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.)

Gut, Brain, Bacteria, and Behavior

Can the way we use antibiotics — without focusing on keeping up the normal biota in our gut that antibiotics wipe out — be contributing to the rise in both “mental” illnesses as well as inflammatory and metabolic disorders such as allergies and diabetes?

Scientists are saying “YES.”

They are re-confirming what many doctors and researchers in the field of Integrative medicine have been saying for years — that gut health is intimately connected with the function of our brain.[1]

The gut-brain connection is being implicated in brain disorders ranging from anxiety to schizophrenia (as it was in my own children).

Childhood-onset Schizoaffective - A Medical Doctor's Perspective of the Case

We are fortunate to have the following perspective about my daughter's case (and the book) from her General Practitioner, Dr. David Marwil, M.D.

Please note that Dr. Marwil is a traditional  doctor (not specializing in "alternative medicine" nor "complementary" or "naturopathic," etc.) He is a regular GP who goes the extra mile for his patients.

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Jeanie Wolfson and her daughter Keri walked into my office several years ago, frustrated and discouraged. For many years, Keri had been experiencing profound fatigue, sleepiness, headaches, body pains, and hallucinations.

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.

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.

Solving the Puzzle of "Schizophrenia" and "Bipolar Disorder"

I have always thought of all the symptoms my daughter has had as pieces of a "puzzle". It turns out that there were more pieces than I initially thought—I didn’t even recognize small pieces here and there as part of the puzzle.

Is It still called "Schizophrenia" After the Medical Cause is Found?

In research literature, when scientists find a specific cause for a person's or family's "schizophrenia," the illness is still referred to as "schizophrenia" rather than by a new diagnosis. But here is a better question--Should it still be called "Schizophrenia"? (See:  No Longer Bipolar / No longer Schizophrenic - Recovered, In Remission, or Misdiagnosed ???)