Bipolar Disorder, Insomnia and Suicide
For many years now, I have advised on the treatment of many well-known people with all sorts of problems and illnesses. I always admire people who reveal that they have suffered from a problem in the hope of helping other sufferers.
The actor Stephen Fry has recently described his struggles with bipolar disorder and why he suddenly abandoned a play in London after developing stage fright. You may have seen him playing Jeeves to Hugh Laurie’s Wooster, or in the Blackadder shows.
Stephen was once described as a man with a “Brain the size of Kent.” He said that he became so knowledgeable because of terrible insomnia, which kept him up nights: he used the time to read enormous numbers of books. He also described a suicide attempt and a very serious plan to kill himself.
Though I’ve not examined Stephen, I can now explain several things to you:
1. Bipolar disorder is not uncommon, and is rather more common in highly creative people. That being said, we must not romanticize an illness that carries a substantial mortality. The illness is frequently misdiagnosed, and when it is, there is an ever-present risk of suicide, as well as a host of other medical problems.
2. Anxiety disorders occur in 80-90% of people struggling with bipolar disorder, and stage fright is one of these anxiety states
3. Stephen may not have had insomnia as much as a reduced need for sleep, which is a classic symptom of one type of bipolar disorder. People with insomnia cannot sleep and usually go through the day feeling un-rested. People with a reduced need for sleep not only stay awake, but don’t get tired until they have been up for days at a time. Doing something like reading lots of books at night is another classic symptom.
Stephen Fry has just made a documentary for the BBC in which he talks about bipolar disorder with Carrie Fisher, Richard Dreyfuss and Robbie Williams.
They all deserve our gratitude for speaking out, telling their stories, and hopefully helping alleviate some of the stigma of mental illness, and helping more people get the diagnosis and treatment that they need.
Thank you Stephen!
P.S. There has recently been a rumor going round that your humble reporter was the model for Hugh Laurie’s Golden Globe award-winning portrayal of Dr. Gregory House. I don’t know where it started, but there’s absolutely no truth in this vile calumny. I’m never irritable or curmudgeonly…
Technorati tags: Stephen Fry Bipolar disorder Stigma Hugh Laurie Blackadder Gregory House
A New Warning from the FDA about Some “Sexual Enhancers”
On Wednesday of this week the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to consumers not to purchase or consume Zimaxx, Libidus, Neophase, Nasutra, Vigor-25, Actra-Rx, or 4EVERON. These products are promoted and sold on web sites as "dietary supplements" for treating erectile dysfunction (ED) and enhancing sexual performance, but they are in fact illegal drugs that contain potentially harmful undeclared ingredients. Chemical analysis by FDA revealed that Zimaxx contains sildenafil, which is the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Viagra. The other products contain chemical ingredients that are analogues of either sildenafil or a pharmaceutical ingredient called vardenafil, which is the active ingredient of Levitra.
These undeclared ingredients can interact with some prescription drugs, in particular nitrates. In combination with nitrates, they can cause a catastrophic fall in blood pressure. You may have seen Keanu Reeves warn Jack Nicholson about that in the 2003 movie Something’s Gotta Give.
We have seen so many examples of adulteration of herbal remedies and supplements, and I’ve written a previous item about this huge problem. Huge, not in terms of numbers of cases, but in terms of the potential for harm.
I always recommending reading the label whenever you buy anything. The problem with the products mentioned in this latest FDA warning, is that there was no indication that the products contained drugs. Also be careful about whose advice you trust. Several years ago, a study done in health food stores in the United Kingdom showed that most of the staff knew very little about the products that they were promoting. Things have improved in recent years: we have a couple of health food stores in Atlanta with very knowledgeable staff. But it’s always a good idea to check before accepting the advice of someone in a store. Be doubly careful if you are buying things online: it’s you body.
So Caveat Emptor!
Technorati tags: Food and Drug Administration Sexual enhancers Herbal remedies Viagra Sildenafil Vardenafil Levitra Keanu Reeves Jack Nicholson
A New Way of Looking at – and Treating – Inflammation
Diseases of both large and small blood vessels are two of the biggest problem facing people with diabetes. Not only is it a huge clinical challenge, but also nature sometimes does our experiments for us. The high rates of coronary and peripheral vascular disease in diabetes can be seen as a kind of experiment of nature: a recognizable set of chemical abnormalities that might shed light on vascular diseases in general. It was those twin factors: a huge clinical problem, and an experiment of nature, that lead me to pick the topic of my research doctorate.
