Could inflammation be a contributing factor to some symptoms in schizophrenia? And if inflammation is a significant factor in schizophrenia, could ordinary aspirin help?
Researchers (Lann et al., 2010) from the Netherlands (I love researchers from the Netherlands!) set to find out.
They looked at 70 inpatients in ten psychiatric hospitals who were already taking antipsychotic medications to help treat their schizophrenia (or a related schizophrenia disorder). They randomly divided the 70 patients into two groups — a control group that received placebo, and another group who received 1,000 mg of aspirin per day.
Patient functioning and psychopathology was tested with a common assessment, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The researchers also looked at cognitive functioning and side effects of both groups.
Their findings?
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I went on a cinema trip with a friend of mine. He asked me if I was ok. I told him I had I was having bad dreams the previous week. Poor man. I dont think he wanted to hear all that but I found some of his advice helpful. I believe the amisulpride I take for my symptoms does help but I dont know about aspirin. Not very good for the stomach I heard. I thought it was something people with angina took not people with schizophrenia.
Fish, whole flaxseed, walnuts, etc…I don’t claim to have much knowledge about nutrition and how it works, but I do know that omega 3 fatty acids are associated with anti-inflammatory functions in the body. You always hear about the omega 6 and omega 3 balance thing these days, but…
Last night I was suicidal, and was feeling this impending sense of absolute terror and despair that had no rationalization behind it. I get like that sometimes and it feels like I’m being tortured. Diet and exercise are essential, at least as far as my own experience goes, for controlling these episodes — it isn’t a cure-all, but it does help a lot. I wonder how much of this has to do with inflammation and mental illness?
If someone has diabetes, they have to watch what they eat. I think it makes perfect sense that someone with mental illness would have to do the same — especially since we’re finding a lot more biological bases for these things now. I try eating a “normal” diet full of processed foods and don’t pay attention to what I’m eating, as everyone tells me just to ‘lighten up’…I do that, and it’s almost inevitable that my symptoms start coming back.
I don’t really have an opinion on using aspirin, as I don’t really know anything about it. I do know a bit about nutrition and have experience with diet and exercise in relation to mental illness, though, and I definitely think the whole omega 3 – omega 6 balance just might be especially important in people with schizophrenia. This is of course just a theory, but eating some fish/flax/walnuts/etc. while cutting out some processed foods is worth a shot, yeah?
There’s no cure anyone’s aware of, but just as aspirin might be able to help people cope with these problems and work through them more efficiently, diet and exercise can do the same. And we all need all the help we can get, no?
Thanks for sharing this, I’m always interested in new research/theories/opinions/information/etc. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep learning more and more to help more and more people, in the most effective ways we can.
What about clotting? If the blood in the brain is thick and sticky and clots easily it could cause cognitive issues that would respond to asprin.
I am not very surprised that inflammation is involved in developing and exacerbating the symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, based on the reports that people with diabetes mellitus have higher risks for developing psychotic disorders. You wonder why I put two seemed unrelated matters together here. In fact, they are closely related.
Diabetes mellitus is strongly positively related to high inflammatory level inside the body because of hyperglycemia. One important point that both psychiatrist and psychologist should understand is diabetes mellitus is only a milepost of a path of postprandial hyperglycemia. People who consume excessive carbohydrates suffer from postprandial hyperglycemia and inflammation repeatedly every day. If these people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders restrict carbohydrate foods should experience improvement in their symptoms without Aspirin.
http://www.carbohydratescankill.com
I have paranoid schizophrenia and have started to use asprin (even though it’s not good for the stomach). I tried it on it’s own without my medication and it didn’t work (I was ill).However, in conjunction with my medication it makes me feel better than I did and I’m going to keep taking it as a result.