Quit Cocaine....questions On Ideal Recovery Posted: 12-12-04 17:18pm
Ok....I was doing cocaine most weekend
nights for about a year...And then went to
a point where it would be every 3 or so
weeks for a while....I would slip once in
a while and have about 3-4 nights in a
week and then stop again for a couple of
monthes....I was never really concerned,
im in college, these were just drunken
nights....I have never done it while I was
sober.....Have been offered even free
grams while I was sober but denied them
without any thought....But after not doing
it for 2 monthes, I just had a night where
I did about 3 grams over 24 hours, which
left me feeling like caca....I still feel
like caca (this happened over thur and fri
night).....I felt that this drug just
needs to be taken out of my life
completely...I was wondering what vitamins
or health actions I should do to try to
help what damage I did to my brain....I
take l-tyrosine now because I hear it
helps build dopamine and feel that it
would help
i feel very lathargic today, unmotivated,
no energy.....Does this make sense since
it is still in my system...Ive just been
really depressed all day.....Also it feels
almost as the top center of my head is
almost numb, not sure what that is.....
Please post some sort of reply
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j-me
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 17 Dec 2004 Posts: 7 Location: holland,mi
Withdraws Posted: 12-21-04 07:46am
I have also gone thru withdraws,cold
turkey and medicated,its the hardest thing
I have ever done,i have had over two years
clean now ,feel free to e-mail me back
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cwillix
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 4
Tips On Cocaine Withdrawl Posted: 01-23-05 05:20am
I have been doing cocaine off and on for
about 10 years. I absolutley hate the
come down off of it, so I did some
research into how to lessen the crash.
Hope this is helpful.
Here's how coke works: when you do a line
of coke, it causes your body to output a
tremendous amount of serotonin. This
serotonin is recieved by receptors, and
enters your brain. This creates the
high. When an abundance of serotonin is
dumped on these receptors (like watering
flowers), your brain grows additional
receptors to absorb the extra serotonin.
There is a constant flow of serotonin to
these receptors naturally, coke just
drastically increases the flow.
When the coke wears off, the output of
serotonin goes back to normal levels.
However, the receptors stay. Now you
have significantly more receptors that
serotonin to fill them. They are craving
serotonin. There are really 3 main ways
to immeadately rid yourself of this
craving, this causes the low. It takes
days for these receptors to die off, which
is why you feel down for a few days.
There are several ways to minimize this
craving: eating sleeping, or doing more
coke. Here's some others:
ssri's. Zoloft, prozac, paxil, etc....
/ they are "selective serotonin rebutake
inhibitors." therefore, thes drugs
inhibit the selective receptors (thus
turning off the extra receptors). Thus,
getting rid of that low. The danger with
these drugs is that they rid people of
emotions - good and bad. They actually
caused me to do more drugs because I
didn't experience a lot of emotion
otherwise - they made me bored.
5-htp: available at any drugstore. It
replenshes your bodys serotonin. Take it
regularly and it will keep you in a better
mood throughout the day.
L-tyrosine - replinishes dopamine. Also
depleted by cocaine.
St. John's wort - increases serotonin.
Melatonin - avail @ drugstores. It
induces rem sleep (the sleep where you
dream and your body is recharged).
Sleeping pills interfere with rem sleep,
and will make you feel like caca the next
day.
Hope this helps......
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Ben_1987
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 3 Location: SURREY
Cocaine Withdrawl Posted: 01-23-05 12:39pm
Im 17 yrs old and have been doing charlie
every week and have been buying up too 2
grams every weekend since march 2004, ever
now and then I have major nose bleeds and
feel sick an have a pain in my fore-head I
havent had it since last night and the I
feel quite depressed I was thinking about
myself as I was coming down off it and it
was really weird I didnt think I was gunna
wake up, is there any drugs to sort me out
im not going to do anymore now ever
hopefully... Please write back and help
me out im still youth :(
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trevor27
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jan 2005 Posts: 1 Location: canada
Neat Posted: 01-24-05 01:59am
Hay going go check out the 5-htp
i live in canada hopefully it will solve
my problems
hope more posts will go up here still got
lots to learn
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G-Force
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 1 Location: uk
Charlie Got Me Hooked! Posted: 02-04-05 00:07am
Good information here, I hope I can get
off this sh**, I bin doin it for a couple
of yrs quite heavily now & only
recently started 2 get chest pains, &
sometimes I get breathing probs.. Even
when I smoke a cigg my heart startz beatin
fast & I try not to panic, now I smoke
1 or 2 ciggs a day, I jus hope my body
stops feelin this way & I can start
feeling fresh & healthy again..
