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A Protocol for Alcohol |
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Alcoholism |
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ALCOHOLISM: Nutritional Treatment
But its no joke, not at all. One in three American
adults does not drink alcoholic beverages at all. One third drinks very
moderately and responsibly. And one third of all American adults drinks too much. Ten percent of our population can be
classified as very heavy drinkers, putting down half of all alcohol consumed
in the nation. So Betty is not
alone. But is seemed strange at first as she sat there in front of me,
gracious and poised, telling me all about her bottomless misery due to her
drinking. Most of my experience with alcoholics came from volunteering
at a downtown Truth is, you will not recognize most alcoholics. Most
manage, somehow, to cope. This is easiest if they have money, free time,
and, surprisingly, gray hair. Believe it or not, "70% of elderly
hospitalizations in 1991 were for alcohol related problems." (Newsletter
of the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, 1:1,
Sept.- Oct. 1992) "Is there
anything you can do for me?" Betty asked. "Maybe,"
I said. Yeah, right.
Nobody, but nobody had had any lasting luck getting this lady off the
sauce. And you think you're going to do it, fella?
Pull the other leg. Then the little cartoon
angel whispered in my other ear. Roger J. Williams! "There is a
proven nutritional treatment for alcoholism," I said. "Roger
Williams, PhD, a chemistry professor at the "What does he
recommend?" Betty said. "Megadoses of
vitamins and an amino acid called L-glutamine." I stood up and
walked over to a bookcase, pulled down a couple of references, and returned
to my squeaky brown swivel desk chair. "Here we
go," I said. "You might want to write this down. Thousands of
milligrams of vitamin C a day, in divided doses; all the B-vitamins,
especially thiamin, in a B-complex supplement, five times a day; and about
three grams of L-glutamine. This, a general good diet, with an avoidance
of sugar, is essentially it. Can you do it?" Betty smiled.
"The real question is, will I do it, isn't
it?" "Yes," I
said. "You've tried everything else." Some weeks later I
got an encouraging phone call from Betty.
"Things are
going great," she said. "Haven't had a drink
since the day I saw you." "Terrific!"
But will she keep it going, I wondered. It's up to her. "Remember
that the supplements won't do any good in the bottle. You've got to stay
with this permanently, you know." Months
passed. A Christmas card from Betty: still clean and sober, thanks to
me, she wrote. Next year, another
Christmas card told of her continued success. "I'm going back to
school," she wrote. Nice! Suddenly the bottom fell right out
of my happy mood: "I've been able to have a drink or two now and
again," Betty added. "But I stop when I choose, and do not
want any more than that. I'm still taking all the vitamins. Thank
you again!" Once more, my
understanding of alcoholism was overturned. Professional dogma tells us that
"once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic." I've taught alcohol
and substance abuse classes at the college level as part of a certified
alcohol counselor (CAC) training program. I know the drill, and Betty's
experience did not fit well. She should not drink at all! Never! Yet
here she was, able to have a drink, just like a normal person. She could
choose to have a drink, and stop. No compulsion, no addiction. Betty
wasn't just coping better; she wasn't just recovering. Betty was cured. Dr. Roger J. Williams is
responsible for at least two key nutritional concepts that are utterly
ignored by the medical and dietetic professions: biochemic individuality and genetotrophics. Biochemic
individuality is easy to understand. Different people need differing
amounts of nutrients. One size never fits all; anyone who has ever
bought underwear will tell you this. An alcoholic needs vastly more of
certain vitamins than a non-drinker. There is a reason for this Beverage alcohol is
ethanol, C2 H5 OH. It is a simple carbohydrate, much like sugar,
supplying lots of energy and no other nutrients. Thiamin, vitamin B-1,
is needed for carbohydrate metabolism. Extra carbos,
including extra alcohol, require extra thiamin. Because alcohol is
filling, it displaces more nourishing foods in the diet, causing malnutrition
and specifically causing thiamin deficiency. So the heavy drinker is
much less likely to get even the usual dietary amount of thiamin, at a time
when she needs much more. Add to this the fact that alcohol destroys the
liver and brain gradually, but profoundly. This damage increases the
need for nutrients to repair the body at a time when the drinker is eating
fewer and fewer good foods. Still worse, alcohol causes poor absorption
and poor utilization of what B-vitamins there are. Alcohol can literally
destroy folic acid. A deficiency of
thiamin, just thiamin, produces the following symptoms, according to the
respected textbook, Nutrition and Diet Therapy: Gastrointestinal:
anorexia, indigestion, severe constipation, gastric atony,
and insufficient HCl secretion. All the above
result mostly from a lack of energy to the GI tract cells; no thiamin, no
energy, no function. Cardiovascular:
dilation of peripheral blood vessels (edema), weakened heart muscle, and
heart failure. Neurological:
diminished reflex response, reduced alertness, fatigue, apathy. Continued
deficiency produces damage or degeneration to myelin sheaths (fatty nerve
cell insulation material). If you see an obvious tie-in to M.S.,
you are right. A lack of thiamin causes increased nerve irritation, pain,
prickly sensations, deadening sensations, and if unchecked, paralysis. Thiamin-deficiency
nerve damage can result in the DT's and hallucinations. All this, mind you,
from a deficiency of just one vitamin. The The 1975 MRCA study
of about 2000 households for a full year showed that, of adults 19 or older,
over 65% got less than the RDA of thiamin. This means that half to two
thirds of Americans probably are thiamin deficient even if they do not drink
at all. Thiamin is found in almost all natural foods, but in very tiny
amounts. Precious few sober Americans, let alone alcoholics, eat
quantities of the whole grains and legumes (peas, beans and lentils) that are
modest food sources. Therefore, vitamin
B-1 supplements are essential. And to get maximum results, additional
nutrients must also be provided in abundance through supplementation. Which ones,
specifically? 1. Vitamin C to
saturation (on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 mg per day and more).
