Should I get rid of alcohol or weed first?

I think what everyone is suggesting is that alcohol and marijuana alter brain chemistry just as psychotropic medications do. It isn't a question, in my view, of not being able to diagnose; it's a question of the patient's not being able to receive the full benefit of medications and psychotherapy unless the brain is clean of other drugs that alter perception and chemistry.

The same thing is true in alcoholism treatment. Alcohol acts on the opiate centers of the brain. Naltrexone blocks the ability of alcohol to reach the opiate zones, giving the patient a far better chance of overcoming alcohol addiction and having clarity of understanding and behavior.

It's also true in sugar addiction or in wheat addiction. Naltrexone will block the ability of exorphins to reach the opiate centers of the digestive system and the brain helping to stop the addiction which exorphins cause.

Removal of sugar in the person who has a sensitivity to it causes greater clarity and much better feeling tone (in the long run). When the mind is in a fog because of addictions it is probably possible to give a diagnosis, but I often wonder how many patients are improved in their psychiatric symptoms once mind-altering drugs have been removed from the system.

So many people write about this in their works. Dr. Kathleen DesMaissons, for one,
is a PhD in addictive nutrition, and she discusses the issues in both Potatoes, Not Prozac and Radiant Recovery. Other writers now include Dr. David Williams' new book Wheat Belly, in which he virtually blames exorphins on Schizophrenia, ADHD, and Bipolar illness, although he recognizes that much more research needs to be done.

Cases of schizophrenia have been cured with removal of wheat from the diet. ADHD is improved, and the wide moods swings of bipolar illness are alluded to in his work. I've mentioned before that I had read years ago one doctor's theory that bipolar patients have an extreme allergy to grains. (This was long before it was known that exorphins exert such a strong influence on the brain and digestive system, and those are not the exclusive areas of the system that contain opiate
centers.)

So, I think it's logical to conclude that alcohol, marijuana, and other "recreational drugs" alter brain chemistry, and the patient is better treated without the interference of these mood-altering drugs when being treated with psychotropic medications.

With a leap of imagination, I would suggest that it might even be possible that a few of those who are treated for psychiatric illnesses may turn out not to have such an illness at all once the brain has clarity and is free of "brain fog".

I have had such a variety of diagnoses that I can understand readily why Psychiatry is not an exact science at this point. From being told that I was cyclothymic, to bipolar I, to bipolar II, to "you don't need to see a psychiatrist", one begins to question if it might not be possible to learn and find solutions that make life much easier to manage without the use of psychotropic meds, or at least to take a minimum dose when appropriate.

It might be helpful to remove the illegal drugs on the market now when used abusively, although the FBI seems to think it's impossible to do that. They believe that it will reappear in other places each time they shut down one operation. (Not to mention that a possible tax for the government has been considered if making marijuana legal. )

Even a few of the legal ones might be better removed, as well, and that includes some psychotropic meds. So much depends on the individual's ability to resist addiction and knowledge of how drugs affect the body's health. Unfortunately, those who abuse drugs may be some who are least likely to remain independent of their use.

I must agree with those who take the view that a psychiatrist can best treat a
patient who comes to him/her free of drug use. (I wonder how many do.) And I
agree that the psychiatrist may diagnose even with mind-altering drugs in the system of a patient, but I think not many of them would encourage the continued use of illegal drugs for the patient.

We all choose our poison in a way, I suppose. And the same thing is true of
health. We all choose the route of health that we want to follow.

If you re-read my post and the quote in it, you will see that I was responding very specifically to the point about inability to diagnose.

You don't need more than an introductory course in chemistry to see that the war on drugs is complete nonsense. It's never going to succeed.

It is also a huge waste of resources that could be put to productive use if not tied up in the never ending war.

Since we're posting on a Bipolar Forum, the work Manic-Depressive Illness by
Dr. Frederick K. Goodwin and Dr. Kay Jamison Redfield seems to me to be a much
better and more accurate resource for use in psychiatrists' efforts to evaluate.

Both writers will suggest that psychiatrists are often challenged and have difficulty diagnosing because of a patient's conditions.

Mandrec, I knew someone 50 years ago who said that this country wouldn't be able to afford the institutions necessary to house people who had become mentally unable to function in daily life independently because of brain damage caused by drug use. In the same era, I had high school seniors who told me that they could go to almost any place they wanted and obtain the drug of choice within 15 minutes.

That's the truth, and I can only imagine what it must be like out there now.

Some of us have been lucky enough to have been insulated from that in our society, although I feel sure by this time that it is a world-wide problem and one that is going to have to be ultimately addressed by governments to supply support.

No, I agree that one doesn't need a first year chemistry understanding to know that it's a problem in the U.S. One has only to look at the neighbors who come to this forum and express difficulties they're having with misuse of drugs, both illegal and legal, for that matter.

I think I said earlier that we choose our poison; we choose,also, the health (in many respects) that we want.

Drug addiction was a world-wide problem centuries before any Europeans had even thought about making the U.S...

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That's easily understandable; drugs were probably in use thousands of years ago or as early as humans were able to discover that certain plants offered "benefits".

Even the knowledge now that alcoholism may have a genetic inherited component
confirms your statement. (And that applies to other mental problems, as well; I
recognize a genetic component in my illness.)

Isn't it true that scientists have (to some extent) relied on the knowledge and application of drug use in third world countries to produce some of the current medications in use now in the pharmaceutical industries?

It's big, big business.