Clinical Tip: Critical Supplements During Antipsychotic Medication Withdrawal - March 19, 2012
Starting today, I’ve decided to leave short clinical tips on medication withdrawal that I hope will be helpful for people to know. Some will be on the process of withdrawal and some will be on the content of withdrawal. I hope that you will return to my website often to look for the latest clinical tip!
CLINICAL TIP:
From clinical experience, I’ve found that individuals with a history of psychosis, coming off of antipsychotics, need a lot of vitamin C (powdered buffered vitamin C is easy and cheaper to use), niacinamide (B3 without the flushing), antioxidants (organic, freeze-dried Goji powder, organic freeze-dried Acai powder, or sometimes organic freeze-dried maqui powder), Co-Enzyme Q 10, and GABA supplement support. They often need to follow a strict wheat-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free diet. The four types of GABA supplement support that I have used with patients are: GABA Calm by Source Naturals, GABA 500 mg capsules, GABA homeopathic drops, and GABA rice (germinated brown rice). Sometimes I recommend that individuals take both GABA Calm (passes the blood-brain barrier) and GABA caps (act more peripherally), and it results in much better sleep function. Also, stress, especially emotional stress, can make it difficult for the individual to succeed with withdrawal. So, it’s important to keep stress levels down during withdrawal.
Hope this helps,
Alice W. Lee, M.D.
Clinical Tip: Critical Glandular Support During Psychiatric Treatment - March 28, 2012
Clinical Tip #2:
Glandular support is very important during psychiatric recovery. Adrenal fatigue is well documented, but in my clinical experience, there are actually five glands that are fatigued and challenged during medication withdrawal and psychiatric recovery. They are: pineal gland, parotid, liver, spleen, and adrenals.
CLINICAL TIP:
From clinical experience, and from information obtained through applied kinesiology, I have found the following glands to be exhausted, or challenged, during medication withdrawal and psychiatric recovery: pineal, parotid, liver, spleen, and adrenals. There are at least three ways to support them: 1) through energy medicine, 2) through nutritional supplements/detoxification, and 3) by taking glandular supplements.
I get Pineal Glandular supplement from Deseret Biologicals, Liver Extract from Ecological Formulas/Cardiovascular Research, Adrenal Complex from Integrative Therapeutics Inc., and Parotid gland from Standard Process.
When a patient is taking medications, Liver Extract should not be given to the patient until medication levels are slightly elevated for the patient’s needs. By adding Liver Extract, liver function will be enhanced, and therefore the ability to detoxify and rid the body of medications will also be accelerated, resulting in lower functional blood levels of medications. I find that liver support will generally result in improved spleen function, so I have not needed to give spleen glandular supplements.
In general, my patients respond to adrenal glandular support with increased anxiety, so I do not use this approach very often. Instead, I try to support the adrenals by decreasing histamine, which is a neuromodulator of the adrenals. By decreasing histamine, I can lessen the work load on the adrenals. I can decrease histamine by doing energy work, taking out foods that the patient is hypersensitive to, and adding quercetin or Opsin II (by Deseret Biologicals).
I often need to support the pineal gland, during medication withdrawal, through glandular supplementation. In particular, it seems to support the patient’s ability to sleep and maintain a healthy appetite, which often falter during medication withdrawal without it.
Often, I will address parotid gland stress by recommending a biological dentist to remove metal fillings appropriately, encourage the use of a good toothpaste (Dentarome Ultra by Young Living Essential Oils) that is flouride-free, and a good biological (holistic) dentist who avoids the use of toxic chemicals in dentistry. I have not used parotid gland much, but will be doing so soon.
Of course the glands involved in reproductive hormones are also important, but this article is meant to provide clinical tips rather than a clinical treatise, so I will leave these glands for another day.
Hope this helps,
Alice W. Lee, M.D.
Clinical Tip: Gentle Detoxification and Its Importance in Medication Withdrawal - May 3, 2012
Clinical Tip #3:
Although I have known for many years that detoxification was critically important in helping to create a smooth medication withdrawal, I was faced with the problem of finding a detoxification approach that would be gentle enough for my patients. Many approaches were too strong and caused my patients to feel worse.
CLINICAL TIP:
Recently I have been excited about two new detoxifiers that I have been able to add to my arsenal. They are both made by a company called Zortho Research. The two products are called ZeSol and CandiClear5.
ZeSol is a gentle but highly effective remover of heavy metals. CandiClear5 helps to remove many different toxins and pathogens from the gut, especially candida, while enhancing the nutrient status of the patient. I began working with these supplements just recently and have been gratified with their strong clinical results. So much so that they have risen to my favorite list of supplements for my patients, and I am eager to share the good news with everyone.
Other favorite detoxification approaches have been Detox Foot Pads (Intention Health) and castor oil packs. Of course nutritional and glandular supplements enhance detoxification: Liver Extract (Ecological Formulas), CysNAC (Neuroscience), Pure Harvest Greens (Integrative Therapeutics, Inc.), and Liposomal Glutathione (Your Energy Systems).
It is important to remember that when detoxifying, medication levels will fall faster and be lower than when you do not take detoxifiers. So, be careful, when using medication, not to use detoxifying supplements without medical supervision.
Unfortunately, quite a few supplements that I use are only available to clinicians. But you may be able to find these supplements online, despite their exclusivity. The reason these supplements are only available to clinicians is probably because they have very specific clinical effects that require special monitoring and medical expertise for appropriate titration and use.