When I was working on my research doctorate in the mid 1980s, I came across a lot of old research that seemed to show links between inflammatory and autoimmune conditions like systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatic fever, and the eventual development of coronary artery disease. There was also a lot of old and largely forgotten research about the link between some viral infections and the development of coronary artery disease and acute coronary artery occlusions, because some infections can make blood more “sticky.” Inflammation evolved as one of the body’s defence mechanisms.
So I made the proposal – revolutionary at the time – that diabetes, coronary artery disease and a range of other illnesses might be inflammatory rather than degenerative. I soon found inflammatory markers in people with diabetes, that helped predict when someone was running into trouble with their eyes, kidneys or heart. Even with stacks of data, I had to spend a lot of time defending that position, because it also implied that some illnesses thought to be irreversible might not be.
With the passage of time, it has tuned out that I was probably correct. Chronic inflammation, wherever it starts, mat have long-term effects on the body and on the mind. Chronic inflammation increases the risk of diseases of many blood vessels, as well as causing anemia, organic depression and cognitive impairment. Here is a partial list of common conditions in which inflammation is a prominent factor:
1. Rheumatoid arthritis
2. Systemic lupus erythematosus
3. Fibromyalgia
4. Chronic infections
5. Insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome
6. Arteriosclerosis
7. Diabetes mellitus
8. Hypertension
9. Asthma
10. Inflammatory bowel disease
11. Psoriasis
12. Migraine
13. Peripheral neuropathy
14. Alzheimer’s disease
15. Autism
16. Gingivitis
17. Cystitis
The reason for raising the issue is not to say “told you so!”
It is instead that we need to think about inflammation a little differently. There is a mountain of information about the physical aspects of inflammation. We can stop at the simple description of inflammation as a condition in which part of the body becomes reddened, swollen, hot, and usually painful, or we can look below the surface: we can examine inflammation not only as a physical problem, but also as a psychological, social, subtle and spiritual problem. Why bother? Because the deeper approach allows us to understand and to treat and transcend inflammation as never before.
I am going to write some more about specific ways to address inflammation and what it means in future articles. I would also like to direct you to the book Healing, Meaning and Purpose, in which I talk about specific approaches in more detail.
But I would like to start with this.
In Ayurvedic and homeopathic medicine, inflammation is a sign of an imbalance in the vital forces of the body, and the traditional Chinese system agrees: here inflammation is usually a manifestation of an excess of Yang Qi, or a deficiency of Yin Qi. Most of our lives are seriously out of balance: Yang Qi is like a rampaging lion that has been stimulated by:
Acidic foods;
Environmental toxins;
Unwanted sexual stimulation:
Noise;
Discordant music:
Constant demands from others:
Toxic relationships;
Years spent in front of television sets and limitless multi-tasking.
It should be no surprise to learn that all of these inflammatory conditions are increasing rapidly throughout the Western world. Not because we are getting better at identifying them, or we are living longer, but genuinely increasing.
It is wrong to put all the blame on poor diets or inadequate exercise. The problem is more subtle and is a reflection of distorted Information being fed to our bodies, minds, relationships, subtle systems and spiritual relationships.
The great news is that this simple conceptual shift gives us a whole load of new tools for handling these problems, and for using them as catalysts to growth.
In the next few weeks, I am going to drill down and give you some specific guidance that ties into the material in Healing, Meaning and Purpose and the next two that are on the launch pad.
Fasten your seat belt!
Technorati tags: Inflammation Aging Alzheimer’s disease Arteriosclerosis Neuropathy Autism Arthritis Systemic lupus erythrmatosus Fibromyalgia Inflammatory bowel disease Gingivitis
Insulin Resistance, Insulin Resistance Syndrome and Race
I often hear clinicians say that they are not too clear about the differences between insulin resistance and insulin resistance syndrome. Let me define them, and then tell you why they are so important, and why everyone needs to be informed about them.
