Bad Behavior and Illness are
caused by Biochemical Imbalances

Nutrients such as Vitamins,Minerals,Amino Acids, and Enzymes Give Biochemical Balance

Ronald C. Dishinger

Introduction By Abram Hoffer,MD,PhD,FRCP

www.biochemimbal-behavior.com Home Page 7/6/98

You may copy any and all materials copyright free.
No Fax or No E-mail Please. Complete book free as well as cassettes of entire book free
Ronald C. Dishinger (502) 684 9233

This book is dedicated to all those who suffer from the biochemical imbalances. A special acknowledgment to Bernard Rimland for the list of orthomolecular doctors he supplied. Thank you.
A special thank you to Dr. Abram Hoffer. All of our present generation and future generations should be grateful to you for your insights. Thank you Abram.

Disclaimer

The material in this book is based on the research of others and personal observations by the author. This book is intended for information only and is not intended as a replacement for advice from your doctor. Check with your doctor before using any or all of this information. It is not a substitute for medical treatment. The author and publisher are not responsible for the consequences if people attempt to self-treat themselves.
Additionally, the publisher does not advocate the use of any materials contained in this book without advice from a qualified physician.

Copyright 1998 by Ronald C. Dishinger.
All Rights Reserved
Medici Music Press, Inc.
5017 Veach Road Owensboro, Ky. 42303
Published by Medici Music Press, Inc.

Request: If you have been helped by this book and feel it is worth $15.00 please send $15.00 so that 3 more people can be helped by free books or tapes. Each book costs $5.12 and cassettes costs $4.90 a set. Address is above. Checks to: Medici Music Press. Thank you.

PREFACE

        I am not a scientist, doctor, or in any way connected with the medical profession. I was for many years a symphony conductor, and for the last 19 years have been a composer. I am currently publisher of Medici Music Press, Inc, devoted to the publication of classical instrumental music. I am 56 years of age and only in recent years have acquired my thimble-full of information about orthomolecular medicine (biochemical basis of cellular wellness) because of my own heart problems. In the process of finding answers for my own medical situation I have found a world of knowledge completely foreign to anything that I had known before my illness. Biochemical balance and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) make sense to me for some reason, and I know for myself and others in our family, that it not only works to aid in illness and prevent illness, but also enhances the quality of our lives. It may also extend life too. I obviously will have to wait and see on that issue.     

        This book contains hopefully logic and emotions- emotions such as anger, pain, confusion, distrust, descriptions of power and greed, as well as something that may help you. It is not written for money, power, or greed but as a simple gesture from me to you in your quest to find out something that may help your troubled loved one or the neighbor's kid.

        This book is written with the layperson in mind for a very specific reason- most people do not have the time, energy, or the financial resources to pursue knowledge pertinent to the physical and psychological health of their children. Even though many parents feel that because they were once children who grew into the adults that they now are and survived, that all they have to do is to treat their children in the same manner as they were treated. Nothing is farther from the truth in many circumstances. Just because one of the parents has a certain portion of his or her genetic material in their child, the parent feels they know themselves, and therefore, are the best ones to give guidance to their offspring. This kind of thinking may cause your loved one to suffer, and you may be clueless as to the reasons for their unwellness or illness.

        Throughout this book you will observe a dialogue as if two people are talking- the author and the reader (my farmer friend). The reader may be you asking questions of the author just as I asked questions when I was the reader. I hope it helps, and I am certain you will come up with many more questions than I had. You will also observe that I attempt to tie things together throughout the book, and one point made in one part of the book will have greater meaning at another point in the book. So I guess you can't skip around and find information that is as meaningful as reading the entire book from beginning to end.

        This book is an autobiography, family history, and discovery of so many things that now in my later age make sense for the first time in my life. We have five members in my family that have had or now have biochemical imbalances with all the symptoms of depression, unusual behavioral traits, and a great deal of pain for each of them, plus all other family members. There are also other members of my family that have not been biochemically tested that probably do fall into the same category as the five already confirmed biochemically imbalanced by biochemical testing. This is out of 18 living members in my family. When I write about biochemical illness it is based on solid, valid research and is not based on personal anecdotal stories. June, 1998, Ronald C. Dishinger

Bad Behavior and Illness are Caused
by Biochemical Imbalances Introduction
by Dr. Abram Hoffer

        Studies of human behavior are divided into many compartments, each one occupying the attention of scientists such as psychologists, sociologists, behaviorists, criminologists, psychoanalysts and so on. Psychiatry, one of the sub sets, is emerging from a chronic flirtation with psychoanalysis from which it is slowly freeing itself, but in doing so it has embraced an almost total adherence to tranquilizer and other drug medication, as if the psychology and other aspects of behavior mattered little. It seems impossible for psychiatry to find a middle ground where all these important aspects of behavior are recognized and dealt with. The long flirtation with psychoanalysis prevented a proper examination of the role of biochemistry and physiology for many decades.

        More recently clinical ecologists are studying the connection between human health and the environment, especially the impact of chemicals, natural or synthetic, upon the body and the psyche. The impact of nutrition on behavior, for centuries the subject of medical study and the only successful medical treatment, was forgotten beginning in 1950 when physicians turned this subject over to nutritionists, who could not study human behavior and did not ever see the impact of abnormal nutrition in producing abnormal behavior. After a deep sleep, medicine is slowly re-awakening its interest in nutrition, a movement that was started with the discovery that mega doses of vitamins had a marked effect in alleviating disease.

        The connection between food and thought and behavior has been known since antiquity, but generally modern medicine ignored the role played by food allergies and by defective nutrition. One of the first physicians to show a relationship was Walter Alvarez, the great gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic,who published a paper about 60 years ago. He reported that if he ate fowl on Sunday he was mentally confused the following Monday. That report nearly got him fired from the Mayo Clinic. The effect of alcohol, a pseudo food, is well known, and the effect of sugar stoutly denied by the industries who sell sugar in various forms is still vigorously denied.

        The use of vitamins in small doses began about 70 years ago and was accelerated before the last war, after which its use declined. Using mega doses of certain vitamins including vitamin E, vitamin B-3 and vitamin C, started in the 1940's. These studies were ignored, but when my colleagues and I found that niacin lowered cholesterol levels in 1955 there was a sudden surge of interest. This finding is credited with the beginning of the new paradigm, the vitamin as treatment paradigm. We also completed the first six double blind controlled experiments in psychiatry starting in 1952 until 1960, where we showed that adding vitamin B-3 to the treatment for schizophrenics doubles their two year recovery rate. Since then many other studies confirmed these conclusions. Every physician following the original protocols has reported similar recovery rates. This led to the concepts enunciated by Linus Pauling which he called Orthomolecular Medicine.

        Orthomolecular medicine emphasizes the use of nutrition and nutrients in optimum doses for the treatment of all diseases. It is used in combination with drugs when needed, much as one would use a crutch while the leg is being healed and would discard it when the healing is completed. Schizophrenics who recover require continued treatment with nutrients, much as do diabetics with insulin and diet.

        Very few writers cover all of these areas of human behavior. They are written for their own disciplines and usually ignore the fundamental importance of nutrition and nutrients. This book by Mr. Dishinger is unique in that he reports recoveries that he has seen using all the techniques of modern medicine, including nutrition and nutrients and also support and counseling. Thus in contrast to early psychiatry of the 1950's which totally ignored nutrition in treating patients, and in contrast to modern psychiatry which totally avoids nutrition and the psychosocial aspect of the disease. His recoveries are achieved by paying proper attention to all of the important aspects of human behavior. It is his thesis that most if not all of bad human behavior can be explained on the basis of all these factors, and that recovery will not occur until they have all been given proper attention.

        The book is written with a good deal of detail. I think this is important since it provides the reader with the information needed to follow these treatment procedures and to discuss them with their physicians or other therapists.

        The best way to convince physicians of the merits of any treatment is to show them how patients, preferably their own, recovered. The next best is to provide the information in books and in the other public media. The difficulty is in getting their attention to read the books and listen to the other information. The best way to achieve this is to have patients become knowledgeable and to pass this information to their doctors. If they persist in doing so some of their doctors will eventually become interested.

        I recommend this book as one of the vehicles for stimulating interest in the orthomolecular treatment of the schizophrenias-the most effective method known so far. It is much more effective than using tranquilizers alone because with these drugs it is impossible to become normal even though they are helpful.
6/22/98                                                                                          A. Hoffer MD PhD FRCP

TABLE OF CONTENTS

                   

CHAPTER ONE

When You Have a Problem- Myths and Thoughts

       The illness that your son or daughter has is not connected in any way with religious belief, economic status, or any other cultural thought. They are not demonically possessed. "I have a friend who has a child with many behavior problems, and the church they attend said that it was demons." I disagree and will give you information to show they are wrong. They are not bad people (even though their behavior may be, and probably is, horrible). If they had polio or some other so-called physical illness they would not be treated with the same scorn and disgust that we may have for them with biochemical illness. "If they had polio or some other illness their behavior would not be this bad." That may well be true. However, polio, even though it may affect many various parts of the total person (I will use this term throughout this book which refers to the total person including physical, mental, and spiritual), is not so obvious to us as observers of that illness. The biochemical illness we are going to talk about is intentionally left without a diagnostic label.

