I had schizophrenia and still have, but it's now not as prevalent after years of eating mostly vegetable, raw, and very ripe, fermented sometimes (like when peppers, onions, garlic for example are getting soft, people usually call them "rotten", but I prefer them like this actually, there can even be some bacteria formation on it, it doesn't matter). That with regular walking/running outdoor helped me so much. A typical daily meal: Red/orange peppers, onions of all kind, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes in a bucket, rince, add lemoon juice on top, and eat slowly, masticating properly, doing nothing else, fruits as well before or after clementines, grapes, figs, persimmons, dates, walnuts, amonds (depending on the season). (I'm not vegan but I rarely eat other things as I'm full with this, I started this because it was a cheap way to eat)
I don't have the link handy but I recall a study that found doing a bone marrow transplant from a person that has schizophrenia to a person that does not will give the recipient schizophrenia. More interesting is that it works the other way around. A non-schozophrenic person donating bone marrow to a person that has it seems to rid them of it. Not that this information is super useful. Bone marrow transplants are risky and painful or so I've read.
I don't think this is the study I had found but it's probably related. [1]
Thank you for being open and sharing your experience. I appreciate you sharing your dietary expertise. I’m currently in the middle of Dr. Hyman’s UltraMind solution book and plan to add your suggestions to my diet. Personally I’m diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, and thought to add my experience as well. I ate junk for over 20 years growing up which didn’t help my brain/gut.
In addition to foods, two things that have helped me tremendously and have not given me the horrendous side effects of Antipsychotics are what I’m currently taking:
- Sarcosine 1 gram/day (dissolved in water)
-- An amino acid that occurs naturally in foods such as egg yolks, turkey, and legumes, and can be bought as a dietary supplement.
- BPC-157 250mcg ever other day (enteric coating capsule)
-- Which is composed of 15 amino acids, is a partial sequence of body protection compound (BPC) that is discovered in and isolated from human gastric juice
(Don’t blindly take my advice or change medicines without supervision, I make no guarantees on efficacy or safety.)
I have a good deal of research notes on what I’ve found on why they work but hacker news has smarter people than I and would love to hear from others. The brain gut connection is massively important.
Efficacy and cognitive effect of sarcosine (N-methylglycine) in patients with schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of double-blind randomised controlled trials https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32122256/
A novel pentadecapeptide, BPC 157, blocks the stereotypy produced acutely by amphetamine and the development of haloperidol-induced supersensitivity to amphetamine https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9547930/
BPC 157, L-NAME, L-Arginine, NO-Relation, in the Suited Rat Ketamine Models Resembling "Negative-Like" Symptoms of Schizophrenia https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35884767/
I read not long ago about a connection between gut bugs and schizophrenia and how probiotics may help with that too. Looks to me like your diet may be doing the same thing.
I've updated this joke just now, but they still haven't
-
Spoken as the magnanimous Stephen Wright the comedian ;
"We used to have schizophrenia, but now... only to them."
-
"schizophrenics used to make jokes to their friends... but now, only to us."
"I used to be afraid of schizophrenic's comments, but now I just dont know where they are coming from"
"A schizophrenic once told me this, and this is true, a Mayan saying is In'Laketch - which means "Iam another yourself" -- and this was my best friend.
I don't measure anyhing to be honest, I stop eating when I'm full, and only 1 or 2 meal a day
It gives me enough energy to go get this food with my bike, 15km away at markets, also helping merchants, I do this twice per week. The rest of the time I work remotely for me real employer
The amount of calories is not only relevant, the way to digest it efficiently as well
The psychiatrists I saw years ago said it will only get worse with time, and he gave me an antipsychotics treatment, I tried 4 months then stopped because my brain was so disconnected, I felt like a vegetable, I couldn't even write or talk properly. Antidepressant or lighter drugs didn't have much effect. So I tried to cure myself with other ways (a bit coincidentally with food)
A Yogi master I once knew said to not eat onions (nightshades) as they interfere with your psychic aura or something.
Since you seem to have a handle on your diet, may I request you do an cleanse of sorts and not eat onions for ~1 month and report if you feel any differences?
> Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) is best known as a neurotransmitter critical for central nervous system (CNS) development and function. 95% of the body’s serotonin, however, is produced in the intestine where it has been increasingly recognized for its hormonal, autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine actions.
--
Here's this chemical that we use to run our brain... where is it produced? Not in the brain, but rather in the gut.
> Here's this chemical that we use to run our brain... where is it produced? Not in the brain, but rather in the gut.
No, it’s produced in the brain, too.
Serotonin plays multiple functions in the body. It is also produced locally in the brain. It plays a significant role in the circulatory system as well.
Serotonin in your stomach does not migrate to the brain. You cannot eat serotonin and have it end up in your brain. You can consume serotonin precursors, which are transported to the brain and used to produce serotonin locally.
The body is very segmented, especially the central nervous system. The body can’t be interpreted as a chemical soup where all the chemicals are mingling with all the organs at the same levels.
From what I read, the reasons why it's beneficial is that it improved gut motility and the intestinal mucosal lining, which subsequently improves hormonal, autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine actions.
Peripheral and central serotonergic systems are both relevant:
> Because 5-HT cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, the peripheral 5-HT system is functionally separate from the central 5-HT system. — Diabetes Metab J. 2016 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27126880/
I've dealt with colon cancer in 2016 and again now in the present. I don't what the hell is driving it, but the gut biome is fascinating. It's definitely made me look at my diet and food variety much more seriously. I've started taking probiotics, drinking kombucha from time to time and adopting a more whole food / plant based diet. Does it have an affect? who the heck knows.
Doing the exact opposite might help — probiotics feed harmful bacteria as well and a different strategy would be to simply try to keep your microbiome as basic and unintrusive as possible, allowing the gut to calm and heal.
It’s easier said than done; recommend looking into natural antibiotics (eg cooked white button mushrooms), indigestible fibre to ensure regular movements, which more than anything lowers endotoxin load (raw carrot salad), carbs from sugars instead of starch, which get absorbed more quickly and won’t be very “prebiotic” (eg ripe oranges, honey) and nutrient dense foods to meet metrics (organ meats and cheeses).
Probiotics do not feed bacteria, they are bacteria. SCFAs, butyrate, etc. are critical components for overall health, and especially in colon health and the normal functioning of apoptosis and other mechanisms. Prebiotic plant fiber feeds the healthy bacteria which produce those. Eating WFPB helps the healthy bacteria thrive and starve out the bad ones. Trying to intentionally repress the entire microbiome is a recipe for creating an opening for unhealthy bacteria to take over, while also depriving the body of healthy microbiome byproducts.
(Disclaimer upfront: I am not a doctor or medical professional.)
Kombucha often contains some alcohol. I'd suggest being cautious about alcohol consumption - frankly, eliminating it altogether from your diet would be my personal suggestion; there is evidence of increased risk of colon cancer from alcohol.
Just grabbing the first thing I found: "Moderate to heavy alcohol consumption is associated with 1.2- to 1.5-fold increased risks of cancers of the colon and rectum compared with no alcohol consumption".
From here: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/a...
They give several references there to back up that statement, those could be worth reading.
Best wishes for your recovery and health and longterm success.
Edit: wow, i'm getting downvoted? if i'm saying something inaccurate or inappropriate here, i'd be grateful for some specific feedback. thanks.
Kombucha has about 0.5% alcohol by volume [0] (a ripe banana has 0.4%) so it’s not really a reasonable risk per the studies you link to. I think this is a foolish interpretation and even as a non medical doctor it’s easy to look at the alcohol content and think critically.
Kombucha has 1/10 the alcohol of a beer. So you would need to drink 40 12oz kombuchas in an hour to be intoxicated (moderate alcohol use). That’s almost 4 gallons and really not practical a single time, much less daily like what contributes to colon cancer risk.
I suspect you’re being downvoted because your comment is low value, wrong, and doesn’t need to be seen. For specific feedback, I think you can think critically about whether the level of alcohol applies to the advice you give.
It’s the dose that makes toxicity. Working to eliminate completely things that don’t matter reflect a wrong understanding of nature.