By using applied kinesiology, I can give a fairly good estimate of the dosages of supplements that patients will need on a daily basis. With lowering toxicity levels, I saw their daily need for supplements decrease significantly. Their nutritional regimens became less cumbersome, and their pocket books benefited as well. For me, this has demonstrated, in a concrete and measurable way, the correlation between toxicity and disease.
I am excited about finding gentle, helpful detoxification approaches for my patients, and I hope that you will also benefit from my growing clinical experiences.
Hope this helps,
Alice W. Lee, M.D.
Clinical Tip: Energy Medicine is Indispensable in Healing
Clinical Tip #4:
When it comes to eliminating the most difficult symptoms, such as psychosis in schizophrenia, I find that supplements and diet alone is insufficient to do the amount of work required to help a patient heal completely. What is necessary is the integrative use of energy medicine: meditative techniques, using intention and visualization, and the use of acupressure and applied kinesiology (muscle testing).
CLINICAL TIP:
Even within the alternative medicine community, there is a line physicians find difficult to cross, and that is the line between biochemistry and the quantum physics of energy medicine. But, what I find in my clinical work is that the appropriate integration of energy medicine is critical and indispensable in speeding up the healing process and helping me to successfully heal the hardest to heal disorders, such as schizophrenia with its accompanying dependency on one or more antipsychotic medications. The proof of this is in the dearth of clinicians who are able to successfully help a patient get off an antipsychotic and heal from schizophrenia. In fact, it is so unheard of, that any claims to doing so are generally discounted as being impossible. I believe that if clinicians were more open to using energy medicine, their successes and abilities would be significantly expanded, and more clinicians would have the ability to help patients get off their antipsychotic medications safely and recover from schizophrenia naturally.
There are a number of reasons why integrating energy medicine can be helpful:
1) It allows for quick access to information about the patient, regardless of distance or time constraints.
2) It creates the right framework of energy, information, and function for the supplements to work on.
3) It heals root causes, which have a general beneficial effect on the whole healing process, including the physical and social areas of functioning.
4) It allows changes to happen much faster than through biochemical pathways.
5) It empowers the patient learn simple techniques that allow them to take control of their recovery in a very positive way.
In addition to the academic skepticism engendered by energy medicine in alternative and integrative medicine, there are some patients who react to the power inherent in energy medicine with fear, rather than acceptance. They often do so because they believe it is a tool of the devil. Unfortunately for these patients, they lose the benefits from energy medicine that could lead them back to their highest potential, because of their association of these tools with their assumptions about God and religion.
Of course power can be dangerous, and may even seem God-like in its capacity. But for progress to occur, we must embrace power with wisdom, proper discernment, and charity. Without openness to change and innovation, we would be stuck in the past, unable to improve our knowledge and capabilities. Just as the caveman had to learn the uses of fire, create dwellings beyond a cave, and advance language over time, we need to learn the uses of energy medicine. In essence, energy medicine in the world of medicine is the fire of healing, protection against injury, and the language of the universe that is analogous to the advances found in bringing fire, dwellings, and language to the caveman era. Let’s use it for good.
Alice W. Lee, M.D.
Clinical Tip: Prevention of Relapse in Mental Illness
Clinical Tip #5:
Life is a dynamically changing process, and just as health can improve, it can also deteriorate. Relapsing after a period of wellness happens when the amount of energy for maintaining health and well-being has been depleted so completely that there is no longer a way for the person to keep functioning adequately, even with all the intelligence and resources that the body has at its disposal.
CLINICAL TIP:
Why do people relapse after being “healed” from their mental illness? The simplest answer is that the person has become stressed beyond what he or she can endure. When this happens, the “Achilles heel” of the person’s health condition will be the first to express its displeasure. If a person’s Achilles heel is inflammation, then aches or pains, eczema or psoriasis may appear. If a person’s Achilles heel is mental dysfunction, then distractibility, depression, mania, or psychosis may appear. This is the way the body tells us, “Ouch, I’m hurting!”
To get back to a true state of health then, would necessitate a reduction of stress. Stress comes from various aspects of life: spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, and social. For many, social stressors are the most difficult to prevent and address, because they are often due to the choices and actions of others. In order to maintain the healed state, however, the person must have the ability to overcome stressors, through coping strategies that they have learned, to keep their energies up.
There are as many ways to relapse as there are ways to heal. Here are just a few common reasons why people relapse after being “healed”, so avoid them like the plague:
1) Overconfidence in one’s ability to maintain one’s health when going back to past, unhealthy habits: e.g. smoking, marijauna, dieting and restrictions on food, eating junk food.
2) failure to continue to support one’s health nutritionally after stopping one’s medication(s). Sometimes nutritional supplementation may be necessary for the rest of the person’s life.
3) Social stressors not being dealt with appropriately when they occur: e.g. using EFT, getting support from others/professionals, increasing nutritional support.
4) Cutting back on treatment prematurely as soon as one feels well, rather than continuing to strengthen the foundation of health through ongoing integrative healing.
5) Stopping or tapering medications inappropriately and prematurely. An incomplete withdrawal process often results in a relapse of old symptoms a few months later.
6) Overdoing, overstretching, or trying to “catch up” on missed opportunities or activities. Ease into life after a long period of recovery and give the body a chance to gradually get accustomed to the stress of a full day of activities. Piling too much on one’s plate will end up punishing, rather than invigorating, one’s life.
Prevention of relapse should be part of one’s learning process during medication withdrawal. It relies on the understanding that health can only be maintained through the continued care and nurturing of one’s life. It is an an ongoing process that is dependent on a person’s daily choices. Hopefully this clinical tip will help you to stay on course in your maintenance of health and well-being.
Alice W. Lee, M.D.