        Every day in our own lives we feel we are not having the same behavioral difficulties that this ill person with the biochemical illness is having. "I have verbal skills, appropriate behavior, thought processes, desires, wishes, development, and all the things that I designate as 'my reality'." Good for you. But good for you does not mean that others with a biochemical illness are as fortunate. "I do have three other children, and they don't act the way she does." There are reasons why your loved one with the behavioral problems may act differently than your other children. I will explain later. People with biochemical imbalance have pains you may have thought you have had, but probably have not had in the same magnitude that they have their pains.

        Classify yourself as lucky in the "draw of life", but do not be so quick to judge those whose "reality of life" ranges from mild confusion to utter unconscious rage or to violence and destruction. Many of the various things in life that you "hold" to be precious, such as freedom of thought, place, or deed are, in fact, denied to those you love by their biochemical illness. "Yes, I do hold on to them, and others better hold on to theirs, too."

        So if you will listen for awhile you may not only learn something about the illness of biochemical imbalance but also may well learn a very valuable lesson about yourself. Yes, you will have to dig deep within your own feelings to withstand the multitude of destruction that this biochemical illness is doing to your loved one and to you and everyone in your family as well as society at large. You did not ask for this situation and neither did your loved one. Do you think for one moment that anyone would choose this illness for their loved one, or that the person with the illness would choose anything less that what others have called "normal"?

        It will take a great deal of time clouded with guilt, anger, hatred, wishes that they were not there in your presence, attempts to control everything they do, being a tough parent for their own good, total dismay, in tears in private, in tears in their presence, tears everywhere, confusion in your own mind in an attempt to find what you know as your reality, and thus, a reality for them to hold on to. Just when you think you have figured out this or that about the illness it takes a turn in another direction and you seem to start over from zero. You may not be starting from zero but feel as though you do not have one more ounce of energy left; energy to help yourself, much less help the one you love, who has the biochemical illness. (The reason I keep using the term biochemical illness or biochemical imbalance is to get you to understand that you probably have not thought of illness and behavior together).

        You may have always thought of illness as some bacterial, fungal, viral or other cause, and it had a specific time and dimension to its effect. You believed that you could get a "quick fix" with some medication or the like, and all would be well in a relatively short period of time. But what if I said that one disease such as biochemical illness is, in fact, a combination of many diseases with different problems associated with each part of that disease? Are you beginning to see the magnitude of such a complicated illness?

"How long does this take for my loved to get well?" I don't have an answer as simple as that. It may depend on your own personal growth before your loved one's illness "kicked in", how you help them, and what each layer and direction the illness takes over a period of time that can last a few weeks to many years. I mean many years, such as 31 years, as is the case of one of my relatives. "Well, if he couldn't get his act together in 31 years I would forget him. He's a loser." No, he is not in any way, and you might learn to see his many virtues, too. That is a long time of suffering for all, but certainly the most suffering comes to the person with the biochemical illness. It will depend on the correct balance of biochemicals in the total person from the cellular level to correct part of the problem. It is balance that is paramount, and some of the chemicals may not even be there enough to get a balance by simple supplementation. What appears to be supplementation as "normal" may not in any way come close to alleviating the symptoms of your loved one's biochemical illness.

        As you will see at the end of this book there is a large bibliography which is very important. "Boy, I don't like to read, so I don't know about this stuff." It is not just a mere listing of manuals, references, and books to impress you, but is the scholarship of giants in the field of orthomolecular medicine and biochemistry who have spent entire lifetimes pursuing the truth to that point of the biochemical nature of wellness and illness. They are not just scientists who have jobs to do, but are imbued with a quest for truth, and the quality of life that that truth brings forward. Some have done extensive experiments on themselves, their family members, and trusted colleagues in all types of scientific double-blind studies repeated many times to establish meaning to their research. To me personally they are the mountain climbers of science- they try to succeed in their science for pure reasons so that the life process may be enhanced. They do this, not only for their own patients, but also for those not yet born. These scientists leave a legacy of dedication to research that is similar to the dedication of a J.S. Bach or Mozart, in my own field of expertise. People such as Abram Hoffer, an orthomolecular psychiatrist, medical doctor, and biochemist, who has treated schizophrenics successfully for 45 years with niacin and vitamin C. If your loved one had schizophrenia (the scare word of our society) wouldn't you want someone of Hoffer's ability to help your loved one? I certainly would.

        How about Eric Braverman and Carl Pfeiffer at the Princeton Bio Brain clinic, treating over 22,000 schizophrenics over 42 years successfully? And what do I mean by successfully? People they treated went from people who had violent rages, or were almost catatonic, almost like a vegetable, and were changed into functioning citizens. They are contributing members of society who work, pay their taxes, marry and have children, participate in their own chosen culture, have a much better, fuller life, and strive to reach their greatest potential. This kind of recovery did not happen by accident.

        And what about all those researchers who spent a lifetime doing research with nutrients? People such as Klenner, Stone, Symthies, Pauling, Altschul, Williams, Osmond, Cheraskin, Folkers, Horrobin, Philpott, and the list goes on.

        However, the upper echelon of biochemical giants is reserved, as in any field of human endeavor, for those who have a special insight into their chosen field. The research is carried on by others such as Walsh, Rimland, Rogers, Pearson, Shaw, Hadady, Varmus, Weinberg, Beinfield, Kaptchuk, Mims, Becker, Cathcart, Pressman, Levine, Comings, Werbach, Boik, Jamison, Erasmus, Walker, Cerney, Challem, Judy, Yu, and literally hundreds more. These are people that are working on biochemical balance, and they have been for some time even though you may not have been aware of it.

        And just when you thought your were getting overloaded with so much new information, let me tell you something that is equally important. The Chinese doctors and thinkers who figured out the acid-ph base balance and the biochemical reactions, including some 2200 meridian points in the body (160 main ones), herbal remedies for almost every illness, energy pathways ("chi"), tongue analysis for diseases, and many more things 2500 years ago without any scientific machinery, x-rays, electricity, or the like, were also brilliant. How could the Chinese figure these and so many more things out? It leaves one in awe of some people's quest for knowledge. You are probably asking the question- does acupuncture really work? Yes, it does and in so many ways that we as Westerners cannot even realize. (Are you still with me? You have been quiet for awhile.) I will write about selecting doctors and professionals later, but I simply bring up this point now about Chinese medicine. There was only one J.S. Bach or W.A. Mozart just as there are a very few visionary scientists that, by their dedication and without you knowing them, will help your loved one by their knowledge.

        "How long has orthomolecular medicine been going on?" From my research you can say since the great Greek civilization with herbals and nutrition, but the orthomolecular medicine I am referring to here has been going on since approximately 1880. Some scholars would probably argue this point, but my point is that information particularly since 1930 is extremely valuable with insights into ways to help your loved one.

Nutrients and the Marble Tournament

One way you might think of nutrients is from this analogy. When I was in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in school each springtime our school would have a marble tournament. Marbles are little round objects made out of glass in varying colors. Before we had the marble tournament we would study the mathematics of a circle, diameter, and circumference.

        Then, on the day of the marble tournament the entire fourth, fifth, and sixth grades would go behind the school, find a very flat, smooth, dirt surface, sweep the surface as smooth as possible, mark where the center of the circle was to be, take a pre-cut string and make our circles with indentations in the dirt. Each grade had three different sized circles: one 8 feet across, one 10 feet across, and one 12 feet across. Then, as many as 100 marbles were placed in the center of the circle. The object of the marble tournament was to shoot your marble from the outside line, hit a marble in the center or anywhere else the marble was, and knock it out of the circle without your marble, the one you are using to shoot the others in the circle, coming out of the circle. If your marble came out of the circle then it was the next shooter's time to try. The person with the most marbles knocked out of the circle was the winner. There were teams as well as final run-offs with individuals. The first shot of any tournament was done with a "steely", a marble made of steel, so that when it hit the marbles in the center of the circle they would disperse more easily and in all directions.

        The marbles disperse just as nutrients do when stress has caused nutrients to go in various directions. If you had a slow motion camera you could figure out which marble hit the next marble, which hit the next marble, which hit the next marble, etc. and know how each marble it hit moved. With nutrients we can't do that. We have no measuring devices of "in action" nutrient shifts but only after movements have been fixed in a new place. In other words, we can measure that we are low in a nutrient after a severe stress, but we don't have a device to measure the action. The other thing that the marbles represent is the nutrients themselves. If each of the marbles represents a nutrient and that marble or nutrient is knocked out of our circle, then we no longer have that nutrient in our body. We still have other nutrients, and some of these nutrients either have two or more jobs and can make up some for the missing nutrient. Others can work with several to make up for the missing nutrient, but the main missing nutrient, or marble, is gone from our circle.

