New research has come out showing that Metformin, the most used medication for diabetes, appears to help bipolar disorder.
An article out of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine says the study is intriguing. The researcher says the potential link between insulin resistance and bipolar disorder is causing a paradigm shift in psychiatry.
Dr. Martin says this is major news. Join him in today’s episode as he explains why insulin resistance is at the root cause of bipolar.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to the doctor is in podcast, brought to you by Martinclinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information as awesome as the info may be. It is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease it's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Well, good morning, everyone. Once again, welcome to another live this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day. This is a headline. Maybe I'll post it on the private Facebook group afterwards, bipolar and Metformin, bipolar and Metformin. And there seems to be some promise in bipolar condition, mental health condition that is suffered by millions and millions of people. There seems to be some research that is showing that Metformin, the medication, the most popular medication used in diabetes seems to help bipolar. And right now, generally, I don't think I'm wrong on this. Someone that suffers bipolar is usually given a lithium assault as a medication. And sometimes anti-depressants if they're down or if they're in high state, you know, bipolar goes from thinking that a and talking and their brain goes at a hundred miles a minute, and then they go into depression and they sink low as the Titanic.
And that's why it's called buy two polar two extremes from high to low. I saw I, I'm not gonna say thousands, but certainly hundreds over my years in practice. And here's what they're saying. Now I am going to quote you. Okay? Because part of this, at least the article I've read, this is Dr. Claudia bald, the saddle Claudia, bald, the sand, she's the director of outpatient resident training at the university of Pennsylvania school of medicine. Here's what she has to say. And this is her area of expertise. I'm quoting her. Okay. Quote, as a clinician who treats thousands of bipolar patients, I found this intriguing the study. I was just talking to you about where it seems that Metformin a medication used to treat diabetes and even given to those prediabetic and given Metformin is often prescribed for women with PECO, polycystic ovarian disorder.
And the reason they do that is because they know insulin is a growth hormone. I talked to you about that yesterday. Okay? So here's what she has to say. As a clinician who treats thousands of bipolar patients. I found this intriguing, but not surprising. I'm quoting her, our bipolar patients. So many of them overweight. They have trouble with obesity type two diabetes and listen here, folks. The last thing that she said and insulin resistance quoting her still the potential link between insulin resistance and bipolar disorder is causing a paradigm shift in psychiatry. Now, guys, this would be, if it was mainstream earth, shattering research earth, shattering, blow your socks off research. Listen to the implication.
Insulin resistance is at the root cause of bipolar disorder. Now, if you've been listening to me, this doesn't surprise you. And she's saying, okay, she's saying I'm not gonna hold my breath on this, but I'm glad it came out of Dr. Bob Des Samble. I'm glad it came out of her mouth. And, uh, not necessarily mine because she's saying this is earth shattering. That's what she's saying, because she's seen the potential link between insulin resistance guys, guys, and girls listen. The potential link between bipolar and insulin resistance. Remember folks, insulin resistance is food. It's not anything else. It's food. Here is a psychiatrist saying that insulin resistance and bipolar disorder is causing a paradigm shift in psychiatry.
Now, listen, was it last week? Can't remember exactly. When were we brought to you that antidepressants the whole use of the again, guys, it's not me that said the whole use of antidepressants was based on what was it, a false premise. It was made up. It was shocking news, shocking news that they finally discovered that antidepressants were given SSRI serotonin. They said it. I didn't say it. They said it. It was based on a faulty premise. And we brought to you that story. We brought the story. Let me just get the headline here. So, you know, in case you think I'm fudgy, the vicious cycle of mental health, that it wasn't brain chemistry. You had brain chemistry disruption. And they said, nah, that's that, that was based on fudged data.
It wasn't that that's not what comes first. And so, you know, it's incredible when you think about it, this is earth shattering guys. When we talk about the whole mental health thing, not only were we talking about antidepressants a few weeks ago, they were always meant to be temporary. They fudged the data and you know, for 40 or more years, more than that, there's a paradigm shift going on. Again, I'm not gonna hold my breath. I am not gonna hold my breath. I'm skeptic. I'm skeptic. It's hard to change a leper spot. It's gonna be hard to get to psychiatrist. It's gonna be very difficult and get them to their thinking, to get them to think outside the box in depression and bipolar.
