Biochemical imbalances

Clinical pharmacology Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is a chronic, hereditary, usually fatal, autosomal recessive disorder in which a low concentration of alphai-proteinase inhibitor is associated with slowly progressive, severe, panacinar emphysema that most often manifests itself in the third to fourth decades of fife. The pathogenesis of development of emphysema in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is believed to be due to a chronic biochemical imbalance between elastase and alphai-proteinase inhibitor (the principal inhibitor of neutrophil elastase), which is deficient in alpha-1 antitrypsin disease. As a result it is believed that alveolar structures are unprotected from chronic exposure to elastase released from a chronic low-level burden of neutrophils in the lower respiratory tract, resulting in progressive degradation... 

After psychiatric drugs are developed and marketed by drug companies, attempts are made to justify their use on the basis of correcting presumed biochemical imbalances. For example, it is claimed that Prozac helps by improving serotonergic neurotransmission. Even electroshock... 

At present, there are no known biochemical imbalances in the brain of typical psychiatric patients—until they are given psychiatric drugs. It is speculative and even naive to assert that antidepressants such as Prozac correct underactive serotonergic neurotransmission (a serotonin biochemical imbalance) or that neuroleptics such as Risperdal or Seroquel correct overactive dopaminergic neurotransmission (a dopamine imbalance). The failure to demonstrate the existence of any brain abnormality in psychiatric patients, despite decades of intensive effort, suggests that these defects do not exist. 

Later studies showed that the inhibition lasts about 10 days, but there is evidence that it may last longer in other parts of the brain. Thus, from the start, Eli Lilly knew that it was creating complex, unpredictable biochemical imbalances and a roller-coaster situation in which the drug would block the removal of serotonin and the brain would resist the process. 

Clearly antidepressants do not correct biochemical imbalances in the brain they cause them. They change the brain for the worse in ways that can persist indefinitely after the drugs are stopped. At no point in time can we know what the exact biochemical imbalance in the brain looks like, and it probably varies in different regions and at different times as the drugs produce their effects and the brain fights back in its varied ways. 

In reality, most patients quickly stop taking the newer antidepressants because of their painful adverse effects, thereby protecting themselves from long-term adverse effects, including withdrawal reactions. Others stay on them mainly because of pressure from their doctors, including the lie that they have so-called biochemical imbalances. The more disturbed or distressed the individual before starting the medication, they more the individual is likely to deteriorate while taking it. 

I want to reemphasize that drug-induced disturbances in mood or in behavior should be viewed as genuine neurological disorders rather than as vague mental illnesses. The capacity of speculative biochemical imbalances or genetic factors to cause or contribute to mania or depression remains unproven. Nor do we know the specific biochemical or neurological mechanisms whereby psychoactive substances cause mental disturbances. But the capacity for psychoactive substances to disrupt brain function and hence mental function is beyond dispute. Furthermore, a great deal of empirical data confirm their capacity to cause disinhibition, mania, depression, and other mental phenomena associated with violence toward oneself and others, as well as other destructive behaviors. 

The Web site sounds innocent enough ADHDinfo.com. But it is sponsored by Novartis, the manufacturer of Ritalin. It opens with the question, What causes attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in school-age children It answers, The exact cause of ADHD is not known. Scientists think that ADHD may be caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that help to control behavior. So your hyperactive child does not need better discipline he needs a corrected biochemical imbalance. So your inattentive daughter does not need a more interesting classroom she, too, just needs to get those pesky chemicals corrected. 

Children are given stimulant drugs for ADHD during a period of time in which they are developing their psychological and social skills, and, indeed, their very identity. What does it mean to a child, and later to the grown adult, to be told that his or her brain has crossed wires or a biochemical imbalance What are the repercussions of children hearing that... 

Even for people who do not necessarily turn to them, psychiatric drugs linger in the backs of their minds as the last resort. They have heard that so-called mental disorders are caused by genetic and biochemical defects in the brain and that psychiatric drugs can correct these defects. These people do not consciously think to themselves, I have faith in biochemical imbalances and drugs, but in fact, that is how their minds are working. 