First, insulin is a hormone produced primarily in the cells of the Islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. It has over 500 functions in the human body, but its main actions are on the regulation of the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats. Insulin enables glucose – one of the major sources of energy – to move into many of the cells in the body. Insulin is also involved in the conversion of glucose to glycogen. These two actions lower the blood glucose level.
Insulin resistance is defined as an impaired biological response to insulin. It is a condition in which many of the cells of the body – mainly in the liver, fat and muscle – become resistant to the effects of insulin. The normal responses to a given amount of insulin are reduced. As a result, higher levels of insulin are needed in order for insulin to have its effects. There are many potential causes of insulin resistance: genetic; an increase in intra-abdominal fat; smoking cigarettes; being of low birth weight; and there are some prescription medicines that can cause insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is one of the underlying causes of type 2 (maturity onset) diabetes mellitus, as well as an array of other illnesses including polycystic ovarian syndrome. Most studies have suggested that around a third of people living in the United States and Western Europe have insulin resistance, and there are marked ethnic differences.
The insulin resistance syndrome has several other names: Metabolic syndrome; (Metabolic) Syndrome X; Dysmetabolic syndrome; Reaven’s syndrome; multiple metabolic syndrome. There are several sets of criteria for defining the insulin resistance syndrome. In the USA it is usually defined as the presence of 3 or more of the following:
1. Abdominal obesity (Waist circumference >40 inches in men; >35 inches in women
2. Glucose intolerance (fasting glucose ≥110 mg/dL)
3. Elevated blood pressure ≥130/85 mmHg
4. Triglycerides >150 mg/dL
5. Low HDL (Men: <40 mg/dL; women: <50 mg/dL)
There is a constant debate in the medical literature about whether insulin resistance syndrome is an illness, and what should be included in it. It is important, because it appears to predict the development of diabetes and coronary artery disease, and between 20 and 25% of the population of the Western world has it. So what normally happens is that a person develops insulin resistance, which eventually evolves into the insulin resistance syndrome, before diabetes and heart disease appears. There can be as long as twelve years between the development of insulin resistance, and the diagnosis of diabetes, and we have very good evidence that lifestyle changes can dramatically reduce the risk of moving from insulin resistance to the insulin resistance syndrome and diabetes.
It has become quite well-known that people of African and Asian Indian heritage are at increased risk of developing insulin resistance, and some of the sequelae of insulin resistance: insulin resistance syndrome, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and gout. These may in turn lead to increased rates of myocardial infarction and strokes. A study presented last Monday at ENDO 2006, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston helps further clarify some of these ethnic differences. Researchers analyzed data from the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS), designed to assess relationships between insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease in a large multi-ethnic population.
The investigators divided data from female IRAS participants into different groups based on body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on height and weight. A BMI of less than 25 is usually considered "normal." The analysis revealed that 47 percent of black women of normal weight had insulin resistance, compared to less than 20 percent of the Hispanic or White women. Both insulin resistance and the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes increase as obesity increases. It had long been suspected that there was an independent effect of race, but this study not only shows that race alone may influence insulin resistance, but that we may therefore need to change the definition of obesity in women of African heritage.
The news reports on this important finding failed to mention that previous research has found something very similar in Asians from India, China and Japan. Each of these ethnic groups may develop insulin resistance, insulin resistance syndrome and diabetes without being obese, though obesity dramatically increases their risks of running into trouble.
It is relatively simple and inexpensive to measure insulin resistance, and many metabolic experts, including your humble reporter, have, for more than a decade, been measuring it in high-risk individuals. Clearly we cannot do anything much about an ethnic or genetic risk, but we can alter the way in which the body responds to that risk. If a person is insulin resistant, diet, exercise, specific nutritional and herbal interventions and occasionally medications, may all reduce the risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
Technorati tags:Insulin Insulin resistance Insulin resistance syndrome Metabolic syndrome Diabetes mellitus Obesity Hypertension Racial differences
Understanding Attention Deficit Disorder as a Long-term Challenge
Regular readers will know that I am a huge advocate of natural and non-invasive methods of treatment whenever possible. But sometimes we reach an impasse, and the only option is to use pharmacological or other types of conventional intervention. But even then, it is a mistake to assume that physical treatment alone will be sufficient to help the individual and their family: it is only sensible also to address the psychological, social, subtle and spiritual dimensions of the person. And we must never lose sight of the positives: some people who have health challenges are transformed for the better, and some “illnesses” may carry gifts with them. I’ve talked about the creativity of people with bipolar disorder and schizotypy and the empathy and innovation that may accompany attention deficit disorder.