        Then let's say that in order for the marbles to be knocked out of the circle you must have them in a particular sequence. Let's say that we put a section of red marbles, green marbles, white marbles, etc. in the center of the circle, and the object of the game is to alternate knocking out all the various colors in sequence. Red, then green, then white. And this is another thing that nutrients do. All nutrients have what are called enzymes and pathways where each sequence is dependent on the next link in that sequence. So, if you shoot two red marbles in a row you are disqualified. If you have two enzymes that are not matched in the sequence, then the nutrient either stops working, has limited working ability, takes longer to perform its function, and, in some cases, has a reverse effect of it original purpose and does harm. This last part you can see by the element oxygen. You need oxygen to live, but too much oxygen will kill you. It is called oxidation and we will talk about it later, but the main thing to remember here is balance of all things makes for biochemical balance. The circle also represents a totalness of life- all things within. If you knock out something on the inside it become something on the outside. Behavior is something from the inside that comes out, and we have behavior as an outside thing even though it originated from the inside. That is why it is so paramount to understand that you are a total circle, a form of energy that goes around and around. All the inserts and exits to that energy are the various aspects we classify by words, actions, thoughts, spirit, or all the things that we have not yet labeled, or that which we do not know exists yet. All things are from within. This is not a new theory or a profound theory. It has been around for many thousands of years, but it may be new to you in your thinking of how behavior or anything else could come from this type of thinking. Simply, what goes in must come out. Much more on this later. Back to the marbles. That first shot is very similar to what happens to your nutrients and biochemical balance when you have a severe shock to your person, and severe shock has many definitions. Each and every time you are missing a marble or nutrient, it may be because of some stress. The more marbles we knocked out in the tournament the closer we were to winning the game, but the more nutrients that are knocked out in your person, the farther you get away from wellness until you are classified as biochemically imbalanced or ill. So, in conclusion, it is the size of the circle, the types of marbles used, the order of the marbles that we are shooting at, the number of marbles remaining to be shot at, the sequence of the marbles, and many more things that are similar to biochemical balance.

        However, there is one huge exception. We want all the marbles inside the circle, not knocked out of the circle. Well, you might say, just put them in the circle. Sometimes that is possible solving some of our dilemma, but, other times, that is not possible. This is when we have problems, including behavioral problems and biochemical imbalance. So, if your loved one has behavioral problems remember it is something that has been knocked out of her circle and other things cannot do the work of the missing nutrient. If you knock enough nutrients out you have illness. If you knock all the nutrients out you have death. The game is over. In marbles you won by knocking all the marbles out. In life, you have death by knocking all the marbles out. Energy has lost its dimension in that form of energy called life to be replaced by another form of energy called death, as they say in TCM. So much for marbles. Maybe there is something to that old phrase, "he lost his marbles".

1 "Why Don't Doctors Know About It?"

" Why wasn't I told of this for my loved one and her biochemical illness?" This question requires an entire book to explain how the so-called medical profession, not only in the US, but also in much, if not all of the Western world, has suppressed, misguided, deliberately altered information, and done almost everything in their power or ignorance to control their profession and destroy orthomolecular medicine. Quacks are in any field, and so the medical profession thought that nutritional medicine must be some sort of quackery and must be destroyed. Put salt water on a flowering plant, and see how long it takes for the plant to die. But put the correct nutrients on the plant and see how it thrives. Orthomolecular doctors attempt to do this.

        The medical profession well knew it made a "big mistake," and all those that have followed since the big mistake have perpetuated this mistake. You guessed it. Yes, we, as humans seeking insight into our own wellness, have been shortchanged just as your loved one is now. We are shortchanged by the suppression of knowledge, including the suppression of orthomolecular medicine as well as Traditional Chinese Medicine.

2 What Do You Mean Biochemicals?

        Biochemicals are made up of molecules which include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and literally thousands of combinations of elements that are present, or should be present, in the human species in order for that human to maintain life, regardless of the length of life. If I told you that you need "air" to breathe and stay alive you might say, "don't be ridiculous. I know that." If I said you need water (hydrogen and oxygen in the correct balance) you might still give me the same answer.

        I will play a little game with you that goes from absurd to rude in a rather fast fashion. I will list the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that we know of at this point, and as you see the names mentally mark which ones you know by name.

Vitamins: Vitamin A (beta carotene), vitamin B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), vitamin B (panthothenic), B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B5 (folic acid), vitamin B12 (cobalamin), vitamin B (biotin), vitamin B (choline), vitamin B (inositol), B17 (amygdalin), vitamin B (paba-para-aminobenzoic acid), B15 (pangamic), Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E (tocopherol), Vitamin K, Vitamin P (bioflavonoids).
Minerals: Calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, chromium, selenium, iodine, nickel, molybdenum, vanadium.
Amino Acids: Phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan, cysteine, taurine, methionine, homocysteine, arginine, ornithine, glutamic acid, proline, aspartic acid, threonine, glycine, serine, alanine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, alanine, gaba, gluatamine, lysine, carnitine, and histidine. Enzymes : Co Q10

A Special Note About COQ10

        COQ10 is an extremely important enzyme and should be taken by supplementation daily. Dosage for therapeutic purposes should be in large enough dosages to work properly. I suggest between 100-300 mg per day.

        Back to our story. At some point I will ask you to put imaginary numbers with each of the nutrients, and then tell you that the total number you can come up with is 100. But you don't know which ones get more than one number (such as a quantity of 5 or 9 or whatever), and you have to figure out how to get to an equal number of 100 total. All right, you have already caught on and you know where I am going with this game. There are so many variables, plus the fact that cellular growth is changing so fast that there is no truth to correctness because we can't even measure time that small with the ability to utilize the small amount of time and how the biochemicals have changed.

        You, as I, do have some 6000 enzyme changes every second in our bodies (that is what they know now that they didn't know 20 years ago). Then how do you get from "air", which is the first one we talked about, to some huge number of changes and say with the same certainty that you did about "air" that you need such and such a biochemical at this nanosecond XXX?
        You see it is, in fact, impossible to think that you or any other person at least in this millennium, or the next, will figure out life. By the way, we have been talking only about biochemical life, and that doesn't say anything about spiritual life and all its changes. So it is, indeed, impossible to define life. Let's get that out of the way as we don't want people to think we are Ponce deLeon and have just found the Fountain of Youth.

3 WHAT THE BIOCHEMICALS DO
Sharp turns and U Turns

        I call these paragraphs sharp turns and U turns in the behavior of your loved one because many times that is exactly what it is. The onset of the biochemical imbalance will usually bring about sudden and very observable changes in behavior. "My wife told me she has a friend who had a child that has always been bad. What about that?" I will tell you later. You may think at the time that some of these behavioral changes that are going on with your loved one will change the next day back to normal. You usually convince yourself that your loved one has recently had a series of events that have brought on the changes in your loved one's behavior. Maybe, and maybe not. You must know your loved one's personality by now, you think, and hopefully you do. However, small changes may have been appearing over a long period of time, and if you are working at a job, have the child in day care, school, after school projects, and the like you may not have noticed little changes.
        Most people are social to a certain extent and have at least one or two playmates that they respond to, plus a family member or members, or a social network at the school, church, or other places. If your loved one is withdrawn and quiet it does not by itself mean anything except that. However, if he or she is withdrawn and quiet day after day then look for the behavioral reasons. If none of the behavioral reasons make sense then look to something that probably is biochemical. "My daughter is only quiet and withdrawn when I tell her I am not putting up with her nonsense, and she goes to her room to pout." Wow. "Do you mean to say if she is quiet and withdrawn for a couple of days, and I can't figure out the reasons for her being quiet and withdrawn then she has a biochemical imbalance?" Yes, in a way I am. It is perhaps the first "trigger" to watch very closely, plus other behavioral traits that may appear in quick succession, such as appetite loss, stomach pain, ear infections (especially in very young children), outburst of anger, throwing tantrums, wanting to stay at home, watching television as a means of escaping whatever they may be experiencing, or anything that is "not normal" for that person. If they are young, even at the age of three, or even as old as 17 years of age, they may not in any way notice that they have changed their desires and wishes.
        Additionally, they cannot tell you because they don't know how to communicate these changes; and if you are seeing it for the first time you may simply toss it off as a "so what" and "tomorrow he or she will be better."
        First and simple. Look for the food that your loved one had that day but, more importantly, food eaten approximately 8-24 hours earlier. "She eats everything. That is one problem we have never had with her." Back to the story, please. All people have varying transient time for food entering the body and bowel movement (excretion), but usually, unless the person has a history of extreme "holding" of food within the body as with severe constipation and only excreting every two or three days, then it should be in the 8-22 hour range. (If, in fact, your loved one does have the severe constipation problem I just mentioned, then you can be assured that toxins are damaging your loved one.) (My point here is not to solve, even if I could, the various problems of physiology but to point up a few telltale signs that may help you.)
        So, I am giving you information in common terms backed up by those whose foundations in scientific research are meaningful and important to your loved one. Most people still want the quick fix, but I strongly suggest that you obtain as many of these books as possible and study them- not simply read them. To get back to my original point- what appears to be supplementation as "normal" may not in any way come close to alleviating the symptoms of your loved one's biochemical illness. You may have to take 3000 mg of vitamin C to stay healthy without getting diarrhea, and others with biochemical illness may require as much as 45000 mg of vitamin C. Cases of severe illness or trauma may require 200,000 to 400,000 mg of vitamin C. So please do take the time and energy to read these extremely valuable reference books. They are the basis of this book.
        I am simply attempting to give you hope that there are, in fact, some answers to your loved one's biochemical illness. That simple old adage- "hope runs eternal" may not be such a myth, and you will better your loved one. If I had not experienced some of the same suffering and the vicarious suffering that my loved one did (and all the suffering that I have no idea that he may have suffered), I could not write this book, nor would I have any reason to do so.

