About 2.4 million adults in the United States suffer from the psychological condition schizophrenia, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Women start to have symptoms in their 20s and early 30s, while men start to have symptoms in their late teenager years into their early 20s. With schizophrenia, you experience positive symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and negative symptoms, such as a monotonous voice. Traditional treatments for schizophrenia include antipsychotic medications, though you may benefit from certain vitamins, especially if you have a deficiency. Before taking any vitamins for schizophrenia, talk to your doctor.
Folic Acid
Folic acid may help with your schizophrenia symptoms if you have a deficiency of the vitamin or if you have elevated homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is a type of amino acid found in your blood. Leonard John Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., author of the article "Vitamin Therapy in Schizophrenia," explains that having higher levels of homocysteine in your blood increases your risk for depression, congenital birth defects and psychitric problems, and that some schizophrenia patients do have these elevated levels. The University of Michigan Health System adds that schizophrenia patients are more likely to have a deficiency in folic acid, and that daily supplements of 15 mg of folic acid had an improvement in symptoms. In the study "Homocysteine-Reducing Strategies Improve Symptoms in Chronic Schizophrenic Patients With Hyperhomocysteinemia" conducted by Joseph Levine et al., schizophrenia patients who had elevated levels of homocysteine and took 2 mg of folic acid along with 400 mcg of vitamin B-12 and 25 mg of vitamin B-6 had an improvement. Consult your doctor before taking folic acid supplements for schizophrenia.
Vitamin B-6
Vitamin B-6 alone may reduce schizophrenia symptoms. The University of Michigan Health System notes that 100 mg of vitamin B-6 taken daily may reduce the side effects of your medication as well as your symptoms, and 50 mg of the vitamin taken three times a day along with antipsychotics over eight to 12 weeks may also improve symptoms. Talk to your doctor about whether vitamin B-6 supplements would help your schizophrenia symptoms.
Niacin
Niacin, or vitamin B-3, is another B vitamin that may help with your schizophrenia. Hoffer explains that pellagra, a condition that results from a severe deficiency in niacin, can cause psychotics symptoms that you cannot distinguish from schizophrenia. In othomolecular psychiatry, a field in which clinicians treat psychological conditions with vitamins and other substances occurring naturally in the body, niacin is the main vitamin used to treat schizophrenia. The University of Michigan Health System reports that in early vitamin trials with schizophrenia, 3 g of niacin and a combination of 4 to 10 g of niacin, 50 mg of vitamin B-6 and 4 g of vitamin C resulted in high recovery rates; however, later trials could not replicate these results. Since no conclusion on the effectiveness of niacin for schizophrenia exists, talk to your doctor first before taking the vitamin.
Vitamin C
Hoffer points out that schizophrenia patients tend to have a deficiency in vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, which may result from poor diet. Taking vitamin C supplement may help with your symptoms. The University of Michigan Health System notes that up to 6 g of the vitamin may help with your symptoms. Consult your doctor before beginning a vitamin C supplement regimen for your schizophrenia.
References
- University of Michigan Health System: Schizophrenia
- National Institute of Mental Health: The Numbers Count: Mental Disorders in America
- "Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences"; Vitamin Therapy in Schizophrenia; Leonard John Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., January 2008
- National Institute of Mental Health: Schizophrenia
- PubMed.gov: Homocysteine-Reducing Strategies Improve Symptoms in Chronic Schizophrenic Patients With Hyperhomocysteinemia
