My Son Does Not Have a Mental Disorder

Posted by on Mar 4, 2015 in Dave's Blog | 13 comments

After 17 years and multiple psychiatric hospitalizations I have come to the above conclusion. Read below for details.

No Mental Disorder

 

 

 

 

13 Comments

  1. Thank you for writing this. My daughter has suffered for years from a variety of memtal and emotional “disorders” and is on a cocktail of meds, which are not working. She had a rare pancreatic tumor which appears to have started growing at around age 8, but was not discovered until 5 years later. Her “disorders” also started around this age, and surgery for the tumor at age 13 seemed to alleviate some of the symptoms for a while, until the tumor grew back. Surgery again seemed to alleviate some of the symptoms until tumors returned yet another time. The third major surgery may have (hopefully) removed all of the large and small tumors, however the emotional trauma from 6+ years of this pattern (and 5 years prior) has made it difficult to tell whether her “disorders” are truly psychological or could be a result of medical conditions.

    I will be sure to take your article to her doctors and request additional testing, since i have long felt that some of her issues are medically-based.

    I am also interested in the Lyme disease link. We found a tick on my daughter when she was very young. She was put on antibiotics as a precaution even though she tested negative for Lyme. I wonder if this is somehow related…

    Best of luck to you in your search for answers.

  2. That was an interesting paper and I definitely empathize. I was labeled with bipolar over 20 years ago, been on nearly every psych med there is. Just on Lamictal now. There is no doubt in my mind that I have a physical illness, that has psychiatric symptoms. Discovered I have Celiacs and Hypoglycemia – and pretty convinced I get complex partial seizures (just try to tell that to a psych, lol). I have a pretty good idea what’s wrong with my body, they can’t really tell me I’m just a psycho anymore.

    I think there is a gut flora/brain allergy connection with all of us who suffer with mental problems. Somehow I’m missing the good bugs in the digestive track.

    Found out that the cause of my constant infection was periodontal disease, deep inside the bone, 10mm abscess 7 locations. Cost me $7K to get the work done with bone grafts and a good periodontist who went in a cleaned it all up. Believe for years, having to constantly fight off this infection would give me constant bouts of candiasis too. Little by slowly I seem to be getting better, took care of all that, plus do orthomolecular, grain free sugar free diet, 12 step group and meditation. Life isn’t to bad for me and don’t nearly have as much psych stuff.

    That was just my situation. I was very grateful to find an open minded psychiatrist (there are a few out there but they are damn hard to find, had been trying to get an appointment with this lady for three years). She believes me, she doesn’t deny I’m physically ill, doesn’t shame me, and believes in my holistic approach, she does both conventional and holistic. So glad.

    Good luck to your, you’re on the right track. I would definitely have your son checked for the mthfr polymorphism.

    Regards
    Sue

    • Sue,
      Thanks for your feedback. Your comments reveal just how complex these contributing physical disorders are and how important it is to keep searching. While I discuss infections in the paper, in Beyond Mental Illness, I discuss other contributory factors. My son was tested for the MTHFR SNP and came up positive. Dave Moyer

  3. “Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” Albert Einstein
    Don’t look inside his body, it’s environmental.

    • And the environment has no affect on the body? Dave Moyer

  4. So many medical conditions affect people psychologically. Thyroid disease is one. I have a family history of thyroid disease and have been diagnosed with Graves Disease, but my labs are always normal. I also have hypoglycemia, and I have learned that if I don’t eat the right foods at the right time, it affects my personality. The most important thing I’ve learned, however, is that doctors “practice” medicine, which is why it’s called a medical practice. My daughter saw several doctors for several years after gaining 85 lbs., going through menopause at 33 years of age, and not having enough energy to walk across a room. They all told her it was stress! I told her to keep changing doctors until she got the right one. Finally an ENT found a large nodule on her thyroid. Once he removed the nodule, she immediately started improving, and she has lost most of the weight she had gained. Seems like when doctors don’t know what’s wrong, instead of just admitting they don’t know, they blame it on stress or other psychological issues.