A Few Foods That Cause Havoc

        Some of the worst behavior-changing foods can and do alter behavior. Some are milk and any milk product, such as cheese, and wheat. It seems that if our food industry didn't make it out of wheat, it chose corn, the next worst one. So anything with milk, wheat, or corn. Take a look at the ingredients of many of your processed foods in the supermarket, and you will be amazed at the number that have one or all of these in them. "My daughter loves her ice cream and eats it every night right out of the container." (More on this in chapter 4.)
        If you take a glass and each day of your loved one's life put one grain of salt in, it would appear that it will take a great deal of time before the millions of individual grains of salt finally fill up the glass. However, at some point you will start to observe that the salt is, in fact, accumulating in the glass. As time goes on, and you still have been adding one grain of salt per day, you will find that it is finally getting full. Now let's take that same glass of individual grains of salt and think of them as toxins going into the body. It is true that we have all kinds of detoxing agents and mechanisms that work in the body, but let's say that some of these detox agents and mechanisms don't work all the time or at top efficiency. Then you have toxins that your body should have gotten rid of, others that got changed into the wrong things biochemically, and the total body is functioning at 20% of its optimal capacity. Don't you think that behavior will change? It has to eventually. "If she is operating at 20% then why doesn't she have polio or something else?" Back to the story, please.
        Timing is the question answered for behavior problems. The same analogy has no answer as to when the onset of illness or the type of illness that will occur. It may be cancer 20 years from now. They may never have a discernible disease. They may have behavior problems (which again, I must caution you, are merely extensions of the total person) or any labeled disease you can think of at any time. The sky is not falling and your loved one can be helped.

Sugar

Sugar, as we know it, is one of the worst things in the world for biochemcially ill people, and it certainly is extremely bad for everyone. It should be avoided . No one should eat sugar. You need sugar, as it is converted to energy. However, there are several types of sugar, if we can say it simplistically. The white sugar from sugar beets or sugar cane that is made into white sugar is the one I am talking about. There are many excellent books written about what sugar does to your loved one biochemically, effects which are extremely harmful. These are not in any way scare words, but are backed up with extensive studies of how sugar can, and does, alter behavior. The behavior is always altered for the bad and in some cases to the point of violence and even murder.
        Your body does need sugar in the form of natural sugar from fruits and vegetables, but not from white sugar-based foods of any kind, including even vitamins. If your vitamins have sugar in them, toss them away and get vitamins without sugar. In very simplistic terms, white sugar increases insulin, which in turn makes the adrenal glands work overtime. Then you have aminochromes which, under stress, change into other biochemicals that cause behavioral problems. All of this is a chain reaction that happens in one way or another every time you eat sugar. Each time that happens you have a behavior change, too.
        Eat a candy bar filled with sugar and you feel good for an hour or so. You then feel less good until you may even get irritable or angry. You may attribute your anger to something specific and say that such and such caused you be angry but you would not have been angry at that specific thing had you not had the sugar in the first place. And what if it is not anger but a thousand different emotions that we could name including even subtle things such as, "can't concentrate as well as before the sugar," "reaction time is faster and more impulsive," and "not as clear in thinking things through." I don't want to get into list after endless list of negative behavior traits of what sugar does to your loved one, so please read the books I have suggested in the bibliography.
        Just get them off of sugar, period. You will have to watch and be very careful since so many, many food products have sugar in them. You can read in all the books about 9-12 teaspoons of sugar in one soft drink and the like, but the main point is simple- get your loved one off sugar, regardless of how you do it. It is an absolute must.
    Even though this section has been very short without all kinds of analogies, it is a simple statement that you must understand. Get your loved one off of sugar .

Playing Doctor

"Wow, I took away milk and my loved one was back to normal. Thanks for the information." Not so fast, Dr. Einstein. Just because you have taken away the milk and your loved one is back to normal does not mean in any way that you have nothing more to solve. There may be so many other things going on. There are some occasions which, in fact, with only one biochemical change, can dramatically demonstrate improvement in health and behavior. However, do not assume that only two or three food types are the only causes for biochemical illness. There are millions of things including pesticides, herbicides, rodent sprays, radiation, electrical fields, gases in the air, and a multitude of others that do not belong in our person. There are so many things, in fact, that if you think you have the answers to health, then you will be the first person on this earth that does have the answer. So if you do not remember each and every time a food alters your loves one's behavior then you are not paying attention.
        In addition to that, if you remember the salt in the glass analogy you may remember that sensitivity noticed and observed for the first time, as in the case of milk with your loved one, is an indicator of the possibility of many other things that may or may not come about in the future.
        In TCM certain foods are eaten at a particular season of the year but not eaten at another time of the season. Does this tell you something?
        Another form of playing doctor is to think that just because you took milk away from your loved one and she was better that everyone else in your family knows about it. "Boy did she throw a fit when I said she couldn't have any more ice cream." We must continue. Because of separations, divorce, or simply passed years, your loved one may consume milk, not knowing that they are incapable of biochemically balancing milk in their person.
        They may find that their reactions are even worse than when they, as children, had their first problem with milk. It is highly suggested that if you know of particular foods that your loved one is sensitive to, by all means tell others in the family. Certainly tell your loved one that they must not have milk or whatever that food is. Your ability to build and maintain a history of sensitivities to foods for your loved one is necessary, and you and your loved one must be responsible for this information.
        "You mean to say I have to watch any and every thing that my loved one eats? I don't want to live this way, and there is no fun in life if everything has to be figured out." Yes, you do have to watch which foods your loved one eats if you "see" a behavior change connected to what they have eaten. Let me tell you a story from one of the many brilliant books by the biochemist, Carl Pfeiffer. But before I do, let me say that the above analysis of food example was something that caused harm or possible harm to the individual, but the story by Pfeiffer has a happy ending "by watching what the child eats" (page 238-241).

