This 42 year old lady had been suffering from bi-polar disorder for a number of years, and had been prescribed a succession of mood-stabilising drugs including lithium and a new psychotic drug.
Her manic depression made her life an absolute misery with its unnatrual manic highs and suicidal lows. She had been admitted to hospital three times and had eleven ECT treatments; resulting in large chunks of her memory being lost.

Claire made a momentous decision to come off medication, and then suffered withdrawal symptoms ranging from headache, to aching joints, aching muscles, high temperatures to mood swings. Previously she had needed to take afternoon naps of 2 hours most days.

A naturopathic diet helped considerably, particularly the fish oils.
Claire was so pleased with the results that she wrote an article on the effects of sugar on mental health - which I enclose a quote from:

"With a diagnosis of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder that was not kept stable by medication, things were looking bleak. I had tried approximately twenty different medications at various times and in differing combinations. I approached every change to my medical regime in hopeful anticipation that this combination would prove to be the magically one that would keep me stable. Alas, it was not to be and I found myself at the end of the list of medications to try.

It wasn’t through lack of trying. I did my best to minimise negative stress, maintain regular sleep and think positively. I took salmon oil and a daily walk. All of these things helped but my rapid-cycling continued.

After Christmas, I became so ill that it seemed inevitable I would be admitted into hospital for the sixth time.

It was suggested to me that maybe refined sugar might be triggering my episodes. Sugar! It seemed too simple to be true.

In desperation I decided to follow her advice and cut refined sugars out of my diet. I did not expect it to make any difference but I had nothing to lose.
(all communication took place by e-mail, as Claire was residing in North America at the time)

The dramatic improvement in my mental health surprised myself, my family and even mental health professionals who had seen the effects of each destructive episode. As the weeks changed into months, I could hardly dare believe that I was still stable. A simple change in my diet was proving to be much more effective that any medication I had tried."

Lethargy, Tiredness, Head Aches

After a few years of feeling lethargic, and frequent bad headaches, I decided to take some action. A trip to my Doctor left me feeling as if I had wasted his time and my problems were just down to life. He suggested a couple of options, one a trip to the dietician, who didn't really ask any questions but despatched me off with a diet called The Weetabix Diet, the other suggestion was tablets. I was never offered simple nutritional advice, only that it was down to stress and my lifestyle.

Alice suffered from stomach pains and infections, and constant pains in her lower abdomen on her left side. This pain tended to move all the way around to her back and down her leg. She also experienced pains from a stiff neck and on the left side of her upper chest; which she linked to stress.
She also had a history of menstrual irregularities such as heavy, painful periods, and premenstrual syndrome.

She didn't feel that her doctor was sympathetic to her problems, and had sent her for various invasive tests, but had not found anything specific wrong with her.

Another concern of Alice's was her weight, despite trying to diet, and eating 3 pieces of fruit a day.

By the second consultation, after regulating her blood sugar levels by introducing regular small meals to her diet, including brown rice and vegetables and also eliminating sodium , Alice was happy to tell me that for the first time in nine years she experienced days with no pain.

Michele Couzens-Eason

Laura was 23 years old, and a music teacher. She was feeling very ill and frightened when she came to see me, and worried about the large quantities of medicines that had been prescribed for her with little explanation. She had recently lost her mother to cancer and her step-father was antagonistic towards her, so there was a high stress component present.

For the last ten days Laura had not been keeping her food down. She had felt queasy but gone to a party, where she had collapsed with severe pains in her left hand side. She was taken to hospital with a high temperature and put on an antibiotic drip but her veins kept collapsing. She was told that she might have pelvic inflammatory disease but tests were inconclusive. She had been discharged with three different antibiotics to take, two types of anti-nauseants and two types of pain-killers (15 tablets a day in all).

Laura had other problems too: she had been exhausted and anaemic for about two years, and was taking iron in the form of ferrous sulphate. The hospital said she had an electrolyte imbalance. Four months previously she had had an attack of cystitis. She had recently slipped a disc. Ever since age 18 she had received laser treatment and cauterisation for pre-cancerous cells in her cervix. She also suffered from thrush, constipation, fatigue, stomach pain for six years, bleeding gums, dandruff and hair loss, muscle cramps, and acne. She was often tearful.

This is a case where it shows how important it is not to be too symptom-focused as this young woman was quite ill with a multiplicity of symptoms but no labelled disease.

