Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing anxiety, or by a combination of such thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions). Symptoms may include repetitive handwashing; extensive hoarding; preoccupation with sexual or aggressive impulses, or with particular religious beliefs; aversion to odd numbers; and nervous habits, such as opening a door and closing it a certain number of times before one enters or leaves a room. These symptoms can be alienating and time-consuming, and often cause severe emotional and financial distress. The acts of those who have OCD may appear paranoid and come across to others as psychotic. However, OCD sufferers generally recognize their thoughts and subsequent actions as irrational, and they may become further distressed by this realization.

OCD is the fourth-most-common mental disorder, and is diagnosed nearly as often as asthma and diabetes mellitus.[1] In the United States, one in 50 adults has OCD.[2] Obsessive–compulsive disorder affects children and adolescents as well as adults. Roughly one third to one half of adults with OCD report a childhood onset of the disorder, suggesting the continuum of anxiety disorders across the life span.[3] The phrase "obsessive–compulsive" has become part of the English lexicon, and is often used in an informal or caricatured manner to describe someone who is meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed in a cause, or otherwise fixated on something or someone.[4] Although these signs may be present in OCD, a person who exhibits them does not necessarily have OCD, and may instead have obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), an autism spectrum disorder, or no clinical condition. Multiple psychological and biological factors may be involved in causing obsessive–compulsive syndromes.

There is no question that these accumulated toxins (along with undiagnosed nutrient deficiencies) are behind every disease! Therefore prevention, detoxification, and nutrient restoration are essential to my system of allergy treatment.

1.) Prevention

Avoiding exposure to metals is paramount, but since humans have so polluted the air, food and water, it is well nigh impossible to accomplish. Minimizing exposure is the best we can do and takes diligence by educating ourselves to sources and then avoiding them.

2.) Detoxification and Nutrient Restoration!

What most people don’t realize is that nutritional status is extremely important in protecting us from metal poisoning. If we are deficient in minerals and trace elements, the body will absorb heavy metals in their place. Every cell membrane breaks down and rebuilds every two weeks but does not release the heavy metals efficiently if essential fats are not ingested or if bad fats are ingested. The liver, which performs detoxification 100% of the time, cannot perform this important task without all the essential nutrients!

Omega-3 fatty acids play a critical role in the development and function of the central nervous system. Emerging research is establishing an association between omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic, eicosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic) and major depressive disorder. Evidence from epidemiological, laboratory and clinical studies suggest that dietary lipids and other associated nutritional factors may influence vulnerability and outcome in depressive disorders.

People suffering from mental disorders such as depression and anxiety related disorders like OCD have been found to have deficiencies in omega 3 fatty acids, indicating that a fatty acid deficiency could possibly play a significant role in their mental health.

Studies in the OCD area are severely lacking, although one small study6 did find that supplementation with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (a type of omega 3) did not have any beneficial effect on OCD symptoms after 6 weeks. However, given the growing mountain of evidence that fish oil improves mental functioning, mood, concentration, and stress levels, fish oil / omega 3 supplements certainly will do no harm. It has been effective in alleviating not only the symptoms of depression and bipolar disorder but a whole host of other conditions including schizophrenia, ADHD, PMS, post-natal depression and many other mood and anxiety related conditions. Because of its numerous mental and physical benefits, fish oil could be a good option for people with OCD, but is unlikely to be a cure on its own.

Fatty acids are used to make brain and nerve tissue in the body and are crucial for proper growth, mental function, the immune system and brain development. The body cannot produce the twofatty acids families, Omega-3 and Omega-6, on its own and therefore must receive these key Attention Deficit Disorder ADHD nutrition ingredients through diet and supplementation.

Although the typical Western diet is high in the Omega-6 family of fatty acids (found in corn, sunflower, canola and safflower oil, margarine, vegetable oil and shortening), most Americans young and old are highly deficient in Omega-3.

Learning specialists now believe many childhood behavior and learning problems are associated with Omega-3 deficiencies. This deficiency has a greater impact on males because their requirements for essential fatty acids are, in general, much higher.

