His defenses are down, but his immunity is up

Chris has been moping around the house for the past several weeks. He's developed a head cold and a slight cough. Two days ago, he finally broke off his relationship with "Jenny" after hinting about doing so for weeks. HE broke it off, not her. As he related it to me, feeling the pressure of a full time relationship, no matter how good it was, was wearing on him. He said couldn't plan any future with her if he was still in the process of figuring out how to move forward himself. "Jenny" was understandably quite upset. As soon as Chris broke up with her, he immediately began questioning his decision. It's been a pretty emotional two days. I offered my sympathy, because I am sympathetic, but, wary that Chris usually feels guilty and at fault, I suggested to him that he made the right decision for now, and urged him not to backpedal. "Chris, you have a vocational resumé, and you also have an emotional resumé, and you've been getting some pretty good experience in the latter - how to navigate the turbulent waters of a relationship. If you were feeling ambivalent, under stress (whatever!) honor your decision because it respects these feelings."

On a related note, this morning Chris and I paid a visit to the "Plant Power Guy." When Chris first saw him seven months ago, the PPG, through his unusual testing techniques and not knowing Chris's diagnosis, determined that Chris had NO functioning immune system. This makes sense, if you speculate, as scientific research is increasingly doing, that schizophrenia may be an auto-immune problem. What Chris has, is probably a hyper-immune system. Hyper-immunity in Chris's case is evidenced by his never having experienced a cold, a fever, a sore throat, the flu, etc. That is, until now. He did experience psychosis, so that's where the auto-immune system may have got him. All this is speculation on my part, of course.

The PPG did his testing, and, lo and behold, Chris's immune function registered as normal. I suspected that at least his immune function would be improved, so it was surprising, but welcome news. There could be several explanations for the much strengthened immune system, not simply the plant power extracts that Chris has been taking. Chris suggested that it might have to do with the low gluten diet that he has adopted. He's been on it only two weeks, and I wonder how rigorously he adheres to it, but anything's possible. A love relationship could also be implicated, as in his defenses are down*, he is relinquishing his physical and mental defenses.

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*Song from Oklahoma!  about falling in love. (My defenses are down)

The tyranny of vitamins

I am still trying to figure out how Dr. Hoffer got such great results using a small amount of supplements with no recommended changes in diet (e.g. elimination of gluten and sugar) and no talk of psychotherapy. A reader has pointed out to me that Dr Hoffer does indeed recommend eliminating or restricting dairy, gluten, sugar and junk food in the diet. That is absolutely correct. However, for many years before the importance of diet became recognized in treating mental health disorders, Dr. Hoffer just carried on with his basic vitamin recommendations (and medications when necessary) and got good results.

Perhaps the most important reason that Dr. Hoffer had such success with his patients is that he believed in what he did. He encouraged his patients and their families to think that they could recover using vitamins. He used medications sparingly. Belief is everything, especially coming from a doctor. I also think he got these results because his patients didn't get side tracked by competing claims.

For the past thirty years or more we have been told that the newer (atypical) antipsychotics are better than the older (typical) antipsychotics. We have gotten further and further away from challenging whether antipsychotics are really needed in the first place. We have allowed ourselves to become managed by pharmaceuticals, but never cured. Is it possible that this same thing is happening with vitamins?

Today, vitamins are big business. They are state-of-the-art. They are well-researched, very good and adaptive. Alas, I have become immobilized through too much specialization and choice. I'm afraid of getting it wrong. For vitamin C you have a wide choice of delivery and added benefits, e.g. powder, liquid, capsule, with varying combinations of other vitamins and minerals. Buying vitamins is like ordering a coffee at Starbucks. I'd just like a regular coffee, thanks.

Chris is taking way more vitamins than Dr. Hoffer ever recommended, and he still isn't in a position to pay income tax. Here's what taking 35 supplements a day entails. The pills, powders and liquids have to be carefully measured, the pills put in packages and labeled. There is no plastic thingy big enough to hold all the pills so I put them all in paper packs, which I cut, fold, tape and label. Enough to last seven days or 21 paper packs in all. This goes on week in, week out. All the vitamins have to be shipped to our home. There is always the danger of running out. All of these vitamins, Chris's doctor has told me, are crucial to his some aspect of his functioning.

I would love to scale the vitamins back to just the Dr Hoffer basics. My husband and Chris don't seem inclined to rotate the position of chief pill dispenser. They are not as methodical as I am about the procedures involved. This is why women are entrusted with childcare, I remind them.