Podcasts

This episode focuses on thyroid health, and its potential impact on bipolar and schizophrenia. We also discuss what low and high thyroid look like, difficulties detecting thyroid problems, and the importance of tyrosine and iodine.

This episode explores the intersection of seizure disorders, particularly temporal lobe epilepsy, with mental health. We talk about the prevalence of misdiagnosis, and about common symptoms and treatments in temporal lobe epilepsy and bipolar.

In this episode we discuss excitotoxins. which are chemicals, such as MSG and aspartame, that are often added to junk food to make it taste good. We talk about how these chemicals, made of aminos acids in ultra-concentrated doses can injure and destroy brain cells. They can impair normal brain development in children, and may play a role in mania, anxiety, seizures, intellectual deterioration, and various neurological diseases.

This episode discusses effects of Candida and other yeast on mental health. Candida can influence mood, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, hyperactivity, psychosis, and overall health. We also overview treatment approaches including paleo diet, immune support, oregano, pau d'arco and other herbs, oxygenation, administration of Candida dilutions, and more.

This episode is an introduction to the influence of food allergy and sensitivity on mental function. We look at effects on schizophrenia, depression, mania, anxiety, insomnia, hyperactivity, autism and other conditions. We also mention various treatment approaches and list some of the tests.

This episode looks at the effects of choline in calming mania, overstimulation, anxiety and stress, and at its role in recovering from stress and enhancing memory and learning. We also talk about how excess choline may contribute to depression, especially in people who are undermethylated (histadelic).

This episode discusses the balancing effects of magnesium, and its role in moderating bipolar, anxiety, agitation, voices, and stress. Also its potential benefit for depression and addictions.

In Season 1 we looked first at the effects of light on mood, and then went on to the Major Biotypes, and some of the key related nutrients:
Episode 6: Influence of Light on Mood and Sleep: Mania, Depression, SAD, Bipolar
Episode 7: A Major Stress Disorder, Pyroluria. In: Anxiety, PTSD, bipolar, schizophrenia, ADHD, etc.
Episode 8: Copper and Zinc. Re: mood, voices, paranoia, hyperactivity, autism, anxiety, mania, insomnia, violence
Episode 9: Vitamin B6 (P5P): Depression, Anxiety, Learning problems, Autism, Childhood Psychosis, etc.
Episode 10: Undermethylation and chronic depression, schizoaffective, bipolar, OCD, learning and behavior disorders
Episode 11: Folate (folic acid): Depression, Mania, and Biotype
Episode 12: Histapenia (overmethylation), re: Schizophrenia, Paranoia, Mania, Anxiety, Hyperactivity
Episode 13: Niacin for Anxiety, Schizophrenia, and Mania

Coming up next season: magnesium, essential fatty acids, neural sodium/potassium balance, choline/inositol, more on B vitamins, more nutrients, epilepsy and other neurological issues, thyroid, adrenals and other hormone issues, allergies and sensitivities, oxidative stress, inflammation, toxins, excitotoxicity, Candida, other health issues.

In this episode we discuss niacin (vitamin B3), and how it helps counter brain overstimulation and so, anxiety, mania, and schizophrenia. We also talk about the use of B3 for confusion, learning disorders, dementia, and nicotine and alcohol withdrawal.

Histapenia (overmethylation) is associated with significant anxiety, and, beyond that, is a major biotype in schizophrenia and bipolar. In this episode, we discuss symptoms of histapenia, and nutrients associated with improvement.

Why folate (folic acid) can have opposite effects on mood. How It can worsen undemethylated depression, by reducing serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine in the synapse. How, conversely, it can be antidepressant for people who do not create enough antidepressant neurotransmitters. Also discusses how folate can, in some cases, help counter voices and mania.

Brain undermethylation is frequently associated with chronic severe depression and schizoaffective. It is also common in autism, OCD, and learning and behavior disorders. This podcast describes the means by which methylation regulates the availability of serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine to counter depression. We also discuss effects on mental and physical health, and look at methionine, SAMe, methyl-B12, and other nutrients which support methylation.

Brief overview of the importance of B6 to cognition, mood, and neuroprotection. Discusses dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, GABA, taurine, and MAO. Looks at effects on depression anxiety, learning, autism, psychosis, etc.

Copper and zinc exist in a dynamic balance. High copper with low zinc is overstimulating and can contribute to symptoms in anxiety, paranoia, violence, hyperactivity, schizophrenia, bipolar, autism and insomnia. Discusses the effects of zinc and copper on body and brain.

We talk here about a major stress disorder, pyroluria, that occurs across the gamut of mental health conditions: schizophrenia, bipolar, anxiety, panic, PTSD, learning and behavior disorders, etc. People with pyrrole disorder react intensely to stress. The good news is it’s very responsive to nutrient treatment, particularly to zinc and B6 (or P5P), which are constantly depleted by pyrroles. (But similarly, people can go downhill fast if nutrients are discontinued.) This podcast looks at signs, symptoms, and nutrients.