Essential fatty acid (EFA) dietary supplementation has shown some efficacy in treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder patients and should also be considered for OCD. Supporting this, a case report is presented of a subject with OCD who developed comorbid paresthesia, for whose latter condition a regimen of ibuprofen was instituted. Thirteen weeks thereafter subject’s OCD symptomatology had declined by 40% (YBOC scale) from baseline. Inasmuch as ibuprofen and numerous other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) block brain neuronal prostaglandin synthase (several also inhibiting phospholipases A2and C), thereby reducing catabolism of neuronal membrane arachidonic acid, the ibuprofen apparently increased the integrity of subject’s neuronal membranes, as would likely also be the case with EFA dietary supplementation.

There is hardly a disease in the books that does not respond well to treatment that includes cod liver oil, and not just infectious diseases but also chronic modern diseases like heart disease and cancer. Cod liver oil provides vitamin D that helps build strong bones in children and helps prevent osteoporosis in adults. The fatty acids in cod liver oil are also very important for the development of the brain and nervous system. "If you want to prevent learning disabilities in your children," said David Horrobin, distinguished medical and biochemical researcher, "feed them cod liver oil."... READ MORE

B12 deficiency symptoms will vary in adults compared with children. In children you may see the symptoms much sooner and to more extremes. A study is no being done on lack of vitamin B as the cause for obsessive compulsive behaviors (OCD) in children and adults. Many believe that the lack of vitamin B including B12 can cause lack of Serotonin in the brain and causing OCD symptoms. Many parents have found once they introduced vitamin B to their OCD child that they have seen significant improvement. Vitamin B is also known to increase a healthy nervous system along with healthy skin and good vision.

These heavy metals and chemicals would include:

* amalgam dental fillings,
* any level of lead exposure
* mercury exposure through older vaccines where a form of mercury was used as a preservative,
* pesticides including the sprays used inside of your house,
* herbicides including the products used outside of your house,
* nail polishes,
* and certain cleaning products used inside your house...

One of the research team's points was that even though moderate amounts of mercury, lead, or chemicals, might be needed to cause neurological damage in most adults, only small amounts might be needed to damage developing brains in babies, infants, and young children.

In their review, the research team summarized what is already known about the most studied neurotoxic chemicals: lead, methylmercury, arsenic, PCBs, solvents, and pesticides.

In addition, the researchers searched through the medical literature to compile a list of 200 chemicals that have been reported to cause neurotoxicity in humans, often through industrial accidents, occupational exposure, suicide attempts, and accidental poisonings.

The researchers believe these are very likely candidates for causing effects on neurodevelopment.

The list includes pesticides, carbon monoxide, fluoride, manganese, and common chemicals like acetone, benzyl alcohol, and perchloroethylene, a chemical used in dry cleaning.

Bentonite is very unusual in the fact that once it becomes hydrated, the electrical and molecular components of the clay rapidly change and produce an "electrical charge". Its highest power lies in the ability to absorb toxins, impurities, heavy metals and other internal contaminants.

Drinking plenty of water and simple sweating helps to flush your system of toxins, but clay therapy, which has been used for thousands of years by indigenous people around the world, has passed the test of time to be a superior natural detoxification method.

Clay is basically inert super charged minerals, and it gets its negative electromagnetic energy charge from the thermo dynamic heat and volcanic action that created it. When activated by water the clay awakens with a strength that radiates throughout the body, stimulating energy for the rebuilding and revitalization of latent cells, and starts a healing process. The body needs this energy to restore harmonic balance essential to healthy maintenance. In addition, this super power has the ability to absorb harmful, toxic substances from within the body, tightly bind them within the molecule, and carry them out of the body.

Today, activated charcoal is in all hospital ERs and many emergency vehicles as a fast, effective antidote for poisons of all types. It is considered safe and effective by the FDA, and it's inexpensive...

The action of activated charcoal involves adsorption, not absorption, of toxins from the intestinal tract. Adsorption is the electrical attraction of toxins to the surfaces of the fine charcoal particles.

Charcoal can adsorb thousands of times its own weight in gases, heavy metals, poisons, and other chemicals, thus making them ineffective or harmless.

OCD is a sub-class of anxiety attacks. Both OCD and anxiety attacks are marked by excess adrenaline production manly caused by unstable blood sugar levels that can easily be tested by medical tests...

