Neurosomatics

Related Symptoms of the Neurosomatic Syndrome include:
1. Allergies
2. Asthma
3. Eczema
4. Temporal Mandibular Joint Syndrome
5. Cold hands and feet

Patients with the Neurosomatic Syndrome frequently have been mis-diagnosed with:
1. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
2. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
3. Hypoglycemia
4. Hypochondria

ALL of these symptoms need not be present in an individual at the same time. Various ones may occur, and wax and wane throughout a persons life. And one does not need to have had all of them to have the Neurosomatic Syndrome. Dr. Goodman has developed a Neurosomatic Scale to help identify the Syndrome. This is explained in his book, IT IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD: A Monograph on Wellness for the New Millennium.

Individuals afflicted with the Neurosomatic Syndrome have been diagnosed with a panoply of these problems, have seen a platoon of consultants, have been subjected to exhaustive and exhausting evaluations and have received a veritable cornucopia of prescriptions. This usually is done independently by each consultant with a separate battery of tests and a separate barrage of prescriptions for the specific organ system or symptom in question.

People with the Neurosomatic Syndrome have obvious if undiagnosed irregularity in the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis. They have excessively reactive, or over-reactive Autonomic Nervous Systems. All have a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism virtually identical to that seen in Stein-Leventhal Syndrome (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome-PCOS) leading to elevated insulin levels and pseudo-bulimia. And all have a sleep disorder equivalent to Periodic Limb Movement Disorder-Restless Legs Syndrome (PLMD-RLS). See FAQ for more details.

The great preponderance of people with the Neurosomatic Syndrome have been treated with one or more of the SSRIs: Prozac, Luvox, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Effexor, Lexapro. These make matters worse, although the patients often are so numbed and obliterated by these drugs and the next wave of drugs prescribed to treat the SSRI side-effects that they really can't tell if they feel better or worse or anything at all.

To add insult to injury, abundant numbers of patients with the Neurosomatic Syndrome, including those improperly treated with SSRIs, are told by their Doctors and therapists that they really must not want to get better, that they are not trying hard enough, and that it's all just in their head anyhow.

These drugs are habit forming and have miserable withdrawal symptoms (see below). But most prescribers misunderstand this and perceive the withdrawal symptoms as a re-emergence of the primary disorder and an object lesson for the patient to continue treatment with the SSRI.

Do you know that between 70% to 80% of psychotropic drugs are prescribed by non-psychiatrists? These drugs are passed out freely, often after as little as a 10 minute office visit by Family Practitioners, Obstetrician-Gynecologists, Internists, Pediatricians, Dermatologists, Orthopedists, Surgeons and nurse practitioners. And about all these well meaning folks seem to know about these drugs--as told them by extensive "detailing" by pharmaceutical reps--is that they are supposed to be safe, effective for whatever ails you, and does something or other to your brain's serotonin.

All of the SSRIs also cause Dopamine blockade in your brain. That is what is accomplished by the antipsychotic drugs such as Haldol and Thorazine used to treat psychotic individuals. It is dopamine blockade that causes the numbness, the loss of feeling and caring which are the results achieved by many (?most?) people treated with these drugs. And it is the breakthrough of the dopamine blockade--tachyphylaxis--that leads to ever increasing doses of these drugs as unpleasant feelings emerge in what is really SSRI withdrawal. The removal of dopamine blockade that happens abruptly with SSRI discontinuation triggers the nasty cascade of withdrawal symptoms.

SSRI withdrawal symptoms can include: insomnia, anxiety, panic, nausea, cramps and diarrhea, spontaneous crying, electric shock feelings in the head, muscle twitches and myoclonic jerks, restlessness, fidgeting, subjective dysphoria, a sense that you can't sit still or get comfortable and a feeling that you want to crawl out of your skin. Self-destructive and violent thoughts, impulses and behaviors may occur. Permanent Tardive processes may also occur.

   More detailed information can be obtained in the book IT IS ALL IN YOUR HEAD: A Monograph on Wellness for the New Millennium.