Customer Reviews

Too Good to be True? Nutrients Quiet the Unquiet Brain--A Four Generation Bipolar Odyssey

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This book could have been called The Bipolar Patient's Encyclopaedia
Volume: 1. How the Moyer family coped with four generations of dysfunctional brains;
Volume 2. how conventional psychiatry relies on a DSM 'bible' to label and then medicate;
Volume 3. how a range of medical, genetic, dietary, environmental, infection and metabolic conditions can cause or contribute to bipolar symptoms.

A great aunt suicided before the family even knew she was depressed. The author's bipolar father lived through years of ups and downs and had the author on the edge of a precipice of dread. Author David Moyer became a mental health professional but faced a mid-life crisis when his son came down with bipolar symptoms. Training as a social worker wasn't enough to solve his son's problems. Conventional psychiatry wasn't good enough either. Although the usual bipolar medications quelled his son's religious zeal, he became less than normal due to negative effects. Schizophrenia medications stopped the visions but added more side effects.

An empathetic and concerned father, social worker David Moyer scanned the Internet for 'restorative' answers. Not expecting to find real help by networking, he happened upon the Synergy system of supplements, developed in Calgary, Alberta by another concerned father of several bipolar children. Euphamistically called True Hope. Was it too good to be true or did the vitamin, mineral and amino acid nutrients in the True Hope dietary supplements really quiet his son's unquiet brain? Charting his son's progress over a five year period, David Moyer noticed that medications and hospitalizations alternated with relatively 'normal' periods but his son seemed to do better when he took his nutrients and tapered the synthetic medications.

Pleased but wondering how mere nutrients could truly help, wanting an accurate differential diagnosis and the reassurance of proven effective treatments for Chris, the Moyer family embarked on a medical search. A series of health professionals told them that their son had biological and medical problems which are known to cause or contribute to symptoms of 'bipolar' disorder. Treatments seemed promising but the results were unclear. So many diagnoses: such a complicated case.

Bipolar sufferers, concerned families, frustrated caregivers and mental health professionals will find this book interesting, informative and thought-provoking. Readers of this well-researched book should be ready to learn and willing to stretch their minds toward restorative mental healthcare. Marvel at the complex family dynamics as four generations of Moyers coped with mental symptoms; consider the multiple puzzles involved in the spectrum of bipolar disorder symptoms; find true hope for restorative mentel healthcare as author David Moyer, LCSW goes beyond conventional psychiatry to explore leading edge biological and medical treatments while searching for the Holy Grail of bipolar recovery.

Maybe David Moyer doesn't have all the answers for his son Chris but he certainly asks a lot of stimulating questions, questions the status quo of minimalist mental healthcare and shares a wealth of interesting information. Well worth reading.

Review by Robert Sealey, BSc, CA

Do you remember Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath"? This book actually reminds one of the award-winning novel. Steinbeck writes a chapter about the Joad family, then a chapter on the "big picture". Moyer does a similarly exemplary job of interweaving the personal with the general in a way that is really quite captivating.

Moyer discusses his family history. We learn about a malady that appears to have effected distance relatives, his dad, and finally his son. We learn how it can impact a family. We learn about a health care system that too often is ineffective and, at the same time, lacks respect for the patient and loved-ones. We also learn about the incredible complexity of bipolar disorder, brain chemistry, and the myriad of potential solutions to the disorder. It is this last aspect that offers hope to those impacted by the disorder.

The is a book that both touches and educates us. A hearty thumbs-up for both a moving and informative work.

I have been researching the drug industry and psychiatry over the past year and have attended a Harvard Medical School seminar to see what is being taught concerning psychopharmacology. What I have learned is that for generations, orthomolecular physicians have been curing mental illness by recognizing that brain malfunctions are caused by medical problems such as thyroid, kidney, and sleep disorder problems, an immune disorder cerebral allergy, metal toxicity, Candida infestation and enzyme and nutritional imbalances such as essential fatty acids deficiency (malnourishment). Biochemical testing can assist in determining underlying causes. Harvard's Dr. Stoll recommends fish oil to provide essential Omega 3 fatty acids and vitamins as an effective treatment for depression.

According to Prescription for Nutritional Healing P. 448, A thyroid condition can cause fatigue, mood swings and depression, P. 153: An allergy is an inappropriate response by the body's immune system to a substance that is not normally harmful." P. 157: "Cerebral allergies cause swelling of the lining of the brain." P. 154: "Persons between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five are the most allergy-prone..."