And of course, big pharma, look, they do wonderful things, okay? I'm not dismissing pharmaceuticals a hundred percent. I won't do that. I'm not gonna do it. Cause they can save your life. Certain things save your life. I get that. But guys, this is so earth shattering. This, this thought that bipolar, the underlying cause is insulin resistance and big farmers saying, yeah, well they're getting in on it because they already have a drug. It's called Metformin. Now again, last week I talked to you about Metformin, the problem with Metformin while there's a lot of problems with them. But the biggest problem with Metformin is it destroys your vitamin B12. It takes it outta your body. It whacks it. If you're taking Metformin, you're going to be low in B12, almost invariably.
And that's not good because vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin. And I never tell people to come off Metformin. By the way, I don't do it. I go down another road. You wanna control this thing or manage it with Metformin. You wanna control diabetes prediabetes with Metformin. You wanna control Picos polycystic ovarian disorder, ladies, very common today. Oh, I mean, you know, it's amazing how much I saw that in the office. And by the way, a lot of women with Picos were suffering mental health issues. Big time, maybe not classified so much as bipolar. Although many worked that I saw, they had completely messed up metabolic disorder, which affects. We know now it affects your brain.
It affects your thinking. It affects your moods. And this doctor looking at the studies, on Metformin and bipolar said, there's a paradigm shift going on in psychiatry. They're starting to change their thinking. Well, like I said, I'm skeptical only because I'll give you an example. Okay, guys, I'll give you an example of this. I'm not saying they've known it for years because it doesn't get out so much. But I remember a cardiologist saying this, not directly to me, but indirectly to me, because it was about me and a cardiologist said, quote, you know what we're finding out cholesterol is really not at the root of heart disease. I'm quoting a cardiologist. Here's what else he said. I think Dr. Martin was right now. I'm talking years and years ago that have always said the biggest hopes in medicine has been the hopes of cholesterol and maybe very closely second place is now what we call, you know, a chemical imbalance in mental health. It's almost like we got duped for years and years and years, cholesterol, cholesterol, cholesterol, cholesterol, true or false guys. Come on. And if you go to 99% due survey, 99% of doctors, I mean it, even today, when there's a lot of research out there that should have caused a paradigm shift in medicine, when it comes to cholesterol, being at the root of heart disease, eh, they didn't get the memo. They didn't get the memo either. They're not reading or they're just so ingrained.
You're gonna have a hard time getting their attention. Guys. This is earth shattering. This today is so unbelievable that insulin resistance, which I tell you is that the root of heart disease at the root of diabetes, obviously, right? You heard her say it, let me quote her again. Let me quote, Dr. BA Des who's a smart girl. Let me quote her. She says, she's saying our bipolar patients. So many of them are overweight. They have trouble with obese, the twin towers. What do I call the twin towers guys, a metabolic syndrome. Diversity. People don't even realize they might not even register on the scale of diabetes, but they do have diabetes. They're packing on fat and they have insulin problems. It's insulin resistance. It's the pesky neighbor that insists on coming around and your cells resist insulin because of food. It's food. It's not anything else.
But food medicine is saying it, but our psychiatrist and your family doctors and people that see bipolar all the time, are they going to even flinch in terms of their thinking? It's hard to change a leper's spots. That's my concern. They're not going to get the memo because again, unfortunately in medicine, the baby got thrown out with the bathwater more than a hundred years ago where medical schools were like, I'm not a conspiracy guy. Okay? So just bear with me. Medical schools were overtaken by the pharmaceutical industry and look, doctors are smart. I'm not saying that please. They've made great advances in medicine, in surgery and yada, yada, yada really is okay. But all I'm saying is when it comes to food, when it comes to nutrition, they don't study it. They don't learn it because of that shift in medicine, in the medical schools in particular doctors don't know anything. You know my statement, what do I say? You might as well go to your plumber to get food advice rather than go to your doctor. Because in a doctor's mind, food is not at the root of these problems.