Beverage alcohol (ethanol) is chemically just one carbon and two hydrogens either way from methanol (windshield washer
fluid) and propanol (rubbing alcohol), both of
which are poisons. In quantity, vitamin C is an antitoxin. High doses of vitamin C chemically neutralizes the toxic
breakdown products of alcohol metabolism. And, vitamin C increases the
liver's ability to reverse the fatty build-up so common in alcoholics. 2. B-complex (comprising
50mg of each of the major B-vitamins, six times daily). Extra
thiamin and extra niacin may be helpful. Unlike drugs, the B-vitamins work best together. But, proportionally, alcoholics need more niacin.
Bill W., cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, personally took 3,000 milligrams of niacin daily, divided into theree 1,000 mg doses. NIACIN CAUSES A FLUSH which some people cannot abide.
Niacinamide will work nearly as well, and does not cause a flush. Learn more about Bill W's personal experience and recommendations for niacin treatemnt at
3. L-Glutamine, (about two or three thousand milligrams). Decreases
physiological cravings for alcohol. 4. Lecithin (2 to 4
tablespoons daily). Provides inositol and choline, related to the
B-complex. Lecithin also helps mobilize fats out of the liver. 5. Chromium (at
least 200 to perhaps 400 mcg chromium polynicotinate
daily). Chromium greatly reduces carbohydrate mis-metabolism,
and greatly helps control blood sugar levels. Many, if not most,
alcoholics are hypoglycemic. 6. A good
high-potency multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplement as well,
containing magnesium (400 mg) and the antioxidants carotene and d-alpha tocopherol. Dr. Williams second Nobel-worthy contribution to nutrition is
the genetotrophic concept. Simply stated, the reason different people
need different amounts of vitamins to be optimally healthy is due to their
genes. And more importantly, any genetic deficiencies can be compensated
for with larger than normal (megadoses) of nutrients. Dr. Ruth Harrell
elegantly confirmed Dr. Williams theory when she
gave huge doses of vitamins, especially B-complex, to severely mentally
handicapped children. She obtained extraordinary improvement in learning
and IQ in a matter of months, including spectacular advances in Down's
Syndrome children. This work was done in 1981, and published in the Proceedings
of the Bet you never heard
of it until now. Why, then, does the
medical establishment keep Dr. Williams' knowledge filed away, out of your
sight? The answer is classical: follow the money. In So what are we to
do, at least those of us who want results? The first rule of fishing is
to put your hook in the water, for that is where the fish are. Try
Roger Williams' protocol, and see what I saw with Betty. I have taught
college students the physiology and consequences of alcohol use and abuse for
some time now. You know, when someone becomes unconscious from ethanol,
they may have had just enough to pass out, or they may have had more than
enough to die. One can not afford to take a chance and see if they sleep
it off, or never wake. We also can not afford not to use vitamin
therapy. Comment by Abram Hoffer, M.D.: Ever
since I met Bill W, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous and we became close
friends, I have had a personal interest in the treatment of alcoholism. Bill
taught that there were three components to the treatment of alcoholism:
spiritual, mental and medical. AA provided a spiritual home for alcoholics
that many could not find anywhere else and helped them sustain abstinence.
But for many AA alone was not enough; not everyone in AA had achieved a
comfortable sobriety. Bill recognized that the other two components were
important. When he heard of our use of niacin for treating alcoholics, he
became very enthusiastic about it because niacin gave these unfortunate
patients immense relief from their chronic depression and other physical and
mental complaints. Andrew Saul's article on alcoholism outlines the
importance of the nutritional factors which have been shown to be very
successful on treating this condition. When alcoholics are able to abstain on
their own, this is the way to go. Some of them can even become social
drinkers on a very small scale. I have not found many who could. But I think
that if started on the program very early, many more could achieve normalcy.
I know of many alcoholics who did not want to stop drinking, but did agree to
take niacin. Over the years, they gradually were able to reduce their intake
until they brought it under control. I suspect that treatment centers using
those ideas will be made available one day, and will be much more successful
than the standard treatment today. This all too often still consists of
dumping them into hospitals and letting them dry out, with severe pain and
suffering. When they are discharged, most go right back to the alcohol, the most
dangerous and widely used street drug available without a prescription. - A. Hoffer.
Revisions copyright C 2021. Copyright 2004, 2003 and prior years Andrew W.
Saul. Andrew Saul is the author
of the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! How to be
Independently Healthy (reader reviews at http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html
) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html
) . |
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AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This page is not in any way offered as prescription, diagnosis nor treatment for any disease, illness, infirmity or physical condition. Any form of self-treatment or alternative health program necessarily must involve an individual's acceptance of some risk, and no one should assume otherwise. Persons needing medical care should obtain it from a physician. Consult your doctor before making any health decision. Neither the author nor the webmaster has authorized the use of their names or the use of any material contained within in connection with the sale, promotion or advertising of any product or apparatus. Single-copy reproduction for individual, non-commercial use is permitted providing no alterations of content are made, and credit is given. |
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