[Tim Couch 1999]

Hope everyone is doing well. This is my first login in roughly four years. I didn’t want to come back until I had good news (a full recovery), but after some recent developments, I thought I’d come back and share some thoughts on a few things. First I’ll give some backstory.

I first got DP/DR in December of 2017, and I had it pretty bad for about nine months. It was at it’s worst in August and September of 2018 when I would have full-on “DP Attacks”, as I call them. The attacks made me feel like I had just been dropped here on Earth and did not recognize anything. I had the sensation of being unfamiliar with everything around me, and I was totally freaked out by my own existence. It was horrible. Luckily, it subsided in October 2018, and I stopped having DP Attacks. I still had underlying DP/DR, like not feeling fully connected to my body etc., but I stopped having DP Attacks. I attributed this to losing some weight (I lost 13 pounds.)

But fast forward to today and I’m sad to report that I’m back to having DP Attacks. I’m not sure what caused it to come back. I weigh significantly less than I did when I was having the original attacks, so weight can be eliminated as a cause. It may be from some life stress I’ve been dealing with the last several months. It could also be from contracting Covid in January (I’ll talk more about that later.) Either way, I’m back to having full-on DP Attacks and it SUCKS. It’s only been a few days so far, but I’ve suffered enough to decide to return to this forum.

This new experience has been different because the attacks have been lasting all day, with short stints of relief. The attacks I experienced in 2018 were episodic, rather than a constant thing. So because of that, I am a little concerned about what I’m in for. But enough of the doom and gloom, I want to talk about what I believe is a potential cure for DP/DR.

In 2017, there was a peer reviewed study that found a strong connection between neuroinflammation (brain inflammation) and various psychiatric disorders such as Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Autism. I see no reason that DP/DR isn’t connected to neuroinflammation as well.

Link to the study: Modulating Neuroinflammation to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Here are some important excerpts from the study:

“Neuroinflammation is recognised as one of the potential mechanisms mediating the onset of a broad range of psychiatric disorders and may contribute to nonresponsiveness to current therapies. Both preclinical and clinical studies have indicated that aberrant inflammatory responses can result in altered behavioral responses and cognitive deficits.”

“Recent studies on preclinical, genetics, and bioinformatics data have shown the activation of immune system molecules and pathways that can contribute to pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders [7]. Several lines of the evidence that support a role for inflammation as a contributing factor in psychiatric disorders include the following.
(I) It has been established that cytokines that are found typically during an ongoing inflammatory process are found to be elevated in blood samples of patients with various types of psychiatric disorders. This, depending on the study, includes both generally considered proinflammatory (i.e., interleukin- (IL-) 1-3, IL-5-9, IL-11-18, interferons (IFN), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and chemokines) as well as anti-inflammatory (i.e., IL-4, IL-10, IL-11, and IL-13) cytokines and complement factors. Though the activation cascade of this elevated cytokine production is not yet understood, the findings may point to a significant role of peripheral inflammatory processes in psychiatric conditions. Following examination of blood samples from patients with schizophrenia [8, 9], depression [10, 11], anxiety [12], bipolar disorder [13–15], obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) [16, 17], posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [18, 19], and autism spectrum disorder [20, 21] significantly elevated levels of all major kinds of cytokines were detected."


Whenever mental illness is discussed, you’ll often hear about a “chemical imbalance in the brain.” However, you’ll rarely hear about what causes the chemical imbalance. Brain inflammation is the likely culprit because it disrupts the chemical processes in the brain. There’s a really bright doctor (Dr. Mark Gordon) who uses anti inflammatory protocol to treat people with TBI. TBI patients often experience the same mental health issues that non TBI patients with mental health issues, experience. Dr. Gordon has reported inedible results with his patients - so that serves as one testimony to the effectiveness of eliminating neuroinflammation to treat psychiatric disorders.

One quick note: I had Covid in January, and Covid is known to cause inflammation in the brain. I experienced some pretty heavy brain fog when I was dealing with Covid, so I can’t help but wonder if that is the reason I’m suffering DP Attacks again. But I digress.

