Sasha and his family were very lucky to know someone qualified and willing to give a second opinion. In my experience, once a doctor decides on a psychiatric diagnosis, it tends to turn into a black hole that "explains" almost any symptom short of gross anatomical damage.
For the last few years I've been keeping an eye on Geneuro [1]. They're trialling a HERV-W antibody on the theory that this endogenous retrovirus triggers an immune reaction in the brain that causes multiple sclerosis. Schizophrenia may also share a similar etiology [2]. When/if it does get approved for MS, I will be asking if it can be tried off-label on my brother with schizophrenia (although of course it may be too late now anyway, 15 years after his diagnosis).
To late in the sense that his mind is already gone at this point? I have a brother who also has schizophrenia, and as time goes on I wonder if any chance of return to normality still exists...
It's impossible to know. There are examples like John Nash where there is apparently a very good outcome, so I wouldn't lose hope. However, I would be concerned about long term physical changes from both the disease and the existing treatment. Separately I don't know how one would cope with "waking up" from years of schizophrenia - would the delusions persist even if the initial cause is removed?
My mother was diagnosed schizophrenic at around 38 yrs old. She was hospitalized after every relapse, probably a dozen times. Each time she relapsed, it was at least a month, if not several months before we were able to get her in to treatment because of her refusal. It would take an incident with the police to initiate the process. My mom is now 62. She's medicated, happy, and perfectly normal. She hasn't had a full relapse in about 10 yrs, there were moments when hints of it would return, and she would be aware enough to self-correct and continue medication. The only problems she says she has is that she doesn't feel as quick-witted as she used to be. As for the memories, she occasionally has a hard time distinguishing real memories from invented memories. Most of the voices were obviously fake to her, now that she's clear headed and can reevaluate what happened. There were occasions where one of the voices she had was her sister's, and she now has a hard time reconciling real memories from false ones in that situation. She tends to avoid talking to her because when she hears that voice, painful memories come back and she gets stressed. Stress is a major factor in relapses, so she sadly tries to avoid it. At least in my mom's case, this anecdotal evidence suggests it's definitely possible to recover after being "gone" for months at a time. Not enough families are able to cope with the trauma this causes and fight this disease and, instead, let their family member "do what they want." Which usually means they become homeless and lost until they die. Happens a lot here in LA (skidrow). I personally know people that couldn't cope with the trauma it caused their family so they let them wander off to whereever they wanted. Almost without fail, they end up in skid row. Strangely enough, we have a history of auto-immune disorders in my family: Hashimoto's (2) and Alopecia Areata (2). Depression and bipolar as well (most likely every sibling, diagnosed or not). It's an area of study I've recently been interested in because it seems promising in preventing schizophrenia and maybe curing our depression. There's so much great research going on in this area, from anti-virals, immunosuppressive drugs, to even dietary changes and fasting (something I've recently piloted on myself). It seems promising. In my case it's already yielded results in that I'm no longer constantly sleepy. Hopefully we'll have this fully sorted and cured in under 15 yrs. I think it has the potential to be revolutionary on a global scale.
People with bipolar tend to have higher antibodies to gliadin (gluten) than controls. People with schizophrenia have higher casein (dairy) antibodies than controls. In neither case does it cause the illness, but in both in can impact severity of symptoms. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21320252 And http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22801085. It does not mean it applies to everyone, but scandinavian/Northern European people with milder cases of both illness often actually have autoimmune disease. One study found 7percent of schizophrenia inpatients actually had Celiac, to say nothing of other autoimmune disorders. More: http://www.celiac.com/categories/Celiac--Disease--Research.....
Out of interest, if anyone knows: why "modern" warfare? Is this some kind of expression? The old school wars must have been worse for one's mental health, or not?
"Modern" in the context of the article means "after the invention and widespread use of explosives," which lead to the kind of physical brain injuries discussed in the article.
I'm guessing they mean grenades, artillery, rockets....anything that 'thumps' the whole area, including the brain. Even the sustained concussion of a heavy machine gun might be a heavy enough vibration to cause some inflammation, although I'd hope DARPA had long ago tested that theory.
Ancient warfare: anxiety as one anticipates impending war, which may be known months or years in advance (armies were slow), and very bloody melee combat which probably left survivors with PTSD.
Pre-modern warfare: relatively few people lined up and shot each other to death from long distances. People on the front lines knew they were likely going to die.
Modern warfare (WWI and beyond): constant artillery fire inflicts chronic and acute shell shock [1].
Except thar I recently read that some are thinking that PTSD is the result of concussion from being near explosions. PTSD may well be mechanically induced.
IIRC, actual combat hours have increased, a lot. Soldiers were doing front line combat duty for a few weeks during WWII, for months during Vietnam, for years during Iraq. That duty will scramble your brain, sooner or later. With longer combat duty, it's becomes ever more likely.
In addition to the already mentioned explosives, modern helmets and medical care have increased the odds of survival. Dead soldiers don't have chronic health problems.
>have found, for example, that simply activating people’s immune systems as though they were fighting a viral infection can cause profound despair and suicidal thoughts.
reminded about that trial when anticancer drugs suppressing immune system were successfully used to treat chronic fatigue syndrome.
The Sasha's case from the article sounds like from Dr.House series, and reading the article i was waiting for when bone marrow transplant will be brought up.
