Methylation, Neurotransmitters, and All That Jazz

Over-methylation is the biochemical opposite (eg high serotonin), with bipolar patients tending to experience a host of chemical or food sensitivities, high anxiety, low libido, tendency for paranoia, heavy body hair, hyperactivity, and grandiosity. Over-methylated depressed patients are prone to paranoia and despair.

Then there is genetic pyrrole disorder, or pyroluria. Pyrroles bind with vitamin B6 and then with zinc, thus depleting these nutrients. According to Dr Walsh, pyroluric individuals cannot efficiently create serotonin since B6 is an important factor in the last step of its synthesis.

An outcome study of 200 depressed patients treated at the Pfeiffer Center found 60 percent reported major improvement and 25 percent minor improvement. Treatment complements medications, but as the patient begins improving meds may be lowered or gradually dropped. Stopping treatment will result in relapses.

Dr Walsh concluded his talk with Pfeiffer's Law, namely: For every psychiatric medication that helps a patient, there is a natural substance that can produce the same result.

That may be true, but the same cannot be said for knowledge and practice. If only we had a natural treatment study for every hundred drug trials and a natural treatment psychiatrist for every ten meds psychiatrists (or, ideally, psychiatrists who combined both approaches). In the meantime, we are learning one nutrient at a time, and that's a start.

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