<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

 Listmates,
        I'm sending out a copy of my reply to Ron Cecchini, about the
troubles his celiac father is having, in case my information might be
helpful to anyone else.

Dear Ron,
        I'm so sorry to hear about the trouble your father is having. I
hope he is under the care of a good doctor and a good psychiatrist or
counselor.
        There is a misconception about schizophrenia. People often confuse
it with multiple personality disorder. Schizophrenia, to my knowledge is
more like having a switchboard where the operator has become unable to
function, and all the messages are coming in in an uncontrolled manner.
There is no way to shut out stimuli that you don't need, and you are
flooded with sensation that overloads you. You can no longer tell which
messages are "real" and which are from your imagination. Thus the
hallucinations and voices. It's exhausting and frighteningly confusing.
When I was feeling that way, I was also quite obsessive. I had the feeling
that if I ordered my environment Just So, it would somehow lessen the
confusion inside me. Of course it didn't, but I tried.
        I still get mild versions of this nervous overload when I
accidently eat gluten, but now I know what it is, and how to support
myself over the 2 days it takes to wear off.
        If your father is as affected as you think he is, he needs help.
The main reason that I recovered and am healthy (besides the fact that I
was rediagnosed 20 years earlier than your father) is that I have
aggressively pursued help in any form I could get. I believe that if I
hadn't found the root of my troubles, I could have spent my life in a
mental institution, instead of living a happy life as a musician with a
loving husband and children.

Good luck to you and your father.

Sherill Roberts
McMinnville, Oregon