[Velika]

I think we are still far off from the necessary understanding for drug companies to be involved.

And that's exactly my point.  How do we even begin to get to the bottom of this if no one is prepared to fund research into it. We don't.  And on and on it goes without any real public knowledge or understanding.

I'm not suggesting that medication is going to be the answer.  I'm suggesting that drug companies are the ones who fund the research and they obviously can't see the financial payoffs.

My suspicion is that MLC is an autoimmune disorder linked to gut health. I think that increased interest in gut-brain connection may help on this front.

Earlier this year I went to a type of spiritual psychic. She kept tapping the right side of her temples and saying, "Your husband is really #%&@* up right now!" This led me to research right hemisphere of frontotemporal lobe.

Well the other day I saw him and he kept rubbing the right side of his temple like he was in pain. I saw this many times leading up to and after bomb drop. In fact, before bomb drop he started to get very serious migraines with chills that were so debilitating he couldn't drive at times.

He suffered from severe gut health issues that have gotten much worse since MLC began. One of my pet theories was that the initial mania and "high" he experienced was actually from introduction of new gut flora from OW. (Heh heh a "fecal transplant" if you will.) At bomb drop he looked amazing. His skin and eyes glowed; I could tell he felt not just elated but healthy and energetic.

My theory is that once this adjustment passes and their gut health becomes commingled, the issues have returned. He can no longer treat them with OW fecal transplant. Now he has been diagnosed with mega colon (linked to schizophrenia) and has aged very rapidly.

I have also noticed something strange and that is when my son returns from a weekend with his dad, his breath is often not very good. It is not from lack of toothbrushing but rather digestive. It may be something a mother would only notice, but I had definitely made the connection more than once.

[Thunder]

I'm convinced my H's MLC was hormonal.  I think I mentioned I even saw him have hot flashes.  I've had them so I recognized them right away.  His chest and face would turn red, he would start to sweat, and he would turn down the heat and put cooler clothes on. 
They didn't last long but I saw them for what they were.

So in my H's case, and only his, I really think if he had gotten treated for low T, with testosterone, he would have possibly not have had all the side effects of low T.  Confusion, exhaustion, unhappiness and a few other things.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this?

[1trouble]

This is a slight tangent, but in the UK at least, much appears to be happening in terms of generating awareness of mental health, especially in men.  This seems to be geared towards depression, and I have yet to see someone say that they destroyed their life rather than acknowledge a depression, but some articles come close.

Whilst I welcome the move in the UK which has seen a lot of TV time given to mental health issues, every one I have watched and every article I have read, concentrates on the already known 'faces' of depression and so the articles or programmes are trying to make it more 'acceptable' to get help, which is great BUT

what I have been waiting for is that programme or article that tackles the lesser well known but I suspect far more common aspects of depression......and which all of us on here are more familiar with........
the doing things to extreme like working too hard, exercising too hard, drinking too much etc........which causes them to withdraw and of course the type of depression that leads someone to want to abandon their lives...............one day someone will make a programme about that side of depression and I believe if this 'face' of depression was more widely known along with it being more acceptable to seek out help then more people would not go into crisis.....

My feeling is that since the amygdala is likely involved, engaging with a MLCer further taxes his/her amygdala and stress hormones as well, thereby exacerbating this conditon.

Velika you are right, because my therapist (who is a neuroscientist) always told me to talk calmly to my H, to never be emotional and to use rational statements to him because any emotion would make things worse.

As you know I have collated lots and lots of information from MLC'ers and spouses from everywhere including here and I have read they are addicted to drama and highs which is why the fights with the OW are so addictive, it doesn't have to be a 'good' high, either.

So given what my therapist said and what I have read it makes sense to me. 

Some have been likened to teenagers, I know my H acted like that at the beginning so if the LBS is also acting from emotion it adds fuel to the flame and I learnt very quickly it was me who kept getting burnt in the emotional meetings we had in the beginning.

