Expert: Jurriaan Plesman, Nutritional Psychotherapist - 1/3/2010

Question
Hi my name is Hanna and I am in need of MUCH help.  Its my brother who was your normal highschool jock growing up.  He was a national honor society student, star basketball player, and popular with the girls. He had a really fun and outgoing personality and was the kind of person everyone wanted to be friends with.  Like most young kids he would drink his junior and senior years at house parties and after school dances, and was never into any type of drug.  Thats when everything all changed.  He went away to college where he got involved with smoking marijuana.  After a whole year of college his grades were at an all time low and he I saw a dramatic change in his personality.  I thought he was just becoming your typical "stoner" that is so BLAHH and "brain dead".  It was like a complete 180 turn from the older brother I once knew.  The second year just got worse and he eventually ended up coming home and dropping out of school with a low 1.8 gpa.  When he came home he was not the same person at all.  His 180 degree change was now a 360 degree change and he began having crazy outbursts and very violent comments.  He also started talking and saying things that seems like jibberish to everyone but he understands all the comments he makes.  He can not hold a job and has been fired from over 10 different jobs due to not being able to take orders and thinking he can be his own boss.   It was not until one of his maniac outbursts that the cops came and took him to a mental hospital.  He is 25 years old though and is not forced to stay there and leaves after one week.  Another problem is that I come from a middleclass family and my parents do their best to provide for myself and my oldest brother, and cannot and refuses to pay for my other brother's insurance.  So he has no form of income and cannot pay for insurance so any type of doctor help goes through the cook,county of illinois (which is the lowest of low people).  The incident with the mental hospital has now happened 3 times over the past 3 years and things are getting worse.  The doctors have diagnosed him the 1st time as being bipolar and found the drug PCP?? in his system (was laced in the marijuana).  He got medication and it did not seem to be working.  My oldest brother cannot stand what drama he has caused to my family and one day got into a fight with him.  My brother tried taking the pitchfork by the fireplace and going after my oldest brother saying ill kill you.  It is getting to be really scary.  This last time he was taken away to the mental hospital they kept him for 2 weeks and the new doctor said he was schizophrenic.  He received new medication that he was taking, however he started putting on ALOT of weight as one of the side affects that he would constantly be hungry.  After a while he said he was done with the medication because he was becoming fat and surprise he's back home and back to his normal ways.  My parents are in denial that he is smoking still, but my brother and I know that he still is.  He has been found stealing money from the family and doing whatever he can to get drugs.  I am now 19 years old and he is 25 and it is embarrassing when people see him out and even other family members see him at family parties.  My oldest brother and I want to kick him out and throw him on the streets.  He has caused so much hurt and problems in my family.  My mom says he is still her son though and will not ever throw him out or get rid of him.  She still sets him a dinner plate and does his laundry and allows him to live like a king.  (I think she needs help too she is really depressed and stressed).  No one in my family knows what to do or how to handle this problem.  So me being the youngest decided I need to take this into my own hands.  This is my first website I came across, PLEASE help or reccomend what the best solution can be.  I do not know what more my family can do.  I am also scared of what my sick brother might do and I do not want anything bad to happen.  Thank you         -Hanna


Answer
Hi Hanna,

I am so sorry to hear your story. Yes it is a well-known fact that many young people starting to smoke marijuana finish up with a schizophrenic disorder. The only thing I can suggest is for him to stick to the medication and also familiarise yourself with the nutritional aspects of mood disorders by reading articles at our web site.

He should be on the hypoglycemic diet.  See our web site and also take Omega-3 fatty acids (fishoil). Please read:

Nutritional Aspects of Schizophrenia at:
http://curezone.com/upload/Newsletter/Hypoglycemic_He/HYPONL2001_06.pdf
and go to page 7 of Newsletter.
much of this applies equally to Bipolar Disorder

Depression is a Nutritional Disorder at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/depression_disorder.html
Depression: a Disease of Energy Production at:
http://curezone.com/upload/PDF/Articles/jurplesman/depression_energy3.pdf
Silent Diseases and Mood Disorders at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/silentdiseases.html
Why Addiction to Marijuana?at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/addiction.html

and ask for an additional referral to a Nutritional Doctor, Clinical Nutritionist or a Nutritional Psychologist, if self-help therapy fails.

_______________________________________________
Jurriaan Plesman, Nutritional Psychotherapist
Hon. Editor of
The Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia.
www.hypoglycemia.asn.au
Author of "Getting off the Hook"
Freely available at Google Book Search
Skype: jurplesman