I suggested a dietary and supplements treatment for Laura to improve her nutritional status quickly, focusing on probiotics and minerals. Laura improved very fast indeed, and after two months remarked that she felt 200% better! Her only remaining problem was itchy skin and flaking scalp. These improved gradually. Her recent smear test had been clear.

I saw Laura a year later, and she was very well and happy.

Isabella Perry, Nutritional Therapist

Diane came to see me because she was being made miserable by menopausal hot flushes and night sweats and by puzzling weight gain. She had a long list of other problems, including a constant dry cough, dry skin, split nails, frequent bloatedness, shoulder pain from old injury, diarrhoea, sinusitis, dizzy and shaky when hasn’t eaten for some time, cracks in corners of mouth, bleeding gums, and mild depression.

Diane's current diet was generally healthy, rather low in fat, with plenty of fruit and vegetables. This was not the main problem.

After the first consultation, I found that she exhibited signs of unsteady blood sugar levels, consistent low zinc status, unsteady hormone levels, and her blood pressure was raised. Examinig her irises I saw that she seemed to have quite high toxicity emanating from the bowel area, a large part of which would have been caused by damage to the natural bowel flora by antibiotics, steroid treatments, anaesthetics and HRT. This will have placed an extra burden on the liver. Her weight problem seemed unconnected with over-eating as she was very careful not to eat too much.

I put Diane on to a diet which covered a wide range of foods, not ignoring foods which she had been avoiding before because they had contained fats (such as eggs). As is normal, the diet was high in vegetables, grains such as rice and millets, and a good protein source daily. It omitted salt, wheat, dairy products and processed and fermented foods. I suggested a range of supplements including probiotics, vitamins and minerals and essential fatty acids, with emphasis for part of the treatment on trace elements such as zinc and chromium.

After two months, hot flushes were now only very occasional and Diane was sleeping much better. She had lost 13lb, although she had been eating more than before. This happens partly due to loss of excess fluids, and also because the cellular energy increases, as well as loss of fat in the body. The shoulder pain was better on the whole and still improving, and Diane had been able to go swimming for the first time for years. Her sinuses were clearing and were still improving. The cough had practically gone, bleeding gums were much better, nails were better and she could now wear nail varnish. She said that her hair seemed to be growing thicker and faster, and her tolerance to heat was much better. Blood pressure had dropped from 130/95 to 125/88.

Diane continued to make progress and was so pleased with how she now felt that she decided to keep on a similar dietary regime more or less permanently, though relaxing a little on the exclusions. When her weight stabilised she had lost 1 ½ stone.

Isabella Perry, Nutritional Therapist

This is a collection of symptoms which might be better known simply as a dysfunctional bowel. It is not well understood by doctors who sometimes ascribe the cause simply to stress. I have made it a special interest as it causes such widespread and little-understood distress, and have seen many sufferers return to health, even after many years of problems.

I find that there is always some degree of liver misfunction, very poor condition of bowel flora, poor cell mineral levels and erratic blood sugar level control. These have most often been caused by past antibiotic use, mineral imbalances which may have been increasing for years, and faulty nutrition. Factors making the condition worse also include use of steroid hormones including the Pill and HRT, many other drugs and stress of various types...

All these problems can be addressed with nutritional therapy.

One of my worst cases recently was Tom, who travelled down from London when he read an article that I had written. He had suffered from pain in his bowel for many of his 47 years, and it had now developed from IBS into ulcerative colitis. He had almost stopped eating, not knowing which foods made his condition worse. He was tired, very anxious, dizzy, had a bloated stomach, heart pounding after climbing the stairs, heartburn, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea with bleeding.

I gave Tom a priority appointment so that he could start eating again, and suggested a diet which would give him a full range of nutrients whilst taking account his very inflamed bowel and food intolerances. The supplements were partly healing and soothing, such as Aloe vera and mucilaginous herbs, and also covered a wide spectrum of nutrients as he had been restricting his diet for a long time. I also made up a flower remedy for nervousness and anxiety.

Tom started to improve very quickly and felt better, he said, than he ever remembered feeling. Although he continued on the therapy for some months, he now only occasionally approaches me for advice as he is very well most of the time. His consultant was also delighted with the improvement.

Isabella Perry, Nutritional Therapist