*Bipolar* Breakthrough

[Guest guest]

Bipolar Breakthrough

Jan 21, 2002

The Report

 

Bipolar breakthrough

 

http://www.truehope.com/news/news7.asp

 

A cure for manic depression gets

confirmation at Harvard

 

by Mike Byfield

 

Sometimes animals start to act crazy. Left unchecked, the aggression

can become lethal. Fortunately, porcine nervous system disorders are

usually curable by adding carefully designed micronutrients

(minerals, vitamins and amino acids) into their feed.

In sharp

contrast, schizophrenia and manic depression--also central nervous

system disorders, albeit in human beings--can rarely be cured using

the current medical tool kit of psycho-tropic drugs. Instead, many

victims die of their mental illnesses while most others suffer all

of their lives.

 

David Hardy, an animal feed specialist from Raymond in southern

Alberta, did more than wonder about this discrepancy in cures.

By applying a farm-style micronutrient mix of vitamins and minerals

to people, Mr. Hardy has apparently learned to heal manic depression

in most cases. A medical breakthrough of this importance by a layman

is, naturally, the stuff of legend. But the good news may get even

better.

 

The Hardy supplement, suggest several researchers from

Harvard and Calgary, could help revolutionize scientific

understanding about how the human brain works and heals.

 

Terrible tragedy among friends, not scientific curiosity, drew Mr.

Hardy toward his assault on bipolar affective disorder (the clinical

term for manic depression).

 

In January 1994, Debbie Stephan took her

own life in Cardston, Alta., after many years of severe bipolar

misery. At the time, two of her 10 children had already been

diagnosed as bipolar and a third would later become hypomanic.[A boy

or girl who has one bipolar parent has about a 25% chance of being

affected. The probability reaches 50% to 75% when both parents are

afflicted.] " The death of my wife devastated me, and my children

were in terrible danger, " recalls Tony Stephan, a power engineer. " I

searched exhaustively for help along every possible medical avenue. "

 

Two years after Debbie's death, the Stephan family's situation was

truly grim. Joseph--already 215 pounds at age 15--was becoming so

violent that forced hospitalization appeared inevitable.

 

He and his sister Autumn had been afflicted with ADHD (attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder) in their childhood. Autumn started

exhibiting bipolar signs by 12 years old.

 

The birth of her own son at age 20

triggered a massive onset. Daily cycles between mania and depression

escalated to hallucinations and hearing voices. The young mother

feared constantly that her husband, Dana Stringam, was conspiring to

kill her and she often acted out violently.

 

At this point, Messrs. Hardy and Stephan--both Mormons from

neighbouring communities--agreed to try a micronutrient mix with

Joseph. The notion is not so outlandish as it might seem. Pigs, like

people, are omnivores, with relatively high intelligence to boot.

Patient Zero, as Joseph Stephan likes to call himself, became free

of manic depressive symptoms within 30 days. More than five years

later, he still lives and works normally.

 

The results were equally dramatic with his sister Autumn. " I could

feel real emotions again. I can't describe how lovely that is after

so much illness and drugs, " Ms. Stringam recalls. By careful use of

the micronutrient mix, she has had two more children with no

difficulty. A profound partnership developed between her father and

David Hardy as the two men pondered and prayed about the near-

miracle

unfolding before their grateful eyes.

 

" The difficulty appears to be that certain people are short of trace

minerals within their system and do not readily take up these

micronutrients when they are available, " explains Mr. Hardy, who

holds a degree in biology.

 

He cites a study from Johns Hopkins

University as a " strong indicator " favouring this diagnosis. Among

frequent-attender patients whose visits to the hospital were

prompted

by digestive-tract disorders, 90% also suffered from a mental

disorder. Many of these victims had two mental disorders.

 

Synergy Group of Canada was founded by the Hardy-Stephan duo to

manufacture and distribute the concoction that cured the Stephan

children, now called EM Power.

 

The supplement contains 36 ordinary

minerals, vitamins and amino acids. So common are these ingredients

that the formula cannot be effectively patented and the company may

never make much money. But because none of its content is classified

as pharmaceutical, the supplement can be distributed without

prescription.

 

Although designed originally with bipolar in mind, EM Power has

apparently been quite effective for depression as well. People with

ailments ranging from ADHD to schizophrenia continue to try the

nutraceutical, sometimes with success.

