I have two questions:
- fish oil is effective in treating schizophrenia? It acts as an antipsychotic?
- gluten and casein can cause psychosis? Gluten and casein free diet can cure schizophrenia?
Sorry, no. To both q’s. Sz is waaaaaaaaaay more complicated, and the etiology (roughly “collection of causes”) is multi-factoral in the extreme. Nature in a pile of ways + nurture in a pile of ways. Genetics, epigenetics, chemical imbalances, family of origin, school stress, common cultural craziness, occasionally – but very occasionally – environmental contaminants, etc.
That said, fish around on this site and follow the leads you come up with for herbal, homeopathic, traditional medicinal and psychotherapeutic semi-solutions.
They were putting fish oil in my med tray, mainly for my heart. They took it out, I missed it, so I started buying my own. I thought I felt it when they took it out of my med tray, but that could have been the placebo effect. It’s supposed to have a number of beneficial effects, and it’s not expensive.
EPA fish oil has some AP properties, but very weak - stay on your meds
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First, ALWAY take your medication it “protects” your brain. Fish oil is good to take in addition to your medicine.
Spend as much time as you can with family, friends, your groups (try to make all your appointments) and speak up or tell your family or treatment team when you are not feeling well.
Fish oil will do nothing for schizophrenia
Fish oil increases acetylcholine via one of the omega 3 fatty acid’s effects, as far as I know. Reduced function of the acetylcholine neurotransmitter causes various psychotic symptoms. It is known that schizophrenic patients often have reduced function of acetylcholine. Acetylcholine covers 1 disease model for schizophrenia out of 10s, but increasing acetylcholine activity may prove beneficial under multiple disease models of schizophrenia (just like with gaba, glutamate and so on).
So, yes, fish oil absolutely 100% works for schizophrenia, but it is not the most effective and there are cases where people don’t respond to it. Its effects also take very long to take place, like a month. There are people whose condition will be worsened by it (borderline personality disorder, for example) and excessive consumption of omega 3 fatty acids for say a year or so, can cause various annoying symptoms like depression, etc.
In the end fish oil is very good for the brain so it’s not bad to take it once in a while even if you don’t experience that it alleviates your psychotic symptoms.
I don’t know if fish oil helps sz or not,
but it does help stabilize mood in bipolar and sza in conjunction with conventional medications. I have been taking fish oil capsules three times a day for years, and my mood has been stable just as long. I am sza.