Hitting The Wall

Hitting The Wall.  New post on Psychology Today


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/attention-please/201110/hitting-the-wall

The Neurosomatic Syndrome

Neurosomatics are a brain/body illness, not a mind/body one. The Neurosomatic Syndrome is comprised of a group of illnesses, disorders and symptoms previously considered unrelated, other than their ostensible functional component. These complaints range from Migraine to Irritable Bowel Syndrome, from Fibromyalgia to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, from Bulimia to Panic Disorder and Depression and Mania and Anxiety, with many other components, too.

Common to most patients with the Neurosomatic Syndrome are many consultants, many tests, and marginal improvement. Also common are many bills and many pills. And all too often the pills have included the SSRIs which have served to numb the patient, take away their feelings, require more pills for the side effects, and abject misery, or worse, when an attempt is made to stop taking them.

There is an unavoidable connection between the Neurosomatic Syndrome and the SSRIs because of the prevalent prescription of these drugs for component symptoms of the Neurosomatic Syndrome and concomitant bad outcomes. Most of you reading this probably already know this from personal experience. Please peruse the rest of this Web site to learn more.

Dr. Goodman describes his discovery, and it's effective and safe treatment in his groundbreaking book, IT IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD: A Monograph on Wellness for the New Millennium. In it are described multiple case studies, the scientific foundation, and the proper, simple treatment. It is a book that can be read and understood by everyone.

Neurosomatics: The Syndrome

The Primary components of the Neurosomatic Syndrome are:

Fibromyalgia & Myofascial Pain Syndrome

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Mood Disorders: Unipolar, Bipolar, Dysthymia & Cyclothymia

Headaches: Migraine, Cluster, Midline, etc.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome/Colitis

Peptic Ulcer & Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder

Anxiety Disorders: Generalized, Panic & Social

Sleep Problems: Restless, tooth-grinding, non-restorative.

Eating Disorders: particularly Bulimia and Carbohydrate Cravings

High Blood Pressure: Mild to Moderate & Essential.

Related Symptoms of the Neurosomatic Syndrome include:


Allergies
, Asthma, Eczema,TMJ
 ,Cold hands and feet

Patients with the Neurosomatic Syndrome frequently have been mis-diagnosed with:


Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Hypoglycemia, Hypochondria.

ALL of these symptoms need not be present in an individual at the same time. Various ones may occur, and wax and wane throughout a persons life. And one does not need to have had all of them to have the Neurosomatic Syndrome. Dr. Goodman has developed a Neurosomatic Scale to help identify the Syndrome. This is explained in his book, IT IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD: A Monograph on Wellness for the New Millennium.

Individuals afflicted with the Neurosomatic Syndrome have been diagnosed with a panoply of these problems, have seen a platoon of consultants, have been subjected to exhaustive and exhausting evaluations and have received a veritable cornucopia of prescriptions. This usually is done independently by each consultant with a separate battery of tests and a separate barrage of prescriptions for the specific organ system or symptom in question.

People with the Neurosomatic Syndrome have obvious if undiagnosed irregularity in the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis. They have excessively reactive, or over-reactive Autonomic Nervous Systems. All have a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism virtually identical to that seen in Stein-Leventhal Syndrome (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome-PCOS) leading to elevated insulin levels and pseudo-bulimia. And all have a sleep disorder equivalent to Periodic Limb Movement Disorder-Restless Legs Syndrome (PLMD-RLS).

The great preponderance of people with the Neurosomatic Syndrome have been treated with one or more of the SSRIs: Prozac, Luvox, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Effexor, Lexapro, et al. These make matters worse, although the patients often are so numbed and obliterated by these drugs and the next wave of drugs prescribed to treat the SSRI side-effects that they really can't tell if they feel better or worse or anything at all.

To add insult to injury, abundant numbers of patients with the Neurosomatic Syndrome, including those improperly treated with SSRIs, are told by their Doctors and therapists that they really must not want to get better, that they are not trying hard enough!