So they're dismissed or they're sent off to nutritionists and dieticians and dieticians are trained mostly by the pharmaceutical industry. It influences them nutrition. Hasn't changed in a hundred years for diabetic, eat and moderation. You need carbohydrates. You need some sugars, your brain needs sugars. You know how many times I've heard that? That's not true. It's not true. So again, I'm not optimistic that anything will change in psychiatry. What are they saying? Insulin resistance changes your brain. It changes your brain chemistry. It changes the way your brain operates. Bipolar. Our canaries in the coal mine, depression, go to the bottom line, get a start, get a foundation and build this way. I love Dr. McEwen. okay. University of Tennessee.
She allows me in there to teach them in the department of psychology and she gets it. Metabolic syndrome has a major, major effect on the brain. Why do you think by the way, because you know, when I was talking about insulin resistance, why do you think I've has said this for years? Insulin resistance. Is that the root of Alzheimer's? And again, last week, all the research pretty well on Alzheimer's was fudged. It was fudged. Let me tell you something, even though it was fudged, you know what? Nobody's gonna go to jail over it. People should go to jail over that. You know, how many billions of dollars have been spent? Do you know how many people with the onset of dementia and whatever we're given medications based on faulty science folks, that's a crime against humanity, but uh, not optimistic that anything will be done about it. And I'm not optimistic. I'm not, I'm realistic that it's going to get the attention of the medical community. I think if I did a survey of psychiatrists where I live in Sudbury, I almost bet you dollars to donuts that they haven't even read this report on.
I'm gonna be surprised if they've even read the report on the fudging of the whole premise on chemical imbalance with depression, it's been exposed, but I'm not optimistic that even hurt here. But here's where I'm optimistic. Somebody asked me the other day, why do you do that? You're old. Why do you do that every day? Why aren't you retired? Somebody said that the other day, I thought you were retired. Well, I said, I'm retired from practice. I love teaching and informing. I want you guys to get it. And how do I know you get it? Cause you're smart. That's why I know you get it.
My audience I've said this before, and I'll say it again. My audience are the smartest cookies in the box. Yep. Smart. When I give you tests, when I test your knowledge top in the line, I'll put you up against any other audience. You guys are smart and you know, you get information and then you guys decide, you decide, but I've been talking like this for a long, long time. I wrote a book, gee, how many years ago? Now it's gotta be 10 or 15 years ago. Time flies. Doesn't it. Serial killers, two hormones that want you dead. And I talked about insulin and cortisol and insulin and insulin and insulin and insulin resistance. What it means. Why does that mess up your biochemistry so much? Why does it do that? Insulin resistance was, I'm not saying it never existed. Of course it did. But today it's on steroids. It's so common amongst our population.
And what we're finding out that I've been saying for a many, many moons is that it has a major effect on cognitive behavior, a major effect in the brain headquarters and the gut, the gut brain connection and insulin resistance has a major effect. It's not the chemistry that comes first. It's the insulin resistance that comes first coming to a theater near you because we are this Dr. Baldas SAMO said it. She said as a clinician who treats thousands of bipolar patients, I found this intriguing, but not surprising boy that girl's thinking outside the box.
She's a smart cookie are bipolar patients. So many of them are overweight. So many of them have trouble with obesity and type two diabetes and insulin resistance. She should have put insulin resistance at the start of that. She gets it. The potential link between insulin resistance and bipolar disorder is causing a paradigm shift in psychiatry. Guys, you heard it here first, if you know a psychologist or a psychiatrist, share this, tell 'em to listen to the podcast. I'll link it to our private Facebook group. This, this is earth shattering guys. It's incredible. So if you know someone that's bipolar, you know, they need to know that information, the problem with, and I say this in depression, and just let me finish with this. I say it in depression. I'll say it in bipolar. I say it in autistic kids. I say that any cognitive problem, the problem is compliance. The hardest thing for anyone with any cognitive issues is compliance to get them to do the reset is what I recommend to start, of course, but it's hard to get them to do it because they don't buy it. It's hard for them to buy it. To understand that food is medicine. Food is medicine. It's either bad medicine or good medicine. There's no real neutral foods anymore. Food is medicine.
Hypocrites said it, but nobody listened. Well, few have listened. I'm looking for that paradigm shift in psychiatry. And I won't hold my breath, but I'm gonna look for it. Okay, guys, we love you dearly. Okay. We love you guys. We'll talk to you soon.
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