I know I’m not the first person on here to talk about brain inflammation, but I think it’s a really important part of recovery, and I don’t see it discussed enough. There’s never going to be a “magic pill”, so I believe this is currently everyone’s best shot at fully recovering from DP/DR. I’m going to try this method at some point, not sure when, as there are road blocks preventing me from doing it right now. But for anyone else thinking about going this route, I recommend giving it 3-6 months before calling it quits and claiming it didn’t work. It’s not going to happen overnight, and it certainly won’t be easy. There will be times where you'll want to give up because the clean eating is difficult. There will be trial and error with finding out which foods you’re allergic to and eliminating those from your diet, as they obviously cause inflammation. You will have to make many sacrifices, like giving up your favorite foods, and stop drinking alcohol. But whenever you feel overwhelmed, think about the long term benefits. Think about what it would be like to get your life back. It would be well worth it, in my opinion.

One last thing: something I’ve already reaped benefits from is positive thinking. By constantly repeating positive thoughts like “I’ve come out of things like this before, so I WILL come out of this” I've noticed some positive effects. The effect that negative thoughts have on our brain is real, and it prevents us from healing both psychologically and physiologically. So avoid sulking and having a bleak outlook on everything (I know that's hard to do, trust me.)

Anyway, I hope this was helpful for everyone.

 

[Aridity]

This just adds more obsession and confusion to the mix, no dp/dr is not curable by diet or anything. Can it help? Yes it can aid in your recovery but alone its not enough. Not for me at least, I have tried every fucking diet, working out everything and I was still dpd. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I don't drink coffee barely any sugar. I am doing Ramadan at the moment. I walk daily, and let me tell you I am the WORST it has ever been in 28 years. You know when I felt sooo much better, when I still smoked cigs and drank alcohol on a daily. Then I was much happier could have fun etc. Now I am just dead.

 

[leminaseri]

This just adds more obsession and confusion to the mix, no dp/dr is not curable by diet or anything. Can it help? Yes it can aid in your recovery but alone its not enough. Not for me at least, I have tried every fucking diet, working out everything and I was still dpd. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I don't drink coffee barely any sugar. I am doing Ramadan at the moment. I walk daily, and let me tell you I am the WORST it has ever been in 28 years. You know when I felt sooo much better, when I still smoked cigs and drank alcohol on a daily. Then I was much happier could have fun etc. Now I am just dead.

if i smoke in the morning without breakfast a cigarette and get a strong coffee, i still can trigger some euphory

 

[Aridity]

if i smoke in the morning without breakfast a cigarette and get a strong coffee, i still can trigger some euphory

I took a few puffs of a cig a few weeks ago, after like 5 years of not inhaling anything just as an experiment. I felt connected and grounded immediately but did not last. Maybe smoking is the cure?

 

[Tim Couch 1999]

This just adds more obsession and confusion to the mix, no dp/dr is not curable by diet or anything. Can it help? Yes it can aid in your recovery but alone its not enough. Not for me at least, I have tried every fucking diet, working out everything and I was still dpd. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, I don't drink coffee barely any sugar. I am doing Ramadan at the moment. I walk daily, and let me tell you I am the WORST it has ever been in 28 years. You know when I felt sooo much better, when I still smoked cigs and drank alcohol on a daily. Then I was much happier could have fun etc. Now I am just dead.

Not sure how this adds "more obsession and confusion to the mix."
How long did you try each diet? Did the diets specifically target inflammation? Healthy diets can still cause some degree of inflammation if you're not keeping a close eye on everything you consume. Seemingly healthy foods can cause an inflammatory response. Also, diet alone is not always enough to eliminate brain inflammation, you may need nutraceuticals. I may have glossed over that in my post.
You seem confident that dieting is not enough to recover, but I've heard from people on here that say otherwise. One user told me "I've had tremendous success with changing my diet and have truly turned my life and DP around for the better." I experienced this first-hand tonight. I had fast food for dinner, and an hour later my DP was significantly worse than it had been all day.
Maybe what I'm proposing wouldn't "cure" DP/DR altogether, but I'm confident it could at least get people to recover 80-90%, like to the point where DP/DR is more of an afterthought, rather than dominating their life.

