Natural / Herbal Treatments for Schizophrenia (This is not a Promotion; NeuroBiological Aspects Explored)

Schizophrenia is often a debilitating illness or at least one that significantly impedes the likelihood of a productive adult life. It is often characterized as reduced social engagement and emotional expression (e.g Apathy). These are simply the 'Negative' symptoms of which also includes lack of motivation and often a lack of social graces and cue perception. Positive symptoms on the other hand are more severe and include multiple forms of hallucinations; including tactile (touch) , olfactory (smell), auditory (hearing) and even gustatory (taste). Then there are the 'thought' distortions notated as 'thought disorders' which include paranoid and delusional thinking - these are the most distinct traits of schizophrenia...and they often are similar to the symptoms produced PCP ; e.g believing people are stealing and reading your thoughts or can alter or taper your thoughts... other paranoid delusions such as being followed by aliens and / or government vehicles are common...

More specifically this equates to 

• Hearing Voices; not necessarily in the context of trauma based or stress based *Purely* but also reconciliation of 'Imaginary' characters and / or exaggerations of interpreted voices or sounds. 

1. One could for instance hear the word "animal" on TV and the voice in the head might 'relay' the word as a derogotory phrase such as 'you're an animal!"  or even something as far-fetched as 'you're real name is Arielle"...it doesn't have to rhyme these are just some more 'intense' forms of disperceptions..though, take note because these could, in theory, also be signs of other issues such as cocaine use, amphetamine abuse, and obsessive-compulsive ideations. 
2. One may have Voices that spur commmands; obnoxious, threatening, repetitive voices or perhaps voices associated with spiritual views and thus a core 'Spiritual' - theistic manifestation is materialized in an unrealistic manner. Or perhaps just at times where it wouldn't concede with the actual belief system but rather a biased belief created in one's mind.

• Tactile (touch hallucinations) ; one could feel that invisible beings; aliens or demons are attacking them (not to be discounted as to a scenario where it could theoretically be happening) - scratching them, or one touches their arm, and slips away from the consciousness of doing it - then exaggerating the feeling and associating it with some deity or other possible reasoning for the given touch...again; this is just an example and not necessarily universal - and can be also indicative of amphetamine abuse, and phenylephrine or stimulant abuse in general....

• Visual Hallucinations; examples are simply seeing things that aren't there, or warped perception of what is being seen, similar to LSD but not necessarily equivalent to - what was once a material or harmless object may be seen in a different light...some have described metallic vases or plants walking towards them...or some have simply felt that ghosts are watching them constantly - no matter where they go...or that their 'evil nemesis' is lurking ready to attack them...this is all consistent with the neurobiology of an over-active adrenal gland as well though - the obvious overreactivity seen in some schizophrenics seems to be associated with elevated serotonin and noradrenaline levels coupled with low glutamate - which we will get into in a bit.

• Perhaps the most DISTINGUISHABLE and yet COMMON characteristic of Schizophrenia is the thought disorder partition ; essentially, the paranoid ideation in which depicts a scenario where multiple 'Agents' , Aliens or other strange beings are after them..and MOST common is the perception that people can read their thoughts, delete their thoughts, or simulate their thoughts.....!   AGAIN; this can all also be, ESPECIALLY the thought part ; be a product of amphetamine use; past or current, and some other medications such as certain cough syrups containing DXM, some anti-alzhiemer's meds like Memantine have the potential to produce semi-psychotic symptoms...

THE NEUROBIOLOGY AND HOW TO 'TACTICALLY' APPROACH NATURAL / HERBAL TREATMENT FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA

One thing that makes this whole situation VERY tricky - is that there is a VERY sophisticated interneuron network involved in 'TRUE' Schizophrenia. It's often misdiagnosed / over-diagnosed but let's presume that you know for sure that you or a family member has Schizophrenia (based on an accurate, by the book diagnosis) - then we need to take a tactical approach and NOT one that defines a single herb as the absolute cure or panacea for all cases of Psychosis/Delirium or Schizophrenia.

To figure this out - we have to find out what exactly is going wrong in the schizophrenics brain...but I'm going to be as concise as possible.

Essentially there is a Primary deficiency in glutamate - but specifically, in the NMDA receptor - which is a sort-of-stimulatory receptor but one that also 'regulates' how dopamine enters synaptosomes/neuronal networks. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with 'pleasure' 'empathy' , 'altruism' and many other positive traits...when dopamine is SUPER high we feel very permitted, very passionate - very altruistic, but yet also very 'defined' - sometimes to the point of black and white thinking...sometimes we may develop bizarre fantasies such as 'saving the world' or becoming a 'Vigilante'....but of course, having high dopamine is NOT enough to believe these things are true...there has to be a surreal displacement from reality - one on a conscious level and one on a perceptual level... you may ask what's different between the two?

