Administration of Massive Doses of Vitamin E to Diabetic Schizophrenic Patients

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Administration of Massive Doses of Vitamin E to Diabetic Schizophrenic

Patients

http://www.orthomed.org/resources/papers/delizdia.htm

Antonio J. DeLiz, M.D., Ph.D.

 

Dr. Shute states, " Gangrenous areas in the extremities of small size may

often be salvaged by this agent (Alpha-Tocopherol or vitamin E) notably in

diabetics... We have many colour photographs of such patients, patients who had

been

advised by the ablest surgeons to have amputation. " Dr. Shute states, on the

basis of clinical evidence, that the healing of these areas of gangrene by

Alpha- Tocopherol was achieved by mobilizing collateral circulation and by

locally

improved tissue oxygenation- This news came to the author when this paper was

already being edited. The author states, therefore, " My paper cannot claim

the originality that I thought it could- " (See Totgyes, S., and Shute, E. V.:

The Summary, 648, 19-54; Shute, Evan V., B.A., M.B., F.R.C.S. © , F.R.S.M.,

Med., Sc. D., Director of the Shute Institute for Clinical and Laboratorial

Medicine, London, Canada: Alpha-Tocopherol (Vitamin E in Cardiovascular Disease-

The Summary, p. 6, December, 1973)

 

 

Recently I have treated 20 individuals -8 women and 12 men-who had been

diagnosed schizophrenics 10 years ago. During the last five years, however,

these

patients showed signs of diabetes mellitus The schizophrenic condition 'was

treated by Thorazine and other phenothiazines alone- The diabetes mellitus has

been treated by sugar-free diet, diabinese and other related drugs- While the

schizophrenic condition improved, the patients suffered from chronic signs, but

allegedly never developed dramatic errors of perception- The age of the female

patients oscillated from 30 to 45 years, the male patients were between 40

and 55 years old. The patients were referred to me mainly because of their

symptoms of disorganized perception and cognition. The treating internists

revealed

to me that this acute perceptual cognitive disorder although present before,

had never reached the degree of intensity detected recently. l was also

informed that this worsening of the patients' sensory functions had more or less

coincided with paresthesias, hyperesthesias, and hyposthenias, and local signs

of

incipient gangrene of the toes and feet.

 

The patients' families were told that the areas of incipient gangrene had to

be cauterized and, perhaps later on, radical amputation would be necessary- I

was asked to see these patients as a psychiatrist, as most of the former

schizophrenic symptoms appeared more serious and had resisted even the highest

doses of neuroleptics.

 

When we observed them, they also showed delusions, hallucinations, were

confused about past and present events, were concrete in thinking, were

withdrawn,

and showed diminished attention span and euphoria followed by delusional

depression- Two of them showed quasi-catatonic-like postures and other

mannerisms

and rituals, while in others the speed of speech oscillated from Muteness to

pressure of speech Three showed neologisms. The most outstanding signs were

errors of perception, particularly of time and space, and profound cognitive

disturbance. For five, hyperesthesias in the feet were perceived as " a heart

pulsating " and the pain was felt in the head though simultaneously they would

touch

their toes with the hands. Hyposthenias were perceived in the toes as if they

were asleep.

 

One of the patients, who had areas of ischemia in the legs, felt that all his

body was burning, and he would try to pour water on the legs to extinguish

the fire. Another female patient, who had an incipient gangrene in the right

toe- when asked when her lesion had started, replied, " in the beginning of the

universe. "

 

When further asked if she was in pain (pain was present), she answered

 

" It doesn't hurt so much now that l am approaching the ultimate boundaries of

the infinite. "

 

Another patient, a man of 45, claimed that his body was reduced to the feet

When asked why, he responded:

 

" It is very simple, Doctor, I have just to look at the mirror and there I see

nothing but my feet. "

 

When asked where the rest of his body was, he sad:

 

" I told you already, Doctor, I just have feet. "

 

When he looked at the nurse and was asked what he was seeing, he responded:

 

" Just two eyes and a nose. "

 

The door of my office was seen as totally constituted by the knob.