Moderate consumption was previously defined as 1-2 drinks per day for men or 7 a week, which does not seem moderate at all. This guideline has recently been changed in some countries to 1-2 a week.
a 1.5 fold increase of risk is not necessarily significant if the baseline risk is low, but notwithstanding, I'm not convinced that actually moderate consumption of alcohol poses much of a risk.
Isn't kombucha way less than "moderate to heavy alcohol consumption"? Besides, small amounts of alcohol form naturally from stuff fermenting in your gut. To be honest, I would be more concerned about my tooth enamel degrading from heavy kombucha consumption (as it is very acidic) rather than the alcohol content.
All of this is super interesting but it's been discussed for a while and I'm still waiting for a "do $x, it will improve condition $y through mechanism $z" kind of prescription and I don't think that's coming any time soon.
That humans are by and large a host for the bacteria in our gut and elsewhere -- and the degree to which these (happy or unhappy) tenants can impact our behavior -- is something I constantly struggle to find controversial.
Look at the mountain of studies on T. Gondii alone, and then tell me with a straight face the several dozen odd other strains present in our gut microbiome under normal working conditions don't exert any similar sort of effect.
"Happy bacteria, happy host" is my motto, I try to do things within reason to appease our tiny bacterial overloads.
(Unless you get a bad bacteria, then condolences to you)
This is some real "duh" stuff: of course gut microbes do, you are what you eat.
People with coeliac are often depressed. Sugar gives a rush and destroys food<-->dopamine. For autism, there's the very questionable "parasite" treatment.
Also, reducing acidity works wonders. Even Tesla swore by it.
If anyone's interested in "fringe" nutrition stuff, look up Aajonus Vonderplanitz. A lot of poeple will reduce what he said to "carnivore diet" but it's much more than that. Ray Peat, similarly.
A carnvore diet won't reduce acidity, quite the opposite. Proteins are metabolized acidicly, which you need buffer by eating food that is metabolized basically. Else your body is gonna take calcium from your bones counteract it to keep the bloods pH steady. Why does Popeye eat spinach? It's the most basic food we know, but it contains loads of Oxalates [0], which can lead to kidney stones. The classic scrambled eggs and spinach, as recommended by Tim Ferris and John Berardi. In his nutrition plans, Berardi always includes loads of healthy oils ( Monounsaturated & Omega 3 fatty acids) and vegetables (to counter the acid produced by high protein consumption) in his nutrition plans, highly recommended.
About five years ago, after experimenting with some diet changes, I started having some pretty terrible digestive issues, like extremely bloating and indigestion. The issues would fluctuate, sometimes being much worse than others. Along with it came personality changes, like apathy, and they would also fluctuate along with the digestive issues. It's actually pretty scary how much it affected my brain. There are times when the apathy is so extreme I feel like a psychopath, and that comes from someone that once upon a time was vegan due to ethical reasons, so I am (or was) an empathic person. It really is mindblowing. The thoughts I have had and sometimes have would put me in a psychiatric hospital, thoughts I would have never imagined I would have.
Sorry if I'm reading into this too much, but did the symptoms you described above ultimately lead to you abandoning veganism? Also, what were the dietary changes that caused those symptoms?
Yeah, I ended up abandoning veganism, because I no longer felt (and feel) the empathy that I did back in the day (if there's much left). Being able to experience the world through the lenses of someone with low empathy makes you a little sympathetic (heh) to those that are born like that. Basically my decisions are purely rational as of today. I'm lucky to not be impulsive at all; if I were, I would have fewer friends than I do.
I briefly answered the dietary changes in another comment.
I also have struggled for years with IBS-C, SIBO, food sensitivities, chronic inflammation, and mood disorders. It all started with multiple parasites and infections (e. Coli, giardia) from a year in India.
Rifaximin, an antibiotic, helped reset my gut and symptoms would disappear for a while but slowly creep back.
The thing that finally fixed it for me a little over a year ago is a well formulated probiotic called Seed. They have a fancy capsule that helps it survive stomach acid before delivering the goods to the bottom of the small intestine. I had tried many other probiotics and every home fermentation project before that to no avail. Within a week of taking Seed I felt 90% better, and the improvements have stayed with me for over a year and going back to a normal diet.
