I first attended one of Dr. Walsh’s Training for Physician’s in Mastering Brain Chemistry in Chicago in October of 2014. Fifteen months later, I am now participating in a second training in California after having regularly applied his method in my practice. These days I rarely see a patient without recommending simple laboratory testing of blood and urine, and prescribing a protocol of nutrients to treat the conditions that I have learned about from Dr. Walsh, including pyroluria, methylation disorders mediated by histamine, and copper overload.
In my office, I now have had several experiences with patients in tears, because of the relief they feel after years of feeling lousy. In almost 30 years of practicing as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, I have never had a treatment modality to offer that is so regularly helpful. These tearful patients have had numerous dispiriting trials of psychiatric medications which caused them to feel tired and blunted, cognitively dulled, with weight gain and sexual dysfunction. Many have also had years of competent psychological treatment. The patients who experience the most profound shifts are those who not only take the nutrients, but who also make dietary and life style changes, including exercising, minimizing alcohol consumption and attending to their emotional and spiritual lives.
I am developing expertise in weaning patients from psychiatric medications. My current approach is to do the Walsh testing and to develop an individualized nutrient protocol based upon the results to normalize blood chemistry, as well as to recommend dietary and life style changes, including psychospiritual considerations. After a patient has been on the protocols for several months, we begin to wean their medications very conservatively, typically 10 % a month to avoid withdrawal effects. This holistic procedure typically allows for either a complete discontinuation of medication or a significantly reduced dosage.
Dr. Walsh’s physician trainings are the best medical conferences I have ever attended. The majority of the time is spent seeing one patient after another. Dr. Walsh interviews the patient in front of us as a group, and we all listen and ask questions. The patients have all had laboratory studies done, but neither Dr. Walsh nor we have seen the results. Based upon the clinical interview and symptom profile, we all try to guess what biochemical imbalance is causing the distress, and then look at the laboratory results. Dr. Walsh then recommends a protocol of nutrients. The nutrients are primarily inexpensive common anti-oxidants and minerals.
This conference has been so poignant, as I witnessed desperate patients who have run from one doctor to another. They have been prescribed so many different psychiatric medications, none of which have healed their condition and often have caused other problems. They have seen every stripe of alternative practitioner under the sun, taken so many different exotic and arcane supplements, and some have even had electro convulsive therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation. People will try absolutely anything to feel better. Conventional psychiatrists are completely unaware of this safe powerful treatment modality, based on Dr. Walsh’s research with 1000’s of patients. They only know about recommending pharmaceuticals or procedures. Some commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals cause irreversible damage, like the widely prescribed atypical anti-psychotics, which have been proven to cause cortical shrinkage. This is not only heart breaking but enraging, given that psychosis is often very responsive to treatment with nutrients, which frequently permits at least a significant reduction in dosage.
These days it is common for patients to have genetic testing and to learn that they have the MTHFR gene. Well meaning but poorly informed practitioners automatically prescribe folate to them. This is a misguided and dangerous practice, without knowing an individual’s biochemistry. Just because you are homozygous for the MTHFR gene, does not mean that you need folate. In fact, in the small group of people who also have low serotonin, it can literally cause harm by inhibiting methylation, worsening psychiatric symptoms and even increasing vulnerability to cancer. Before prescribing folate, histamine levels need to be measured, in order to determine methylation status. There is an inverse relationship between methylation and histamine. If histamine is high, a person will be under methylated, but if they also have low serotonin, they should avoid folate supplements. In cases of overmethylation, folate would be helpful. It is not possible to infer the methylation status from the mere presence of the MTHFR gene. This can only be determined by measuring histamine level and then correlating with psychiatric symptoms.
Similar principles apply to the recommendation for multivitamins. A person who is under methylated and has low serotonin, should not have folate, and a person who is copper overloaded, should not supplement with additional copper, both common ingredients in multivitamins. A multivitamin is an indiscriminate shot gun approach which can be harmful.
So many health recommendations, particularly dietary, could be refined by knowing an individual’s biochemistry. If a low serotonin person is undermethylated, they feel better with a high protein diet which supplies methionine, a key amino acid in the methylation pathway. I had one severely undermethylated patient whose psychosis seems to have been precipitated by a vegetarian diet, which according to Dr. Walsh, is not uncommon. This patient feels so much better with adequate animal protein. Those low serotonin persons who are undermethylated would also be advised to eschew green drinks, which are high in folate, and which can aggravate undermethylation. Conversely, those who are overmethylated should eat lots of leafy greens because of their high folate content. Patients who have copper overload should only eat shellfish very infrequently, as it is extremely high in copper. Other high copper foods include, raw kale, mushrooms, seeds and nuts, beans, dried fruit, avocados, goat cheese and fermented soy.
The testing that Dr. Walsh recommends measures oxidative stress in the body, which is correlated with auto-immune conditions and inflammation. These nutrient protocols often improve an individual’s immune status by providing needed nutrients. Many report improved gut health. Low zinc levels are associated with yeast overgrowth. More psychiatric symptoms result from an overabundance of nutrients, such as too much histamine or copper, rather than a deficiency. The nutrient protocols, rebalance and normalize blood chemistry, which often is an essential key to well being. I am so grateful for this knowledge and believe that psychiatrists need to know about it. We are in desperate need of a revolution in medicine. Nothing short of it will do.