 

This experimentation mimics

the development of micronutrients for agriculture, Mr. Hardy

comments. " In animal nutrition, we learned by trial and error that

all of the needed micronutrients not only have to be present but

they must be present in the right proportions.

 

That factor is important to

successful uptake by the body, whether human or animal, " Mr. Hardy

says. " We don't know why a specific blend works in one situation or

another, just that it does. "

 

Many researchers have focused on trace minerals over the past half-

century. (Vitamins come into play because they enable the human body

to utilize minerals.) Leading much of that investigation was Walter

Mertz, former director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Human

Nutrition Research Center, in Maryland. He also edited multiple

editions of a standard text, Trace Elements in Human and Animal

Nutrition. In 1955, Dr. Mertz himself discovered that chromium is a

vital trace nutrient.

 

" Every disease has a preliminary appearance when it is not a disease

but only a slight metabolic abnormality, " explains the retired

scientist.

" For instance, glucose intolerance precedes the onset of

diabetes. The presence of chromium is essential to preventing that

progression from occurring. " Dr. Mertz believes that the quantities

of most trace minerals required by the human body are understood.

 

But not all. " That question is still the subject of large research

projects in the United States. The challenges in analysis are

formidable, " he notes. Furthermore, research to date has only

indicated a vital role for trace minerals in preventing disease. To

date, Dr. Mertz cautions, conventional health specialists have not

figured out how to use them in curing mental illness.

 

Keenly aware of the previous limits of micronutrients for healing is

Margaret Shirley, a nurse who has worked in emergency wards in the

Lower Mainland of B.C. and in Alberta. At age 31, she had her

first " episode " of clinical depression. It lasted a year, the second

episode endured two years and several more followed. " I had always

been a normal, hard-working person, " says Ms. Shirley, now 50. " My

symptoms originally occurred when I had my first child, which is

common. The feelings involved in deep depression cannot really be

understood by someone who hasn't experienced them but, believe me,

they are terrible. To recover, I tried everything, including the

conventional drugs as well as nutrients. "

 

Ms. Shirley, who lives in Bragg Creek west of Calgary, spent a

costly

month at a clinic in Tucson, Arizona. There she took micronutrients

intravenously to help their absorption. The veteran nurse was also

treated by an internationally known doctor in Denver. Furthermore,

she self-treated with near-raw foods and other techniques

implemented

with the counsel of a pharmacist who had a deep interest in

nutrition. " Nothing helped enough. The probability, I knew, was that

my depressive episodes would get more frequent and more severe in

intensity. Frankly, I thought my condition would kill me. "

 

A year ago, the nurse heard about the Synergy Group. " For me, EM

Power just worked. I am completely okay now, " testifies Ms.

Shirley. " Some people may wonder if the healing isn't psychosomatic,

some sort of placebo effect. But anyone who's been through an ordeal

like bipolar or clinical depression knows that a deep, stable sense

of mental health cannot possibly be restored by positive thinking or

anything else less substantial than a genuine cure. "

 

News about EM Power first spread by word of mouth among bipolar

victims. From the beginning, however, Synergy's two co-founders

realized that scientific validation was essential to getting their

solution to millions of sufferers. " We visited a lot of offices

trying to persuade doctors and scientists to look at our results.

There was a lot of scepticism, to say the least, " remembers Mr.

Stephan with a smile. Bonnie Kaplan, a research psychologist at the

University of Calgary and Alberta Children's Hospital, initially

assumed they were a couple of " snake oil " salesmen peddling

vitamins,

and refused to see them. But Synergy's customers were trained to

self-

report their symptoms. Slowly an impressive record of documented

success emerged. Notified by a Lethbridge colleague, Dr. Kaplan

reconsidered. She and Steve Simpson, a psychiatrist at Calgary's

Foothills Hospital and the U of C, decided to test EM Power on the

next handful of bipolar patients who came through the door.

 

The results were dramatic. On average, the 14 patients taking the

supplement found their symptoms reduced by more than 50% compared to

their earlier experience with psychotropic drugs. To illustrate the

significance of those findings, Dr. Kaplan draws an analogy with a

new species of corn. " Suppose corn normally grows six feet tall, but

someone comes up with a new type of seed which appears to grow two

inches taller. To demonstrate that the two-inch improvement is

definitely real, you'd have to grow many acres of corn in a variety

of testing conditions. But let's say that you are handed 10 seeds of

a new corn variety and those plants grow to an average of 12 feet.

