Brain Health: "Crazy" From Casein?? (Doped with Dairy)

Evidence (see references below) shows cow dairy really can cause symptoms of "mental illness."

We’ve talked about Brain Health and the Gluten (Dis)Connection ( here ) and the connection found between gluten and some cases of schizophrenia ( here ). At the time, I mentioned my daughters also had to come off of DAIRY. They did test positive for IgA and IgG (immune) reactivity against the cow dairy protein (bovine casein). Such reactions may be involved in severe psychiatric disorders such as bipolar.[1]

Inflammation and other immune processes are increasingly linked to psychiatric diseases. . .   Anti-casein IgG associations with bipolar I diagnoses, psychotic symptom history, and mania severity scores suggest that casein-related immune activation may relate to the psychosis and mania components of this mood disorder.

But there is another way a person can be affected by casein even without the IgA or IgG allergic-type reactions. (See bottom of post for some IgA and IgG testing companies.)

Allergies, Asthma, and “Mental” Illness

When most people hear the word “allergies” they think of sneezing, drippy noses, red eyes, and maybe some wheezing and congestion. Some people may think of hives or maybe even an anaphylactic reaction to food or insect bite allergies. Some may also visualize allergic people feeling fatigued, and having slowed, fuzzy thinking. They feel sick and lethargic, and indeed may even get more frequent infections.

But most people do not connect “seasonal allergies” and even “asthma” to more severe brain symptoms such as Major Depressive Disorder, and children’s “raging” and prolonged tantrums. Yet that connection exists. Remember the scene in my book about Keri’s summer of allergies segueing into the deep dark depths of depression? After decades of observant parents noticing that connection, mainstream media is finally reporting on the research validating those observations.

We Have Sick Children

The latest statistics in the U.S.A. show that one in FOUR children are now on long-term prescription medications for chronic illnesses.

This does not include acute care medicines such as antibiotics for a sinus infection. It doesn’t even include over-the-counter (OTC) medications such as allergy medications, cough medicines,  and analgesics. It means medications such as for asthma, diabetes, autoimmune disease, high cholesterol, and “mental” illnesses.

This is great news for the pharmaceutical companies and their shareholders.

Brain Health: Thyroid Hormones

There is good reason the book, It's not mental, talks so much about thyroid hormones, dedicating an appendix to that topic. Not only were those hormone levels intertwined with both my daughters’ cases of ultradian cycling “bipolar” and “schizoaffective” (schizophrenia with a mood disorder), but the topic has been in psychiatric textbooks, and involved in the research on these brain symptoms, for going on half a century.

Brain Health: Vitamin D

Just in time for the winter months is a reminder about sunlight, blue light, sleep, and that all-important hormone, vitamin D.

We’ve talked at length about the importance of sleep hygiene—the sleep-wake cycle, diet and exercise—but also of critical importance is the “sunshine vitamin,” the hormone we call “Vitamin D.” Readers of the BOOK- "It's not Mental" know how all this tied in to my daughter's full recovery from bipolar/schizoaffective disorder.

Historically, the FDA made a grave error in its vitamin D recommendation level due to a misunderstanding in the scientific community about what vitamin D does. Their recommendation was just high enough to prevent immediate damage (rickets) and immediate death but, at the time, they did not realize that this did not prevent slower long-term damage (“mental” illness, autoimmune diseases, lower immune function, obesity) and earlier deaths (cancer, heart attacks).

Inflammation, Schizophrenia, and Bipolar Disorder

Inflammation can be contributing to symptoms manifesting as schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, as a Dutch study adding ASPIRIN to these patients' drug regimen showed.[1]

Much research has been done about the link between inflammation and brain symptoms that get diagnosed as “mental illness.” We discussed back in 2008 about the study showing inflammation in body and brain preceded the brain symptoms that got diagnosed as mental illness.[2,3]

Inflammation of Body and Brain

Many studies have linked inflammation, excessive oxidative stress, and autoimmune disorders with psychiatric and many other medical illnesses. Altered levels of inflammatory markers such as cytokines and immune cells keep cropping up in the literature.

There is increasing evidence that many illnesses categorized diagnostically in the DSM-IV and ICD-10 under “Mental and Behavioral Disorders” are actually systemic (body-wide) disorders. They are physical illnesses affecting the brain—i.e. biological disorders. This systemic effect is well-documented in autism.

Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia Has High Rates of Comorbid Diagnoses Including Autism and ADHD

Research backs up what some parents of children with childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) have observed. They have noticed that COS, which is characterized by an onset of psychosis prior to age thirteen, seems to have many overlapping symptoms of autistic-spectrum disorders, sensory issues and attentional problems.

Genetic Links to “Developmental”, “Mental”, “Auto-Immune” and other Medical Disorders

The United States National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) refers to Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Extensive genetic research of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders has linked it to many other genetically complex medical and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Sets of Symptoms--Not the Cause–Get Diagnostic Labels

When medical science does not know the specific cause of a set of symptoms, it provides a diagnostic label that encompasses the set of symptoms even if it really says nothing about the cause of the symptoms.

What other MEDICAL Causes get called “Schizophrenia”?

This continues our discussion of the topics "Some Known Medical Causes of 'Mental' Symptoms" and "What are some genetic causes of psychosis?" It goes beyond the urinary tract infections (UTIs), tumors, auto-immune disorders, heart problems, etc. that get so easily diagnosed as "mental illnesses" ranging from depression and anxiety to bipolar and schizophrenia.

As modern research techniques start revealing the medical causes behind some categories of illnesses we have been calling “schizophrenia”, we would expect these now known causes to be removed from the label “schizophrenia.”  After all, the DSM IV specifically EXCLUDES cases from that diagnosis which are caused by a “general medical condition”.

But that is not the case.

Here are some more medical causes of symptoms still diagnosed as “schizophrenia” in addition to chromosomal deletion, 22q11 (velocardiofacial syndrome)[1] and X-chromosome gene polymorphism--HOPA12pb[2] which have already been discussed.