Pfeiffer and The Girl With a Zinc Problem

Pfeiffer tells the story of an adopted girl who was overactive as a baby, but her parents saw no evidence of difficulty until she started school. There she had to repeat the first grade because of her poor learning. Her behavior and learning problems seemed to be emotional, but psychological counseling did not help. In the sixth grade a psychiatrist diagnosed her as having minimal brain dysfunction and later as poor visual perception and auditory memory. At age thirteen she was hospitalized for three weeks, placed on a high protein, sugar-free diet plus vitamins. After she had been in the hospital for a few days, her antagonistic and uncooperative behavior suddenly changed. Her ranting and raving and cruel swear words all suddenly stopped. As a teenager she again began eating sugar and had destructive tantrums. She was immature and had poor logic.
        Her parents noticed that when she ate fried oysters she was unusually alert and cooperative and never had any tantrums. The parents read extensively and found information about a high-histamine level patient in one of Pfeiffer's books.
        Although the parents had tried megavitamin therapy without any significant improvement, they had again started Fran in August 1973 on a closely supervised megavitamin dosage of mostly vitamin C, niacinamide (2 to 3 gm daily), and B-6. After four months of this therapy, they could not ascertain any significant improvement. Then, on 27 December 1973, they gave her the first dose of zinc. The very next day she was positively improved. Within two weeks after she started the zinc she had 1) obtained her driver's license (for two years she had had a learner's permit but had not wanted to try for the license); 2) obtained a full-time job from midnight to 8 A.M. (the first job she ever had); and 3) enrolled in college for a three-hour-per-day course (she had been out of high school for several weeks and had previously not expressed any desire to attend college). Although after two more weeks she had to drop the college- no time for sleep- they just couldn't believe the change that had taken place in their Fran.
        Then, they stopped the megavitamins completely but continued the zinc. There was no discernible change- the very great improvement remained. They continued the zinc for a total of 3 1/2 months (from 27 December), then stopped everything to see what would happen. For two days there was little change, but on the third day Fran had a "blowup"- a real temper tantrum. The next day, another. This one included the ranting alone in her room. It was the first time such ranting had taken place since she had begun receiving zinc. One week after they stopped the zinc her behavior had deteriorated so much that they felt they had to resume it. They gave her the zinc capsule at 8:30 A.M. By 6:00 that night she was, once again, a changed person - and continues to be as the zinc is continued.
        Fran still has problems. She is immature, still has poor logic (although this seems to be improving) and a few friends. Her parents have a strong feeling that she lost the sugar compulsion, although they are not yet certain. But after eighteen years of watching Fran try to cope with frustrations and failures, the parents thank God she is not in prison. No one can imagine how much the parents are enjoying the new Fran. They say, "She has a great sense of humor, is considerate and fun to be around. There is no doubt whatsoever in our minds that zinc saved her life." ( Reprinted by permission )
        This book was one of first books on biochemistry that I ever read and when I read the few pages of the story you have just read I was in tears because of the way in which one individual did not know she had biochemical imbalance and struggled to do whatever she could. She had help from parents, and a brilliant and human biochemist helped to guide all of them so that the girl would be able to live to her greatest potential. Simple, but beautiful.
        So many times we as parents predict and force our children to be something that they cannot be; then, because we feel that they have fallen short of what we think their potential is, do not give the love, compassion, and understanding for them in a way that glorifies their potential. If we wanted to have a duplicate of ourselves then perhaps we should have gotten a robot instead of a human that we say we love. I am personally not in any way saying that we should not strive to be the best person that we can in all ways, but it is as if life were some sort of train station that people are at and that is their definition of life. Then, life can be judged for its worth or lack of worth. Life to me is a process, period, and it does not have an arrival point.
        If you read very carefully the story by Pfeiffer you will notice that the girl was quiet (not, of course, in her rages and anger) and withdrawn. By themselves these traits may not mean much, but be on the watch for other traits right behind those. On the biochemical side of the Pfeiffer story, you should know that even at the time Pfeiffer wrote of his patient using zinc (1975), biochemistry knew of over 450 biochemical actions and reactions. Biochemists know of over 600 biochemical reactions and actions of zinc a mere 23 years later, and I am certain there will be many more biochemical reactions and actions for zinc in the human person. (Please read Pfeiffer's books, especially, Mental and Elemental Nutrients ).
        Now you can read about specific traits to look for. Even though I have given age groupings, in many ways they are not age-specific, and many cross-overs in symptoms can be observed. So read all the material, but don't think that if your loved one is past a certain age that the traits of younger years do not apply. They might.
        The following is brief description of some of the traits that may act as guide posts for discerning behavioral traits that may indicate biochemical imbalance. What they do, with whom, how they respond, direction-development, desires, etc. for each age grouping.

Ages and Emotional Markers that May Indicate Biochemical Illness
Big Word of Caution

        The problem of controlling parents manipulating youngsters by instilling problems when there are none do great harm. I put this here to remind you that we are talking about biochemical illness, and we are not talking about some child who is simply having "natural growth".
All in bold letters are major signs.

age 1-3

1) Awaking at night not wanting any food or needing biological functions
2) Staying awake for awhile then falling asleep from exhaustion
3) Food (only wanting to eat one or two specific foods)
4) Sleep (too much, excessive sleep time)
5) Awareness (you feel they are not responding to your physical movements or words because they appear to be dazed or in another world, without specific stimuli coming into the loved one; or a little later in age such as waiting for you to tell them something, and then they can go play)
6) Verbal interaction (you say one thing and they respond with an entirely different thought on a number of occasions, and you wonder if they are listening)
7) Hazard signs/fires
8) Violence
9) Bed wetting
10) Cruelty to animals or objects
11) Always wanting more and nothing is ever good enough
12) Antisocial or gravitating to only one person
13) Resists changes
14) Not being able to separate beauty from pain (thought disorder)
15) Limited or no sense of humor; no jokes about them or jokes about others
16) Lack of smiles
17) Lack of laughter
18) Lack of hygiene
19) Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor
20) "A raindrop is a thunderstorm"- exaggerated response to stimuli well outside of the range of any type of normal response
21) 24-72 (or less) hour(s) reactions after stress- what are their reactions behaviorally and physically to stress?
22) Rage of any kind
23) Easily distracted, lacks focus

age 3-6

 
1) Obsessive with the way shoe strings are tied (visual), how clothes (shape color-eye-visual) fit or look to them, texture (touch sensation)
2) They do not enjoy being touched by anyone or only by one particular person (touch)
3) A negative response to family social customs
4) Difficulty eating at restaurants and eating out
5) One person to child conversations
6) Two people and the child, all in conversation
7) Three people and the child in conversation
8) More than 3 people and the child in conversation
9) Food (nutrients)
10) Sleep (too little, too much, abrupt changes either way, awaking after short periods of time)
11) Eating (at irregular times and eating processed foods or being food sensitive)
12) Awareness (thought order- do they follow conversations and participate?)
13) Verbal interaction (do they wish or have a desire to share on a daily basis?)
14) Hazard signs- lack of empathy
15) Fires
16) Violence
17) Bed wetting
18) Cruelty to animals or objects
19) Not being able to separate beauty from pain (thought disorder)
20) Resists changes
21) Limited or no sense of humor; no jokes about them or jokes about others
22) Lack of smiles
23) Lack of laughter
24) Lack of hygiene
25) Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor
26) 24-72 (or less) hour(s) reactions after stress- what are their reactions behaviorally and physically to stress?
27) Rage of any kind
28) Easily distracted, lacks focus

age 6-10

 
1) Foul language
2) How do they interact with playmates- are they always the "boss"?
3) Always wanting more; nothing is ever good enough
4) Antisocial or gravitating to only one person in conversation
5) Food (nutrients)
6) Sleep (too little, too much, abrupt changes either way, awaking after short periods of time)
7) Eating (at irregular times and eating processed foods or being food sensitive)
8) Awareness (thought order- do they follow conversations and participate?)
9) Verbal interaction (do they wish or have desire to share on a daily basis?)
10) Hazard signs- lack of empathy
11) Fires
12) Violence
13) Bed wetting
14) Cruelty to animals or objects
15) Not being able to separate beauty from pain (thought disorder)
16) Resists changes
17) Limited or no sense of humor; no jokes about them or jokes about others
18) Lack of smiles
19) Lack of laughter
20) Overthinking
21) Fatigue
22) Lack of hygiene
23) Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor 24)"A raindrop is a thunderstorm"- exaggerated response to stimuli well outside of the range of any type of normal response
25) 24-72 (or less) hour(s) reactions after stress- what are their reactions behaviorally and physically to stress?
26) Rage of any kind
27) Easily distracted, lacks focus

age 10-13

1) Foul language
2) Not taking advice from anyone
3) Rationalization in order to push others away from the illness- the ultimate denial of illness.
4) In deep depression- pushing others away
5) Refusing any and all attempts to calm the person; better to have stimuli of any kind (strong evidence of racing mind thought disorder) than boredom; at least with stimuli one feels they are alive
6) Hazard signs- lack of empathy
7) Fires
8) Violence
9) Bed wetting
10) Cruelty to animals or objects
11) Growth spurts
12) Looking for something but don't know what; frustration leading to stress-induced depression
13) Not being able to separate beauty from pain
14) Always wanting more; nothing is ever good enough
15) Antisocial or gravitating to only one particular person
16) Attention to experimentation with drugs and alcohol.
17) Attention to theft of things in house, purse, etc.
18) Learning that lies are a means of getting what they want.
19) Resists changes
20) Limited or no sense of humor; no jokes about them or jokes about others
21) Lack of smiles
22) Lack of laughter
23) Overthinking
24) Fatigue
25) Lack of hygiene
26) Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor
27) "A raindrop is a thunderstorm"- exaggerated response to stimuli well outside of the range of any type of normal response
28) 24-72 (or less) hour(s) reactions after stress- what are their reactions behaviorally and physically to stress?
29) Rage of any kind
30) Easily distracted, lacks focus