Peace..
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chrism
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 12 Dec 2004 Posts: 2
Posted: 03-13-05 20:27pm
Well as an update from my first post...
I tried quitting but by keeping my life
the same which I now know is
impossible....This weekend was the first
time I did it in about 3 weeks and I did
about 5 grams through the whole
weekend....Im sitting here right now
depressed, upset, and fed up with this.
I realized that I need to stop drinking
becuase the only time I crave cocaine is
when im really drunk....My goal is to
completely stop drinking for about a
month, then slowly begin becomming a
social drinker by weening myself in
it.....If I screw up after that it will be
much more permanent
out of curiosity I am wondering what my
use is compared to others.....I would say
its an averave of 1 gram a week....1 day a
week....Sometimes I will have a weekend
where I will do 3...The most in a weekend
ever is 5
would this be considered heavy use?
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shadowalker164
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 175 Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: 03-14-05 12:49pm
I heard this story some years ago, don’t
know if it’s true, but here goes.
A scientist took a group of monkeys and
put them in a room where they could have
cocaine, or they could have food. But
they had to choose, they could only have
one or the other, but not both.
That bunch of monkeys starved to death
high on cocaine.
I read chrism’s question and all the
posts that followed.
It is quite possible that things like
zoloft, 5-htp st. John’s wort etc. Can
be of some help, but I didn’t find one
reference to the program of ca or aa.
Chrism, and I quote…
“my goal is to completely stop drinking
for about a month, then slowly begin
becoming a social drinker by weaning
myself in it”
if you ain’t a social drinker now, you
ain’t gonna be one in a month. You get
plastered and you do cocaine, but you get
plastered first. You may find it harder
than you think to simply not drink.
Any body can quit for a day or so, maybe
you can quit for a month, but what happens
after that? You start up drinking and you
start up snorting coke. What you really
need to know is how do you stay stopped?
That is the real question.
There is a school of thought that says
that all this stuff that we do is simply a
manifestation of a spiritual disease.
Zoloft, 5-htp st. John’s wort etc.
Will not long hold it at bay, it will eat
my lunch without a power greater than
itself in my corner.
If you find that your best laid plans to
cut back just ain’t makin’ it, think
about what I said.
Your friend on this long strange trip,
richard s.
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BobbyBill
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 1
Cocaine Posted: 04-11-05 17:41pm
My friend is 15 and does coke everyday.
I also do it to but not very much and not
in large amounts. He does about a gram a
day. He has lost weight and cuts classes
all the time. Somebody please give me
advice on what to do. I need to help him
b4 its 2 late
|
Tamadrummer
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 710 Location: Zephyrhills,Fl
Re: Cocaine Posted: 04-13-05 11:42am
bobbybill
wrote:
my friend is 15 and does
coke everyday. I also do it to but not
very much and not in large amounts. He
does about a gram a day. He has lost
weight and cuts classes all the time.
Somebody please give me advice on what to
do. I need to help him b4 its 2
late
in my opinion, the first thing you need to
do is quit abusing cocaine and get away
from everyone you know that uses this
destructive drug. I know it sounds harsh
but you are very young and there are
horrible consequenses in your future that
you may not be aware of nor ready to
handle.
Second, please talk to your parents about
this and ask them to help you get clean,
and if you cannot trust your parents, you
need to speak to a counsler at your school
or an adult that you can trust to give you
good advice and help you.
Lastly after you have helped yourself, you
can then focus on your friends addiction
but not until you have worked on yourself.
I hope you succede and beat this
addiction!
