Back to the 80s
July 14th, 2009
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This is an update to the Holistic Approach article I wrote approximately two months ago.
Diet
By far the biggest impact on my health must be the realization that food intolerances can seriously disrupt how your body (and brain) works. As far as digestion goes, the brain is just another secondary organ; no special treatment whatsoever.
I almost immediately noticed more clarity in the first two weeks of sticking with my (rather restrictive) diet. Although I’m not always as sharp as I want to be, it’s definitely an improvement over the “eat everything you like” diet. Some of my diet changes (caffeine, sugar, and fizzy drinks) are actually common sense, and I feel somewhat silly at times for not realizing this sooner. I never thought they could worsen (or even create) my mental illness, but that’s life I suppose.
I must admit that at some point I got a bit more casual with what I was eating, venturing out into things like chips, sushi, bran-muffin (no sugar). All things I thought wouldn’t really be a problem. While I was eating these items within days I started feeling way more tired than before. When I discussed this with my wife she pointed out that a lot of those items have ingredients that were in fact not so good for me. So from that perspective the diet I’m on has been a real eye opener and at times a big learning curve (still learning every day).
We’re now also getting more food from the health stores, etc. Would you believe that I actually found Apple/Date cookies I can eat. Two months ago I wouldn’t have even looked at them, but now that my taste buds have been restored I’m starting to really enjoy all the things I never really considered before. I suspect this is because the removal of sugar from diet has reactivated my taste buds. Yummy!
Going on a rather restrictive diet like this is definitely more expensive (ingredients) and time-consuming (reading the labels, thinking about dinner for the entire family, etc). Going out for lunch/dinner is also a lot harder of course, as it’s not always clear what ingredients have been used. If you want to get better though, this is definitely the way to go! And making your own Muesli is kind of fun after all. 
I’ve also learnt more about managing my blood sugar levels more. For example, I now only eat fruit with my meals, and I’ve also added some more protein to lunch (eggs), etc. I’m also still using a glucose manager supplement as recommended by my nutritionist.
Weight loss
I finally got back in the 80s with my weight again (89′ish at the moment). This is awesome because I’ve been trying to achieve that for months. It’s interesting because initially I actually had set that as a primary goal and got nowhere with it. This time it just happened naturally because of the change in diet. I see my weight now more as a side-effect of my lifestyle.
Reduction in medication
I started feeling so good (no real depression), that I asked my doctor if I could reduce my clozapine dosage. They agreed and I’m now back down to 87.5 mg (a 12.5 mg reduction). I haven’t really noticed any differences yet though. I’ve asked for an appointment so we could reduce it by another 12.5 mg. That should definitely be noticeable.
Interestingly enough, somebody pointed out to me that doctors may not want to reduce clozapine all the way to zero because of the higher relapse possibility. This is a tough pill to swallow because I was originally planning to be clozapine free in 2010, and I now need to consider accepting a certain amount of clozapine in my life for a longer time. From a doctor’s point of view it does make sense to reduce the clozapine to an acceptable ’safe’ level where one can function ‘normally’ – an acceptable way to live so to speak. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but for now I’ve readjusted my goal to down to 50 mg by the end of the year. From that point I should be able to judge for myself whether it’s worth going any further with the reductions.
Health Group Meeting
I’m finding the health group meetings really enjoyable. I’m getting a lot out of it; just seeing people in similar situations makes me feel less alone, and I’ve picked up a lot of things I didn’t know as well. So far, we’ve had casual chats, deep spiritual conversations, medication discussions, etc.
I also enjoy the opportunity to simply share my own experiences, especially when somebody finds them useful. 
Posted in Mental Illness