A Bit More About Dr. Goodman

Dr. Jory Goodman first identified The Neurosomatic Syndrome in 1997, a result of years of clinical investigation and research. The Neurosomatic Syndrome link above, introduces the dangers of the overuse, addiction, and withdrawal of the SSRIs. Dr. Jory F. Goodman is a practicing Psychiatrist, Neuropsychiatrist, and Psychopharmacologist with more than twenty years of clinical experience.
He recieved his B.A. degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and his M.D. degree from the University of Southern California School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California.
His internship and residency in Psychiatry were completed at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, also in Los Angeles. Dr. Goodman is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc.
An independent practitioner, Dr. Goodman's expertise has been acknowledged for many years. He has been willing to stand up and speak out against the politically correct conventional wisdom when he has found it to be bad science and bad medicine.


Dr. Goodman's experience has included extensive work in the area of Medical Psychiatry, treating patients with complex medical illnesses as well as neuropsychiatric problems. He developed and opened the first two Psych-Med units in Los Angeles, hospital programs for medically compromised psychiatric patients. In addition he has developed and implemented comprehensive psychiatric and chemical dependency programs on both coasts. His extensive work with medically complex psychiatric patients, many of whom were labeled "Psychosomatic, Psychophysiologic, Functional or just plain Hypochondriacs whose problems were "All in their heads", helped lead Dr. Goodman to his understanding of Neurosomatics.              

SSRIs - The Bad News

SSRIs: Bad News--Addiction & Withdrawal

The much vaunted and highly touted SSRIs (Serotonin Selective Re-uptake Inhibitors) are widely prescribed for an enormous number of afflictions. Besides disorders of mood and anxiety, the laundry list includes eating disorders, fibromyalgia, pain, headaches, PMS, PTSD, OCD, ODD, aggression, addictions, self-mutilation, dissociative disorders, personality disorders and premature ejaculation, just to mention a few. They are also being used to control undesirable personality traits and behaviors, as determined by the prescriber or some entity other than the prescribee.These drugs are habit forming and have miserable withdrawal symptoms (see below). But most prescribers misunderstand this and perceive the withdrawal symptoms as a re-emergence of the primary disorder and an object lesson for the patient to continue treatment with the SSRI.

Do you know that between 70% to 80% of psychotropic drugs are prescribed by non-psychiatrists? These drugs are passed out freely, often after as little as a 10 minute office visit by Family Practitioners, Obstetrician-Gynecologists, Internists, Pediatricians, Dermatologists, Orthopedists, Surgeons and nurse practitioners. And about all these well meaning folks seem to know about these drugs--as told them by extensive "detailing" by pharmaceutical reps--is that they are supposed to be safe, effective for whatever ails you, and does something or other to your brain's serotonin.

All of the SSRIs also cause Dopamine blockade in your brain. That is what is accomplished by the antipsychotic drugs such as Haldol and Thorazine used to treat psychotic individuals. It is dopamine blockade that causes the numbness, the loss of feeling and caring which are the results achieved by many (?most?) people treated with these drugs. And it is the breakthrough of the dopamine blockade--tachyphylaxis--that leads to ever increasing doses of these drugs as unpleasant feelings emerge in what is really SSRI withdrawal. The removal of dopamine blockade that happens abruptly with SSRI discontinuation triggers the nasty cascade of withdrawal symptoms.

SSRI withdrawal symptoms can include: insomnia, anxiety, panic, nausea, cramps and diarrhea, spontaneous crying, electric shock feelings in the head, muscle twitches and myoclonic jerks, restlessness, fidgeting, subjective dysphoria, a sense that you can't sit still or get comfortable and a feeling that you want to crawl out of your skin. Self-destructive and violent thoughts, impulses and behaviors may occur. Permanent Tardive processes may also occur.

VIDEO BLOG IMMINENT!

In the service of simplicity I have decided to merge my website and three of my blogs into one streamlined, easy to use site; this one.  There may be a few glitches along the way.  Many of my older posts and website information will be available in the archives, or via easy links. You will be able to follow on Facebook and Twitter.  The most exciting development is that this will become a video blog, with--hopefully--at least one post per day.  Some written pieces will post here from time to time, or be linked to Attention Please on PsychologyToday.com.  See me soon!