Growth Spurts

        I must take this time in our conversation to tell you a very important thing that can happen in any age but is generally more specific to the 10-13 age group and especially the 13-18 age group. Growth is continuous from inception, but the growth spurt I am talking about can and does lead to many biochemical imbalances. If your loved one grows say, for example, 4 inches to as much as 8 or 9 inches in a small span of time such as 14 months, then I think you must consider what is going on biochemically in your loved one.
        This type of growth needs nutrients in a massive way to offset the cellular expansions that are taking place. We all sort of make a joke about the hormones of youngsters kicking in and what all that means, but we usually fail to connect physical development with behavioral traits. If you are a male with huge growth spurts which can be interrupted by a few months, and another growth spurt, you are probably not considering that they are masturbating maybe even twice a day.
        This is not a discussion about sex, but sexual pleasures do, in fact, have something to do very specifically with nutrient imbalance. If your loved one masturbates once a day or even once every third day or whatever, they will loose approximately 15 mg of zinc per ejaculation. This is because one of the holding reservoirs for zinc is in the testes. Please don't think that your loved one does not masturbate because they do and it is just as natural to their development as eating or any other bodily function. You can do your own mental calculations in your mind for how much zinc is required just to maintain what is lost by masturbation.
        The second part of this is that zinc works in over 600 enzymes or biochemical actions and reactions in the body. Zinc is a mineral that we need in trace amounts, but that trace amount is extremely necessary, not only for cellular growth, but also for good behavior in cellular growth, too. Then you can say that your loved one gets all the zinc they need from the food they eat. Totally wrong. Not unless they eat oysters and they would have to eat them each and every day in order to maintain a biochemical balance. There have been hundreds of studies for well over 45 years as to the specific need for zinc and all of the studies that I have read say not even one word about attempting to get zinc only through food. So forget that. Zinc must be taken as a supplement unless you know with great certainty that such and such an organic farmer has the necessary zinc in his soil, is transferred to the growth of his plant, and that nothing has altered the strength of the zinc in that food. Then, of course, you would have to eat that food every day, or you will have biochemical imbalance. So, for most of us, we have swallowed our anger and frustrations at the food industry for killing the soil and depleting zinc, and we take our zinc through supplementation. If the zinc-copper ratio of biochemicals is not maintained it is a certainty that there will be some behavioral problems of some kind.

Copper and its Destruction

        Copper is perhaps one of the hundreds of agents that has a most destructive biochemical action known to cause massive behavioral problems. I will not get into any of the many biochemical imbalances that an overload of copper in the person can have, but I will point up a few things that may initiate a desire on your part to read about copper. It devastates the human person, not only in behavioral terms but in all physiology.
        First, let me tell you where we get overloads of copper. In our drinking water. Most all water systems throughout the U.S. have old pipes, galvanized with copper lining, and the leaching effect of these pipes allows for many particles of copper to be carried directly into your water faucet at work, at school, or at home. The fact that our water supply is so bad and harmful is another example of how we mess in our nest and then many years later, even if we realize that we have created a problem, we fail to do anything to correct our mess. As you will see throughout this book there are many times when I, as well as many thousands of others, have said time and again that as a society we are, indeed, very destructive by our arrogance and ignorance. We suffer from a lack of admitting we have made mistakes with the lack of ability to correct those mistakes. There is nothing new there, for sure. However, the water is so bad, and I am not talking here about bacterial infections, fungi, and all the rest but mainly about copper in the water. There are hundreds of books written about the water quality in this country and a few about copper in the water. It is the last group of books that has particular meaning to your loved one's behavioral health.
        Too much copper can and does cause total and complete psychotic breaks from reality. You can have a full-on uncontrollable organism that will require strong psychotic drugs to control that person. This is not a scare tactic, but I must impress upon you that if you loved one has a high copper load in their person it is a certainty that at some point they will have behavioral problems and probably many more other problems as well. To stabilize the overload, one of the best know nutrients is zinc. There are so many reasons for the supplementation of zinc, as I have said before. In fact, there are over 600 known reasons to take zinc, but the use of zinc here is extremely important to balance the amount of copper in the person.
        If you have any foreign chemical in the body at any time it can and does cause biochemical imbalance. This then can and does cause any medical problems including behavioral problems. These foreign chemicals may be some real bad chemicals such as toxins or some that we have not fully understood how damaging they can be.
        Copper overload is another reason why your loved one needs zinc. Did you know that people do "go off the deep end," to use your phrase, if their zinc levels are not maintained? They do and then everyone says, "Well, they are teenagers, and that is the way teenagers act." Nonsense. Teenagers are always attempting to establish their individuality, and find a mate to continue the species, and all the things that go along with brain-stem animal behavior; but, there is big difference between that and behavioral problems that are so varied and complex.
        As I said before, there are a few nutrients that stand out from all the rest, even though you need them all in balance, and zinc is one of the four or five primary absolute nutrients that is crucial to growth at any age. Your loved one must have zinc. Now, I have been talking about the male and why the male has more need for zinc, but females also need zinc. In some cases they need as much or more, and they need it sooner than males do because their maturation time starts earlier. So this zinc thing is in no way a male thing. Do not be misled into thinking that just because you have not seen physical growth spurts that your child doesn't need zinc. Their growth is different, but they need zinc just as much as if they were having a growth spurt. However, the growth spurt is your clue.
         There is an additional problem of your loved one not eating regularly and often, too. Many times young people will go the entire day without eating and then eat either junk food or sugar-laced foods. These two aspects alone will not allow for zinc from foods.
        So, you must take zinc by supplementation. Obviously, if you have very young children you may have had them on zinc supplementation for years, and I hope you do. But during these growth spurts you will have to increase the amount of zinc they are taking. You may go ahead and ask all the behavioral questions about this and that behavioral trait and if it is connected directly to zinc deficiency. I will say yes, yes, yes. Do not forget zinc. So one of the main tests that any orthomolecular doctor will do is a copper-zinc balance test. Many will do it with blood tests and one doctor who treated a family member had a rather simple way of testing for the lack of zinc, which doesn't mean that copper is not high, but simply that zinc is missing. The doctor filled up a glass of water and put many, many milligrams of powered zinc in it, brought it to the room for the patient, and asked him to sip it. My family member thought it was water and drank a great deal of it without any problem at all. Zinc is extremely bitter to the taste, but if you are low on zinc in your person then your person craves zinc. Then, the bitter taste of zinc is not so pronounced. Yes, the family member was low on zinc as other tests confirmed as well.

age 13-18

1) Peer influence, boredom, misplaced boredom
2) Not realizing consequences of actions- delusional or misperceptions of thinking
3) Thinking that happiness and pain are bound together- delusion of thinking and the harm of this misconception, major signs of trouble
4) Lack of empathy
5) Fascination with or setting fires
6) Aggression toward any human
7) Aggression toward objects; destruction
8) Negativism
9) Obsessive-compulsive
10) Low inhibition threshold
11) Lack of rituals, routine, daily schedule
12) Blaming others
13) Food
14) Sleep
15) Eating
16) Awareness
17) Verbal interaction- behavior modification and its advantages and disadvantages
18) Lies, deceit, manipulation
19) Nutritional deficiency becomes more definite- that it is causing the problems and not simply someone who is manipulating the situation
20) Their eyes (disperception)
21) Hazard signs
22) Violence
23) Bed wetting
24) Cruelty to animals or objects
25) Looking for something but don't know what- not being able to separate beauty from pain- always
26) Wanting more, and nothing is ever good enough
27) Antisocial or gravitating to only one person
28) Finding a mate such as a girlfriend or boyfriend or a mate of the same sex can offer the adolescent a multitude of happy as well as sad experiences. Mental battles beyond belief can get so involved that anger, hostility, and even rage can transpire. With the addition of disperceptions you may have your hands full. For example, let's say your son has had a fight with his girlfriend and comes home to call her and argue. He calls her every foul word in the book. (She may be doing the same.) When you ask if you can help he goes into a verbal rage with you. If you do not ask if you can help he might even go into a throwing of objects rage. If you happen to be his mother you might get a verbal barrage such as "you fucking whore" or "you bitch, you are the same as my girlfriend." Obviously, these situations are no-win from the very beginning, and there are no easy answers to tell you how to avoid them or to tell you of ways to help you loved one. So you tried to help and you got an angry reply, the possibility of the rage and a disperception. The disperception was the association of the mother with his girlfriend.
29) Lack of empathy
30) Attention to possible addiction with drugs and alcohol
31) Attention to theft of things in the house: purse, etc.
32) Lies become more outlandish, and you begin to wonder if they know truth at all
33) Resists changes
34) Limited or no sense of humor; no jokes about them or jokes about others
35) Lack of smiles
36) Lack of laughter
37) Overthinking
38) Fatigue
39) Lack of hygiene
40) Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor
41) 24-72 (or less) hour(s) reactions after stress- what are their reactions behaviorally and physically to stress?
42) Rage of any kind
43) Foul language
44)Easily distracted, lacks focus

