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Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

#31
post #25

This reminds me of research from a while back suggesting schizophrenia was related to an ancient retrovirus that entered our DNA millions of years ago and occasionally causes problems (Discover mag, "The Insanity Virus," June 2010). Reseach is ongoing: ( http://discovermagazine.com/2015/sept/6-insanity-virus ). From the 2010 story: > Sixty million years ago, a lemurlike animal—an early ancestor of humans and monkeys—…

> It may not have made the lemur ill

I've often wondered how many viruses we contract that don't present any obvious symptoms.

How would we know to look for them?

Does anyone know if this idea has been looked in to?

Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

#32
My medical condition makes the body too acidic. This is a well known thing. Doctors know it. Patients know it. Yet, it is not treated as a primary issue. It only gets treated secondarily to help control specific developments, like acid reflux.

I have known a number of bipolar people and I tend to easily click with them. I don't think I am actually bipolar, but I do suspect my medical condition sometimes impacts my brain functioning in a similar manner.

Without bothering to get into lengthy anecdata I think a) acidosis likely is a root cause of mental health problems but b) solving it isn't as simple or straight forward as just controlling the acidity.

If your body functions different from the norm such that the result is high acidity, there will be a lot of other knock off effects.

So, it is a little like saying "Deserts are deserts because they lack water. So let's just add water." Well, no, they typically lack water because they are in the rain shadow of a mountain range. Importing water doesn't fix that. Importing it consistently, for many years may allow you to mitigate many of the effects, but you will have to keep working at it. You will not find that climate in the area "normalizes" just because you imported water and grew plants. You will still be in the rain shadow of a mountain and if you stop importing water and stop lovingly tending to human planted flora, it will eventually revert back to desert.

Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

#34
> "A main source of these temporary surges is the carbon dioxide that is constantly released as the brain breaks

> down sugar to generate energy, which subsequently turns into acid."

The "Ketosis" / "Ketogenic diets" are helping in this case?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketogenic_diet

Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

#35
post #25

This reminds me of research from a while back suggesting schizophrenia was related to an ancient retrovirus that entered our DNA millions of years ago and occasionally causes problems (Discover mag, "The Insanity Virus," June 2010). Reseach is ongoing: ( http://discovermagazine.com/2015/sept/6-insanity-virus ). From the 2010 story: > Sixty million years ago, a lemurlike animal—an early ancestor of humans and monkeys—…

> It may not have made the lemur ill I've often wondered how many viruses we contract that don't present any obvious symptoms. How would we know to look for them? Does anyone know if this idea has been looked in to?

Two I am aware of that kinda fit this category are Toxoplasma gondii[1] (not technically a virus) and Adenovirus serotype 36[2]. The former has been associated with a wide array of behavioral changes, the latter is associated with obesity.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii#Immune_respo...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenovirus_serotype_36#Role_in...

Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It may not have made the lemur ill I've often wondered how many viruses we contract that don't present any obvious symptoms. How would we know to look for them? Does anyone know if this idea has been looked in to?

Two I am aware of that kinda fit this category are Toxoplasma gondii [1] (not technically a virus) and Adenovirus serotype 36 [2]. The former has been associated with a wide array of behavioral changes, the latter is associated with obesity. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii#Immune_respo... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenovirus_serotype_36#Role_in...

T. gondii also being the parasite that can cause toxoplasmosis in rare cases where the infected individual suffers an immune system issue (like HIV). This is the condition treated by Daraprim, aka the drug bought by Martin Shkreli's old company ('pharma bro').

I asked him once about the alleged behavioral changes associated with T. gondii and he said the research on that is bunk. Shrug...

Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

#38
Increasingly acidic diets and micronutrient malnutrition

Bacteriocidal antibiotics which enduce mitochondrial dysfunction

Chronic sleep deprivation and stress

People with problematic genetics having children when 200 years ago it wouldn't have been possible

Lots of things that contribute to the increase in the incidence of various mental illnesses

Solutions are not easy at all either. If you ever see a diagram of what we know about metabolism it's ludicrous.

Re: Increased acidity found in schizophrenia and bipolar patients’ brains

#39
post #24

> Other research has revealed that the brains of people with panic disorders produce elevated levels of lactate—an acidic source of fuel that is constantly produced and consumed in the energy-hungry brain. For me, this further confirms that metabolic problems are causally-associated with 'mental disorders'. Lactic acidosis is a medical condition characterized by the buildup of lactate (especially L-lactate) in the bo…

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