Chris Palmer, MD

[Crochet]

I just finished watching a youtube interview with Dr. Chris Palmer.  He is a Harvard trained Psychiatrist and has seen positive results from using a ketogenic diet as a medical intervention for his patients.  He has a book coming out later this year.  I checked out his website and thought that it might be helpful for some people.

 

https://www.chrispalmermd.com/

[ChessieCat]

I watched the Youtube video the other day.

 

Dr. Chris Palmer - 'The Ketogenic Diet in Neurology and Psychiatry'

[Crochet]

Nice!  This is the interview I watched.  It looks like there might be a few others out there.  In this one, he discusses psych meds, particularly the harm that they cause some people when starting them and the extreme difficulty he's encountered in trying to help people slowly taper off them.

 

Dr Chris Palmer

 

YT video title:  Dr. Shawn Baker Podcast | Revero

 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by ChessieCat
added video title

[ChessieCat]

I have been watching/listening to a lot of low carb/keto things since October last year and some people have mentioned that their mental clarity has improved after cutting the carbs.  This might simply be because they have reversed their insulin resistance and their blood flow to the brain has increased (diabetes --> reduced blood flow to feet, kidneys, eyes, slow healing of sores, so you would think that the brain would be affected).  I'm not sure if I've heard it anywhere or if I'm just making a connection.

 

I heard an interview with this a guy who started going blind (he had bleeding) and had to have needles in his eyes.  He changed to low carb/keto and he hasn't had to have the injections anymore.  I don't know how long he was on it before things improved but I am fairly certain it was only a few months.  With low carb I got my Hba1c from 7.0 to 5.2 in only 3 months, no fasting, no drugs, just cutting out the majority of sugar and carbs.  I do still have certain things in small amounts to keep my food tasting okay, because if I don't like what I'm eating I'm not going to stick to it.

[Crochet]

I finished reading the book "Brain Energy" by Dr. Chris Palmer (https://brainenergy.com/).

 

It fits with my experience of antidepressant withdrawal syndrome and provides an explanation for what happened to me.

 

The basic idea is that mental illness is a metabolic disorder, more specifically, the mitochondrial dysfunction.  When mitochondria aren't functioning properly, all sorts of systems in the body are impacted, so numerous mental and physical symptoms can result.

 

According to Palmer, here are some of the things that impact metabolic function:

• Medications
• Inflammation
• Sleep
• Food
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Physical activity
• Trauma

According to Palmer, there are a number of metabolic interventions that could help, including:

• Regulating sleep
• Light therapy
• Addressing nutritional deficiencies
• Removing allergens and toxins
• Fasting
• Mediterranean diet
• Ketogenic diet (the one used to treat Epilepsy)
• Avoiding antibiotic exposure
• Avoiding highly processed foods
• Probiotics / improving gut microbiome
• Exercise
• Psychotherapy
• Developing close relationships

I'm pretty sure all of these interventions are discussed on this website daily! 

 

Palmer is clear that those struggling with mental illness should work with their doctors and other practitioners to implement any intervention.  Palmer also notes that "stopping psychiatric medications can be difficult and dangerous." More than once.

 

Depending on where you are in your recovery process, if you are able to read and synthesize information, this is a good read that lays the groundwork for future research.

[UncleLeroy]

Just thought I would chime in with some personal experience.  A ketogenic diet during the end of a pregnancy helped me control gestational diabetes. I should have stayed with it, but didn't.

 

Recently I was on a carnivore diet to experiment with an autoimmune issue. Not only did it help with that, I suddenly had very noticeable reduced inflammation in my joints, more energy, better sleep, and weight loss that balanced out after losing close to 35 lbs. And incredibly, my previous mood/hormones that were steadily getting worse as I am perimenopausal were drastically improved (as in disappeared) including pms acne. This was done during a very stressful time in life (grieving the loss of a parent while caregiving another with dementia). So to have these results were desperately needed definitely welcomed.

 

Although it's not strictly ketogenic nor pure carnivore (somewhere in between), I can really tell a difference in all problem areas when I go off track occasionally.

[UncleLeroy]

 

Not sure if this has been posted before, but here he is as a guest on Mikhaila Peterson's podcast.