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jurplesman
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jul 2004 Posts: 139 Location: Sydney Australia
Addictioin And Hypoglycemia Posted: 04-19-05 22:09pm
As a nutritional psychologist and
psychotherapist I have found that most
drug addicts are hypoglycemic.
This can be easily tested by a special
glucose tolerance test for hypoglycemia,
described at our web site as:
"testing for hypoglycemia and how the
doctors can help".
Hypoglycemia is a nutritional disorder
that interferes with the absorption of
glucose into cells. This is due to
insulin resistance (hypoglycemia). This
results in the brain not being supplied
with adequate amounts of biological
energy, that is essential in the synthesis
in the neurotransmitters such as serotonin
and dopamine and so on.
When the brain senses an energy starvation
( a hypoglycemic dip) it will send out
stress hormones such as adrenaline and
cortisol to raise blood sugar levels to
feed the brain again. These stress
hormones are the major cause of the
symptoms of mental illnesses, including
depression, addiction, compulsive
behaviour etc etc.
Studies have shown that it takes about
9-14 months for the body to rebuild normal
receptors for neurotransmitters damaged by
taking drugs. The hypoglycemic diet,
which is high in protein should assist in
restoring and rebuilding receptors for
neurochemicals.
Single herbal or nutritional supplements
may not help, because as single magic
bullets they may miss the biochemical
targets.
See:
“hit or miss supplements for
depression” at our web site.
Thus the first step in the treatment of
drug addiction is 1) withdraw from drugs
under medical supervision, @) adopt the
hypoglycemic diet that will stabilize
blood sugar, insulin and stress hormones
levels and 3) undertake some psychotherapy
if deemed necessary.
Please read:
“treatment of drug addiction”
“what is hypoglycemia?”
jurriaan plesman, ba(psych), post grad.
Dip. Clin. Nutr.
For more articles see free web site at
http://www.Hypoglycemia.Asn.Au
|
shadowalker164
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 175 Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: 04-21-05 12:05pm
Can’t let this one go…
and I quote
“these stress hormones are the major
cause of addiction,”
if getting the dope and alcohol out of our
systems, and giving us a handful of
vitamins was what we needed to stay clean
and sober, detoxes would be graduating
success stories every day. That is just
what they do. That is just about all that
they do, with the possible exception of
introducing their clients to aa or na..
The hard cold facts are that most dope
addicts and most alcoholics come out of
detoxes clean and dry, go straight to the
nearest dope hole or package store and die
either stoned or drunk. Getting the
poison out of my system was not enough to
keep me from drinking again. Eating a
hypoglycemic diet would do me no harm,
it’s probably a good idea, but it
won’t fix me!
We are suffering from a disease that only
a spiritual experience will fix. It
doesn’t matter if I believe that
statement or not. The only question an
addict or alcoholic need ask themselves is
“how is my life going?”
and if we answer honestly, it ain’t
going so well.
There is something wrong with us way down
in the heart of what makes us a human
being, and that disease doesn’t respond
pharmacologically or physiologically. The
ego cannot rise above itself.
Richard s.
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jurplesman
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jul 2004 Posts: 139 Location: Sydney Australia
Posted: 04-22-05 22:50pm
Hello richard,
you write:
"we are suffering from a disease that only
a spiritual experience will fix. It
doesn’t matter if I believe that
statement or not. The only question an
addict or alcoholic need ask themselves is
“how is my life going?” "
you are restating an old conventional
wisdom that addiction is caused by some
spiritual illness.
This ignores the science showing that
addiction is the result of a biochemical
disorder that can be fixed nutritionally,
provided you understand the biochemical
mechanism.
This is not merely a theory, but can be
verified by a special medical test for
hypoglycemia.
So long an addict remains hypoglycemic he
will continue to feel miserable and be
very much tempted to go back to his drug
of addiction. This is because he cannot
produce the 'feel-good' neurotransmitters
that can make him feel happy, relaxed and
content when he should.
The underlying biochemical abnormality
cannot be cure by a 'spiritual
conversion', because we are dealing with a
physical disease.
It is only after the treatment of the
chemical abnormality, that we can look at
'psychological factors' or even what you
might call his spiritual values.