There is often a fine balance between the positives and negatives of an illness and the types of help that may be of greatest value.
I have just been involved in a common discussion at this time of year: a young person has quite bad attention deficit disorder (ADD). Since she started pharmacological treatment not only has she risen from being a failing student to getting all As and Bs, but the quality of her life has improved dramatically. Unfortunately, she has been told that she only needs to take her treatment when she feels that it is necessary to complete her schoolwork. Many healthcare providers continue to believe that ADD and ADHD are just academic problems. There is a very good new review article that discusses this misperception in some detail. Prescription patterns show that the majority of school-age children are only being treated from Monday to Friday, and from 7AM to 3PM. Why does this matter?
There is excellent and extensive research about the consequences of non-treatment, and most of it has nothing at all to do with school. If people with ADD and particularly with ADHD are left untreated, they are more likely to:
1. Develop substance abuse
2. Be involved in a serious accident
3. Engage in illegal activities
4. Contract a sexually transmitted disease
5. Have an unplanned pregnancy
6. Become separated or divorced
The article makes a point that we have often discussed with families: these consequences of non-treatment are events that primarily occur outside the school environment. So withholding medicine just when it is needed the most may be a risky business.
We are now seeing increasing evidence that successful pharmacological treatment reduces these consequences of untreated ADD/ADHD to the rates found in the general population. Simply using appropriate medications can protect people from adverse consequences of these problems both now and in the future.
I think that we should look at ADD in the same way that we look at an illness like diabetes. In diabetes, the high blood glucose and elevated lipids are not themselves the problem. They may cause symptoms, but the real danger lies in the long-term physical consequences of high glucose and lipids. It is these that can be so devastating to the person with the illness, causing the so-called complications of diabetes, such as retinopathy, kidney and heart disease.
Similarly ADD/ADHD may cause symptoms – such as problems in school – but it is the long-term consequences that can cause such problems. Children and adolescents, and for that matter some adults with both illnesses don’t realize that these are the main reasons for treatment.
There is a common myth that adults know that they need to take their medication, and so they do. Hands up anyone who has only taken half of a course of antibiotics!!
There is very striking study of adults with ADHD who were asked to do a simulated driving test while on and off their medicines. The people in the study rated their driving performance just the same whether they were on or off their medicines. Despite the fact that when they were off their treatment they were an astounding five “standard deviations” worse in terms of driving safety and responsibility! For people not used to looking at statistics this may not seem like much, but the difference is astonishing. You would not want to share the road with an untreated person with ADD.
We know that within the first three months of treatment 50% of children and adults will have stopped their ADD/ADHD treatment and most studies agree that by 18 months, the figure is around 80%.
We need to get the message out that:
- ADD and ADHD can create some nasty long-term problems if not adequately treated.
- For a host of reasons, most people will stop their treatment, so plan for it, and don’t just wait for it to happen.
- Adequate treatment consists of a lot more than giving medication and hoping for the best.
- People need psychoeducation.
- They need to learn coping strategies.
- The family needs to know how to help and how to deal with the problems that someone with ADD/ADHD may be causing them.
- And people need to know how and when to use medications and how to integrate them with non-pharmacological strategies.
Technorati tags: Attention deficit disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Substance abuse Treatment
Add Years to Your Life and Life to Your Years: The Power of Small Changes.
I want to tell you about a mind bogglingly important study that many professionals have known about, but somehow hasn’t popped up on most people’s radar. The story was broken by the BBC last month. It is about an exceptionally important study that has been running in Norfolk, in Eastern England, as well as other parts of Europe since 1992. The British section is directed by Professor Kay-Tee Khaw who is Professor of Clinical Gerontology at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge. The main focus of the Clinical Gerontology Unit is the maintenance of health in aging populations, with a particular emphasis on the combined role of lifestyle, environmental and genetic factors in chronic diseases.