 

[Trith]

Hope everyone is doing well. This is my first login in roughly four years. I didn’t want to come back until I had good news (a full recovery), but after some recent developments, I thought I’d come back and share some thoughts on a few things. First I’ll give some backstory.

I first got DP/DR in December of 2017, and I had it pretty bad for about nine months. It was at it’s worst in August and September of 2018 when I would have full-on “DP Attacks”, as I call them. The attacks made me feel like I had just been dropped here on Earth and did not recognize anything. I had the sensation of being unfamiliar with everything around me, and I was totally freaked out by my own existence. It was horrible. Luckily, it subsided in October 2018, and I stopped having DP Attacks. I still had underlying DP/DR, like not feeling fully connected to my body etc., but I stopped having DP Attacks. I attributed this to losing some weight (I lost 13 pounds.)

But fast forward to today and I’m sad to report that I’m back to having DP Attacks. I’m not sure what caused it to come back. I weigh significantly less than I did when I was having the original attacks, so weight can be eliminated as a cause. It may be from some life stress I’ve been dealing with the last several months. It could also be from contracting Covid in January (I’ll talk more about that later.) Either way, I’m back to having full-on DP Attacks and it SUCKS. It’s only been a few days so far, but I’ve suffered enough to decide to return to this forum.

This new experience has been different because the attacks have been lasting all day, with short stints of relief. The attacks I experienced in 2018 were episodic, rather than a constant thing. So because of that, I am a little concerned about what I’m in for. But enough of the doom and gloom, I want to talk about what I believe is a potential cure for DP/DR.

In 2017, there was a peer reviewed study that found a strong connection between neuroinflammation (brain inflammation) and various psychiatric disorders such as Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Autism. I see no reason that DP/DR isn’t connected to neuroinflammation as well.

Link to the study: Modulating Neuroinflammation to Treat Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Here are some important excerpts from the study:

“Neuroinflammation is recognised as one of the potential mechanisms mediating the onset of a broad range of psychiatric disorders and may contribute to nonresponsiveness to current therapies. Both preclinical and clinical studies have indicated that aberrant inflammatory responses can result in altered behavioral responses and cognitive deficits.”

“Recent studies on preclinical, genetics, and bioinformatics data have shown the activation of immune system molecules and pathways that can contribute to pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders [7]. Several lines of the evidence that support a role for inflammation as a contributing factor in psychiatric disorders include the following.
(I) It has been established that cytokines that are found typically during an ongoing inflammatory process are found to be elevated in blood samples of patients with various types of psychiatric disorders. This, depending on the study, includes both generally considered proinflammatory (i.e., interleukin- (IL-) 1-3, IL-5-9, IL-11-18, interferons (IFN), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and chemokines) as well as anti-inflammatory (i.e., IL-4, IL-10, IL-11, and IL-13) cytokines and complement factors. Though the activation cascade of this elevated cytokine production is not yet understood, the findings may point to a significant role of peripheral inflammatory processes in psychiatric conditions. Following examination of blood samples from patients with schizophrenia [8, 9], depression [10, 11], anxiety [12], bipolar disorder [13–15], obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) [16, 17], posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [18, 19], and autism spectrum disorder [20, 21] significantly elevated levels of all major kinds of cytokines were detected."


Whenever mental illness is discussed, you’ll often hear about a “chemical imbalance in the brain.” However, you’ll rarely hear about what causes the chemical imbalance. Brain inflammation is the likely culprit because it disrupts the chemical processes in the brain. There’s a really bright doctor (Dr. Mark Gordon) who uses anti inflammatory protocol to treat people with TBI. TBI patients often experience the same mental health issues that non TBI patients with mental health issues, experience. Dr. Gordon has reported inedible results with his patients - so that serves as one testimony to the effectiveness of eliminating neuroinflammation to treat psychiatric disorders.

One quick note: I had Covid in January, and Covid is known to cause inflammation in the brain. I experienced some pretty heavy brain fog when I was dealing with Covid, so I can’t help but wonder if that is the reason I’m suffering DP Attacks again. But I digress.