“Insulin resistance has been associated with people diagnosed with depression. Conversely, it has also been documented that diabetics have an increased risk of depression. Evidence suggests that insulin activity plays a role in serotonergic activity by increasing the influx of tryptophan into the brain. This increased influx of tryptophan has been shown to result in an increase in serotonin synthesis. In accordance with the serotonin theory of depression, it may be possible to treat depression by increasing insulin activity. The antioxidant alpha lipoic acid has been shown to increase insulin sensitivity and is used to treat people with diabetes. Therefore, the nutrient alpha lipoic acid should be clinically tested as an adjunct treatment for depression.” Salazar MR., 2000,

This book has evolved over a period of three years when I worked with hundreds of children in my clinic. Initially the book was planned to be about autism as the majority of children who came to see me were indeed autistic. However, the more children I saw the more it became clear that we have other epidemics emerging. Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and without it (ADHD/ADD), dyspraxia, dyslexia, various behavioral and learning problems, allergies, asthma, eczema -- all have reached epidemic proportions. But more than that these seemingly unrelated conditions overlap with each other. After years of working with the children in my clinic I hardly met one child who presented with just one of the above conditions. Every child has two, three or more of these health problems at once. For example, a child would present with allergies; at the same time the parents would describe a couple of asthmatic episodes, and eczema and then would talk about their child's extreme clumsiness (dyspraxia) and learning problems. A large percent of allergic and asthmatic children are dyspraxic and hyperactive to various degrees. Many of them have problems with concentration and attention span, which affect their learning ability. There is a an approximate 50% overlap between dyslexia and dyspraxia and a 30 - 50% overlap between ADHD and dyslexia. Children who suffer severe eczema in infancy quite often develop autistic features later in life. Autism and ADHD overlap with every one of the above-mentioned conditions. Apart from being hyperactive many autistic children have severe allergies, asthma, eczema, dyspraxia and dyslexia.

As we can see modern medicine has created all these separate diagnostic boxes to fit our children in but the modern child does not fit into any of them: the modern child fits into this rather lumpy picture.

Why are all these conditions related? What underlying problem are missing in our children which makes them susceptible to asthma, eczema, allergies, dyspraxia, dyslexia, behavioral problem, ADHD and autism in different combinations? Why, when they come teenagers, do many of these children all prey to substance abuse? Why do many of these children grow up to become diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and other psychological and psychiatric problems?

To answer all these questions we have to look at one factor, which unites all these patients in a clinical setting. This factor is the state of their digestive system. I have yet to meet a child with autism, ADHD/ADD, asthma, eczema, allergies, dyspraxia or dyslexia, who has not got digestive abnormalities. In many cases they are severe enough for the parents to start talking about them first. In some cases the parents may not mention their child's digestive system, yet when asked direct questions would describe a plethora of gut problems. But what have digestive abnormalities got to do with autism, hyperactivity, inability to learn, mood and behavior problems? According to recent research and clinical experience--a lot! In fact it appears that the child's digestive system holds the key to the child's mental development. The underlying disorder, which can manifest itself in difference children with different combinations of symptoms, reside3s in the gut!~ Rather than trying to fit a child with autistic tendencies, asthma, eczema and hyperactivity or a child with dyspraxia, dyslexia and allergies into any particular diagnostic box we need to have a name for the underlying disorder, which originates in the gut and manifests itself as any combination of the above conditions.

Here I propose a name: Gut And Psychology Syndrome or GAP Syndrome. Children with GAP Syndrome often fall into the gap -- the gap in our medical knowledge. As a result they do not receive appropriate treatment. In the following chapters we are going to talk in detail about what the GAP Syndrome means, how it develops and how to treat it.

Apart from childhood learning disabilities: autism, ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and various learning and behavioral problems, there is another group of conditions which fit into the GAP Syndrome. These conditions are schizophrenia, depression, manic depression or bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. The father of modern psychiatry French psychiatrist Phillipe Pinel (1745-1828) after working with mental patients for many years, concluded in 1807: "The primary seat of insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and intestines." And yet, the last thing a modern psychiatrist would pay attention to is the patient's digestive system! We will discuss the scientific and clinical evidence pointing in the direction of gut-brain connection in schizophrenic patients.

It is beyond the scope of this book to look at other psychiatric conditions. Hopefully, future clinical experience and research will shed light on how many of them may belong to Gut And Psychology Syndrome. Here we will concentrate on the conditions which receive the diagnostic labels of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, ADHD/ADD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Schizophrenia. The book may also be useful for patients who are diagnosed with allergies, including asthma and eczema.