Entire food families can cause allergic reactions in susceptible people. Repeated headaches, or schizophrenic, violent, or aggressive reactions, can be an indicator. Foods such as corn, wheat, rice, dairy products, and chocolate, and certain food additives, are the most common offenders but chemicals such as petrochemicals or other substances, like mold can also cause serious problems. Other manifestations of food allergies are; acne, arthritis, asthma, chest and shoulder pains, colitis, depression, fatigue, food cravings, headaches, hemorrhoids, insomnia, intestinal problems, muscle disorders, obesity, sinus problems, ulcers, and unexplained dramatic weight changes. The list goes on and on. Allergies can also affect children diagnosed as Autistic or exhibiting ADHD.

To cure, orthomolecular physicians have patients stop eating what they are allergic to. One doctor I read about reported that about 50% of his supposedly schizophrenic patients were just allergic. These physicians remove toxic metals from the body, they rid the body of Candida, and they provide supplements as needed. A proper diet is also wise to fuel the brain with essential nutrients and exercise to provide oxygen to cells and to assist in removing toxins via sweat glands.

Unfortunately, the drug industry has such an influence on psychiatrists that it is still common to do superficial physical testing (if any at all), ignore the results, and rather than determine the cause and fix the problem, they try to cover up symptoms with mega doses of drugs that cause damage and even disability. Just one of many adverse effects from psychiatric medicine is brain damage - the neurotransmitter imbalance known as Parkinsonism where a person can no longer walk or talk normally due to extreme slowness. According to Merck's web site, the disorder's pathophysiology is "inhibition of dopaminergic system due to blockage of dopaminergic receptors by antipsychotic drugs." An excellent, very alarming book is Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs, which was written by a psychiatrist who saw the damage drugs cause and who has stopped practicing psychiatry. According to this publication, drug trials are not unbiased and these drugs are no more effective than placebos, and they cause permanent brain damage.

If psychiatric drugs could cure, you would be able to take them and stop. Instead, drugs mask and/or change symptoms, they can be addictive, and they have serious side effects. Drugs are toximolecular. They are substances foreign to the body, in sub-lethal (and sometimes lethal) amounts. Drugs should be used only as a last resort, emergency measure. Other treatments also cause permanent harm, such as electric shock that is well known in the industry for causing permanent memory loss.

Just one person mentally distressed, disabled by drugs, and not able to work, will cost at least two million dollars over a lifetime, so this is an issue that impacts all of us.

This book is a step in the right direction. Drugs are not the answer.

I loved Dave's book and was so thankful to find someone who I could relate to in being unsatisfied with standard medical care for bipolar disorder. Dave is passionate about finding a solution to help his son and others. I am hopeful that someday soon the medical profession will explore alternative care so that they could work together to end the brain illnesses that destroy lives. Because of the cost involved in seeking health care outside of insured coverage, most people rely on inefficient medications and their side effects. By gleaning from the research done by others, new avenues are available to me. I look forward to being healed someday and appreciate the work that Dave and others do to direct me in the healing process.

Thank you for writing this book. It is a poignant tale of a father watching his son suffer from a little understood illness. He has personally empowered me not to just accept a standard diagnosis for myself, but to seek answers above and beyond the label the medical community has decided to give me. I can not thank him enough, and praise him for seeking answers for his son Chris.

I have read lots of books searching for helpful information about bipolar and this is the best, most relevant book that I've been able to find.

A must read for everyone(doctors,patients,family) dealing with Bipolar Disorder. I have read many, many books on the subject and this one is hands down the most informative it opens so many new doors for treatment.Thank you David Moyer!!!

This book is a gripper of a classic. It is, amongst many other things, an education in the humanity required to adequately help manage inhumane illnesses.
Virginia T. Sherr, MD

Reads like a thriller and is very difficult yo put down in the first half. The medical chapters are rather hard to understand but essential to the "plot". I immediately logged on to the website and await my supplements eagerly!

A great writer - able to put the points across clearly and succinctly.

This book takes the reader on an odyssey through the author's family's battle with bipolar disorder. The author has made an admirable attempt to piece together possible causes of the disease, snooping around like a good detective. While I don't believe he found anything startling, perhaps his ideas will be helpful to some with the disorder. My only complaint about the book is that perhaps it could have been a little shorter. The quality of writing is high and the story is pretty interesting. Overall, definitely worth reading to provide greater perspective about bipolar disorder. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".