I know I’m not the first person on here to talk about brain inflammation, but I think it’s a really important part of recovery, and I don’t see it discussed enough. There’s never going to be a “magic pill”, so I believe this is currently everyone’s best shot at fully recovering from DP/DR. I’m going to try this method at some point, not sure when, as there are road blocks preventing me from doing it right now. But for anyone else thinking about going this route, I recommend giving it 3-6 months before calling it quits and claiming it didn’t work. It’s not going to happen overnight, and it certainly won’t be easy. There will be times where you'll want to give up because the clean eating is difficult. There will be trial and error with finding out which foods you’re allergic to and eliminating those from your diet, as they obviously cause inflammation. You will have to make many sacrifices, like giving up your favorite foods, and stop drinking alcohol. But whenever you feel overwhelmed, think on the LONG TERM benefits. Think about what it would be like getting your life back. It will be well worth it, in my opinion.

One last thing: something I’ve already reaped benefits from is positive thinking. By constantly repeating positive thoughts like “I’ve come out of things like this before, so I WILL come out of this” I've noticed some positive effects. The effect that negative thoughts have on our brain is real, and it prevents us from healing both psychologically and physiologically. So avoid sulking and having a bleak outlook on everything (I know that's hard to do, trust me.)

Anyway, I hope this was helpful for everyone.

If I were you I wouldn't be so confident in the conclusions you make from this study. First the author himself expresses more doubt than you seem to do: "the findings may point to a significant role of peripheral inflammatory processes in psychiatric conditions". Also studies point to a role of genetics and not just environment, which we already knew for many diseases. The part about potentiel treatments has even more doubts. Apparently some studies do show a positive effect of an addition of anti-inflamatory to a regular treatment (and others don't), but one should see if this effect is not only significant but also important (because a low effect can still be significant if it is measured with accuracy), and this could be a reason why the conclusions are not so straightforward.
Also if you look at the references you will see that the effect of inflammation on mental problems has been studied at least since 2010. I do remember hearing about this in the media years ago. If it could easily have an important effect on so many diseases there are good chances we would know it by now. Still, it is interesting, but we should be careful not to exagerate any findings or simplify too much.

And about diet, I think it is clear that DPDR can react very differently for different people. My diet is fine, personally. It has changed through years (for other reasons than DPDR) and I have been a vegetarian, I have eaten meat, I have eaten some sugar or not at all, when I was working out I was monitoring my diet and was cooking everything myself and was avoiding high glycemic index food, and so on... This has never had the slightest effect on my DPDR. Same if occasionally I have eaten a lot or so. I have never noticed an effect of what I eat on my DPDR. Many people report the contrary and maybe they are right, but for me it's different. Same with sports, for sure it has helped some people on the forum. But it did nothing for me. For a while when I was running I had less DR for just a few minutes after I had stopped running, but that's all. Absolutely no effect on the long term. Some people see an effect of staying on a computer for a long time. I did notice some effect around 2007, I remember. When I was staying on a computer for one hour, I could feel more DR for one or two more hours, but only if I had been using the computer to procrastinate by watching videos, not if I had been using it to work, who knows why. Now I can watch videos for 6 hours straight and it doesn't affect my DR the slightest and again who knows why. So I am not denying these effects can exist, I am just saying that you cannot say that if some effect was there for you then it will be there for others, let alone give a percentage.

 

[Chip1021]

This is how I interpret this study, and many others like it: when the body is not in optimal condition, it can have effects on mood, energy, and behavior. I consider that claim to be not only valid, but self-evident.

If you are not feeling well, it’s a good idea to get examined to see if there is something identifiably wrong with the body. And if there is (or even if there isn’t), it’s a good idea to engage in a healthy diet, exercise to the extent possible, getting outdoors and interacting with other people.

The problem I have with all these scientific studies is that I feel their purpose is not so much to try to understand mental illness but rather to validate it as a bona fide medical condition “just like any other.” And they do so by using mechanistic jargon like “behavioral responses” to help achieve that goal.