age 18-26

        This age of 18-26 has almost been forgotten in psychiatric research compared to other ages, but is an extremely important age and perhaps demonstrates a more vulnerable age than we might think. People think that this age group of people have "arrived" at adulthood and are on their own to provide their own inner strength to solve whatever problems they may have. This age is an age where many of the biochemical illnesses show up that have devastating effects such as schizophrenia, manic depression, and so on. (Yes, you caught me using labels, but I hope you will understand that these are, in fact, biochemical diseases. I could not find any other words that might explain to you the specific types of biochemical illnesses.)
1) Food
2) Sleep
3) Eating
4) Awareness
5) Verbal interaction, social skills
6) One to one communication
7) 2 people to the biochemically imbalanced person
8) 3 people to the biochemically imbalanced person
9) More than 3 people to the biochemically imbalanced person
10) Restaurants and social situations
11) Out of control
12) Better to have stimuli than boredom; at least with stimuli one feels they are alive
13) Hazard signs- fires
14) Violence
15 )Bed wetting
16) Cruelty to animals or objects
17) Looking for something but don't know what- not being able to separate beauty from pain
18) Always wanting more, and nothing is ever good enough
19) Antisocial or gravitating to only one person
20) Obsessive-compulsive behavior A lot of people are fooled by the term obsessive-compulsive since they think it means not stepping on the cracks on concrete sidewalks, or washing their hands over and over, or repeating a phrase of words over and over. However, there are different levels of obsessive-compulsive behavior that I shall write about which deals with disinhibition or lack of impulse control. The "let everything rip" at any time and under any circumstance is the obsessive-compulsive trait that I wish to tell you about later. "Hey, I found 38 things she did. Does that mean I am in for it with her?" No you..., never mind.
21) Lack of empathy
22) Negative thinking
23) Resists changes
24) Limited or no sense of humor; no jokes about them or jokes about others
25) Lack of smiles, lack of laughter
26) Overthinking
27) Fatigue
28) Lack of hygiene
29) Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor
30) 24-72 (or less) hour(s) reactions after stress- what are their reactions behaviorally and physically to stress?
31) Rage of any kind
32) Foul language
33) Easily distracted, lacks focus

Heal Thyself

        I must again stop here and tell you about something that is very important for this age group. Heal thyself. If you feel that there are things you don't understand about yourself, that is fine. You may be very healthy in all aspects of your life. However, if you feel that there are just too many things that are out of control in your mind then I would suggest that you do a little self diagnosis and seek out an orthomolecular doctor to deny or confirm your suspicions. I have listed several key things that can act as guides. If you have a number of these traits then you probably have some biochemical imbalance, and it is to your benefit to seek a biochemically-trained doctor to do some tests.
1) Lack of empathy
2) Possible addiction with drugs and/or alcohol
3) Theft
4) Lies
5) Limited or no sense of humor; no jokes about yourself or jokes about others
6) Lack of smiles
7) Lack of laughter
8) Overthinking
9) Obsession with fire
10) Violence
11) Cruelty to animals or objects
12) Looking for something, but don't know what
13) Not being able to separate beauty from pain
14) Always wanting more, and nothing is ever good enough
15) Antisocial or gravitating to only one person
16) Negativism
17) Obsessive-compulsive behavior
18) Low inhibition threshold
19) Lack of rituals
20) Lack of routine, daily schedule
21) Resists changes
22) Irregular or bad eating habits
23) Insomnia or irregular sleeping habits
24) Working with or being exposed to toxins
25) Foul language
26) Easily distracted, lacks focus
        It sounds as if I am trying to say that anything that does not fit into these categories would be considered "normal", and that anything that is on the list is abnormal. There is nothing that is abnormal or normal except through the eyes of society. You, as a member of that society, feel you are either a part of that society or not in many varying degrees. However, even if you were a hermit on a lone mountain top and away from all society you may indeed still have biochemical imbalances and illness.
        The above terms should not be confused with normal and abnormal as defined by society. If you feel strange it may mean nothing, and yet it can be your first clue to biochemical imbalance. Remember, as in TCM, "Heal thyself". Now, you might say this is the same thing that behavioral psychologists do: giving a list of symptoms, then a diagnosis, and then treatment. I have no problem with any list, but I have a big problem with the diagnosis part and an even bigger problem with the treatment. Just because you label something it does not and is not, in many if not all cases, the root cause of the problem. Thus, the label is incorrect, and, thus, the treatment is way off the mark. Treatment by means of talking and/or tranquilizers is not going to work because it is a biochemical problem. Try talking to a horse in the field that has gone "mad or wild", and see if it does any good. It is truly absurd to treat some mislabeled disease with something that does not and cannot work.
         Once you have thought about your self analysis then find an orthomolecular doctor, have the tests done, alter your biochemical life, and I can assure you will feel better. It is not "snake oil" or some other form of quackery, but the basis for life itself.
        How many of the behavior traits did you find on these lists that apply to your loved one? How many did you miss on these lists that apply to your loved one? Obviously, you may have never thought of any connection of behavior and biochemical imbalance. I missed plenty. My other family members missed plenty as well. All the time people suffer and we don't know why they suffer. I am now telling you how to see biochemical illness. Later I will tell you what to do about it.

A few thoughts about specific behavior traits in the various age groupings

        There are a few of the behavior traits that I want to give you a little bit more information about and try to tie them together, instead of just an abstract list. I am not attempting to give you more psychological analysis and a new course in college psychology, but perhaps by a little clarification you will see how some are very important as a thread that runs through all the various age groupings. They indicate that a biochemical illness has been there for a longer period of time that you would have thought.
        The first one that I will choose is the lack of empathy. The lack of empathy is the inability to feel the joys and pains of another human, animal, substance, or object. At first, you may think it strange that I put animal and even more strange that I put substance or object. The inability of your loved one to feel empathy may be a direct result of a sub-level of depression even in early childhood years. You may miss it completely. If the child is at an age when they are to develop individuality from their mother, but this does not take place properly, then the child may feel abandonment later in life.
        The one difference I wish to point up here is that if at that particular time there is a biochemical imbalance then the child will have great difficulty developing empathy. If this biochemical imbalance is not corrected then you will see some signs of the lack of empathy. Then if you see the lack of empathy you can see also a withdrawal of the child into himself or herself. Then you may see their desire to only socialize with only one particular person. Usually it is the mother, another attempt at soothing the abandonment problem in the eyes of the child. Then you may see many patterns that go in and out of daily or weekly phases that you finally accept as the way your child sees their environment.
        So the lack of empathy and abandonment are reinforced in the eyes of the child, and their behavioral pattern has been established. The problem all along is the biochemical imbalance.
        Many behavioral patterns will carry on until some biochemical balance is obtained. This may be directly associated with bed wetting, sleep problems, eating problems and more. Then again they may be separate problems originating from other parts of their development. However, all of them are caused by biochemical imbalance. All you are seeing is your child's behavior.
        If I got rather absurd with you and asked, "What does vitamin B6 look like in the organism," you might start to tell me the size, shape, taste of the pill or capsule. However, I asked the question of, "What does vitamin B6 look like in the organism?" If you think of behavior then why can't you think of a nutrient? There is no doubt that it is an absurd analogy, but just because you see one thing rather easily does not mean it is what you are really seeing, but the result of something else. If you remember this principle of thinking in terms of biochemical illness you will understand a better perspective in terms of behavioral traits and where they come from. It does make a difference in the types of lack of empathy certainly, and we would much rather have a child who has biochemical illness toss a glass across the floor than to punch out the family dog or slap his sister. However, we don't want any of these things to happen, period. That can be achieved by biochemical balance. So levels of one thing may indicate levels of another but all will have the same root or original starting place.
        You probably have already noticed that in each age grouping category that the list continues to get longer and longer and the same traits that existed, with a few exceptions, remain the same throughout all groups. Obviously, life gets more complicated as it goes on and thus you could say that is the reason. However, if I said we also learned about life as life went on, then the list should become shorter, not longer, because we would have learned from life's experiences. If we have biochemical balance as we are learning at any age we will shorten our list of damaging behavioral traits and increase our other "imaginary list" of good behavioral traits.
        Biochemical balance is not about the little train who said, "I think I can." Will and determination and their significance to life are extremely difficult or next to impossible to teach a very small child, especially at that age when they have biochemical imbalance. If the lack of empathy development has been damaged in early childhood you might think that you have the start of a serial killer or at best an uncaring person. What if I told you that regardless of the age and regardless of the length of time that a person has been without empathy, it can be reversed with biochemicals?
        "Are you saying that someone who has been a selfish ass and a no good their entire lifetime can be corrected biochemically?" Yes, that is correct. Yes, there will have to be the biochemical balance and the biochemical balance may not be easily achieved at first. Yet, with time it can be. All this with some direct-insight conversations, not high powered-psychotherapy that tells that individual right from wrong and the possible consequences of their choices will follow. "I think you must believe in fairy tales, too." No. Everything I have told you is true. That is why you must try to see the signs of biochemical imbalance and immediately get the proper nutrients into your child. Your child doesn't know what is going on, and if they have always lived that way they think that is life (and it is for them). However, you know what these behavioral traits indicate. It is your responsibility to correct your child's biochemical imbalance. Humans do want and desire to succeed at adventure, whatever that adventure may be. Humans do not choose failure and pain. Biochemical imbalance allows pain and confusion, and it clouds many desires for success or adventure.