Yeah, it's pretty complicated. I have gotten blood, stool, and urine tests and all have come out fine. Food that previously would never cause any issues cause massive problems nowadays. Did your issues come from any dietary changes? How did they appear?
It's hard to say. The diet was vegan, but it was a poorly implemented vegan diet. I was basically eating a lot of fruit and legumes, far too much fruit I should say. Once I started having the digestive issues, I started reading about it on the Internet, and I came across some sites talking about copper overload, how vegan diets inevitably suffer from an inbalance between zinc and copper, but I'm not sure if it's pseudoscience or not. I do have low ceruloplasmin, which is the molecule that carries copper around the blood, so that is at least interesting, but yeah, could be coincidence. In any case, I haven't managed to fix it unfortunately, even after switching to an ordinary diet.
Readit News
I don't think this is the study I had found but it's probably related. [1]
[1] - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5613125/
In addition to foods, two things that have helped me tremendously and have not given me the horrendous side effects of Antipsychotics are what I’m currently taking:
- Sarcosine 1 gram/day (dissolved in water) -- An amino acid that occurs naturally in foods such as egg yolks, turkey, and legumes, and can be bought as a dietary supplement.
- BPC-157 250mcg ever other day (enteric coating capsule) -- Which is composed of 15 amino acids, is a partial sequence of body protection compound (BPC) that is discovered in and isolated from human gastric juice
(Don’t blindly take my advice or change medicines without supervision, I make no guarantees on efficacy or safety.)
I have a good deal of research notes on what I’ve found on why they work but hacker news has smarter people than I and would love to hear from others. The brain gut connection is massively important.
Sarcosine:
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Sarcosine
The NMDA Receptor and Schizophrenia: From Pathophysiology to Treatment https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5518924/
Efficacy and cognitive effect of sarcosine (N-methylglycine) in patients with schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of double-blind randomised controlled trials https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32122256/
Two grams of sarcosine in schizophrenia - is it too much? A potential role of glutamate-serotonin interaction https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24523591/
BPC-157:
Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 and the central nervous system https://journals.lww.com/nrronline/Fulltext/2022/03000/Penta...
Brain-gut Axis and Pentadecapeptide BPC 157: Theoretical and Practical Implications https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5333585/
A novel pentadecapeptide, BPC 157, blocks the stereotypy produced acutely by amphetamine and the development of haloperidol-induced supersensitivity to amphetamine https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9547930/
BPC 157, L-NAME, L-Arginine, NO-Relation, in the Suited Rat Ketamine Models Resembling "Negative-Like" Symptoms of Schizophrenia https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35884767/
Gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 effective against serotonin syndrome in rats https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15840402/
Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 attenuates chronic amphetamine-induced behavior disturbances https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11978191/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976342...
Spoken dead-pan style in Steven Wright's voice:
-
"I used to have schizophrenia, but they still have it"
https://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/schizophrenia-myths-and-...
-
Spoken as the magnanimous Stephen Wright the comedian ;
"We used to have schizophrenia, but now... only to them."
-
"schizophrenics used to make jokes to their friends... but now, only to us."
"I used to be afraid of schizophrenic's comments, but now I just dont know where they are coming from"
"A schizophrenic once told me this, and this is true, a Mayan saying is In'Laketch - which means "Iam another yourself" -- and this was my best friend.
So I had only one response.
"I don't even know who you are any more"
“I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.”
It gives me enough energy to go get this food with my bike, 15km away at markets, also helping merchants, I do this twice per week. The rest of the time I work remotely for me real employer
The amount of calories is not only relevant, the way to digest it efficiently as well
Dead Comment
A Yogi master I once knew said to not eat onions (nightshades) as they interfere with your psychic aura or something.
Since you seem to have a handle on your diet, may I request you do an cleanse of sorts and not eat onions for ~1 month and report if you feel any differences?
If I was living before medicine was a common practice I'd probably attribute diarrhea and cramps to "psychic auras" as well.
Deleted Comment
> Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) is best known as a neurotransmitter critical for central nervous system (CNS) development and function. 95% of the body’s serotonin, however, is produced in the intestine where it has been increasingly recognized for its hormonal, autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine actions.