    • Yes, thyroid dysfunction can be a major problem, especially with those with bipolar syndrome. You might want to have your doctor check your reverse T3 as well as iodine levels.

  5. My son, 12, had many symptoms. Daily migraine level headaches, stare-type seizures and depression. He had low-grade fever, muscle and joint pain, confusion, cognitive problems and processing issues. He was placed on anti-depressants to help alleviate the depression – did nothing. I knew it was not mental problems, but something else causing this Through research of my own we decided to remove gluten from his diet. My aunt had recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease. Within 2 weeks he was pain free, no seizures, no depression – all gone. He was low in iron and placed on ferritin. We had been to so many doctors and not one could help us. I thank God every day for his healing. I truly believe that you are one the right track with your son and I hope there are new discoveries to help all people suffering with psychological illness. I believe it definitely has to do with gut and brain connection.

    • I agree. Effective gut and brain function is essential. In my latest book I call it Gut and Psychology Disorder. Besides celiac there are other wheat-related neurological effects. To my knowledge, noone has yet done the needed research on the effects of glyphosate.

  6. Just wondering if you think there is a correlation between the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria and mental illness. I seem to be reading so many stories lately of college kids suffering from an avalanche of anxiety and depression, and after reading your article, it struck me that they are the same kids over exposed to antibiotics. Thanks for a thought provoking article. Mental illness has been present in my family and this just puts something else to consider.

  7. I am a 61 yo female and I am convinced that I have suffered from this brain disease since my childhood. My parents were not blessed with the resources that it would take for a proper diagnosis. You see, I have eight brothers who had needs too. I am a USAF Veteran. I explained, to the best of my ability, to my superior officers that I was having mental outbursts or psychotic episodes if you will. My outcries were ignored.

    My last visit to the hospital resulted in three psychotic episodes. I was given so much medication that I had a violent and unstable reaction. No doctor or healthcare professional seemed to know which combination of drugs produced caused my outbursts.

    There is so much more to this revelation, however, I was told that I had ammonia on my brain. Today and everyday is a struggle to remain faithful to the drugs and diagnosis of these doctors who claim to have all the answers.

    I am better than the life they have chosen for me.

  8. I, too, was misdiagnosed (according to the DSM-IV-TR, but not the DSM5) with bipolar. I had the common withdrawal symptoms of a non-“safe smoking cessation med” / antidepressant claimed to be bipolar.

    As an otherwise healthy grown adult, I was put on a child’s dose of Risperdal, a neuroleptic / antipsychotic, and suffered from a “psychotic” episode within two weeks, exactly when the drug was to “kick in.” My medical records do record this as a “Foul up.” I switched psychiatrists, since the first one thought upping the amount of Risperdal was the solution.

    Unfortunately, the neurologist I went to next, wanted to cover up the “Foul up” with the “new wonder drug,” Risperdal. So he created the symptoms of bipolar via something known as the central symptoms of neuroleptic induced anticholinergic intoxication syndrome. From drugs.com:

    “neuroleptics … may result in … the anticholinergic intoxication syndrome … Central symptoms may include memory loss, disorientation, incoherence, hallucinations, psychosis, delirium, hyperactivity, twitching or jerking movements, stereotypy, and seizures.”

    The antipsychotics / neuroleptics do cause the schizophrenia / bipolar symptoms. And, absolutely, when one is weaned off these drugs many people, myself included, do suffer from a drug withdrawal induced super sensitivity manic psychosis. Which, of course, gets misdiagnosed as a return of bipolar by doctors. Thank God I escaped the insanity fest that is today’s mainstream psychiatric system.

    Best of luck with your son, Dave, and I hope this information may help you, even though it is not completely related to your son’s issues.

    • Someone,
      Hope you are doing well now. Withdrawing from these drugs without medical supervison and without addressing the underlying biology can be dangerous. In my last book, I discuss Risperdal in some detail. Seems it permanently knocks out some of the very receptors you need to sleep, among other things.

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