Given my conviction that the vast majority of psychiatric conditions are caused by inflammation of the brain, most of the recommendations that I make to patients in my practice of holistic psychiatry are designed to support the immune system which decreases inflammation. Depression, anxiety, attentional difficulties, brain fog, and other cognitive changes are all mediated… [Continue reading]
Food Sensitivities
Tapering Psychiatric Medications
These days many new patients who call are interested in getting off of psychiatric medications. Often they do not feel that the medicines are effective, they hate the side effects, and worry about the long term consequences of ingesting synthetic chemicals. I was trained to believe that stopping a psychiatric medication was not a big deal; you… [Continue reading]
Hemp Seeds: Versatile, Super Nutritious and Delicious
Recently I realized that nuts and seeds make me feel anxious, sweaty and interfere with my sleep, the tell tale signs for me of an auto-immune food sensitivity reaction. It was a relief to connect the dots, because omitting nuts and seeds from my diet has resulted in a greater sense of well being. But… [Continue reading]
The Value of a Supplement Hiatus
I recently undertook an 8 day cleanse. The most powerful benefit resulted from following the recommendation to stop all supplements that were not absolutely essential. I had been feeling unusually tired, which was part of the rationale for undertaking the cleanse in the first place. I thought that it might do me good to get… [Continue reading]
Histamine Intolerance: Another Great Pretender
Graphic from Healthy Pixels: The Many Faces of Histamine Intolerance (well worth reading) Almost a month ago I blogged about Histamine Intolerance, a widespread and under diagnosed condition. I have been preoccupied with this topic, and have since heard from many readers who recognize themselves in the widely inconsistent and variable symptom picture that can be associated with… [Continue reading]