Biochemical Balance From Biochemical Imbalance
age 13-18

        Now let's take all the biochemical imbalance induced behavioral traits and make all of them positive by the use of the correct balance of biochemicals. Here's how the age 13-18 age group might look. I will put the new positive traits in bold letters.
1) Peer influence, boredom, misplaced boredom- active involvement in family, school, religious and community activities involving many various types of people and interrelationships.
2) Not realizing consequences of actions- delusional or misperceptions of thinking- they show, believe in, and demonstrate responsibility for themselves and others (empathy)
3) Thinking that happiness and pain are bound together- delusion of thinking and the harm of this misconception, major signs of trouble- they know and seek beauty from what they determine as beauty. They spend very little time in the pursuit of overthinking
4) Lack of empathy - they believe in and show empathy for all things living or non-living
5) Fascination with or setting fires- does not even enter their minds except as another pleasure to watch such as a campfire outing.
6) Cruelty to animals - they believe in and show empathy for all things living or non-living
7) Aggression toward any human - they believe in and show empathy for all things living or non-living
8) Aggression toward objects; destruction - they believe in and show empathy for all things living or non-living
9) Negativism- either they don't have time or don't wish to participate in negative thinking because they are doing so many other wonderful things
10) Obsessive-compulsive- does not even enter the picture
11) Low inhibition threshold- for the most part this never enters the picture
12) Lack of rituals, routine, daily schedule- they are involved in so many aspects of living that they are into many rituals and routines just to keep going in their pursuits of adventure in life.
13) Blaming others- for the most part this totally goes away.
14) Food- they have a variety of foods they enjoy and are far more adventuresome in choices of foods.
15)Sleep - better sleep habits, revitalizing sleep, better dream recall, and overall greatly enhanced sleep wellness.
16) Eating- they have a variety of foods they enjoy and are far more adventuresome in choices of foods.
17) Awareness- they obviously have more awareness and many have a calmness along with this awareness.
18) Verbal interaction- behavior modification and its advantages and disadvantages- This should be obvious without any explanations.
19) Lies, deceit, manipulation- Less or none at all
20) Nutritional deficiency becomes more definite- that it is causing the problems and not simply someone who is manipulating the situation- too many things are going right for them and you admire and enjoy vicariously their adventures
21) Their eyes (disperception)- none
22) Hazard signs- none
23) Violence - none
24) Bed wetting- none
25) Cruelty to animals or objects- none
26) Looking for something but don't know what- not being able to separate beauty from pain - none
27) Wanting more and nothing is ever good enough- for the most part none of the bad trait
28) Antisocial or gravitating to only one person- not even a consideration in the positive trait.
29) Finding a mate such as a girlfriend or boyfriend or a mate of the same sex can offer the adolescent a multitude of happy as well as sad experiences. Mental battles beyond belief can get so involved that anger, hostility, and even rage can transpire. With the addition of disperceptions you may have your hands full. For example, let's say your son has had a fight with his girlfriend and comes home to call her. He argues with her and calls her every foul word in the book. (She may be doing the same.) When you ask if you can help he goes into a verbal rage with you. If you do not ask if you can help he might even go into a throwing of objects rage. If you happen to be his mother you might get a verbal barrage such as "you fucking whore" or "you bitch, you are the same as my girlfriend."- this would never happen unless biochemically imbalanced. Also, your loved one would wish to share on varying levels about their mate choice.
30) Lack of empathy - they believe in and show empathy for all things living or even non-living things.
31) Attention to possible addiction with drugs and alcohol. - less or no addiction
32) Attention to theft of things in the house: purse, etc. - almost none
33) Lies become more outlandish, and you begin to wonder if they know truth at all - none
34) resists changes- looks forward to change as adventure
35) Limited or no sense of humor, no jokes about them or jokes about others- very sociable including humor, laughter, and smiles
36) Lack of smiles- as above
37) Lack of laughter- as above
38) Overthinking- almost none
39) Fatigue- they have adventure, relax, rest, sleep, and have adventure again as a cycle of enjoyment.
40)Lack of hygiene- complete hygiene responsibility
41)Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor- the look of health is obvious many times
42)24-72 (or less) hour(s) reactions after stress- what are their reactions behaviorally and physically to stress?- varies but much better
43)Rage of any kind- none
44)Foul language- almost none except under very stressful situations
45)Easily distracted, lacks focus - very focused and directional in thinking "How does all that work for my loved one"? Just stay with me and you will see.

Physical Signs and What They Mean

        Body language including eye contact, clarity of eyes, voice usage in terms of intensity, pitch, speech speed and volume, shoulders and body carriage, walking, facial complexion, and odor are clues to anyone's wellness. If you take the list of TCM symptoms you will find almost all of these above traits on the TCM list. A few words of explanation about a few of these may help you. You may readily see bloodshot eyes, dark colored rings under the eyes, lack of clarity in the eyes or a glazed look to the eyes. You may also judge from the pitch, speed, intensity of the voice if this is "normal" speech for your loved one. If it is not then you have some more clues. Facial complexion may not be so easily discernable. The face will have a very slightly greenish tint to the skin. The last one is odor. I do not speak about what we commonly call body odor, but an odor that has a very slight, sweet smell to it. All of the above things are clues and each one by itself is not of great meaning, but many or all together are a big clue to look for additional clues which, if they appear too, then your loved one probably has some form of biochemical imbalance.

Terms Usually Applied to One with Biochemical Illness or Biochemical Imbalance

1) lazy
2) irresponsible
3) mean spirited
4) angry 5) hostile
6) wayward
7) doesn't listen
8) in another world
9) just a teenager
10) out of control
11) they never pick up things and put them away in their proper place after they have used them
12) they wear the same clothes for days without changing
13) they wear the most horrible looking clothes- no wonder people think they are weird
14) they never sit still long enough to ask them a question
15) overactive
16) poor judgement
17) depressed
18) they want what they want when they want it
19) foul mouth

Parent views of how to handle behavior problems

It is my house and I will call the shots- will give the orders and all will respond
What did I do to have this person treat me this way?
They will grow out of it
I will use "tough love"
I will be patient and show great love and compassion
I will not participate in their problems-their problems are theirs- he or she is old enough and they need to learn once and for all.
        If parents use these thoughts (with the exception of love and compassion), then the parents are clueless as to biochemical imbalance as the cause of their loved one's illness and behavior.
        All of the above deal with the reactions or actions of the parent toward the biochemically imbalanced or biochemical deficient person. The only one that will work is love, compassion and patience but only with the correct balance of biochemicals even then. These two must be together- biochemicals and love. They will not work alone. "I don't do any of those things." (no comment)
        Now, let's take that same list of terms that people apply to biochemically imbalanced people and see how I have given you a few clues as to what those traits mean.
1) lazy fatigue,apathy-indifference
2) irresponsible apathy-indifference
3) mean spirited
4) angry failed attempts at function
5) hostile
6) wayward
7) doesn't listen
8) in another world
9) just a teenager
10) out of control
11) they never pick up things and put them away in their proper place after they have used them
12) they wear the same clothes for days without changing
13) they wear the most horrible looking clothes- no wonder people think they are weird
14) they never sit still long enough to ask them a question
15) overactive
16) poor judgement
17) depressed
18) they want what they want when they want it
19) foul mouth
All words in bold letters are my analysis.

Terms Commonly Used by the Person
with the Biochemical Imbalance or Illness

I am worthless and have no meaning
I have no friends
No one understands me
It takes too much work and who cares anyway
I don't care;
I will die this way
All of these are major biochemical imbalance markers of depression, a biochemical imbalance.

Osmond and Adrenolutin

from (The Subject With His Own Observations About Himself)
Here are some observations made by Osmond when given adrenolutin during scientific studies by Hoffer, Osmond, Symthies, and Altschul during the 1950's and 60's.
1)I feel no urge to cooperate in volunteering information about my feelings (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
2)I did not feel any desire to talk more than a few seconds and felt very little interest in what was going on (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
3)I chatted with the technician and was interested in all that was going on and now as a person I felt no interest in him whatsoever. (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
4)I remember thinking I was like a monkey and how they were treated in a recent film- passive, compliant, emotionally flat, but awake and and well aware (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
5)I felt I could not be bothered so I remained silent (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
6)Poverty of thought and content to remain in one position or place (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE) 7)I felt I had lost the capacity to feel joy, sorrow, or any powerful emotion (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
8)My mind was blank for long periods of time and I felt contented to lie and not think about anything (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
9)I had no interest in this experiment, his feelings, or anything else (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE) 10)I saw many colors in patterns (hallucinations)
11)His face looked much more dark and somber than usual, almost threatening (disperception)
12)I felt automaton, dull and detached, and not interested in talking to anyone (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
13)Unwilling to do tasks (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
14)Did not read instructions carefully and misinterpreted (disperception)
15)I did not really feel myself in them (Lack of Empathy)
16)I did not feel any interest and tried to make succinct answers (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE) 17)Pupils dilated (TCM)
18)Slightly withdrawn (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
19)Music that prior experiences seemed less intense than usual (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE) 20)Dull and flat (APATHY-INDIFFERENCE)
21)Less interest than unusual (APATHY-INDIFFERE