To find a Walsh trained practitioner in your area, here is a link to the Practitioners Page.
if someone suspects they might be high in copper, but they don’t want to get a blood test, what can they do? they took zinc for a few months but how do they know when to stop? if they still have acne and anxiety does that mean they still have too much copper?
thank you
It is not possible to answer this question. Acne and anxiety could be from many causes besides high copper.
are there testing options that don’t involve blood?
Pyroluria is diagnosed with a urine test.
Thank you for your information which gives quite a new perspective on mental issues. Can you recommend a doctor in the Netherlands of surrounding countries?
Appreciative for your reply
You are welcome. There is a clinical resource page where you can enter your geographic area and find a practitioner. There are a number of practitioners in Ireland and Norway. Here is the link: https://www.walshinstitute.org/clinical-resources.html
This is a wonderful article and I’m so grateful for your time and answering all the follow on questions!
Have you seen many people who have low histamines but are still undermethylators (based on one’s methionine, Cysteine, SAM, SAH, Homocysteine, and Cystathionine results?
Thank you!
Thanks for writing. I don’t know the answer o your question. perhaps others can weigh in.
Thank you for the very informative article. I read Dr Walsh’s book several years ago when we were struggling to get help for my then 17 yr old daughter. She was dx with a mood disorder after she became irrational and hypomanic after taking being prescribed an SSRI. We did find out she was heterozygous for c677t mthfr and her pdoc did prescribe a high dose of methyl folate. It has helped her quite a bit along with taking her off any antidepressants. (Her tried 3 all with bad results). She mostly struggles with depression and take Lamictal with her folate. I know we should get her testing done for Dr Walsh’s protocol but it is not something we can afford and there are no practitioners in our area. Would it be beneficial for us get her zinc, copper and whole blood histamine done anyway? Histamine was tested prior to her starting the 15mg of folate, but it was normal and not whole blood histamine. Not sure what to do.
Thanks
It’s a big dilemma to be without financial resources. There are clinicians who consult long distance. It would not be useful to get the testing without knowing how to interpret the results.
Hi
Thank you for the informative article
Is there a trained practitioner in Australia you could recommend please
Thank you
Jen
There are lots and lots of trained practitioners in Australia. Dr. Walsh is very well known there Here is a link to a page on the Walsh Research Institute website that lists clinicians by geography. If you type in Australia, you will find the names and contact info of clinicians there. https://www.walshinstitute.org/clinical-resources.html
Jen,
Did you find a practitioner. When I put in Sydney it said none near by!
Cheers Lynne
This is brilliant! I have followed the Walsh Institute for several years and am astounded at how they are revolutionizing medicine. Do you know of a practitioner in Canada?
Here is a link to a clinical resources page for the Walsh Research Institute. You can type Canada into the Geographic region. There appear to be 4 of them. Mostly in the west it seems. BC, Alberta.
Is there a Dr in New Zealand who has had this training?
My son lives there now and needs help.
Thank you,
Jolynn
Here is a link to a page with practitioners in New Zealand. http://www.biobalance.org.au/patients/find-practitioners
Hi nothing for NZ comes up on that search? Do you have any suggestions for what I could take to help reduce ringing in my ears since having taken anti depressants years ago, my left ear is now totally deaf and other ear started ringing too now
Ear ringing is a miserable symptom. Often it can be due to mast cell activation disorder. I recommend finding a doctor who is familiar with treating mold toxicity, which is often the underlying cause of mast cell problems. You could look for a practitioner on the website of ISEAI.org and click on the Get Help page to find someone in your local area.
I’m a little lost as the many Dr’s I’ve seen all have a different take and it has put my body through a lot of stress (can’t work ect.). If I am someone who can’t tolerate B9 (or B12 at the moment) as I get extremely wired/tired, heart pain/palps, severe insomnia, panic attacks etc. What do you do if you are planning to get pregnant some day? I am showing to be low in THF and Folic Acid out of the list of Folic acid derivatives (rest were normal range). I was born jaundice and with a tongue tie and later MCS, CFS, depression, food intolerances etc…minor signs of folic acid deficiency. Are people like me not supposed to have children?
Thank you!
I recommending trying to restore your health before trying to get pregnant. That means figuring out why you have CFS and MCS. You may have Lyme Disease or Mold Toxicity. You need to try and figure out the root cause. I recommend a consultation with Neil Nathan, MD in California. He is an expert in dealing with mysterious chronic illness.
Thanks for the reply. It was more if I could get healthy, is having this folate ‘wiring’ an issue for procreation. But I may not be able to get healthy without addressing the issue… more in theory inquiry.
I’ve seen many of the popular functional med docs and I’ve the last 15 years commmiting 2 yrs min to each one, which has left us with zero funds and a remortgaged home. Not to mention converting dollar value to US (double the cost!) Typical story for folks like me- so I can’t affford his fees for 30min. Thank for the suggestion though 🙂
I’ll have to earn my google PHD to find my way to health 😉
It all sounds really hard and frustrating. I don’t know the answer about the folate.