At

that point, even with a small sample, you'd definitely be very

interested. That's analogous to what happened with our case series

on EM Power. "

 

In October 2000, a Kaplan/Simpson paper on their bipolar work drew

considerable attention when presented to a meeting of the Canadian

Psychiatric Association in Victoria. Last month, it was printed in

the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, a prestigious U.S. publication.

Harvard University psychiatrist Charles Popper, who has monitored

patients within his own practice, also reported remarkable results

in

the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry: " Among the

15 patients who were being treated with medications when they began

the nutritional supplement, 11 patients have been stable for six to

nine months without psychiatric medications. " The most common side

effect is nausea from ingesting so many supplement capsules per day.

Headaches and loose stools occur, but much less frequently. No

classical symptoms of vitamin or mineral toxicity have cropped up.

 

In his article, Dr. Popper wonders how the Hardy-Stefan

nutraceutical

functions physiologically: " Might minerals serve as catalysts for

enzymes involved in neurotransmitter metabolism, change drug

biotransformation, modify membrane receptors or channels, influence

second or third messenger systems, or alter gene expression? " The

psychiatrist notes that the most common medication for treating

bipolar patients is lithium, itself a mineral. " The possibilities if

there were numerous interacting micronutrients are staggering. "

Given

sufficient research, he speculates, specific micronutrient formulas

may be tailored for various ailments in different people.

 

The Harvard doctor notes that experimentation with more than one

variable is deeply alien to conventional science. That is the

biggest

reason why the by-guess-and-by-golly success of testing combinations

on animals' mental health by agribusiness has been overlooked for so

long. However, Dr. Popper adds one pointed warning to colleagues

about combining strong nutritional supplements with existing

psychoactive prescriptions: " Psychiatrists do not normally think of

vitamins or minerals as modifiers of psychiatric medications, but

early anecdotal experience with this nutrient supplement suggests

that there may be strong micronutrient-medication interactions. "

 

Simply put, many psychotropic drugs would make a normal person

insane. Therefore, when the Hardy-Stephan supplement begins to have

its healing effect, any ongoing effects of psychotropic drugs can

become highly destabilizing for bipolar and depression victims. The

after-effects of these medicines can crop up sporadically for years,

much like LSD flashbacks, and withdrawal symptoms from the most

addictive chemicals are comparable in painful intensity to cocaine

habituation.

 

Synergy distributes EM Power to patients by direct purchase, via the

Internet or by phone (1-888-TRUEHOP). The price includes telephone

advice from a Truehope assistant, many of whom are themselves

recovered bipolar victims. These counsellors, who usually work for

little more than their expenses, help handle the potentially

perilous

transition from psychotropic medications. A patient normally takes

32

capsules per day until his symptoms disappear, at a cost of about

$220 per month. The ongoing maintenance dosage varies widely but

averages about 16 capsules. In the past year, the number of

customers

has mushroomed from 1,000 to 3,000.

 

" The transition period to normalcy is often difficult and sometimes

dangerous, " Tony Stephan confirms. " Besides the drug complications,

a

patient may also be depressed as he returns to reality and a

realistic perception of his life. Your marriage, your relationships

with your children, your career and your finances may all be in

ruins. We say 40% of the work is done by the supplement, 60% by our

support system. " That statement can be amply confirmed by reading

posts on the discussion forum at truehope.com, the Synergy Web site.

The messages are, in effect, reports from the front lines of a war.

Clients already taking the nutraceutical must wonder for weeks if

they will be among those helped or not. Patients with bowel-related

digestive problems struggle particularly hard while they figure out

how they can somehow absorb the micronutrients in the supplement.

 

The most vociferous sceptic concerning Synergy's work is Terry

Polevoy, a doctor who runs an acne clinic in Kitchener, Ont. He also

administers an anti-quackery Web site called healthwatcher.net as

a " kind of hobby. " Dr. Polevoy says he has fielded complaints about

EM Power from the Internet and still has many questions about the

supplement.