--
Here's this chemical that we use to run our brain... where is it produced? Not in the brain, but rather in the gut.
No, it’s produced in the brain, too.
Serotonin plays multiple functions in the body. It is also produced locally in the brain. It plays a significant role in the circulatory system as well.
Serotonin in your stomach does not migrate to the brain. You cannot eat serotonin and have it end up in your brain. You can consume serotonin precursors, which are transported to the brain and used to produce serotonin locally.
The body is very segmented, especially the central nervous system. The body can’t be interpreted as a chemical soup where all the chemicals are mingling with all the organs at the same levels.
> Because 5-HT cannot cross the blood-brain barrier, the peripheral 5-HT system is functionally separate from the central 5-HT system. — Diabetes Metab J. 2016 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27126880/
5-HTP*
5-HTP is 5-Hydroxytryptophan, a precursor to 5-HT.
It’s easier said than done; recommend looking into natural antibiotics (eg cooked white button mushrooms), indigestible fibre to ensure regular movements, which more than anything lowers endotoxin load (raw carrot salad), carbs from sugars instead of starch, which get absorbed more quickly and won’t be very “prebiotic” (eg ripe oranges, honey) and nutrient dense foods to meet metrics (organ meats and cheeses).
Kombucha often contains some alcohol. I'd suggest being cautious about alcohol consumption - frankly, eliminating it altogether from your diet would be my personal suggestion; there is evidence of increased risk of colon cancer from alcohol.
Just grabbing the first thing I found: "Moderate to heavy alcohol consumption is associated with 1.2- to 1.5-fold increased risks of cancers of the colon and rectum compared with no alcohol consumption". From here: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/a...
They give several references there to back up that statement, those could be worth reading.
Best wishes for your recovery and health and longterm success.
Edit: wow, i'm getting downvoted? if i'm saying something inaccurate or inappropriate here, i'd be grateful for some specific feedback. thanks.
Kombucha has 1/10 the alcohol of a beer. So you would need to drink 40 12oz kombuchas in an hour to be intoxicated (moderate alcohol use). That’s almost 4 gallons and really not practical a single time, much less daily like what contributes to colon cancer risk.
I suspect you’re being downvoted because your comment is low value, wrong, and doesn’t need to be seen. For specific feedback, I think you can think critically about whether the level of alcohol applies to the advice you give.
It’s the dose that makes toxicity. Working to eliminate completely things that don’t matter reflect a wrong understanding of nature.
[0] https://www.no1living.com/blogs/blog/is-kombucha-alcoholic
a 1.5 fold increase of risk is not necessarily significant if the baseline risk is low, but notwithstanding, I'm not convinced that actually moderate consumption of alcohol poses much of a risk.
Look at the mountain of studies on T. Gondii alone, and then tell me with a straight face the several dozen odd other strains present in our gut microbiome under normal working conditions don't exert any similar sort of effect.
"Happy bacteria, happy host" is my motto, I try to do things within reason to appease our tiny bacterial overloads.
(Unless you get a bad bacteria, then condolences to you)
People with coeliac are often depressed. Sugar gives a rush and destroys food<-->dopamine. For autism, there's the very questionable "parasite" treatment.
Also, reducing acidity works wonders. Even Tesla swore by it.
If anyone's interested in "fringe" nutrition stuff, look up Aajonus Vonderplanitz. A lot of poeple will reduce what he said to "carnivore diet" but it's much more than that. Ray Peat, similarly.
[0] https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-oxalates
[1] https://www.johnberardi.com/
C-f "acidity"
Deleted Comment
I briefly answered the dietary changes in another comment.
No idea the path to recovery is
Rifaximin, an antibiotic, helped reset my gut and symptoms would disappear for a while but slowly creep back.
The thing that finally fixed it for me a little over a year ago is a well formulated probiotic called Seed. They have a fancy capsule that helps it survive stomach acid before delivering the goods to the bottom of the small intestine. I had tried many other probiotics and every home fermentation project before that to no avail. Within a week of taking Seed I felt 90% better, and the improvements have stayed with me for over a year and going back to a normal diet.
Good luck <3