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Diabetes & Schizophrenia - Administration of Massive Doses of Vitamin E to Diabetic Schizophrenic Pa
Administration of Massive Doses of Vitamin E to
Diabetic Schizophrenic Patients
Antonio J. DeLiz, M.D.,
Ph.D.
Orthomolecular Psychiatry, Vol. 4 Number 1, 1975
Recently I have treated 20 individuals -8 women and 12 men-who had been
diagnosed schizophrenics 10 years ago. During the last five years, however,
these patients showed signs of diabetes mellitus The schizophrenic condition
'was treated by Thorazine and other phenothiazines alone- The diabetes mellitus
has been treated by sugar-free diet, diabinese and other related drugs- While
the schizophrenic condition improved, the patients suffered from chronic signs,
but allegedly never developed dramatic errors of perception- The age of the
female patients oscillated from 30 to 45 years, the male patients were between
40 and 55 years old. The patients were referred to me mainly because of their
symptoms of disorganized perception and cognition. The treating internists
revealed to me that this acute perceptual cognitive disorder although present
before, had never reached the degree of intensity detected recently. l was also
informed that this worsening of the patients' sensory functions had more or less
coincided with paresthesias, hyperesthesias, and hyposthenias, and local signs
of incipient gangrene of the toes and feet.
The patients' families were told
that the areas of incipient gangrene had to be cauterized and, perhaps later on,
radical amputation would be necessary- I was asked to see these patients as a
psychiatrist, as most of the former schizophrenic symptoms appeared more serious
and had resisted even the highest doses of neuroleptics.
When we observed
them, they also showed delusions, hallucinations, were confused about past and
present events, were concrete in thinking, were withdrawn, and showed diminished
attention span and euphoria followed by delusional depression- Two of them
showed quasi-catatonic-like postures and other mannerisms and rituals, while in
others the speed of speech oscillated from Muteness to pressure of speech Three
showed neologisms. The most outstanding signs were errors of perception,
particularly of time and space, and profound cognitive disturbance. For five,
hyperesthesias in the feet were perceived as "a heart pulsating" and the pain
was felt in the head though simultaneously they would touch their toes with the
hands. Hyposthenias were perceived in the toes as if they were asleep
One of
the patients, who had areas of ischemia in the legs, felt that all his body was
burning, and he would try to pour water on the legs to extinguish the fire.
Another female patient, who had an incipient gangrene in the right toe- when
asked when her lesion had started, replied, "in the beginning of the
universe."
When further asked if she was in pain (pain was present), she
answered
"It doesn't hurt so much now that l am approaching the ultimate
boundaries of the infinite."
Another patient, a man of 45, claimed that
his body was reduced to the feet When asked why, he responded:
"It is
very simple, Doctor, I have just to look at the mirror and there I see nothing
but my feet."
When asked where the rest of his body was, he
sad:
"I told you already, Doctor, I just have feet."
When he
looked at the nurse and was asked what he was seeing, he responded:
"Just
two eyes and a nose."
The door of my office was seen as totally
constituted by the knob.
The fact remains that in 50 percent of these
patients, narcotics had to be given in order to permit them to sleep. In the
midst of this massive perceptual-cognitive disorder, some patients would develop
fleeting moments of awareness of the realistic danger of their situation.
Anxiety, anguish, and terror were then apparent in their behaviour the moment
they became cognizant that amputation of their feet would become possible in the
future. Three patients had a constant itch on the skin of the abdomen and back,
caused by abnormal amounts of glycogen in the skin in diabetes mellitus- It is
well known that diabetics suffer from atherosclerosis in the large and
medium-size muscular-elastic arteries of the heart and peripheral skin arteries,
with a high incidence in the toes and feet. Three patients had secondary
infected ulcers which were very resistant to antibiotic treatment.
I was
faced with a problem of tremendous proportions. on the one hand, the
antidiabetic treatment, neuroleptics, cauterization of the ulcers, and so on had
not produced visible results. I recalled Linus Pauling's thesis that
individualized doses of vitamin E helped the circulation of arteries and veins,
of heart and skin. Following this insight, I began to increase the
administration of vitamin E continuously during one month. Beginning with 800
units a day, I raised the level of this vitamin to 20,000 units a day at the end
of five weeks. By this time, I noticed with great interest the progressive
disappearance of the patients' complaints of acute pains and numbness of the
toes. Two weeks later - by maintaining the patients on the same amount of
vitamin E - areas of ischemia on the legs began to fade- Three weeks later (by
the way, I began using vitamin C 500 mg twice a day), signs of
secondary
infected ulcers disappeared.
When the patients told their
internists that they received vitamin E, they manifested great skepticism;
however, as the skin lesions healed they felt quite intrigued. It is evident
that the internists were still adhering to old paradigms and resisted the
acknowledgement of clinical results for which they could not find any
explanation within the general theory of current therapy of diabetic
complications for defective circulation.
This sort of thinking called
preconception is an old known fact in the history of science- just to stay
within our field of psychiatry, one may recall that for Fugene Bleuler the
errors of sensory perception shown by schizophrenics about their inner and outer
worlds were insignificant from a diagnostic viewpoint. Bleuler's belief was
nevertheless a myth- This myth was forever dethroned by the work of Aldous
Huxley, Hoffer, Osmond, and others. My clinical study (although it should be
repeated with a much larger sample of patients) is nevertheless suggestive of
the objective truth embodied in Linus Pauling's thesis. To terminate this short
article, it is worthwhile stressing the judgement of one of the greatest
logicians in the world, W.V. Quine, who suggested that "total science is like a
field of force whose boundary conditions are experience."
"A conflict
with experience at the periphery occasions readjustments in the interior of the
field- Truth values have to be redistributed over some of our statements.
Re-evaluation of some statements entails re-evaluation of others, because of
their logical interconnections - the logical laws being in turn simply certain
further statements of the system, certain further elements of the field... But
the total field is so undetermined by its boundary conditions, experience, that
there is much latitude of choice as to what statements to re-evaluate in the
light of any single contrary experience- No particular experiences are linked
with any particular statements in the interior of the field, except indirectly
through considerations of equilibrium affecting the field as a whole"
1
Any validated experience occurring at the periphery of this system and
which is recalcitrant with it must inevitably sooner or later lead scientists to
occasion readjustments in the core of the system. These readjustments affect
often all the structural interrelationships which obtain between the theories,
making part of the total field- It is a trivial fact known by the historian of
science that this sometimes unexpected total reconstruction of paradigms which
had been considered as standing for an image of reality, is stubbornly resisted
as they represent the painful giving-up of cherished beliefs. But the ascending
march of science was never detained by this irrational clinging to
preconceptions as such. Without pretending to be facetious, someone might say:
"The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on-"
References
1
Quine, W.V.: Two Dogmas of Empiricism Analyticity. Harris, J.F. Jr., and
Severens, Richard H. Quadrangle Books, p. 49, Chicago, 1970