Germanium - Wholeness
Imparted In Mental Illness
Each human organism represents a sum total of genetic,
physical, spiritual and environmental potential; every individual is
a unique expression of life. The tremendous explosion of knowledge over
the past few decades in the fields of psychology, neurochemistry, physiology
and immunology has revealed what sages have been saying for millenia,
and which modern physics corroborates - that every particle of matter,
every cell, every system, is intrinsically connected to every other
bit of matter. The body's functioning, which includes our physical and
mental state of health, is intricately influenced by thoughts of the
mind, emotions and a complex chemical transmitter network of the brain,
endocrine and immune systems. In fact, mystics and now physicists and
neuro-physiologists also say that the world as we perceive it is illusory,
that we are dreaming, and that all that is needed to wake up is a shift
in awareness or perception. It becomes difficult to define mental illness,
when so many components contribute to our actions.
The behaviours we adopt, although sometimes bizarre
and self-destructive or violent, can often be understood from an archetypal
psychological perspective (6). We harbour illusions of who we are, preferring
to acknowledge the "light", the good, the strong, the nice,
the unselfish. We are repelled, refuse to or are unwilling to admit
to, experience, and own the "shadow", the bad, the vulnerable,
the anger, the jealousy, all the "nasty" elements that are
also part of the human psyche. To protect ourselves from painful or
traumatic experiences, we may defensively fabricate an artificial shield
around our darker feelings and impulses. We may become polite, good
and compliant to authority, rather than expressing our anger, resentment
or jealousy. However, for every action there is an opposite reaction,
or stated another way, we harbour a memory for every thought, feeling
or action that we experience.
Sometimes these memories become locked in the body.
We become "uptight" with a stiff neck, back and posture. Or
we develop stomach ulcers from anxiety, or we have a heart attack from
compulsive competitiveness and stress, or get cancer from an internal
judgment of our unworthiness to be alive. The mediabombards us with
stories of people who suddenly go beserk and kill innocent people in
a rampage. If we are truly honest with ourselves, and ask "could
I ever do such a thing", the answer probably emerges that under
conditions of incredible stress, there is probably a trigger in all
of us that could do unspeakable things. Witness the atrocities of our
civilization - biblical wars, Ghengis Khan, Julius Caesar, Napoleon,
Stalin, Hitler, Viet Nam, etc.
Often we develop unconscious, ritualistic forms
of behaviour which we cannot control - we overeat, vomit, become addicted
to tobacco, alcohol, promiscuity, fear commitment and intimacy, become
chronically depressed, or even develop and live in a fantasy world of
our own creation (116). These types of behaviour, which we all exhibit
to greater or lesser degrees, are certainly reflections of a less than
balanced mental state, but the steps necessary for restoration will
probably involve changes in all aspects of our life - the food we eat,
our psychological conditioning, physical care of our body, as well as
any "treatment" rendered by a health practitioner.
Mental illness is, therefore, not an isolated condition
caused by a single factor. It is the manifestation of disturbances to
the entire organism which can be due to many factors, such as genetic,
biochemical, nutritional, psychological, etc. Therefore, approaches
to these conditions must be multi-faceted, and aimed as restoring balance.
However, not all "mental" conditions require complex or esoteric
techniques for dramatic improvement. In recent decades, extensive research
has revealed biochemical and nutritional connections in various mental
disorders, namely depression and schizophrenia (81).
For example, excessive copper levels in the body,
derived perhaps from water passing through copper pipes, copper cooking
utensils, the contraceptive pill, Vitamin C or B3 deficiency, can induce
paranoia and hallucinations. Many depressed and schizophrenic people,
severely deficient in zinc and Vitamin B6, experience a multitude of
symptoms including blinding headaches, nervous exhaustion, hypersensitivity
to normal daylight and nausea. Autistic children respond well to zinc
and Vitamin B6 therapy, and skin infections such as acne, eczema and
herpes may also improve. Cerebral allergies, a possible cause of some
types of schizophrenia, respond to methionine (an amino acid), calcium,
zinc, manganese, B6 and Vitamin C (81). Mood swings can be caused by
allergies to common foods like wheat and to imbalances in blood sugar
levels, which can be alleviated through nutritional means. It is, in
all likelihood probable that many forms of destructive and violent behaviour
may have a nutritional and biochemical basis.