That's why its best to leave them be as much as possible because they start to figure it out themselves and if they know when they want to come forward we are going to be calm, strong, and non emotive they wont feel so threatened.

Of course in some situations its a very tough ask, like your sitch this week, but you dealt with it amazingly well

[Not Applicable]

My suspicion is that MLC is an autoimmune disorder linked to gut health. I think that increased interest in gut-brain connection may help on this front.


He suffered from severe gut health issues that have gotten much worse since MLC began. One of my pet theories was that the initial mania and "high" he experienced was actually from introduction of new gut flora from OW. (Heh heh a "fecal transplant" if you will.) At bomb drop he looked amazing. His skin and eyes glowed; I could tell he felt not just elated but healthy and energetic.

My theory is that once this adjustment passes and their gut health becomes commingled, the issues have returned. He can no longer treat them with OW fecal transplant. Now he has been diagnosed with mega colon (linked to schizophrenia) and has aged very rapidly.

You may be right about the gut health thing. There is so much unknown about that but enough is known to know that it might be as important as brain chemistry to our health. There are something like 10k organisms living in our gut and we have no idea what they do.

Funnily, my husband has been suffering a lot of stomach aches, diarrhea etc too. I even told my MIL yesterday that i think it is because he is eating OW's cooking. I personally find that if I eat someone else's cooking for more than a day or two, I get sick, whether that is as a guest or from restaurants. You are exposed to different bacteria etc. when you eat from different sources.

[Not Applicable]

Some have been likened to teenagers, I know my H acted like that at the beginning so if the LBS is also acting from emotion it adds fuel to the flame and I learnt very quickly it was me who kept getting burnt in the emotional meetings we had in the beginning.

His behavior especially when their others are around and he encourages them to be this way too, reminds me of living in the dormitory in the first year of college. Everyone spent all their time making jokes at others' expense. I was so immature and I was really depressed that year of my life. I don't know how to really deal with it because he just then acts like I am being a spoil sport but really I know he is playing games and intentionally trying to get a rise out of us that I don't want to put up with it. I've distanced myself from these situations as much as possible and he actually cut them off himself which was a relief for a while but now he is allowing them to happen again.

[Not Applicable]

This looks interesting about gut health and depression: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/836260

[Thunder]

But then there are the wallowers who are not so addicted to drama and highs.

Their just too exhausted to do much of anything.   

[Roma]

As a LBS with a Wallower, I agree with Thunder. I highly doubt there will be a one size fits all pill for MLC because there are different types and everyone is different.

Why not put the focus on PREVENTING MLC in the first place? not a pill after it happens.

[Ready2Transform]

I'm convinced my H's MLC was hormonal.  I think I mentioned I even saw him have hot flashes.  I've had them so I recognized them right away.  His chest and face would turn red, he would start to sweat, and he would turn down the heat and put cooler clothes on. 
They didn't last long but I saw them for what they were.

So in my H's case, and only his, I really think if he had gotten treated for low T, with testosterone, he would have possibly not have had all the side effects of low T.  Confusion, exhaustion, unhappiness and a few other things.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this?

There was a poster named Smitty who hasn't been here in probably a few years. Her H got T treatment, and he improved immediately. If memory serves though, he got a new doctor who didn't think he needed it anymore, he stopped treatment - right back to replay. So yep, I do think there's, for at least some, a definite hormonal component (and serotonin is sometimes referred to as a hormone as well as a neurotransmitter).

[Thunder]

El,

Only trouble is how do you prevent low testosterone?  Make men over 40 get tested every year?

Then we would need to educate people on parenting.
Then there are people who have avoidance personalities.
Narc personalities.

I wish we could prevent this crisis from happening.  I just don't know how we can do that, except be the best parent we can be and if we see abuse, don't remain silent.  Tell someone.  Maybe save one child who could end up with MLC grow up healthy.
I find it hard to believe if a child is being abused someone doesn't know about it.

Finally educate our teachers to be more aware of abuse in the home and identify how abused kids act.

That's all I can think of.