Jurriaan plesman, ba(psych), post grad.
Dip. Clin. Nutr.
For more articles see free web site at
http://www.Hypoglycemia.Asn.Au
|
shadowalker164
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 175 Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: 04-29-05 10:16am
Jurriaan…
i think we are on the same page here.
I do believe that an addict, or in my case
an addict/alcoholic are physically ill
people. Very physically ill.
I am also in agreement that nutritional
questions are often overlooked by the
proponents of this spiritual solution we
have found.
Some men feel that applying the age old
steps of admission of defeat, restitution
of wrongs and service to others are all
that is needed to recover. They as well
have a fairly large pool of evidence that
that approach does indeed bear useful
fruit.
But to the disservice of the people they
would help, they sometimes overlook the
physical/mechanical nature of the mind.
The mind is indeed the receiver of
spiritual insight, but it is also an
electrical/mechanical device. And as a
physical device, it is subject to
misalignments for lack of a better word.
There a fairly large amount of evidence
that points to changes in diet, the
addition of nutritional supplements etc.
Can have a profound affect on cravings.
With the guys I work with I stress the
importance of the aforementioned things.
But jurriaan, it would be hard for any
person who has worked in this field for
any length of time at all to overlook the
fact that most alcoholics die wet. They
die wet after being subject to the finest
medical care available. They die wet
after being exposed to the program of
alcoholics anonymous. They die wet trying
to get sober on self will alone. They die
wet after having been offered everything
the human mind can conceive.
Allow me to attempt to restate something I
truly believe.
This is important.
A man, having seemingly beaten this
disease, been the beneficiary of all you
or I have to offer, having gotten his
life back, and having no apparent reason
to resume drinking, hasn’t had a drink
in weeks, months, or years, will take that
first drink.
Why would he do that? When he knows that
to drink or drug is to throw away
everything? How can we explain this
profound lack of judgment?
This is where we may differ in our
thinking.
I think he starts again when to start
again means he will lose his family,
everything is because even after prolonged
abstinents, he isn’t happy about being
dry.
Alcohol did something for me long before
it did anything to me. That distinction
is very important.
The figures I have heard state that
approximately 5% to 8% of the general
population, give or take a point or two
have a unique reaction to alcohol. It
sets us free. It is a power greater than
ourselves. It takes a hostile frightening
world and instantly turns it into a warm
friendly place to live. It is no wonder
that we go back to that warm friendly
place again and again.
Unless we can find a substitute for that
wonderful freedom, we have no choice but
to go back to the only thing we know that
will give us relief.
It seems no matter how long we have been
dry, and no matter what medical tact we
have taken, that freedom brought on by a
few drinks alludes us. Of course, the
problem is that vodka isn’t a loving
higher power, it is a cruel one.
That is where this profound spiritual
experience plays the critical role of
taking this world, warts and all and
miraculously making it into a place we can
live in comfortably.
Only then, and only by actively
maintaining contact with this spiritual
experience, god if you will, can a truly
hopeless alcoholic be free.
I an a fan of the scientific method. I am
a fan of demonstrable truth, and I
understand that a flowery statement like
may fly in the face of scientific inquiry.
But remember what will shakespeare said…
“there are more things in heaven and
earth, horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
your friend
richard
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jurplesman
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jul 2004 Posts: 139 Location: Sydney Australia
the Biochemistry That Is a Greater Power Than Ourselves! Posted: 04-29-05 23:28pm
Dear richard,
you write:
“but jurriaan, it would be hard for any
person who has worked in this field for
any length of time at all to overlook the
fact that most alcoholics die wet. They
die wet after being subject to the finest
medical care available.”
i, too, have spent my professional career
for at least thirty years in the addiction
recovery industry. I fully understand
the frustration that drug counsellors
have, when they see their clients go off
the rail after many years of sobriety.
I can assure you that most members of the
the medical profession have no clue as to
what causes addiction. Doctors are drug
oriented and look for pharmaceutical
solutions to mental problems. Thus
there is no such thing as “the finest
medical care”.
