A second look at bipolar
I took particular interest in “Double or Nothing” [Main Feature, Jan. 7]. Parents and health experts may not be aware that there are other options and solutions to children’s health problems and their origins. As a parent of a child who had emotional and mental-health issues, as well as medical conditions, I was trying to become educated in other avenues that would be able to help him, and seek alternatives to medications, improper diet and lifestyle which may give an illusion of a diagnosis.
Valuable information is available and has been successful. I believe this information should be shared to educate other people with the hope that they will explore alternative answers to their situations.
As a local physician told me: “Children are lacking the vitamins and minerals necessary for healthy body and brain functioning, and they further deplete their store of nutrients with soda pop and cola, which contain phosphoric and carbonic acids that leach out minerals. The conventional medical approach is to ignore lifestyle and environmental factors, focusing on the treatment of symptoms rather than exploring underlying causes of these problems. However, the increase of prescription psychotropic drugs can lead to other physical and psychological problems and side effects. The concern should not be what label to put on a cluster of symptoms. The real concern should be focusing on enhancing the body and brain function of the patient, rather than masking over symptoms with artificial chemicals that interfere with normal metabolism.”
My hope is that this information will be used to educate people and that they will explore alternative answers to their situations. I have personally seen improvements in lives and lifestyles by the right changes being implemented.
— Kimberly B. Vandall, Penn Hills
Missing the core of the matter
Regarding “Burning Desire” [Main Feature, Jan. 14], Bill O’Driscoll claims that “others reject [nuclear power] as risky, if only because of its millennia-long legacy of radioactive waste.” The reason nuclear power is not being considered a viable alternative to coal is not that simple. The technology between nuclear power and nuclear weaponry is so slight that it renders nuclear power an outlandishly unsafe option. Nuclear war or accidents could be just as environmentally destructive as the climate change repercussions that its proper use would delay. Furthermore, nuclear power does nothing to challenge the way we think, feel and behave towards nature. Instead, it continues to promote our voracious appetite for more.
— Adrienne Buka, Friendship
This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2009.
The above article could not have been written without the collaboration of Dr. James H. Winer from the Winer Wellness Center located in the Greentree-Crafton area of Pittsburgh. Though his contribution was very substantial, the article omitted much of it such as how currently there are numerous epidemics plaguing the younger generation that have been ominously escalating in the past fifty years. Researchers and clinicians are befuddled why so many kids are contracting diabetes, obesity, attention deficit, autism, depression and bipolar disorder. What has changed? The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition, way back in 1977, stated that many of our chronic illnesses are related to declining nutritional habits. According to Dr. Winer, numerous medical doctors have written extensively that junk food, sugar, artificial colorings, additives, preservatives and brain allergies from foods lie at the core of many of these disorders.
Kimberly B. Vandall
This article is very informative, and could possibly help us with the current state of our mental health system. Pill pushing is a lot easier because you don’t need to put any major amount of time into something that you can just hand out. So why would any Doctor want to dig into to someone’s nutritional health? Here’s a good reason because it may save someone from being mis-diagnosed.