 

" This is powerful stuff which is even being used on

children without pharmaceutical evaluation, " the physician notes.

Yet

he acknowledges that " someone close to me " was being treated for

bipolar symptoms with four or five psychotropic drugs. All had

potentially dangerous side effects. Nonetheless, Dr. Polevoy wants

Synergy's claims subjected to a proper clinical trial.

 

So does Synergy. In 2000, the Alberta government announced a

$554,000

grant for a double-blind testing of EM Power by the University of

Calgary. One hundred patients were scheduled to be assessed over two

years. (Double-blind refers to the fact that neither the staff

dispensing the pills nor the patients themselves will know which

group is receiving the nutraceutical and which is not.)

 

But the testing proposal has encountered procedural obstacles,

resulting in repeated delays which have frustrated Dr. Kaplan.

Health

Canada, a 6,000-employee leviathan, recently placed the regulation

of

micronutrients under its newly organized Health Products and Food

Branch. Unfortunately, the directorate took regulatory jurisdiction

before it created evaluation procedures for new products. After much

bureaucratic ado, Dr. Kaplan says, she and Dr. Simpson received a

final set of directives from Health Canada in late December. The

trial should proceed shortly.

 

Bipolar affective disorder: the highs and lows of hell

 

UNTIL now, bipolar effective disorder has been an incurable malady

which is believed to afflict one or two North Americans in 100. The

disease, also called manic depression, triggers severe cycles of

emotional highs and lows. Among its 300,000 or more Canadian victims

is Gayle Duncan, a 57-year-old Albertan. " I was an athletic girl and

honour student, but I tried to commit suicide when I was 15, "

recalls

the former teacher, who was born at Olds, Alta. " My disease has been

hell on earth for my two children and me. "

 

In many ways, Ms. Duncan is a classic bipolar victim, who tend to be

bright. Despite her difficulties, she did graduate from the

University of Alberta and then taught in Kelowna and Calgary. But

the

depression-prone woman tried to commit suicide five more times.

Once,

a neighbour praying for her felt suddenly moved to visit and found

her near death from an overdose. On another occasion, crashing her

Volkswagen Beetle deliberately into a concrete overpass left Ms.

Duncan with serious physical injuries. " I'm alive by a miracle, " she

professes.

 

The Lethbridge resident has spent many months in psychiatric wards

over the years. Long courses of drugs and electroconvulsive shock

therapy erased many of her memories. Her marriage and her career

dissolved. Her emotions roller-coastered between long, shattering

lows and occasional obsessive highs, often saturated with fury. And

Ms. Duncan's woes are grimly common.

 

In the depressive phase, waves of deep despair can prevent the

bipolar victim from performing simple tasks like getting dressed in

the morning or feeding her children. A mental fog can make thinking

impossible, even for tasks like adding two plus two. Overeating and

weight gain are routine, as is paralyzing disinterest in other

people

and previously loved activities. Holding a job usually becomes

impossible, even with medication. An estimated 15% commit suicide.

 

The shift to mania can occur in five minutes or five months. At that

point, exhilarating overconfidence commonly leads to foolishness

like

buying a $40,000 sports car or harassing the owners of a ranch to

sell it. A man who is normally frightened of snakes may arrive home

with several of them draped around his neck. To reduce the

government's need for taxes, a woman once planted coins in the

Alberta Legislature grounds so money trees would grow. Thoughts seem

to flow at great speed. The mania victim may not sleep for days,

starting and abandoning one project after another. Elation can

easily

turn to rage.

 

Manics sometimes believe they are conversing with God or angels.

Reckless speeding may occur. Promiscuity is also common, and a mild

example would be attempting to undress at a Christmas party. Far

more

serious was the normally chaste woman who wandered along a river

sleeping with every willing man she met. Another victim, a

churchgoing mother of two, shaved her head and dyed the stubble

purple, then went hitchhiking. She had sex with a series of

truckers,

becoming pregnant in the process. Deeds performed while manic can

severely reinforce the depressive stage when it recurs in due course.

 

Part and parcel of bipolar's deadly horror has been its treatment.

Lithium, the most commonly prescribed pharmaceutical, can only

diminish the symptoms, not cure the illness, and it frequently fails

to achieve even that.

