Schizophrenia Blog

 
Why do some British Doctors Believe Fish Oils (EPA) could be a "cure" to Schizophrenia?

I was a little sceptical when I recently read an article about fish oil that had the words "schizophrenia" and "cure" in the same sentence. Any sufferer of schizophrenia, care giver or family member who has conducted a little research on the topic knows that there is currently no known cure for schizophrenia (Of course, a cure would be great but what sufferers of schizophrenia should aim for is a full recovery, there is no cure for the common cold either but people make a full recovery). 

While a fairly old the fish oil article (1998), it is certainly one that has its merits as there has been a plethora of double blind studies conducted by doctors  that conclude EPA should be taken if you suffer from schizophrenia to relieve the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia (see here for more information on Fish Oil and the benefits for sufferers of schizophrenia). Being an avid fan of the respectable British broadsheet, The Independent (dated 26 May 1998), where I had read the online article, I was curious about its claims about EPA "curing" patients suffering from schizophrenia in the UK...
 

Here is an excerpt of the article so you can judge for yourself:

One day last year Anne logged on to the internet and as usual went straight to the schizophrenia forum. What she read there has, she claims, transformed her life and that of her 40-year-old schizophrenic son. The article described how researchers at the University of Sheffield (UK) believe the key to treating schizophrenia may be found in fish oil.

Anne put her son, who was already taking the schizophrenia drugs Zyprexa and Lithium, on high doses of fish oil. Since then he has improved daily.

"He has been homebound for years," she told fellow Internet surfers. "He is now fishing, hitting golf balls in the yard and reading the sports page."

Before long other benefits emerged, she says. A few weeks after taking the oil her son's doctor was confident enough about his progress to lower the dosage of his other drugs and, "he is now doing even better".

Anne's experience caused a stir on the schizophrenia web site. Over recent months, a flurry of e-mails have passed between schizophrenia sufferers and their families about the benefits of fish oil. If other families experience the same remarkable changes the effect on the NHS, as well as thousands of sufferers will be dramatic.

Each year the NHS spends 810m pounds on treating Britain's schizophrenics. They are the third most costly group of patients to the NHS, after learning disability and stroke victims. Over 32 million pounds is spent on drugs like the anti-psychotics used to control the most disturbing schizophrenic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and voices*.

Now psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Peet and his team at Sheffield believe they have found a treatment which is easily obtainable and at a fraction of the cost of drug therapies.

So far two studies have shown that patients given high doses of fish oil in addition to their usual drugs have seen symptoms improve by more than a quarter. In September last year, the researchers at Sheffield took the investigation a stage further, using several different formulations of EPA, a type of fish oil, and 75 patients - the research should be completed by the summer.

Dr. Peet is pleased with the results so far but emphasizes that the work is at an early stage. On no account must patients stop taking their medication and rely on fish oil, he says. "We have no proof to support a sole treatment approach," he says.

One hundred and fifty miles away in Hammersmith Hospital London, one man has watched with astonishment the remarkable transformation of a 31- year-old schizophrenic after treatment with EPA - a change all the more remarkable because the patient had never undergone conventional drug treatment for his condition.

Like Dr. Peet, Basant Puri, consultant psychiatrist at Hammersmith hospital, was aware of studies linking schizophrenia with a depletion of certain fatty acids. But studies were hindered by the fact that most schizophrenics receive drug treatments of one form or another. As a result it was hard for researchers to have a clear picture of the effect of substances like EPA.

"The ideal is to have patients who are drug naive", Dr Puri explains. "I came across a patient who had refused medication and, after I explained the hypothesis to him, he was keen to try the fish oil."

Only six weeks into treatment and Dr. Puri and his patient were amazed at the improvements: "I have never seen a patient get better so quickly."

The man had suffered hallucinations and was anxious and withdrawn when he arrived at Dr. Puri's clinic. He had been diagnosed as a schizophrenic three years before but had only ever taken one tablet of the drug sulpiride - he refused to take any more after experiencing side-effects.

After a daily dose of EPA, "he is now up and about and trying to pursue an Open University degree course," Dr. Puri says. He is convinced that the man's recovery is no fluke. The patient's illness had never been episodic and his symptoms had been constant for two years. Also he had been involved with several research studies and so was unlikely to have improved as a result of extra attention he got from the team.

These are the types of results that have prompted us to formulate our own Omega Supplement high in EPA. Remember the quality, formulation and dosage  do matter so please bookmark our page and keep looking for the release.