Conscious as in inward identification - truly looking to one's self for answers and analyzing a circumstance fairly...but truly also identifying based on the 'presentation' but not necessarily the details or independent variables...perceptual would be that of 'time', height, weight, and many other changes in perception....so in order for one to believe that any and all delusions or thoughts are REAL; there would have to be not only a lack of filter, but a central lack of arousal to and proper identification of environmental cues; but you most likely already knew this...anywho. 

WHAT YOU WANT is to RE-ESTABLISH the 'Proper' perception and reconcile logical reinforcement - it may take behavioral therapies as well...but medically , and based on several studies - the goal is to INCREASE NMDA receptor function.... NOT BY MSG or toxic glutamate analogues, but rather - stuff like D-Aspartic Acid in high doses..however, you also need to find a way to PREVENT glycine from EXITING the synapse; thats why DAA doesn't help everyone with psychosis - because most likely, schizophrenics have a genetic alteration that makes their brain use glutamate up too quickly....so you want to REVERSE the transporter which 'locks' glutamate back into the synapse....allowing the proper 'filtering' of dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons.

What you want is a supplement Containing BOTH D-Aspartic Acid and SARCOSINE; which reverses the glycine-1-transporter - both act in concert to establish functional glutamatergic neurotransmission...the following product I recommend also reinforces the points in their summary.  All Cited.

                           TEST FORCE II POWDER

...It was originally designed by an organic chemist; a famous one in the bodybuilding community; Patrick Arnold. (P.A) - for testosterone boosting properties; but it also is designated for neural enhancement and can increase cognitive function; particularly in the frontal lobe wherein common sense and logic is decided. 

Here are studies justifying what I am saying.

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12559388
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3921092/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14684455

NOW, the other problem is that increasing NMDA may not fully resolve the VISUAL hallucinations - but rather that works on the thought disorder part and if any obsessive-compulsive traits are involved - it will help them as well (see study here).....

HALLUCINATIONS are based on serotonin excess; particularly at the 5-HT2A receptors.... hence why ACID , Ecstasy and others that may cause hallucinations activate this receptor ------- so your goal should be to find a pharmaceutical or natural serotonin 2A antagonist that preferably doesn't have sedative qualities.

Ketanserin is one such compound with these effects; however, it shares similar sedative effects to anti-psychotics however it does NOT block the dopamine systems and thus does not have negative hormonal effects as traditional anti-psychotic drugs do. It can be bought by clicking the highlighted word or click HERE to take you to the store's web page...

FINALLY, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) has been shown to be low in schizophrenia - and this is mainly going to affect calcium uptake into cells which ALSO correlates to FRONTAL CORTEX function and again, back to glutamate...NMDAR activation as with TF II mentioned earlier may help the thought processes and certain forms of paranoia and bizarre thought patterns but we still need to up the central regulation which then FACILITATES the magic of glutamate to re-regulate the limbic system.

Schizophrenia and reduced cyclic AMP production: evidence for the role of receptor-linked events.

Your best bet here is to use something like Forskolin (which directly activates cAMP) with a PDE-4 inhibitor; which btw, PDE inhibitors are ALSO being investigated for schizophrenia and other mental disorders. PDE's are enzymes that BREAK DOWN cAMP which as said before - and with the link/study - is already low in schizophrenics; plasma, platelet, and brain contents included. 

The role of phosphodiesterases in schizophrenia : therapeutic implications.

Rolipram: a specific phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor with potential antipsychotic activity.

PDE-4 Inhibitors; Luteolin, Butea Superba - only two publicly available I could find. Use one of both of them with Forskolin and Test Force II daily. As well as with Ketanserin or another serotonin blocker of some sort that hits 2A receptor.

Luteolin is currently in process as a combination patent in line for the treatment of Autism and Schizophrenia.



                           ::.::.::   PARANOID TYPES ::.::.::

NOREPINEPHRINE AND SCHIZOPHRENIA

Noradrenaline (a monoamine neurotransmitter like ADRENALINE ) is elevated in schizophrenics , ESPECIALLY Paranoid schizophrenics...noradrenaline can even induce paranoia in those without a prior history of paranoid behavior..if the levels REMAIN elevated well above a certain threshold...however, very very low levels of norepinephrine can also cause psychotic symptoms..so the key is balance. ~{[ SEE STUDY HERE ]}~

Norepinephrine contributes to manic, erratic, violent , and illogical / disproportional responses...and is key in terms of BEHAVIORAL REACTIVITY. (the image of a schizophrenic man or woman going out of control because of a series of thoughts in their head - THAT IS NOREPINEPHRINE)