 

The fact remains that in 50 percent of these patients, narcotics had to be

given in order to permit them to sleep. In the midst of this massive

perceptual-cognitive disorder, some patients would develop fleeting moments of

awareness

of the realistic danger of their situation. Anxiety, anguish, and terror were

then apparent in their behaviour the moment they became cognizant that

amputation of their feet would become possible in the future. Three patients had

a

constant itch on the skin of the abdomen and back, caused by abnormal amounts of

glycogen in the skin in diabetes mellitus- It is well known that diabetics

suffer from atherosclerosis in the large and medium-size muscular-elastic

arteries of the heart and peripheral skin arteries, with a high incidence in the

toes and feet. Three patients had secondary infected ulcers which were very

resistant to antibiotic treatment.

 

I was faced with a problem of tremendous proportions. on the one hand, the

antidiabetic treatment, neuroleptics, cauterization of the ulcers, and so on had

not produced visible results. I recalled Linus Pauling's thesis that

individualized doses of vitamin E helped the circulation of arteries and veins,

of

heart and skin. Following this insight, I began to increase the administration

of

vitamin E continuously during one month. Beginning with 800 units a day, I

raised the level of this vitamin to 20,000 units a day at the end of five weeks.

By this time, I noticed with great interest the progressive disappearance of

the patients' complaints of acute pains and numbness of the toes. Two weeks

later – by maintaining the patients on the same amount of vitamin E – areas

of

ischemia on the legs began to fade- Three weeks later (by the way, I began

using vitamin C 500 mg twice a day), signs of secondary

infected ulcers disappeared.

 

When the patients told their internists that they received vitamin E, they

manifested great skepticism; however, as the skin lesions healed they felt quite

intrigued. It is evident that the internists were still adhering to old

paradigms and resisted the acknowledgement of clinical results for which they

could

not find any explanation within the general theory of current therapy of

diabetic complications for defective circulation.

 

This sort of thinking called preconception is an old known fact in the

history of science- just to stay within our field of psychiatry, one may recall

that

for Fugene Bleuler the errors of sensory perception shown by schizophrenics

about their inner and outer worlds were insignificant from a diagnostic

viewpoint. Bleuler's belief was nevertheless a myth- This myth was forever

dethroned

by the work of Aldous Huxley, Hoffer, Osmond, and others. My clinical study

(although it should be repeated with a much larger sample of patients) is

nevertheless suggestive of the objective truth embodied in Linus Pauling's

thesis.

To terminate this short article, it is worthwhile stressing the judgement of

one of the greatest logicians in the world, W.V. Quine, who suggested that

" total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are

experience. "

 

" A conflict with experience at the periphery occasions readjustments in the

interior of the field- Truth values have to be redistributed over some of our

statements. Re-evaluation of some statements entails re-evaluation of others,

because of their logical interconnections - the logical laws being in turn

simply certain further statements of the system, certain further elements of the

field... But the total field is so undetermined by its boundary conditions,

experience, that there is much latitude of choice as to what statements to

re-evaluate in the light of any single contrary experience- No particular

experiences are linked with any particular statements in the interior of the

field,

except indirectly through considerations of equilibrium affecting the field as a

whole " 1

 

Any validated experience occurring at the periphery of this system and which

is recalcitrant with it must inevitably sooner or later lead scientists to

occasion readjustments in the core of the system. These readjustments affect

often all the structural interrelationships which obtain between the theories,

making part of the total field- It is a trivial fact known by the historian of

science that this sometimes unexpected total reconstruction of paradigms which

had been considered as standing for an image of reality, is stubbornly resisted

as they represent the painful giving-up of cherished beliefs. But the

ascending march of science was never detained by this irrational clinging to

preconceptions as such. Without pretending to be facetious, someone might say:

" The

dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on- "

 

References

1 Quine, W.V.: Two Dogmas of Empiricism Analyticity. Harris, J.F. Jr., and

Severens, Richard H. Quadrangle Books, p. 49, Chicago