“a man, having seemingly beaten this
disease, been the beneficiary of all you
or I have to offer, having gotten his life
back, and having no apparent reason to
resume drinking, hasn’t had a drink in
weeks, months, or years, will take that
first drink.
Why would he do that? When he knows
that to drink or drug is to throw”
the reason why he would do that is because
a dry alcoholic has problems producing
serotonin, and this makes him feel
depressed without knowing why. By
drinking alcohol and providing the
biological energy derived from alcohol he
will experience a fleeting moment of
sanity and happiness once again.
“the figures I have heard state that
approximately 5% to 8% of the general
population, give or take a point or two
have a unique reaction to alcohol. It
sets us free.’
i am not sure about these statistics but
is true that alcoholics metabolize alcohol
in a different way from non-alcoholics.
Please search our web site for “thiq”
for more information.
The reason why there is such a low
recovery rate among addicts is that
professionals in the field have a poor
understanding of the biochemistry of
addiction.
I have explained why alcoholics choose
alcohol as their source of energy in:
“why hypoglycemics choose alcohol as
their preferred source of energy”
at our web site.
I agree that nutritional biochemistry or
human biochemistry is a very complex
matter, but we could possibly simplify it
by claiming that depression - and for that
matter many form of mental illness
including addiction - is a disease of
energy production.
Thus we could reduce the whole problem of
mental illness to the fact that the victim
of mental illness has problems
synthesizing the ‘feel-good’
neurotransmitters such as serotonin and
dopamine and others.
Thus unless we can restore a person’s
capacity to produce these
neurotransmitters from normal food
sources, that person will be depressed and
is likely resort to other chemical sources
to produce these essential
neurotransmitters to give him a sense of
normality.
The key concept is biological energy.
The brain, although 2 per cent of the
body, requires about 80 per cent of that
energy to carry out the multitude of
biochemical reactions for a healthy brain
to convert one molecule to another; for
instance convert the protein unit of
tryptophan to the neurotransmitter,
serotonin. Many other nutrients are
also required to complete that task.
This energy is required at any time,
whether we are asleep or awake.
Thus a person who has problems absorbing
and metabolizing glucose, as the universal
source of biological energy, will
inevitably produce inadequate amounts of
energy to the brain.
The major reason for this obstruction in
glucose absorption is insulin resistance -
also called hypoglycemic syndrome.
Insulin resistance means that the
receptors for insulin fail to push glucose
(and other nutrients) across cell
membranes and thus prevents the conversion
of glucose to biological energy. This
has quite a few biochemical consequences
that have been explained at the web site.
But the end result is that the brain
will be subjected to unstable blood sugar
levels, with glucose concentrations going
up and down.
Whenever the brain senses an energy
starvation following a hypoglycemic dip -
threatening the very survival of brain
tissues in a matter of minutes - the brain
will trigger the release of stress
hormones - mainly adrenaline and cortisol.
These hormones function to increase
glucose from sugar stores in the body, so
as to feed the brain again. But they
also may cause the symptoms of mental
illness
thus we may see how a dry drunk, sober,
but extremely unhappy and depressed,
suffering unexplainable mood swings (due
to starvation of serotonin and excess
adrenaline) dreams of the good old days
when he felt happy and carefree during his
drinking days.
It is no wonder that he is bound to
relapse. No amount of talk therapy or
‘spirituality’ can overrule his
underlying biochemical needs for serotonin
and dopamine. His faulty biochemistry
is his “power greater than himself”.
Thus the main reason why so many addicts
fail to respond to treatment is that most
mainstream doctors, psychologists and drug
counsellors have no clue as to the
underlying biochemical forces that control
the addict’s personality and therefore
cannot help him when they are most needed
- after initial detoxification!
One explanation for this sorry state of
affairs is that the prevailing view among
counsellors and addicts is that the cause
of of drug addiction is the drug. Thus
if an addict stops using his drug he is
cured!