If your body’s functioning is less than ideal, it’s a good idea to seek out what the cause and solution might be. But if the body is functioning optimally, then the solution to your problem lies elsewhere.

 

[Trith]

Of course, when you are sick you don't feel well, and yes, of course it is normal to go see a doctor when this happens. I hope you did not think this is what I was disagreeing with. I am just saying that this guy seems to be there more for money than for helping people and his remedy sounds like quack, or at least it has all the ingredients of it.

And the purpose of scientific studies is to understand mental illness in the sense of to understand how it works, why it is there, what to do, and so on. And it IS a medical condition. Articles are for scientists and people who want to better understand how mental illness (and the world in general) works. For this they need accurate words with precise meaning so that people understand what they are talking about in a rational way, and there is no other purpose. Empathy is very important and maybe a lot of scientists do have empathy, but it is not their job to express it in a scientific article because this is not what scientific articles are for. This is the role of a therapist. Just like if you read a law book, it will be precise and accurate so as to minimize misinterpretation. Judges can have empathy, people who make laws can have empathy too, but it is not their job to write in a law that murders are monsters and to talk to people's emotions. If this is what you need then it's not the right book for you, just like you don't go to a hairdresser to ask them how to fix your car. And if they do your haircut and your car still doesn't work it's not the hairdresser's fault.

 

[Tim Couch 1999]

If I were you I wouldn't be so confident in the conclusions you make from this study. First the author himself expresses more doubt than you seem to do: "the findings may point to a significant role of peripheral inflammatory processes in psychiatric conditions". Also studies point to a role of genetics and not just environment, which we already knew for many diseases. The part about potentiel treatments has even more doubts. Apparently some studies do show a positive effect of an addition of anti-inflamatory to a regular treatment (and others don't), but one should see if this effect is not only significant but also important (because a low effect can still be significant if it is measured with accuracy), and this could be a reason why the conclusions are not so straightforward.
Also if you look at the references you will see that the effect of inflammation on mental problems has been studied at least since 2010. I do remember hearing about this in the media years ago. If it could easily have an important effect on so many diseases there are good chances we would know it by now. Still, it is interesting, but we should be careful not to exagerate any findings or simplify too much.

And about diet, I think it is clear that DPDR can react very differently for different people. My diet is fine, personally. It has changed through years (for other reasons than DPDR) and I have been a vegetarian, I have eaten meat, I have eaten some sugar or not at all, when I was working out I was monitoring my diet and was cooking everything myself and was avoiding high glycemic index food, and so on... This has never had the slightest effect on my DPDR. Same if occasionally I have eaten a lot or so. I have never noticed an effect of what I eat on my DPDR. Many people report the contrary and maybe they are right, but for me it's different. Same with sports, for sure it has helped some people on the forum. But it did nothing for me. For a while when I was running I had less DR for just a few minutes after I had stopped running, but that's all. Absolutely no effect on the long term. Some people see an effect of staying on a computer for a long time. I did notice some effect around 2007, I remember. When I was staying on a computer for one hour, I could feel more DR for one or two more hours, but only if I had been using the computer to procrastinate by watching videos, not if I had been using it to work, who knows why. Now I can watch videos for 6 hours straight and it doesn't affect my DR the slightest and again who knows why. So I am not denying these effects can exist, I am just saying that you cannot say that if some effect was there for you then it will be there for others, let alone give a percentage.

With regard to inflammation, I just disagree that we would know about it already if there was anything to it. I'm leaving it at that because this conversation (depending on your views on divisive subject matter) would undoubtedly take a turn for the worst.

As for diet, I'm sure there are people who have experimented with several diets and had no success - you sound like you could be one of them. My question for you is how long did you try each diet? Were you seeking to decrease inflammation? Because everything I'm talking about on this thread deals with inflammation. There are countless diets on the internet that are healthy for the most part, but still contain foods that trigger inflammation (e.g. fruits that are high in sucrose.)

