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From:
Rebecca Markle <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 24 Jun 1995 21:25:32 -0400
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<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Gayle, as a survivor of schizophrenic symptoms, let me through my 2 cents
in.  If you can get a copy of Dr. E. Fuller Torrey's Survivng Schizophrenia
there is a passage in there that pointed me in the right direction for a
diagnosis of CD.  It's about the nutritional theories of the origins of
schizophrenia.  The passage first covers the use of niacin in treating
schizophrenia, goes into a discussion of the use of megadoses of vitamins
for treatment, then references a Dr. Curtis Dohan.  First, I found myself
asking why any person would need more than the normal amount of niacin, &
why would a person need megadoses of vitamins...why is their metabolism
so different than a normal person's?  (The answer is, in a "silent" form
of CD, there is the destruction of the intestinal wall, leading to a
barrier to the uptake of nutrients.  A "megadose" of anything would
insure that it has a greater chance of getting absorbed.  And you know
from reading this list, that the classic, in-your-face type of CD goes
undiagnosed, so it is impossible to even suspect CD when is is atypical
or asymptomatic (as I was).  But to go on, Dr. Dohan worked for 30 years
trying to establish a conection between CD & schizophrenia...apparently,
both celiacs & schizophrenics both secrete a particular indole in their
urine.  There is also supposed to be a higher percentage of
schizophrenics in celiac families.  At the same time the disease was
being defined (among the Dutch, during the famine accompanying WW II,
Dohan noticed that among schizophrenics in the asylums of Sweden, during
the same famine conditions, schizophrenics had an abatement of symptoms.
(This abatement did not happen in the U. S. or Canada at the same time,
so he thought the famine conditions--no grains--was significant.
I have written to both Dr. Torrey & Dr. Dohan.  Dr. D. is deceased, but
there is still someone continuing his work. (Though I suspect he thought
it is due to brain allergies.  From what I experienced, I think the
psychiatric symptoms are due to the combined effects of deficiencies of
niacin, cobalamin & any other B-vitamin that regulates psychiatric
functioning, plus the mineral co-efficients--iron & magnesium.)

The upshot of it is, Dr. Torrey sent me back a letter, acknowledging that
celiac disease can cause a schizophrenic condition, but that few
psychiatrists are capable of recognizing it.

Wow, you touched a nerve with your post!  In the last month, I wrote up a
little summary of what celiac disease is & how it can cause psychiatric
symptoms.  I handed this out at a memorial service held for the victims
of mental illness.  The director of one of our mental health agencies had
never heard of celiac disease!  Neither had our local Alliance for the
Mentally Ill, nor going to the state headquarters of AMI was productive.
Again, nobody has heard of this disease.  So of course, there is no
chance that it is going to be recognized.  We !*must*! get public
scrutiny focused on celiac disease & understand it before people are
going to understand the schizophrenic aspects.

Incidentally, if anyone reading this wants documentation, articles,
letters, cites, pls reply to me, not to the list.

Incidentally, I had an uncle who was diagnosed as schizophrenic.  He died
vomiting up blood from an ulcer.

The Bec

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