Most drug counsellors do not fully
understand that the hypoglycemic diet is
not just a healthy diet, but a special
diet, specifically aimed at overcoming
hypoglycemia - a common feature of addicts
- and that it helps to normalize blood
sugar levels and stress hormones. It
also supplies missing nutrients and
coenzymes, such as zinc, magnesium,
vitamin c, b6, omega-3 fatty acids, that
are known to be deficient in addicts.
It is difficult to get the message across
that if we have an abnormal biochemistry,
it will produce ‘abnormal
psychological’ experiences, that should
not be confused with the causes of mental
illness. The causes of mental illness
is biochemical - not mental, not
psychological, not spiritual.
We can only consider the mental and
spiritual aspects of life when we have a
healthy brain capable of providing the
right neurotransmitters that gives us the
‘free will’ to decide and choose what
we want to believe in.
(it is very annoying to see that this
forum does not recognize standard english;
i.E., no capitals when needed etc.)
jurriaan plesman, ba(psych), post grad.
Dip. Clin. Nutr.
For more articles see free web site at
http://www.Hypoglycemia.Asn.Au
|
shadowalker164
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 175 Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: 05-02-05 12:17pm
Jurriaan…
one of the tenets of the program of
alcoholics anonymous that has been of
great benefit to me on my path is to admit
where the other guy is right.
“there is a principle which is a bar
against all information, which is proof
against all arguments and which cannot
fail to keep a man in everlasting
ignorance-that principle is contempt prior
to investigation."
i have visited your web site, and I have
read a fair amount of the information
there.
I am excited by the ideas you have put
forward.
Have you or anyone else conducted
controlled experiments as to the efficacy
of your approach.
Maybe double blind or placebo studies?
If what you say about reversing insulin
resistance or the hypoglycemic syndrome is
as powerful a remedy as you clam, the
results must be most impressive.
I for one am willing to look anywhere for
a solution to this age old problem. I
know your ideas have been rejected by some
institutions where you live, but if your
approach really works, the proof, by
documenting it through rigorous clinical
trials should be undeniable.
One caveat, drunks are notorious about not
being forthcoming with the truth. All
studies I know anything about have a devil
of a time tracking long term success in
this population.
Your friend
richard
p.S.
And I quote…
“his faulty biochemistry is his “power
greater than himself”
i guess that statement begs the question,
is a spiritual experience also merely a
product of biochemistry?
|
jurplesman
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jul 2004 Posts: 139 Location: Sydney Australia
Posted: 05-03-05 00:21am
Dear shadowalker
i have been primarily a clinician and not
a scientific researcher. Thus my
specific approach to the treatment of
mental illness is based on my clinical
experiences.
It is because of my own history of mental
illness, addiction and also as a
psychiatric nurse, student, counselor and
psychotherapist that I have accumulated a
lot of knowledge about the biochemistry of
mental illness. As a result I have been
able to help a lot of clients, most of
whom were considered to be ‘treatment
resistant’.
In my early days I had little support from
my colleagues, but when some members of
the non-orthodox medical profession joined
me, we found plenty of evidence for the
connection between hypoglycemia and
addiction. We tested literally thousands
of clients, and dr george samra wrote a
book called “the hypoglycemic connection
ii” (search our web site) I wrote a book
"getting off the hook".
But let us call addiction, mental illness,
because I see all the manifestations of
apparently separate symptoms of mental
illnesses as forming part of a cluster of
symptoms of the same underlying
biochemical disorder. Mainstream
medicine and psychology tend to have
compartmentalized the various diagnoses,
whereas I see anxiety attacks, depression,
alcoholism, drug addiction, ptsd, gad, sad
or ocd and so on, to be simply one or more
symptoms of the same cluster of signs of
‘mental illness’.
To get double blind studies to validate
this connection between mental illness and
hypoglycemia would require the cooperation
of pharmaceutical companies because there
are no institutions or organizations that
can carry out medical research, which
cannot generate some form of commercial
profits for those institutions. Medical
research have been thoroughly
commercialized!! Even universities - who
in the past carried out scientific
research without a profit motive - are now
dependent on ‘private industry’ to
carry out research.
Besides other sources of medical evidence
are found in hundreds of text book on
biochemistry, which explains the
mechanisms of nutritional biochemistry and
its relation to many mental illnesses.
