[bvFTD]

Re: Brain disease and criminality. For sure. Can't recall if researchers scanned the brains of violent offenders in an Oregon or a Washington State prison, but they discovered the neural networks responsible for empathy and social emotions (right side of the frontal/temporal lobes) are dead. They did not light up. Now, those research subjects did not have brain injury or degeneration but the circuits do not work. Brain damage can definitely lead to criminality depending on the site of injury. Impulsiveness combined with a lack of empathy and unconcern with repercussions would make someone prone to antisocial acts.

Many patients with ftd, which is a degenerative disease, are finally properly diagnosed because they commit a criminal offense, something their families just know they would've never done unless something was terribly wrong. 

As we've often discussed, you and I and others on this board believe that some of these brain disorders are an autoimmune disorder. Something is causing inflammation, whether bacterial, viral, fungal, environmental, we don't know yet.

Wanted to let you know I came across a paper the other day (I will reference it when I find it again) that some researchers believe a bacterium is sent from the gut to the brain when over-consumption of sugar is detected. Which brings us around full circle to your theory of gut/brain health.

But I wonder if the sugar consumption is the first-line defense to nourish the stricken brain, and the 2nd brain - the gut - hurriedly sends reinforcements.

Children need sugar (glucose), fat and cholesterol when their brain is developing, and protein when their bodies are. Maybe when the brain senses something is wrong in older people the brain compels us to consume brain food which is necessary to its development, but futile to save it.

As a man called Phil in the Mountains says, we must stop studying and researching in "silos." Everything is connected.

[bvFTD]

Just came across a fascinating theory posted on an infidelity board. He said some researchers wonder whether it's an adaptive genetic strategy to encourage later life procreation. Since for most of human history, he says, life expectancy was around 50, a degenerating prefrontal cortex causes (among other behaviors) a surge in indiscriminate mating, ensuring more offspring would be made before demise.

[Velika]

Just came across a fascinating theory posted on an infidelity board. He said some researchers wonder whether it's an adaptive genetic strategy to encourage later life procreation. Since for most of human history, he says, life expectancy was around 50, a degenerating prefrontal cortex causes (among other behaviors) a surge in indiscriminate mating, ensuring more offspring would be made before demise.

Wow, in a strange synchronicity, I had wondered just the same thing yesterday!

[Velika]

Brains of those with psychiatric disorders show similarities at the molecular level


"Psychiatric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, and depression share similarities at the molecular level, according to a new analysis of 700 donated brains.

It is well-known that genetics can make people more susceptible to psychiatric disorders, but the link is more complicated. DNA includes instructions for making proteins, but these instructions can be carried out in different ways by another genetic building block called RNA. (This is called “gene expression.”) In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers analyzed the brains of 700 people who had autism, schizophrenia, alcoholism, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. The RNA molecules in these brains had all been sequenced into something called a transcriptome. By comparing these transcriptomes to each other (and against the transcriptomes of people without the disorders) the scientists found important physical similarities.

There was the most overlap between those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Plus, these two disorders and autism were associated with extra sensitivity in brain cells called astrocytes. Depression, on the other hand, didn’t show this, but it had a distinctive pattern of hormone signaling that none of the others did. The scientists found the least amount of overlap between autism and alcoholism, and schizophrenia and alcoholism."

https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/8/16986670/neuroscience-brains-mental-health-psychiatry-genetics-gene-expression#23959413-tw#1518123336692#23959413-tw#1518944447099

[kikki]

Interesting Velika. It's very reassuring that science is slowly but surely 'getting there'.

[If_only]

So if it is a chemical change in the brain - does that ever even out whether the MLC comes back to his old life or goes on with the OW etc.  Or can that chemical change stay forever changing the brain chemistry for good?  Any thoughts?  Thanks:IFo

[xyzcf]

If-only:

So if it is a chemical change in the brain - does that ever even out whether the MLC comes back to his old life or goes on with the OW etc.  Or can that chemical change stay forever changing the brain chemistry for good?  Any thoughts?  Thanks:IFo

Yes, it seems from the reports of members whose spouses have been in crisis and who have come through it, that they are normal and sometimes even nicer people then they were before their crisis.

MLC is often associated with depression, and when depression is resolved, there will be change in some of the neurotransmitters that are associated with depression such as serotonin levels.

[If_only]

That’s very interesting - I had no idea it was physical - I remember hearing that depression left untreated can take up to 7 years to resolve untreated but antidepressants do help to treat depression .  I wonder if antidepressants could help move a MLC along quicker because that 7 year time frame I refer to - can also be a time frame for MLC?  Thoughts?  I don’t think I can wait 7 years standing as I am getting older.  Thanks: IF

[xyzcf]

There are many thoughts and ideas about the "cause" of MLC and although there are many similarities in our stories, there also are many differences.

After reading all I can about MLC over the last 8 1/2 years (and as far as I can see he is still in crisis) and my own knowledge of physiology and psychology from my background as a nurse, I like the statement "it is a perfect storm" because I think there are several factors that contribute to their crisis such as:

- something that was not resolved developmentally...the research by Eric Erikson on the stages of life and the developmental tasks that are needed to resolve each stage
-family of origin issues
-fear of getting older
-the loss of someone or something significant...a job, a family member
-hormonal changes
-physical changes
-biochemical changes which could be related to depression or physical and hormonal changes
-stress

Only you will be able to decide really what your thoughts are regarding what causes this.

As for standing, well...myself and others have been standing for many many years. Other LBSers take a different path. We are all different and we have to figure that out for ourselves as well.

Personally, I see that there is something really wrong with my husband of 32 years. If he had any other "condition" such as cancer or heart disease, I would remain his wife..I did not stop loving him because he no longer wants me in his life.

I also believe that the crisis ends and I do have several friends personally whose spouses have returned and they are quite happy now. There are no guarantees, no way to predict (I don't think) which ones will come back and which ones do not...most people feel that the length of time is just not worth it.

I had to examine deeply what my core beliefs and values are and I know what I truly believe about us and about our marriage. It is a decision that I have felt right for me but each person will decide that as well for themselves. I will try and find some other threads for you to look at that talk about the many causes of MLC. Depression seems to be a central theme.

[Ready2Transform]

That’s very interesting - I had no idea it was physical - I remember hearing that depression left untreated can take up to 7 years to resolve untreated but antidepressants do help to treat depression .  I wonder if antidepressants could help move a MLC along quicker because that 7 year time frame I refer to - can also be a time frame for MLC?  Thoughts?  I don’t think I can wait 7 years standing as I am getting older.  Thanks: IF

Mine was on SSRI anti-depressents and things got worse. They are not for everyone.

I asked several of my pharmacist friends about SSRI drugs and people with very low serotonin (and I believe my xH has chronically suffered with that his whole life - without writing a whole novel I'll just say he always showed signs of a B6 deficiency). As one great pharmacist friend put it, "If you had a vineyard that had very low yield of grapes one year, you couldn't just keep squeezing the ones you had harder to get more juice." That's stuck with me as to why it may not have been a fit.

Reuptake drugs work with the serotonin that is already present - they don't make more. It has always been my belief that addressing the underlying reason they don't have an optimal amount of serotonin would actually speed up the timeline. It's what I did when I believe I was in crisis, and it did help.