Symptoms in Histapenic Bipolars

History

The histamine imbalance biotypes were initially introduced by Dr. Pfeiffer, who found extremes in blood histamine in many of his schizophrenic patients, with improvement occurring as nutrients brought histamine toward normal (as indicated by biochemical tests).
Dr. Walsh later suggested that the primary imbalance in low histamine (histapenic) patients was actually brain overmethylation accompanied by insufficient folate. Blood histamine is still the best test for this condition.

Symptoms of histapenia in bipolars
Common symptoms in histapenic bipolars can include anxiety, panic, hyperactivity, racing thoughts, hypomania or mania, and general overstimulation. And, especially with low niacin and zinc, and high copper: paranoia, and psychotic mania. Manic or hypomanic periods may be more prevalent than in other biotypes, though depression also occurs.

Descriptions of both mental and physical symptoms of histapenia can be viewed online in the sample pages from my schizophrenic book (though note, these pages focus more on schizophrenic manifestations of histapenia)  on the boragebooks.com website at:

http://boragebooks.com/schizophrenia_3_histapenia.html
http://boragebooks.com/schizophrenia_4_histapenia.html

For further details see my book, Natural Healing for Bipolar Disorder.



Reminder: This information is presented for educational purposes only, and is not intended for diagnostic or treatment purposes. If you need treatment for mania, bipolar, or any other medical condition, please consult a knowledgeable physician.

Bipolar Mania and Histapenia

Approximately 25% of bipolars are histapenic (indicated by low blood histamine). Bipolars with this biotype are often overstimulated, prone to psychosis, and generally tend to spend more time in mania or hypomania than other biotypes. Here is Dr, Walsh, with a short overview of histapenia:

Dr. William J Walsh,  introducing histapenia

(biochemically, brain overmethylation with low folate)
Video produced by http://www.biobalance.org.au/

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IFBTQzBCr9s

Warning: This video ends with a comment about patients being able to reduce meds. Remember that the support of a knowledgeable physician, along with a cautious (and almost always, gradual) approach is imperative when decreasing or changing medication.  See my previous post: http://naturalhealingforbipolardisorder.blogspot.com/2010/04/nutrient-approaches-for-bipolar-and.html

For more information on histapenia, see my book, Natural Healing for Bipolar Disorder. 

Mania Vitamins: Attention to Potency of Therapy

Thoughts on mania

Our brains feed on stimulation. New experiences, and ideas, and learning in general, are exciting.
But with mania, excitement comes without the counterbalance. So one cannot distinguish whether one idea is more relevant than another. And information can come so fast, that it cannot be integrated with past knowledge. Eventually, neurotransmitter pathways can be so overloaded that neurons do not have time to recover between messages.
Essentially, excitatory messaging and/or second-messaging predominate, excluding inhibitory activity needed to maintain useful function.

A severe enough mania can elude an arsenal of potent meds (even the more powerful herbs).
And even when you are able to suppress the mania, research is beginning to suggest that by attacking aggressively (perhaps, especially with substances not intrinsic to brain biochemistry) you may have set the stage for bipolar deterioration longterm.

Acute manias and vitamins
On the other hand, orthomolecular physicians are finding that nutrient therapies which nourish inhibitory mechanisms and normalize excitatory systems tend to work increasingly well with time, while usually proceeding gradually enough* to sidestep the above mania escalation and chronic repercussions.

See my posts here on inhibitory aminos, from June 21 to Aug 24, 2010, and also the outline of Mania and Stabilization info at the top of the Borage Books Nutrient Summary page.

* Nonetheless, in some cases, e.g., with violence or heart problems, a more rapid improvement may be necessary. See previous post on IV therapies.

Addressing root causes
Aside from resolving acute episodes,  ferreting out and addressing root causes (e.g., methylation imbalances, hormonal issues, pyroluria, problems with metal metabolism, etc.) is particularly important to long-term mood stability. See Ongoing Mood Stability, Biotypes, Toxicity, and Health at the bottom of the Borage Books Nutrient Summary page.

For further details, including contraindications, see my book, Natural Healing for Bipolar Disorder.

Reminder: This information is presented for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as treatment recommendations. Treatments should be fine-tuned to individual biochemical requirements. Also note: sudden changes in medications can be disastrous. See:
http://naturalhealingforbipolardisorder.blogspot.com/2010/04/nutrient-approaches-for-bipolar-and.html
If you have concerns about meds, or if you need treatment for mania, bipolar, or any other medical condition, please consult a knowledgeable physician.