See for instance:
werbach,m.R.(1991), nutritional influences
on mental illness, third line
pres,inc.,tarzana,cal.
Fortunately, hypoglycemia cannot be
treated by drugs, so the mainstream
medicine does not recognize its existence!
This happened to the history of
‘hyperactivity’, that was not
medically recognized to exist in the past,
until they accidentally discovered a drug
(ritalin) that had the effect of calming
down hyperactive kids. They renamed the
condition as adhd to give it a medical
imprimatur.
Furthermore, you don’t need any
‘experts’ or ‘professionals’ to go
on a hypoglycemic diet, because it is
simply going back to a natural diet, that
cannot be commercially patented,
monopolized or packaged and sold in
supermarkets. The manufacture and
distribution of nutritional and herbal
supplements is one way of commercializing
natural medicine, but see my article:
“hit or miss supplements for
depression”
that shows some of its shortcomings.
Supplements are still allied to the
concept of “a pill for every ill”,
that I want to get away from.
However, there is plenty of medical
evidence for the connection between mental
illness and hypoglycemia, if you rename
‘hypoglycemia’ with ‘insulin
resistance’ or allied medical terms.
In medical conventional thinking
‘insulin resistance’ is associated
with diabetes type ii, but it should be
realized that although all diabetics have
insulin resistance, many people with
insulin resistance are not diabetic.
Hypoglycemia may be considered a
pre-diabetic or perhaps non-diabetic
condition where the insulin resistance
prevents the proper absorption and
metabolism of glucose. It can easily
develop into full-blown diabetes.
I have gathered much of the scientific
evidence in “research evidence for
hypoglycemia” at our web site and I
suggest that you read it from the
beginning to the end. There are about 36
pages of it.
Furthermore we also have a “search our
web site” engine, that will bring you to
any article that discusses the term being
searched.
in other words the evidence is there, but
those who should know, don't know and
perhaps don't want to know.
Cheers
jur
jurriaan plesman, ba(psych), post grad.
Dip. Clin. Nutr.
For more articles see free web site at
http://www.Hypoglycemia.Asn.Au
|
shadowalker164
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 175 Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: 05-04-05 16:06pm
Jurriaan,
have you heard the old proverb about the
five blind men introduced to the elephant
for the first time?
Each blind man approached the elephant
from a different direction.
The first one felt the animal’s tail and
proclaimed, “an elephant is much like a
snake.”
the second blind man felt the elephant’s
leg and said “oh no, you are mistaken,
an elephant is much more like a great tree
trunk.”
the third blind man touched the beast’s
belly first. He stated that both men
before him were wrong, “an elephant is
like a great barrel.”
the forth blind man having felt the
beast’s ear, clamed all before him were
wrong. “an elephant is much like a
great sheet of leather.”
the fifth blind man felt the tusks and
announced “all others are mistaken, an
elephant is truly like a stone, smooth,
cool and hard.”
which one of these blind men is wrong?
Which one has perceived incorrectly the
information available to him?
To the best of their ability each one was
correct.
But each one only had part of the
information.
And in turn, each one only had part of the
answer.
Jurriaan,
we are more than the sum of our parts, and
this problem of alcoholism/addiction is
more than merely faulty receptors in our
brains. It is that for sure, but it is
more.
This program of aa has the best success
rate of any approach ever conceived, and
it does so by relying upon a power that
lies outside of science. One does not
have to believe that statement, one need
only look at the facts.
I am a fan of approaches such as yours,
but only as an addendum to the tried and
true approach of admission of
powerlessness, restitution of wrongs done
and service to others. That simple set of
spiritual tools have saved more hopeless
sots like myself than any thing else in
the history of the world. Science may
someday change that equation, but it
hasn’t done so yet.
One blind man to another.
Richard
|
jurplesman
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jul 2004 Posts: 139 Location: Sydney Australia
Posted: 05-04-05 20:57pm
Hi richard,
i am very familiar with your philosophy.
I do not agree that aa has the best
recovery rate. Please search our web site
for "recovery rate", which will lead you
to some studies on recovery rates of
various drug rehabilitation programs. The
most optimistic figure are between
5-15%.