About Dr. Gordon, I totally understand your skepticism about him. Anyone claiming to offer a cure to anything, is almost always full of crap, or just ignorant. However, Dr. Gordon's protocol is all based on real science. I've taken a look at a lot of it myself, and I've had friends and family who are knowledgeable about the subject matter take a look at it too. They all concur that his protocol is at least based on real science. Here’s where you can judge for yourself: https://tbihelpnow.org/the-science. Dr. Gordon's program has had incredible testimonies, too. Again, I recommend watching the documentary Quiet Explosions, it's free on Tubi.

A big reason I made this thread is to get people to actually do something about their situation. I'm confident that the average person on here has not made significant changes to their lifestyle for a prolonged period of time. Most people (including me in the past) want easy solutions that don't inconvenience them. That's very understandable, but it leads you nowhere. Those of us (including me) that don’t have trauma (emotional or physical) induced DP/DR, likely got it from what we have put into our bodies. I can confidently say that years of binge drinking and eating a very poor diet is what led to my DP/DR.

Lastly, a week ago I made the decision to go ahead and start anti-inflammatory protocol. I originally said I was gonna wait to do this, but I decided there's no point in delaying it, I want to heal from this as soon as possible. My protocol consists of an anti-inflammatory diet, regular exercise, and a nootropic that reduces neuroinflammation. I will report back in three months with an update on my condition. So far I have experienced some improvements, nothing to get overly excited about, but enough to make me think I'm headed in the right direction.

P.S. I’m not saying what I’m proposing is the only way to recover, I’m simply trying to help people who feel hopeless and haven’t explored this option yet.

 

[Chip1021]

Of course, when you are sick you don't feel well, and yes, of course it is normal to go see a doctor when this happens. I hope you did not think this is what I was disagreeing with. I am just saying that this guy seems to be there more for money than for helping people and his remedy sounds like quack, or at least it has all the ingredients of it.

And the purpose of scientific studies is to understand mental illness in the sense of to understand how it works, why it is there, what to do, and so on. And it IS a medical condition. Articles are for scientists and people who want to better understand how mental illness (and the world in general) works. For this they need accurate words with precise meaning so that people understand what they are talking about in a rational way, and there is no other purpose. Empathy is very important and maybe a lot of scientists do have empathy, but it is not their job to express it in a scientific article because this is not what scientific articles are for. This is the role of a therapist. Just like if you read a law book, it will be precise and accurate so as to minimize misinterpretation. Judges can have empathy, people who make laws can have empathy too, but it is not their job to write in a law that murders are monsters and to talk to people's emotions. If this is what you need then it's not the right book for you, just like you don't go to a hairdresser to ask them how to fix your car. And if they do your haircut and your car still doesn't work it's not the hairdresser's fault.

Although you did not not quote me here, it sounds like you were responding to my post, so I’ll just say a few words for clarification.

My comments weren’t about your post, just responding to the article and claims that OP mentioned. And I’m not sure what the issue of empathy has to do with anything; I didn’t mention empathy. Unless you were referring to something someone else said, in which case…my bad.

But as to scientific studies, there can be many purposes to them. As you mentioned, a lot of them are intended to understand a certain subject matter consistently and accurately. But as you also mentioned, sometimes they are intended to make money for an individual or business. Sometimes they are intended to provide existential legitimacy or prestige to the scientist’s profession. Sometimes they are intended to encourage a certain way of looking at things. And sometimes they are intended to promote a certain political idea or opinion, etc.

 

[Trith]

Although you did not not quote me here, it sounds like you were responding to my post, so I’ll just say a few words for clarification.

My comments weren’t about your post, just responding to the article and claims that OP mentioned. And I’m not sure what the issue of empathy has to do with anything; I didn’t mention empathy. Unless you were referring to something someone else said, in which case…my bad.

But as to scientific studies, there can be many purposes to them. As you mentioned, a lot of them are intended to understand a certain subject matter consistently and accurately. But as you also mentioned, sometimes they are intended to make money for an individual or business. Sometimes they are intended to provide existential legitimacy or prestige to the scientist’s profession. Sometimes they are intended to encourage a certain way of looking at things. And sometimes they are intended to promote a certain political idea or opinion, etc.