This drug revolution views psychiatric medications as far more helpful than harmful, even as an unmitigated blessing. Much as insulin or penicillin, they are vigorously promoted as specific treatments for specific illnesses. Often, they are said to correct biochemical imbalances in the brain. These beliefs have created an environment in which emphasis on... 

Drug companies heavily promote that unproven speculation that the problems they treat are biological in origin and result from biochemical imbalances. Advertising slogans are used to justify the prescription of medications. For example, Janssen (2005), the manufacturer of the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, offers a section About Bipolar Disorder, downloaded from its Web site in February 2006. It declares,... 

This book takes a decidedly different viewpoint from that of biological psychiatry. It provides theory and evidence that psychiatric drugs achieve their primary or essential effect by causing brain dysfunction and that they tend to do far more harm than good. I will show that psychiatric drugs are not specific treatments for any particular so-called mental disorder. Instead of correcting biochemical imbalances, psychiatric drugs cause them, sometimes permanently. 

The studies of McCarty and co-workers have shown clearly that volatile acids are not toxic to methane bacteria at concentrations that would occur in stuck or sour digesters. On the contrary, evidence has been elucidated which indicates propionate retards the acid formers. Thus, the use of alkaline substances to maintain an adequate buffer capacity in an anaerobic waste treatment unit is a valid procedure. A word of caution is necessary pH control is not a universal palliative. Its only advantage is to prevent a bad situation from getting out of hand. The basic cause of the digester biochemical imbalance must be discovered and rectified. Unless this is done, pH control is worthless in the long run. In addition, care must be exercised in selecting an alkaline material that will not produce a toxic reaction. 

Depression and anxiety are found to be major biochemical problems, as most likely are other emotional or mental disturbances, even schizophrenia. It is a newly unfolding and exciting field. These disturbances are being fonnd to be related to sleep disorders, which in tnm are related to biochemical imbalances. Compounding the difflcnlty is not getting enough sleep in the first place. So writes Martin C. Moore-Ede of the Harvard Medical School in The Twenty-Four Hour Society Understanding Human Limits in a World That Never Stops. 

If biochemical imbalances do in fact occur, there is in turn the problem of first causes what triggered the imbalance in the first place (The same problem, of course, as with the occurrence of cancer.) The catchall term stress, freqnently mentioned, is intertwined with the culture, medicines, allergies, other biochemical abnormalities, the simplicities and complexities of food and drugs, exposure to toxic or even not-so-toxic chemicals, and hereditary factors, that is, the genetic component, etc. As for narcotic drugs, it is being noticed that drugs used for pain control per se may... 

There is, in the preceding text, the notion that biochemical imbalances or abnormalities are caused by many factors and may be counteracted or relieved by factors other than drugs or medicines. This is the premise of traditional psychiatry. It is a gray area, whether or not to use the drugs of biochemical psychiatry, which may be regarded as only an expediency and do not address root causes. There are, of course, the variables of dosage levels and length of medication, coupled with the fact that each individual case is probably uniqne. There is the question of will, of whether to confront life or run from life, a yes-or-no choice that may appear simple but is not simple at all. 

As we saw, Sarah didn t want to go on medication, a choice with which I agreed I thought she could stay off meds if she agreed to respond quickly to her biochemical imbalance, taking immediate measures to boost her serotonin supply to healthy levels I felt confident that she could achieve that goal with amino-acid precursors, particularly if she hadn t become severely depressed ... 

Bamford MF, Jones LF (1978) Deafness and biochemical imbalance after burns treatment with topical antibiotics in young children. Report of 6 cases. Arch Dis Child 53 326-329 Baranowski-Dutkiewicz B (1981) Skin absorption of phenol from aqueous solutions in men. Int Arch Occup Environ Health... 

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