The UK arm of the study has been following 25,663 men and women aged between 45 and 79 years old, looking at their diet, environment, lifestyle and health. The latest results from the study have confirmed several things that we already suspected: 1. Eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day can give you the life expectancy of someone three years younger.
2. Not smoking turns back the clock by four to five years.
3. Even increasing exercise by a moderate amount can increase your life expectancy by three years. But the amount of exercise someone would need to do to achieve that depends on their job. A sedentary office worker would need to do one hour of exercise, such as swimming or jogging every day. By contrast, a person with a moderately active job, such as a hairdresser, would need to take 30 minutes of exercise a day. Here’s some more good news: People with very active jobs, including nurses and bricklayers, do not need to do any extra exercise – as their work is strenuous enough.
I think that just about anyone can take those baby steps toward a longer and healthier life
There’s an old Yugoslavian Proverb:
“Grain by grain a loaf, stone by stone, a castle.”
That seems about right!
Technorati tags: Health Longevity Preventative medicine Wellness
Healia.com
Carol Kirshner, web mistress extraordinaire, has just alerted me to a great resource for anyone looking for information on health, wellness and healing, called Healia.com.
Carol’s review is excellent, and now that I’ve tried out the website, I really do share her enthusiasm.
One of the reasons for creating my own blog is that the internet is full of medical misinformation. I have just been writing an article that I am going to post tomorrow. My initial reactions to some of the statements that I found on line would not have been fit for you gentle reader. Suffice to say that there were comments on some websites that betrayed a complete ignorance about the workings of the human body and recommendations that can best be described as bovine excreta.
Healia.com seems to be very different. I have been putting it through its paces, and I’ve so far not found a single problem or contentious area, despite throwing a lot of unusually tough questions at it. I fully anticipate that it’s going to become one of my major research tools, and for matters pertaining to health, it seems to be better than any other search engine that I’ve found.
Technorati tags: Internet search engine Health Healing Wellness
Attention Deficit Disorder, Allergies and Membranes
There has been a long-running debate about the relationship – if any – between allergies and attention deficit disorder (ADD).
As long ago as 1991 a paper seemed to indicate that there were higher rates of hyperactivity in the parents of children with allergies as well as increased rates of allergies in children with ADD. Recently a study from New York seemed to show higher rates of allergic rhinitis in children with ADD. The problem with all this is that we are looking at two common problems and trying to sort out a genuine connection can be tricky.
I started thinking about this problem again, after a recent report that some children had symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and excessive daytime sleepiness as a result of sleep-disordered breathing. But what was remarkable was the number who improved after they had their tonsils taken out. The tonsils are one of the first lines of defense in the immune system, which is why they so often become enlarged with infections, or for that matter in any kind of immunological reaction. Now I’m not much of one to take out tonsils unless there’s a really good reason, but it is certainly an important observation for anyone who has a child with behavioral or cognitive difficulties: he or she may not be sleeping properly.
I have seen quite a number of people who had physical and psychological problems, including headaches, depression and attentional problems, who turned out to have either allergies or environmental sensitivities, and when those were addressed, the symptoms resolved. I have also seen some people who followed the notoriously difficult Feingold diet with some success, even though the research doesn’t seem to be very supportive of elimination diets. And I’ve seen just as many people who got no relief at all from elimination diets.
I have just done a detailed literature review on the topics of allergy and attention, and I don’t think that we have enough evidence to suggest that everybody with attention deficit needs to see an allergist. But what this highlights is that not all people with attentional problems or hyperactivity have ADD. They may have attentional problems because of sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and a range of other problems.
There is some exciting research indicating that one of the problems in many cases of ADD is a disturbance in the normal functioning of cell membranes. If that is correct, it may be that there are disturbances in the membranes of both neurons in the brain and membranes of cells in the immune system. That link is not entirely proven. But it has received further credence by the finding that some children and adults with ADD seem to show improvements of both attention and immune function when they take omega-3 fatty acids. I have recently been hearing some encouraging reports from people who have used the Omega-3 Formula made by Omegabrite (And no, I have no link with the company!)
Technorati tags: Attention deficit disorder Allergy Atopy Hyperactivity Tonsils Cell membrane Omega-3 fatty acid
