Fwd: [SSRI-Research] Niacin/B-3

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Some one, I think Frank, forwarded this post on

Nicacin a few weeks back. I forwarded that email to

another group I am on. Someone on that other group

would like to know who they could seek permission from

to quote this mail in a book he is writing on

nutrition and mental illness. Can anyone help?

Cheers,

Cara

 

 

 

> " SSRI-Research "

> GettingWell

> Tue, 3 Feb 2004 22:22:06 -0500

> [sSRI-Research] Niacin/B-3

>

> " For schizophrenics, the natural recovery rate is

> 50%. With orthomolecular

> medicine, the recovery rate is 90%. With drugs, it

> is 10%. If you use just

> drugs, you won't get well. "

> (Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D.)

>

> SHE SAT IN THE CORNER, silently. The 55-year old

> woman's face was in

> shadow, invariably turned down and towards the

> wall. And that's where she stayed,

> day after day. She had no appetite, and she never

> spoke to anyone. Her

> family had tried seemingly everything. Yes, she was

> under the care of a

> psychiatrist and yes, she was on medication.

>

> " Actually, she's been on a whole lot of different

> medications, " her daughter

> told me. " None of them has helped her, and several

> made her worse. She tried

> to kill herself several times. Now she seldom moves

> from her corner, and she

> never says a word. Is there anything you can do? "

>

> At times like this, what you want is a wand to wave.

> But life so rarely

> resembles a Harry Potter story. This was all too

> real. Maybe the patient was

> past caring, but her family sure did. As I talked to

> one of her sons, the

> living room started to fill with relatives. I don't

> know where they all came

> from; the working-class neighborhood city house must

> have had a really big

> kitchen. Presently, all the relatives had created a

> semi-circle around me

> waiting to hear something profound, something

> encouraging, something good.

> That, or perhaps they were merely intending to

> hinder any quick escapes if I

> did not produce.

>

> I felt uneasy, and who wouldn't? We all feel a

> little uncomfortable, don't

> we now, when face to face with the entire family in

> an unresponsive, if not

> downright despairing, situation.

>

> But I had been called in to offer an opinion, and

> the time had come. I

> suggested the best orthomolecular therapy I knew of:

> megadose niacin, in

> multi-gram doses. Then, I mentally braced myself for

> their reaction.

>

> There was no reaction. Nothing. But they didn't run

> off, either.

>

> So I continued. " Because she is so sick, your mother

> might need an

> exceptionally large amount of some vitamins,

> especially C and the B-complex.

> But her foremost need is for niacin, really large

> quantities of niacin. "

>

> " How large? " asked a male relative on my left. That

> question you can count

> on.

>

> " Thousands of milligrams a day, in divided doses, " I

> answered. " Possibly

> even 10,000 milligrams or more, every day. "

>

> They all listened. I got the distinct impression

> that they were weighing the

> gravity of what must certainly have felt like a

> hopeless situation against

> what must have sounded like a pretty simplistic

> solution.

>

> But they still did not run off. Some of the family

> now sat down, on chairs,

> the old sofa, and on the well-worn gray carpet.

> There were not enough

> seats for everybody.

>

> The inquisition shall now begin in earnest, I

> thought.

>

> Not at all. I was asked a series of intelligent,

> commonsense questions about

> the safety and administration of high doses of

> niacin. As best I could, I

> explained niacin's low toxicity and the need for

> large and divided doses.

> I told them to expect, at least initially, some

> pretty strong but harmless

> " niacin flush " side effects. And, I presented the

> need to educate their

> attending doctors as to what the family was now

> doing. Finally, I outlined

> a

> therapeutic trial based on starting with 1,000

> mg/day of niacin, and

> gradually but steadily increasing the dose by an

> additional 1,000 mg every

> day.

>

> " How will we know when to stop increasing the dose? "

> asked a son-in-law.

>

> " When she responds, " answered his wife. " Right? "

>

> " Yes, " I said. " The goal is to give enough niacin to

> see good results. You

> all will be the judges of that. "

>

> " Will she have to keep on taking the niacin

> forever? " asked a different

> daughter.

>

> " Yes, but not necessarily as much as she'll need

> initially. We first need to

> see if she responds at all. But if it works, why

> stop it? "

>

> Everyone nodded. Nobody smiled. Tough crowd.

>

> I left with a distinct feeling that I had

> contributed precious little to

> that family's hopes.

>

> Man, was I wrong. I got a call about two weeks later

> from a profoundly

> relieved, and positively delighted daughter.

>

> " Mom is just fine, " she said happily. " She's sits at

> the dinner table now.

> She talks to us, talks like nothing happened. It's

> incredible. She's off all

> medications. It's the niacin: it made all the

> difference in the world. "

>

> " That is wonderful news, " I said. " How much niacin

> is your mother taking

> now? "

>

> " 11,000 to 12,000 milligrams every day. "

>

> " Do you happen to remember at what level she

> experienced a niacin flush? "

> I asked.

>

> " That's easy to answer, " replied the daughter. " She

> never flushed at all. "

>

> Wow. 11 or 12 grams of niacin a day and no flush.

> Makes you think, doesn't

> it? But results are what matters in any therapeutic

> trial. A huge amount

> of niacin, along with the other B-vitamins and

> vitamin C, had done the job. A

> very big job.

>

> " This is great! " said the daughter. " We have our Mom

> back! "

>

> That was a beautiful moment.

>

> Sometime later that month, the family took the fully

> mobile and now

> positively talkative mother to see her psychiatrist.

> She didn't need to

> go, but they all wanted the doctor to see the

> recovery with his own eyes.

>

> I was not there, but I heard about it afterwards.

>

> " The doctor told all of us that there could be some

> side effects with that

> much niacin, " said the daughter. " Especially changes

> in liver function.

> Also, he said that Mom's skin looked slightly darker

> to him. The doctor

> said she should not take niacin because of it. "

>

> " None? At all? " I said.

>

> " Right: none. He told her, and all the rest of the

> family, that she should

> be on medication, not on some vitamin. "

>

> " It is medication that has the harmful side effects,

> not

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