manageable schizophrenia?!

O.k., I'll start buying brown instead of refined sugar. For a while, I thought maybe yeast was the culprit...but eliminating that did no good. In any case, improving the household diet will be good for all of us!

What herbs might help? It's possible that I could convince him to drink a tea...

Thanks!

Confused Mom

Hey There!
Cool.
Herbs. There are soothers and there are some to improve mental functioning....
Switching refined sugar to a whole cane sugar is certainly an improvement.
But in the studies where schizophrenia (or even criminal/delinquent behavior) improved massively (if not disappeared) on diet, it was based on a diet makeover.

What they put in animal products these days is awful. The pesticide count, the bovine hormones, antibiotics and more are through the roof, never mind the stuff they are FED. If you cannot buy organic, hormone-free dairy or meat products, eliminate them totally (from what I have studied/seen). I myself started feeling immensely better from eliminating animal products.

Also, I would definitely eat organic whole foods. No excitotoxins (which cause symptoms not unlike your son's, as well as can incur MS, parkinsons or other similar physical diseases down the line).
Whole grains (you can still do whole grain vegan pancakes, etc. It's not boring or limited, etc, it's just a matter of translating your tastes to a healthy food choice).

Refined carbs are the devil.

I was ready to off myself and commit myself (again) when I got into this stuff. In 3 days on a water fast (I was in a really urgent situation), I was calm, peaceful, balanced, sane.... It's amazing.

Honestly, there's lots of good materials out there. And there are studies. This is not bulls**t. You are what you eat. Your cells and nerves and functioning is only as healthy as your diet... Most of us eat chemical stew all day, every day, from our pop to our cereal to our milk, etc. Is it any wonder people are soooo chemically imbalanced?

The body heals. Cells regenerate.

If you can, get testing. There is a GREAT place in IL that is leading the way with this called the Health Research Institute, of Pfeiffer Clinic. People come from all over the world. They are working with autism, asperger's, and "ADD" - by correcting deficiencies, etc. There are 92 minerals, we need at least 16 or 17 to live, most people hover around 25 or so in terms of what they are getting adequate amounts of..... I think they are at

http://www.hriptc.org/introducing_HRI.html

OK, thanks again. Will sign up for a class in vegetarian cooking! We live in Mexico, where there are no hormone-free animals. Don't know if I can convince the kid to give them up completely...but I'll try!

XO
Confused Mom

Confused Mom wrote:OK, thanks again. Will sign up for a class in vegetarian cooking! We live in Mexico, where there are no hormone-free animals. Don't know if I can convince the kid to give them up completely...but I'll try!

XO
Confused Mom

I would ask him to try it for like a month or two - not to "give it up for life" or anything (although it's much easier after 1 to 2 months -

Honestly, there are some GREAT books on it. I go to www.half.com and get them used, cheaply. Even Amazon.com used. I will list some soon for you here - I'll try tomorrow, okay?

Thanks, but it's astronomically expensive to get Amazon books sent here. In any case, there's info at the site you gave me yesterday.

However, I asked how he'd like to try a dietary change, and he said no way.

Much obliged, though--and I'll be more careful about what we eat at home.

Confused Mom

No problem.
I understand.
And yes, there is plenty of info available on websites!
Good luck!

Hi there, sorry I wasn't on the forum 4 a little while. It sounds like ur son's problems hv carried on 4 quite a bit now. This time tho, it sounds like the doctors were much better. I hd a quick look at the diagnostic criteria 4 residual schizophrenia. It does seem 2 fit from what u've said of his symptoms - enough 2b worrying but not enough 4 full blown psychosis etc. Maybe a low dose of medication could help but it does look like u hv the choice which is a positive. One thing they've found which helps is Omega 3 - 4 a lot of conditions and it certainly won't hurt. Try and get a brand like Efalex or IQ - low ration of DHA 2 high EPA is what's most effective - think I've got that the right way round! Also many people with mental illness are nicotine users becos this does actually help with short term working memory. I'm certainly not advocating smoking but other products like gels 2 help people give up may be worth a thought. Obviously this may be a contentious issue but thought I'd mention it anyway.

Also if u decide 2 give supplements a try, take ur son shopping and let him buy them 2 try - he may be more willing 2 try them then. Hope things start getting a bit better now 4 u both

Cool, Sagitta:

Omega 3 is something he might actually be willing to try. i can't take him shopping, though, as he rarely leaves the house and then, only on his own volition.

But...I'll go out and buy some myself right now!

Thanks a million,

Confused Mom