A couple of good articles on pyroluria
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18383989/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18517107/

Changes in exposure to sun and light can moderate mood. Retreating to a quiet darkened room is often helpful in calming mania. Increased sun, especially in the morning, benefits depression. Vitamin D is remarkably antidepressant. In seasonal affective disorder, reduced hours of light in early winter cause depression, with people feeling better toward summer. Some researchers have suggested bipolar etiology is closely tied to such effects, but with more extreme and pervasive moods.

Morning light supports creation of serotonin which supports happiness and contentment. In the evening serotonin is converted into melatonin, which governs sleep.

Light comes in through the eyes to the pineal gland and the SCN, part of the hypothalamus. The SCN regulates hormone secretion and timing. Examples: (1) Adrenal cortisol should be highest in the morning, bringing fuel to the cells to wake us up. Levels vary with stress over the day, but should decrease by evening to support sleep. This rhythm is often reversed in bipolars, with people constantly fighting insomnia, or giving in, and staying up most of the night, sleeping most of the day. (2) Similarly, thyroid hormone should increase to provide us with energy in the morning, slacking off at night to foster sleep. Again, often dysregulated in bipolars.

See also: European and American bipolar studies suggest a predominance of depressions. This study suggests mania is more common in Southern Israel.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/10882671_Predominant_Polarity_of_Bipolar_Patients_in_Israel
Predominant mania course in Indian patients with bipolar I disorder. Unipolar mania in many.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1876201816301757
Vitamin D history
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1876201816301757

A short segment on neural communication. A nerve cell is like a tree with a filament-like trunk, and branches on either end. Messages go to receptors on dendrites (the initial branches). Second messengers transfer information through to the nerve cell body, which computes whether to send it on through the neural axon. Sequential interchange of sodium and potassium ions creates an electrical potential down the axon to the terminal branches. Here calcium smashes vesicles filled with neurotransmitter against the terminal branch membrane, spilling neurotransmitter into the synapse. Neurotransmitter stimulates receptors on one or many other nerve cells. Reuptake transporters take neurotransmitter back up into the sending neuron and so mediate the time in which the neurotransmitter is available to send messages.

Videos on neurotransmission: here

Biochemical individuality. In 1957, Dr Roger Williams, with his book, Biochemical Individuality, brought attention to the concept that each person is biochemically unique. Some people are born with 3 kidneys or a heart on the “wrong” side of the body. Some have thyroid glands that can get so overactive under stress, as to trigger mania. Or overproducing adrenals that foster mania or psychosis. Or poor function of certain enzymes, like NAD, a key to brain metabolism, underactivity of which may lead to voices, dementia or depression. This uniqueness is one reason why nothing we say here should be interpreted as a prescription: treatment must be tailored to individual requirements. What we are doing here is teaching, so a person can work with their physician to determine what nutrients are best for them at any given time.

Book : Biochemical Individuality by Roger Williams

The foundations of orthomolecular psychiatry: nutrient treatment of the anxiety, depression and psychosis in scurvy and pellagra. Dr Abram Hoffer’s niacin and vitamin C Megavitamin Therapy for schizophrenia. Dr Carl Pfeiffer’s histamine axis biotypes. The research on pyrrole disorder. Dr William Walsh’s methylation imbalances and applications to bipolar, autism, violence, etc. Nutritional psychiatry continues to evolve through the work of many noted researchers.

See also: http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/1974/pdf/1974-v03n04-p223.pdf

The brain is made from, and runs on, nutrients. Enzymes, proteins, neurotransmitters, hormones, and all brain cells are made of nutrients. Nutrients protect the brain from oxidative stress and toxicity. Nutrients (and environment) determine genetic expression, regulating stimulating and inhibitory brain activity and other brain processes. All of which underlies the effectiveness of nutrients in schizophrenia, as per the outcomes of Dr Carl Pfeiffer and Dr Abram Hoffer; and in bipolar, autism, learning disorders, violence, and other mental health conditions, as per the extensive database of Dr William Walsh.

See also: https://www.walshinstitute.org/uploads/1/7/9/9/17997321/293801829-pyrrole-and-methyl.pdf

Nutrient-based approaches for anxiety, hyperactivity, depression, mania, voices, insomnia, autism, etc, from a functional perspective. We focus mainly on orthomolecular and integrative psychiatry, and nutrients like zinc, magnesium, niacin, other B vitamins, omega 3, antioxidants, etc, Also: methylation imbalances, pyrrole disorder, and various health factors, such as thyroid, allergies, malabsorption, Candida, metal metabolism toxins, blood sugar, and other health conditions.

Who we are. Eva Edelman, author/researcher, and Simone Jeanette, notorious bipolar. Listen for more.