But I also agree that "this problem of
alcoholism/addiction is more than merely
faulty receptors in our brains. It is
that for sure, but it is more. "
however when we have a sick brain and
faulty biochemistry we cannot get more
than what we have.
This comes down to the relation between
the body and the mind.
The traditional - and I must say the
‘romantic’ view - is that the mind can
cure he body, and by being ‘spiritual’
we can somehow alter our biochemistry.
The true nature of the “power greater
than myself” is my biochemistry. By
getting to know this “power greater than
myself” we can bring about the healing
of the body.
I often use the analogy of the driver and
his car, to describe the mind/body
relationship.
If you drive a car you can go anywhere you
like or decide where to go. Your values
system and your ‘spirituality’ as it
were, may cause you to believe and to
become anything you want.
But when you car is broken down and you
are in the middle of a desert, and with no
one to help you to repair the car, you
will be stuck in the middle of a desert
and you may even die. It is the broken
car that determines your destiny in life,
and not you. It is the broken car that
dominates your philosphy at the time.
The message is that with a
well-functioning car you have total
‘free will’ to choose within a world
of possibilities.
Thus only if you have a well-functioning
body, capable of producing the correct
neurotransmitters, you will have free will
to believe in god or otherwise or choose
any other lifestyle whatsoever. Your
‘spirituality’ may well depend on how
healthy your body is.
Jurriaan plesman, ba(psych), post grad.
Dip. Clin. Nutr.
For more articles see free web site at
http://www.Hypoglycemia.Asn.Au
|
shadowalker164
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 175 Location: Tampa, FL
Posted: 05-05-05 11:23am
That 5 to 15% rate is a tad high, I would
put it at maybe 5 to 10% tops, but, no
matter how one slices it, recovery, real
long term recovery is very hard to come
by. And my definition of long term
recovery being 2+ years without a drink.
The larger point being, no one has a good
recovery rate in this business, no one!
Not you, not us, not anybody!
Rational recovery clams an astonishing 75
to 85% recovery. But if one reads their
copy carefully, that rate is compiled from
selective members unverified clams.
Hardly an accurate reflection of their
true success rate.
Any one of us could take that approach and
produce impressive results.
For profit organizations, as you so
eloquently stated, are not interested in
approaches that will not produce a profit,
approaches like yours or ours. They clam
fantastic success rates for their brand of
sobriety as well. But inevitably their
statistics don’t bare up under close
scrutiny.
I don’t know what kind of success rate
you and your approach clam, like you said,
you have no imperial data to base a clam
on.
Alcoholics anonymous, having been in
business for over 60 years, has a very
long track record. And that track record
is sorry. But, and this is important, it
has the best recovery rate at 5% to 10%.
Drunks mostly don’t get sober. They die
wet!
They are one stubborn class of
individual.
If there is a wet drunk out there reading
this, I tell you this now, that if you
follow the 12 steps as outlined in the
program of alcoholics anonymous, and do so
thoroughly and with the aid of a sponsor,
you will get and stay sober. That is a
promise.
People who’s lives are dedicated to
science unnecessarily feel threatened or
are openly hostile to the realm of
spirituality. The tools they have honed
through a lifetime of study do not apply
there.
They dismiss the seeker of truths that lay
outside of logic as merely practitioners
of “the romantic view”. To the person
who sight is limited to science alone, a
spiritual solution to a spiritual disease
is mere nonsense, nothing more.
But jurriaan, as a person of science, you
must have an appreciation of facts, and
the fact is that alcoholics anonymous has
made a greater impact on the problem of
untreated alcoholism than any other effort
to date. Maybe someday science will come
up with a pill for alcoholism, but it
hasn’t done so yet.
We both are on the same side in this
struggle, we do not need to have an
antagonistic relationship. As I stated
before, I include dietary information in
the instructions I give the men I work
with. The book “seven weeks to
sobriety” is flawed in it’s basic
assertion, but the dietary information is
very good.
Our goals are the same, recovery from a
seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.
Our approaches may differ, but we can
still be friends.
