:

insomnia – people with too little catecholamines are narcoleptic, they can fall asleep anywhere; those with too many catecholamines simply can’t turn their mind off and lay awake for hours!
chronic pain – pain fibers become more sensitive in the presence of adrenalin, leading to syndromes like fibromyalgia and allodynia; this may cause pain just walking around the block, doing the dishes or rolling over in bed.
high blood pressure – adrenalin increases the rate and force of the heart; excess adrenalin will raise blood pressure – think bulging veins on side of forehead when someone is filled with rage!
POTS and other sympathetic disorders – while the causes of these issue may be complex, they each involve imbalances of the catecholamine stress hormones.
arrhythmia – excess stress placed on the heart often depletes the heart of taurine, magnesium, and nitric oxide; this causes an epilepsy-like effect on heart; that is arrhythmia should be considered a seizure of the heart.
excess sweating – adrenalin actives skin receptors to cause sweating; excess adrenalin often causes excess sweating.
tingling and numbness – excess catecholamines (adrenalin) can cause tingling and numbness on both sides of the body, in the hand and feet; this may mimick neuropathy but is just a side effect of excess adrenalin on the nervous system.
poor circulation – adrenalin pushes blood away from the gut and can cut off flow to the tips of our fingers; for example people with Raynaud’s phenomenon have so much adrenalin that it shuts off the flow of blood completely leaving the skin white and cold.
digestion problems – since adrenalin pushes blood away from the gut, people with MAO and COMT may suffer from IBS; for with less blood there is less oxygen, and we cannot properly digest our food. Bacteria in the gut also use adrenalin to grow very rapidly.
OCD, anger, mood changes and anxiety – the increase of adrenalin comes at the expense of the loss of dopamine; every molecule of adrenalin is first a molecule of dopamine and so whenever the body produces excess adrenalin/noradrenalin, it will lower the available dopamine. High adrenalin with low dopamine doesn’t feel good, and may make you cranky and hard to be around.
low thyroid – tyrosine is used to make dopamine, and dopamine is used to make adrenalin; tyrosine is also used to make thyroid hormone, so when we are stressed, thyroid function often drops as there is less tyrosine available to make T3 and T4.
and more…

Remember its not just our genes that cause us to have elevated adrenalin and the anxiety associated with it. Inflammation is also a potent activator of the fight or flight system. In other words, inflammation (of any kind) irritates our body and triggers the alarm. And since so many things can cause inflammation – food allergies, poor digestion, chronic infections, physical exhaustion, blood sugar imbalances, etc. – is it any wonder that anxiety is a big problem in our lives?

Other genetic SNPs like MTHFR, MTR, MTRR, ACE, GAD, NOS and PEMT also predispose us to being anxious and depressed. Each of these genes makes it more likely we will be inflammed and will have trouble detoxifying things like lead, mercury, aldehydes, petrochemicals, etc. Having too much inflammation and heavy metals will constantly stimulate our sympathetic fight or flight system, activating our adrenals, and can lead to high anxiety. One of the main reasons we feel stressed and anxious is from the methylation cycle not being optimized. Without optimum methylation we can never have optimum detoxification; and weak detoxification predisposes us to having too much inflammation. In other words, our methylation controls our detoxification, and our detoxification controls our inflammation. This is why healthy environmental signals and proper stress management are so important for those of us with COMT and MAO SNPs.

Four Ways to Manage Your MAO and COMT Genes:

1) Calm down gut inflammation by avoiding food allergens and processed, garbage GMO foods. Shop the outside of the supermarket, avoiding the isles. There is no one perfect diet for everyone but as Michael Pollen said, “eat food, mostly plants, not too much.” You may need to consider digestive aids and anti-inflammatory supplements and foods to help reduce inflammation even more. 70% of inflammation comes from the gut, so taking care of digestion is always the first priority.

2) Exercise moderately as this creates a calming, relaxation response in the nervous system. However, one must avoid working out after 7pm as it raises adrenalin. People with MAO and COMT are going to have a difficult time sleeping after a workout that ends at 8 or 9 pm. We can do that when we are 10 years old, but the older we get, the more sensitive we become.

3) Get 8-9 hours of sleep. Most people need 7 hours minimum. Often people who are recovering from an acute or chronic illness need more like 8-9 hours of sleep to optimize their healing and wellness.

4) Avoid unnecessary stress and take time for yourself. Learn to say no to stressful situations and take time for yourself. Recharging your batteries is not selfish; rather it allows you to be your best which helps you help others. If we are sick and tired, how much of an asset can we be to someone else?

Because the side effects of too much stress are so damaging, people with MAO and COMT must be very careful to manage stress effectively. To manage stress we have to remember that stress comes in many forms – physical, mental, and chemical. To reduce physical stress I suggest you work with a kinesiologist/chiropractor who can accurately assess your structural body and keep your joints, muscles and nerves functioning optimally. Other strategies that can improve physical stress is massage, acupuncture, epsom salt baths, moderate physical activity, coffee enemas, avoiding prolonged sitting, and getting at least 7 hours of sleep.

Mental stress is a spiritual concern, finding your place in the world and learning to let go and cope with life’s changes and challenges. Without a doubt those of us with COMT and MAO genes have the hardest time “letting it go” because adrenalin just doesn’t let you do that. Be strong and keep practicing though, because you truly can learn to be at peace – your genes and your brain will thank you!

Chemical stress can be avoided by optimizing your methylation cycle, cleaning up your gut, and promoting healthy detoxification. Helping you optimize your genes and your life by figuring out what your body needs is what getting healthy is all about. While success on this journey requires that individuals commit to getting well, it is impossible to make it alone. To get the best results you need to work with a clinician who knows about genetics, in addition to the other important factors like blood sugar, adrenals, thyroid, acid alkaline balance, etc. To really succeed you need a holistic approach.

People with MAO-A and COMT are some of the smartest, most-intelligent people you will ever meet. The reason is that these SNPs increase dopamine, noradrenalin and adrenalin in the frontal lobes of our brain. If you are blessed with increased dopamine and adrenalin you will be able to focus like a laser at times, and usually be very detail oriented with a good memory – as long as the system isn’t over-stressed. But if your body becomes over-stressed from gut inflammation, food allergies, physical exhaustion, too much exercise, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, chronic infections, etc…then you have a recipe for being a stress-mess!

But it doesn’t have to be that way. By targeting the root causes of our anxiety – too much adrenalin – we can change the environment inside the brain. When we optimize our genes, we optimize our life…and when we do that, anything is possible.

Yours In Health,

Dr. Rostenberg

By studying the current peer-reviewed research, Dr. Rostenberg has discovered powerful, natural strategies to restore your health and heal your body. He can help you uncover the genetic or root causes of your health problem and find a natural solution! If you would like help with your methylation genetics to improve your brain function and reduce/eliminate your symptoms, please contact Dr. Rostenberg at Red Mountain Natural Medicine today. Phone 208-322-7755. Email redmountainclinic@gmail.com [61]. Websitehttp://www.redmountainclinic.com [62]

Live and learn. Learn and live better! ~ Mardy

__________________

Mental and Behavioral Health and Nutritional Deficiencies and Solutions. Many Factors, Many Symptoms and Many Solutions.

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Make no mistakes about MTHFR and brain function.