Etuaptmumk: The Journal of Two-Eyed Seeing

Multinutrients as Adjunctive Treatment for Bipolar Disorder: A randomized-controlled trial feasibility study

2024-04-22T12:19:36+00:00

Abstract

Introduction: An open label trial showed reduction in symptoms from a comprehensive micronutrient supplement in combination with Fish Oil for adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Methods: A double blinded, randomized, controlled feasibility trial explored the parameters necessary to mount a larger trial. We randomized in a 3:2 ratio to multinutrients or Placebo. We recruited patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder from a family medicine residency clinic. Diagnoses were confirmed via psychiatric interview. The primary outcome measure was change on a composite z-score of the clinical global impressions scale (CGI), the UKU Side Effects Scale, and medication doses.

Results: A total of 69 patients were randomized and data was analyzed for 49 patients. The mean difference of the composite z-score for the multinutrient group was 0.63 (SD; 0.25) and for the Placebo Group 0.47 (SD=0.22). Independent samples t-testing gave a t-score for that difference of 2.429 (p = 0.019; ES = 0.437; 95% CI = -0.556 to -0.053). Significantly more patients in the multinutrient group improved on the CGI (p = 0.04; OR = 4.0; 52% responders vs. 22% in the Placebo Group). All patients improved on the secondary measures with inter-group differences favoring the multinutrient group that did not reach statistical significance. The only adverse events occurring more among the multinutrient group were nausea and loose stools but these were not statistically significant between groups.

Conclusions: Multinutrients show promise for adjunctive treatment of bipolar disorder. We observed benefits for patients from closer surveillance, medication adjustment (mostly reduction), and increased human contact.

Still était-t-il Chaman?

2024-04-22T13:45:49+00:00

Editor's Note: Ron Ellis is a French Osteopath who grew up in San Diego and still remembers his first snowfall. He practices in Lyon, France. In this article (which Google Translate will readily convert into English or your preferred reading language). Ron marvels at how closely the philosophy of Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of Osteopathy, resembles that of the Indigenous people of Missouri and Kansas (the Cherokee, the Shawnee, the Pawnee, and the Potawatomi). Ron tells how Still lived among these Indigenous people and spoke Shawnee fluently. Still was a curious observer of human nature. Ron creates a marvelous argument that Still must have been influenced by the Indigenous people with whom he lived and worked. He builds a convincing argument for how Still was influenced and why Still couldn't, in his time, give credit to Indigenous people for their contributions to his ideas. He mentions that Indigenous people were considered to be on the level of animals and mentions that the Massacre at Wounded Knee happened around the same time that Still was establishing his schools and trying to make Osteopathy respectable (which was already difficult), so he had no choice but to conceal the influences Indigenous people had on him.

The Flesh Is Tougher Than You Imagine

2024-05-05T19:22:54+00:00

No abstract is available for this writing.