We have found the facebook group pyroloria helpful. Yes it is very expensive to find the answers!
Hi I’m so glad you have so much information. I need help. I am having panic and depression not sleeping and heterogenous 1298 and the other one like 6777t. I can’t sleep and can’t function. I started taking methyl donor with same and tmg and I also take methylated b12. It also has folate. I just started progesterone compounded 100mg two nights ago. Please help Im still not able to work and my husband says I’m crazy! And needs drugs this all happened in the last year.
Hi Judy, I would be honored to have you give your new doctors a copy of the blog post. I am very excited to hear about the research that you are doing. This effective approach needs to be made use of much more widely. I heard that your trainings in Australia used to be 8 days long! That sounded great. I would love to come to a training in Australia one day. I met one of your lovely Australian doctors in LA. I don’t remember her name. But it’s remarkable that there is so much interest and support for the Walsh approach in Australia. Thanks for writing.
Have to let you know that we have another of our doctors about to begin a research project on Dementia and Stephanie Fryar-Williams, a psychiatrists who did our training a number of years ago, has just published her fourth paper on Biomarkers for Schizophrenia which has been named Internationally as the fifth most cited paper in Biomarkers , so that is a feather in her cap. We are heavily pushing research to justify what we know clinically is true. We would like all doctors to receive this knowledge in medical school and need the research to make that happen.
Our next training is in Melbourne in March, you would be very welcome.
What a nice invitation. I have never been to Australia and it is on my bucket list! You are doing wonderful work. Many thanks.
Judy, Thank you so much for sharing this post. The Walsh protocol looks very interesting and may be exactly what I need. Just to clarify, when you mention that folate can be detrimental to those with MTHFR and low serotonin, I assume you are not referring to supplementing with L-methylfolate? From everything I’ve read, L-methylfolate is the appropriate route to support methylation. Just want to make sure my understanding is consistent with what you are sharing here. Thank you again!
Thanks for writing. If a person is under methylated as determined by elevated histamine levels, and if they clinically have signs of low serotonin, i.e. Depression, anxiety, lack of feeling of well being, methyl folate often makes them feel worse. That is why it is not a good plan to take methyl folate based upon genetic testing without measuring histamine levels and correlating it with the clinical picture. I know that this is not what is mostly written out there, but my understanding is based upon what I have learned from Dr. Walsh’s extensive research on this matter. Dr. Albert Mensah, who was mentored by Dr. Walsh, has created a YouTube video about Methylation and MTHFR that you may wish to watch to learn more about this perspective.
Thank you Judy! I will definitely watch that video. I’ve got a copy of Dr. Walsh’s book ordered as well to dig into.
Many blessings on your journey and may you find what you are seeking.
You’ve given me a new piece in the puzzle with this post which I’m grateful for. I feel closer than ever…
So happy to hear that. Keep me posted.
Dr. Safrir, thank you for the informative post!
I am wondering if you and/or Dr. Walsh have had success with treating chronic insomnia with the Walsh protocol?
I have only been able to sleep 1-3 hours per night for almost 10 years. Conventional doctors prescribed sleeping pills and anti-depressants which didn’t work. I have had incredible success implementing the GAPS Intro diet while also avoiding all major allergens. Within 1 week on GAPS Intro, I started sleeping 7 hours straight each night. However, when I try introducing new foods, I am unable to sleep more than 3 hours. There are no other digestive symptoms, so I’m wondering if I might need to try another approach. I am concerned about nutritional deficiency if I stay on GAPS Intro much longer.
That is fascinating about your much improved sleep with the GAPS intro diet. That is a challenge, however, to continue on that indefinitely, because that is so restrictive. Dr. Walsh’s protocols treat oxidative stress, which is correlated with inflammation. He has said that often gut health is improved with the protocols. You said that you do not have other digestive symptoms, but the extreme food sensitivity that persists, indicates that the gut is not healthy. Low zinc is correlated with yeast overgrowth. I think that that getting the testing and having a protocol prescribed might be quite worthwhile. You can look on the practitioners page for someone in your area. Two practitioners who I know and think highly of, Deb Kiley and Susan Delaney both do distance consultations, if there is no practitioner in your area. Please let me know your results if you decide to go that route.
Thank you so much!
Thank you for continuing to write about your experience with the Walsh protocol. I chanced on one of your earlier posts on this several months ago. Like many patients, I have seen many practitioners. My local doctor recommended folate due to my MTHFR status (homozygous) and I felt worse, hence my seeking another perspective.
Based on your recommendation “not to try this at home,” I consulted Dr. Albert Mensah, had the blood and urine tests, and have started on the protocol he suggested. I’m starting slow since I’m sensitive to supplements, but after about three weeks am noticing definite improvement in my anxiety level. The vivid dreams (and subsequent frequent waking) from the B-6 are the only problem at this point.
I want to thank you for writing about this, and in such detail. Your professional and compassionate voice impressed me very much. Your work led me to this healing path, and I’m most appreciative.
I am so glad that it is useful to you! That is music to my ears. Thank you.