 

Lithium is also dangerous to people with kidney

trouble and some other physical conditions. It may interact with

many other substances, some as common as salt and caffeine. In the

event of problems, doctors employ scores of other emotion-muffling

drugs, some severely addictive and many with nasty side effects.

 

 

Bipolar symptoms may then be complicated rather than cured by the

drug therapy.

 

Today, Ms. Duncan considers herself fully recovered with the help of

the mineral-vitamin supplement pioneered by David Hardy's Synergy

Group (see main story).

 

" For 40 years, no medicine really worked for

me. Then, in July 1999, David took me into his program. I started

decreasing the use of my five prescribed psychotropic medicines. By

September, I was drug-free for good. I've lost 40 pounds and my

emotional equilibrium is excellent. My kids and I love each other.

Even my father and I were able to make up and become very close. I

realize now that his long-term alcoholism was due to a mental

condition similar to mine. He and I sang and prayed together daily.

My dad's dead now, but he did come to Christ. What a journey our

family has been on. And how I hope that this medicine will be

accepted by the millions of other people still suffering. I think

about them every day. "

 

Psychotropic meds can harm as well as heal

 

THE risks of psychotropic drugs affect more than bipolar victims. An

excellent example is paroxetine, most commonly sold under the trade

name Paxil. Unquestionably, the drug often helps people who have

difficulty with depression. IMS Health Canada, a market data firm,

reports that Canadians absorb three million prescriptions for

paroxetine annually, making it the nation's eighth most commonly

prescribed drug. But an intervention which affects brain chemistry

can be problematic, too.

 

In one clinical trial, 16% of patients discontinued the use of

paroxetine due to side effects such as hallucinations and paranoia,

severe shakes, the washing out of their emotions and more.

Paroxetine

triggers mania in 2% of bipolar patients, according to another

study.

Although patients are often told that the drug is non-addictive,

withdrawal symptoms can feel horrid. And an article in the American

Journal of Epidemiology, published in May 2000, associates two years

or more of paroxetine usage with a 720% increase in the incidence of

breast cancer.

 

The spreading plague of depression

 

FOR Canadians, the trend toward mental illness appears downright

alarming. IMS Health Canada, a Montreal firm which tracks

healthcare,

says depression prompted 7.8 million visits to doctors in 2000. That

figure has risen by 36% over a period of five years. Only high blood

pressure causes more trips to physicians. Canadian prescriptions for

psychotherapeutic drugs during 2000 rose by 14% in just one year,

according to IMS, and by 21% in the U.S. Among other troubling

indicators, B.C. has just created a separate ministry for mental

health, while mentally related treatments now cost the Alberta

government about $2 billion annually.

 

" The burden of disease has shifted from traditional physical killers

to psychiatric disorders, " says Bill Wilkerson, co-founder of the

Business and Economic Round Table on Mental Health. His career has

spanned crisis management assignments for former prime minister

Pierre Trudeau, the CBC, ITT and the Royal Bank. He also worked as

chief of staff for the City of Toronto and CEO of Liberty Health

(formerly Ontario Blue Cross). " Health Canada estimates that mental

illness costs Canada $14 billion annually, " Mr. Wilkerson

comments. " I think the true figure, including lost productivity,

would be twice as high. "

 

In a review released two years ago, the Round Table estimated that

three million Canadians suffer from significant depression. If that

is true, only 6% of all cases have been diagnosed and treated. In

the

report, Royal LePage president Colum Bastable--a founding member of

the three-year-old Round Table--acknowledges that he had previously

been sceptical about the issue's importance for business. " I don't

need more convincing [now], " he states.

 

A Harvard University study undertaken for the World Health

Organization and the World Bank assessed depression as the fourth-

ranked factor in the total burden of global disease. As people live

longer, psychological problems are increasing. " An almost

indescribable mingling of forces produces mental illness, " Mr.

Wilkerson says. Suspected factors range from stress and violence to

the mysteries of the human brain. Nutritionally, too many North

Americans prefer to eat diets laden with junk food and highly

processed ingredients.

 

The risks are not just mental. Depression is highly associated with

cardiovascular disease and a far greater risk of heart

attack. " Business must pay more attention, especially to

depression, "

Mr. Wilkerson advises. " In particular, we still don't know nearly

enough about the relationship between the physical and psychological

factors in mental illness. "