Organic Germanium has been successfully used to
treat chronic psychosis, depression and epilepsy, and several case histories
from the Asai Research Clinic follow (2).
- A 15-year old girl, diagnosed as being schizophrenic,
became autistic, started to distrust everything and began to be absent
from school. After one month of taking organic Germanium, her menstrual
pains disappeared, her facial expression brightened, and her personality
became cheerful. She returned to school after one year's absence.
- A 27-year old female suffered from depressive psychosis
following an appendectomy. Her eyes appeared vacant, were full of tears.
Within 2 days of taking 80 mg organic Germanium per day, her eyes became
alert. Two days later her complexion returned to normal and hardly any
speech impediment remained. Ten days later she sat for her annual university
examination. After 25 days, treatment was discontinued. There have been
no recurrence of symptoms seven years later.
- A 38 year old male experienced a second seizure
of depressive psychosis. His eyes appeared vacant, and he did not speak;
he had been taking the drug Tofranil. He took 100 mg. organic Germanium
twice per day. After one week, his eyes appeared brighter, although
he still complained of lethargy. He reduced the Tofranil dosage to a
half. Two weeks later, his eyes had returned to almost normal, and after
another month he returned to work. He continued to take organic Germanium
for almost one year. No recurrence of symptoms has been observed for
three years.
- A 58-year old woman had repeated periods of depressive
psychosis at six monthly intervals, initially lasting for up to three
months and becoming progressively worse, culminating in her attempted
suicide. Within two to three days after beginning taking 10 mg organic
Germanium twice per day, her persistent insomnia lifted, and the symptoms
of depressive psychosis virtually vanished. She continued to take organic
Germanium for three years. Over the last eight years (at time of writing),
no recurrence of symptoms had been observed.
- This 69-year old woman had a 30-year history of
depressive psychosis, seasonally coinciding with cold weather. She begain
to take 70 mg organic Germanium twice per day. After three years of
no symptoms, she discontinued organic Germanium treatment. Following
a cataract operation, she experienced a relapse into her former symptoms,
and resumed organic Germanium about five months later. She improved
soon, was able to sleep through the night and experiences good health
today."
The physiological and biochemical basis of how
organic Germanium acts to effect improvement in these various disorders
has not been rigorously established. However, a careful appraisal of
organic Germanium's properties provides reasonable grounds toinfer why
this substance can be so effective for "mental" illness.
- First, and perhaps, foremost, is organic Germanium's
oxygen enriching effect (see also Chapter 4). Oxygen is absolutely vital
for life, and brain cells, deprived of oxygen for only three minutes,
will die. The effect of increasing the brain's oxygen supply in itself
is probably a great factor in organic Germanium's therapeutic effects
upon "mental" disorders.
- Organic Germanium is also a powerful anti-oxidant
(see also Chapter 4), which enables this substance to neutralize toxic
free radical species, which helps to prevent peroxidation damage to
lipid membranes and has a cleansing effect on the blood quality. This
over-all purification effect, with the elimination of toxins, would
certainly improve many so-called "mental" disorders.
- Organic Germanium's ability to capture and discharge
heavy metals (see also Chapter 5), such as
mercury and cadmium, which have known severe neurological effects provides
another explanation for this trace mineral's salutory effect in improving
mental illnesses.
- Another presumably major contributory factor is
organic Germanium's immuno-enhancing properties (see also Chapter
3). The immune system, as we have seen, is actually a complex web
of organs and hormones distributed all over the body. The enhancement
of immune functions - interferon, natural killer cells, macrophages
and T-suppressor cells would have a profound influence on many other
biochemical and neurochemical chemicals, which would also be positively
and naturally affected, since it is the body's own natural immune mechanisms
that have been stimulated.
Because of organic Germanium's therapeutic properties which seem to
act at a fundamental life-enhancing level, it has been useful in treating
autoimmune illnesses which also demonstrate psychiatric symptomology,
such as lupus erythematosis, and possibly AIDS. Improved hormonal and
immune function would certainly have a positive effect on an individual's
mental health and behaviour.
Much remains to be learned about organic Germanium's
metabolism, biochemistry and indeed, its essentiality to the body. Detailed
nutritional research into organic Germanium's connection, on its own
and in combination with other nutrients, with "mental" illness
could reveal even more therapeutic aspects of this trace element.
