Testimonials

Our son was born with a blood disorder called spherocytosis and had his spleen removed at age three. All was well and he had to take folic acid for years. At age 20 he was misdiagnosed as having bipolar disorder. This diagnosis came after he had suffered something quite horrific which left him in a manic state. My son was taken to the hospital because of his disoriented state where he was supposedly "medically fit enough" to sign a form giving the hospital permission to keep him as a psychiatric patient for an indefinite period of time. When we realized what all those meds were doing to him we tried to get him released or perhaps transferred to a hospital nearer to our home but were told that he was "not mentally fit" to sign a form giving us his medical power of attorney; something that he has since made sure that we now have. We found ourselves in a catch twenty-two situation in which our son seemed to be a pawn. We knew his normal behavior, the hospital didn't and we knew that something horrific had happened to him, something that the hospital didn't seem to think was important. We have since learned that severe stress can quickly deplete the body of B12 causing mania and bipolar like symptoms. Because our son was in that age group, he fit that profile and because he was exhibiting abnormal behavior he was admitted to the psychiatric ward. He couldn't tolerate the meds and quit taking them. After five years of taking no meds, the doctors had to re-evaluate their original diagnosis as a bipolar person can not go five years without proper meds and maintain good mental health. He seemed fine but bouts of depression and anxiety will hit him now and again. I remember reading an article which stated that a deficiency in vitamin B12 could cause a person to be misdiagnosed as having bipolar disorder. I sent my son this article and after reading it he started taking B12 in the form of lozenges which are dissolved under the tongue. He is 29 now and still takers B12 in lozenge form daily. He doesn't suffer anxiety or depression unless he forgets to take them. Today he has still not been able to get that initial bipolar diagnosis removed from his file, a fact which prevented him from passing his medical after being accepted into the forces last year. He was accepted ROTP and they had had agreed to fund his final year of university, unfortunately he failed to pass his medical, based solely on the bipolar diagnosis and ended up being rejected and had to struggle financially in order to finish his degree.