THE STARVING BRAIN SYNDROME

Orthomolecular medicine proof that creating the best possible biochemical environment in the brain, dis-ease may be cured not merely contained and restrained with current methods, pharmaceuticals. I have been on every drug there is for severe Bi-polar disorder and Adult Attention Deficit Disorder since the age of nine tentatively then after various “episodes” I am now considered permanently disabled. I was brought up on fresh garden vegetables my mother grew on our hobby farm. We raised our own cattle and got our eggs and milk from the farm next to ours. There was plenty of fresh air and exercise to burn off the energy of a 4-9 year old child. Everything we ate was farm fresh with no preservatives or additives, just good food straight from the earth to the table. At the age of nine, we moved from the farm to the city and the food we ate from the grocery store came in packages with unpronounceable words on them. Almost immediately after this radical lifestyle change, I apparently displayed symptoms that were characteristic of ADHD, getting into a lot of trouble as well as getting poor, if any, grades. I was kicked out of two schools, one being in grade four for mischief, among other things, then halfway through grade ten for truancy etc. I would say I learned nothing in school but conscious rebellion. In 1987 my best friend died and I had a six or more month bought of depression. I was able to pull out of it and so discontinued the anti depressants. By the time I turned 19 I had my first full-blown manic experience, I would become “medication non compliant” until I had to go into hospital due to degeneration of every part of me, usually by then I would be alright in my mind because of the physical strain of not eating or sleeping for months on end. Medication is a crapshoot for most even if you do find a drug that works with tolerable side effects, at some point it stops working and that is where a lot of us get lost. When one is sick, the illness itself impairs judgment enough we stay on the roller coaster. The highs are so high you could never know not even drug addicts essentially creating this intuitive insanity by self-medicating street drugs. Sometimes a person gets lucky and finds that their therapeutic pharmaceutical works almost the first time. Everyone reacts differently to medications but it seems everyone has a positive if not miraculous reaction to orthomolecular medicine or vitamin therapy. The idea that our brains are starving makes so much sense. I know that the number of orthomolecular health professionals is growing.
The omega 3*6*9 essential fatty acids are found in many sources of protein, namely the oily kinds of fish such as trout, herring, salmon and sardines. These are found in hemp seeds and hearts as well as flax seed or flax oil. Other supplements Trace minerals, Vitamin B, injections of Vitamin B12, Ester-C, Niacinimide, Calcium, Magnesium, Lecithin, Omega 3-6-9 from Udo’s oil, flax oil, herring oil -- these can all be found at a health food store. The cost of getting all the starter products is about 600.00$ which is nearly impossible for a person suffering from the debilitating symptoms, the poverty, the inability to create monetary resources let alone finding the information. I have been fortunate enough to have found a General Practitioner that believed, I had miraculous results. The first year and a half I had the whole supply as well as eating as many brightly colored vegetables each day with 4 oz of protein ideally an oily fish. I was medication- free and symptom-free enough to obtain my certification in Reflexology. Shortly after in 2003 I woke up in my burning cabin losing everything but my life and ended up off everything orthomolecular and back on meds that barely worked. For the past year, I have been on as many of the supplements I can afford on such a small pension. I hope some day the medical system will cover the cost of this preventative method of therapy. All the money has been spent on looking at and deciphering us while using a lot of us as guinea pigs to take pills like “government funded junkies”. By optimizing the environment in our brains helping us to reach potentials beyond anyone’s expectations. More of us would be able to return to society to contribute our gifts to the world and be admired for our courage to keep from giving up at some point while waiting for the ‘normal people’ to help us, thus an ignorant misinformed society. The hope is that this new form of medicine that works to reduce the negative symptoms of many illnesses might be covered by our medical plan at some point in the future.
The definition of Orthomolecular Medicine from the web site for the International
Society for Orthomolecular Medicine www.orthomed.org is:
“Orthomolecular medicine as conceptualized by the double-Nobel prize winner Laureate Linus Pauling, aims to restore the optimum environment of the body by correcting imbalances or deficiencies based on individual chemistry using substances natural to the body such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements, and essential fatty acids.”
I am just glad the word medicine is in there, as it will be taken more seriously in the world of psychiatric treatment. It will eventually be covered by medical plans just like all the expensive drugs are now. Being sick costs more than being well, that is the truth. Orthomolecular medicine will soon be mainstream and we just have to stand up and demand that it be recognized and explored eventually leading the way to mental health.