I don't think this is something that is unique to scientific studies. It is something that is universal about any claim, whether it is from a scientist, a politician, a neighbor or a family member. But the good thing about scientific publications is that they have to give all the important details so that another person or institution can do the same experiment again and check if they obtain the same result. In a scientific publication you give people all the tools to be able to check if you whether or not you are a fraud. And there are frauds sometimes, and when they are found they get destroyed and their carreer is over.

 

[Chip1021]

I don't think this is something that is unique to scientific studies. It is something that is universal about any claim, whether it is from a scientist, a politician, a neighbor or a family member. But the good thing about scientific publications is that they have to give all the important details so that another person or institution can do the same experiment again and check if they obtain the same result. In a scientific publication you give people all the tools to be able to check if you whether or not you are a fraud. And there are frauds sometimes, and when they are found they get destroyed and their carreer is over.

I agree with almost everything you said here, until you started talking about “frauds,” so I would like to respond to that.

I don’t think the problem has anything to do with “frauds,” and I think we are often creating a straw man when we use that term. For example, some psychics and mediums might be just outright frauds who know exactly what they are doing and are just out to make a quick buck from gullible people. But many of them genuinely believe in the validity of their own claims. Such persons i would not categorize as “frauds,” even though I think their beliefs are absurd.

I think I similar analysis should be applied to scientists. Like every other person, scientists possess certain presuppositional beliefs that influence their behavior. That does not mean that they are frauds, it just means that they are human. And so, when it comes to the peer review process in science, that is certainly a great method of identifying and removing personal, individual biases. But in what ways is the peer review process going to protect us from collective biases that scientists themselves might harbor?

Prior to 1973, homosexuality was classified as a mental illness. Because of that, you can look at the books and articles written in the many decades prior that discuss homosexuality in terms of “sexual inversion” and “perversions” and “aggression” (which at that time was essentially the psychoanalyst’s word for Satan). But then, post 1973, almost every book and article that came out of the psych professions began talking about homosexuality in a more affirming way, and criticizing society in general for its negative attitudes toward the homosexual (even though psychiatry itself was greatly responsible for many of those attitudes). What changed between 1972 and 1973? Did we make some new scientific discovery that “proved” homosexuality was not a mental illness after all? Or did we simply change our judgements about it?

Nowadays, the psychiatric researcher who performs a study that he thinks demonstrates that homosexuality is due to some morally undesirable cause (neglect, molestation, etc), is excommunicated from the medical professional associations to which he belongs. Why? After all, it was only 50 years ago that everyone in his profession was saying the exact same thing. Is it really about scientific integrity? Or is it because the psychiatric community as a whole understands the issue differently in moral and political terms than that rogue psychiatrist, and so they banish him from their organization? And who is engaging in “fraud” here? Is it the renegade psychiatrist? Or the medical profession at large?

 

[Tim Couch 1999]

So that three month update is gonna have to wait. Though I've lost considerable weight, I'm not convinced that my current diet/nutrition regimen is as optimal as it should be. I've been experiencing fatigue, digestive issues, and inflammatory responses from food that you wouldn't think would be causing inflammation. Perhaps food sensitivities are at play? I'm gonna seek the help of a nutritionist before I decide to do this protocol again.

On a high note, I was recently in contact with a member of this forum who hasn't been active in years. He caught my attention for two reasons, 1) his DP/DR story was similar to mine, 2) he posted about Dr. Mark Gordon. Anyway, he told me that he has essentially cured his DP/DR. He said the main things he did were 1) getting his hormones balanced, 2) detoxing from heavy metals, 3) fixing his leaky gut. He saw an integrative doctor who specializes in gut issues, and he said the doctor diagnosed him with PANDAS, an autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder (he got this diagnosis from two doctors.) He said that addressing the gut issues is where he saw the most improvement. He said it was "game changing" when he found out about a protein called "lectins." He said he tried healthy diets before, but didn't see any success, but once he removed lectins from his diet, he noticed incredible results.

I can't guarantee this will work for everyone, but I think the three things he did are essential things that everyone should try at some point in their recovery.