| Balancing Body Chemistry Seminar William Walsh, Ph.D. of Pfeiffer Treatment Center Monday, July 15, 2002 “Pfeiffer Treatment Center is a non-profit medical clinic treating biochemical imbalances with individualized nutrient programs prescribed by our medical staff.” Dr. Walsh worked for Argonne until 1986. One of his first questions was “Why do people have a Behavior Disorder?” · Predisposition: 5 yrs of volunteer work led him to believe this. o In the mid-‘70’s, there was revolution in mental health. (John Locke had believed that a personality was a “blank slate;” environment was the factor) o Twin Adoption Studies took place that provided a familial link to Schizophrenia/Autism/Depression. § One famous study was of 200,000 adopted individuals in Scandinavia who were watched from 1905 on. It was found that 32% of individuals with bipolar disorders had a sibling also with bipolar (8 x higher than the normal average). With identical twins, the percentage was 80%!! · Medical Science: Brain Chemistry o He did work in one of the top penitentiaries. In studying body chemistry between ex-cons and typical people, there was a “striking” difference in their trace minerals – zinc, copper, lithium, manganese … o Of 24 pairs of brothers where one was ok and other was horrible (behaviors), the first’s chemistry came out expected and the other came out strange (highly toxic – 3x higher than expected) but different from the other “strange” chemistries from the other participants. § There were 2 patterns: · High electrolytes / Low sodium/potassium – hurting, oppositional behaviors · Low electrolytes / High sodium – normally ok, but explosive behavior and then very sorry In 1986, he joined HRI and worked with UCI. (Carl Pfeiffer died just 6 mos before the opening of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center). 1991: Worked on a study on depression 1994 – Began worked on Autism – they helped most (with individualized amino acids, vitamins, minerals), but the outcome study was not as good as they would have liked – most still had autism. They looked at neurotransmitters. Their raw materials are nutrients (amino acids, vitamins…) Found that they were either too high or too low. (Yes – too high – multiple vitamins can be just as harmful as helpful). Because of genetics, it seems that one might have a tendency toward too high/too low copper, iron, folic acid… It is important to “normalize.” Methylation: This was found to be very important. CH3 and CH4 – enzyme process. Began to characterize behaviors by their methylation state. · Under methylating: Perfectionist, competitive, slender, oppositional, allergic · Over methylating: Not allergic, but hightened chemical / food sensitivities, sweet, caring, high anxiety, paranoid. He related several characteristics that signaled various deficiencies. There were 17 imbalance groupings made. A comment was made about the importance of the EFA as the brain is 20-30% fat; Omega 6 and Omega 3 make up 90% of the fat in brain. In accepting patients, they screen their issues first to see if there is a good fit. Through their research, this methodology seems to lend itself better to certain disorders. In any test of 100 people, there is always going to be 5-10 that do great due to placebo effect, but they have found less success in the following areas: · Down’s Syndrome: since this is genetic but have found some strange, disordered elements · Tourettes: did well on some but only 15% well on full blown Tourettes. · Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder: not so good either, still found some behavior improvements – the aggressive, distructive and tantrumming behaviors went down with 1 month compliance. The better areas were: · Depression · Behavior disorders · Learning disorders · Schizophrenia · Bipolar – true bipolar – this is hard to diagnose This section was primarily on Autism: He had attended the New Jersey DAN think tank some time ago where 35 doctors worldwide got together for 1 ½ days to discuss what works for autism. There were files of 705 autists. They excluded ones with seizures and other that were not DSM IV qualified and came up with 503 in the categories of Aspergers, PDD/NOS, Kanters. Found that in all but 4, the zinc was low and copper was high. They looked at metalathionine which helps in the brain development (pruning) and manages the zinc and copper metals by preventing them from getting into the bloodstream – filtering them out. It is found primarily in the small intestines, liver and the blood brain barrier. Their conclusion was that there was probably a genetic predisposition and then an environmental insult. It is felt that there is not brain damage, but an immature brain. The brain needs developmental connections to made (thus the behavioral therapy assists with that) There was a question about his thoughts on chelation if the insult was heavy metal exposure. He said that he does do chelation as needed and that chelation is great, but he feels it is not lasting and that severe metal problems are rare. He believes that since there is metal exposure every day in the environment, it is most important to chelate first and then heal the part of the body that can handle the metals (ie MT) or else you keep fighting it over and over and add in the behavior in order to make the neural connections that were missed earlier on. Discussed the MT Knock-out study in mice. When MT was knocked out of mice, seizures went up and immunity went down. Autoimmune issues arose as well as viruses. It has been found that in autists, the MT activity is low, not the structure of the MT – it is not a matter of damage. Since autism strikes early, brain development is halted (much brain development happens in those first 3 yrs.). The belief is to “get the MT working to develop the brain and then you’re done.” An important point to remember is that MT really “sucks zinc.” For 1 molecule of MT attaches 7 of zinc. You need to pre-load with zinc. Otherwise, you may have cognitive improvements: speech, social, but behavioral deficits or regression: hyperactivity, bedwetting, stimming… |