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Can DHA support brain trauma, concussion and PTSD?
This is the question that Dr. Lewis is trying to answer. Since so much of the brain is made up of DHA omega-3, it makes sense that providing DHA may be useful in helping brains repair. This is not a cure for brain trauma but it is a tool with wonderful benefits for brain health and recovery.
It is my opinion that the omega-3 fatty acid balance is the most critical nutritional issue. I believe that the role that fatty acids play in the cell membrane and the resulting influence on inflammation is fundamental to good health. There are other interviews with other experts on the importance of omega-3 right here on Health Quest Podcast. The more you listen, the more you will know. Simply look in our tag index page for omega-3 and you will find all the pertinent resources.
About Dr. Lewis
Dr. Lewis is the President of the Brain Health Education and Research Institute. Dr. Lewis is a graduate from the US Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Lewis graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. His postgraduate training was completed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and he is board-certified in General Preventive Medicine and Public Health.
While serving over 31 years in the Army, Dr. Lewis ran the primary care and flight medicine clinics at the Pentagon, developed the Emerging Infections Surveillance program at the joint US-Thai Army research lab in Bangkok, and served as the Director of the Epidemiology Division at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine in Bethesda.
Most recently, he has several years of experience developing programs for the military on the use of omega-3 fatty acids and traumatic brain injury and suicide prevention. Dr. Lewis has pioneered the clinical use of omega-3 fatty acids for the prevention, acute treatment, and rehabilitation of brain injuries from physical and psychological trauma to include traumatic brain injury and concussions, stroke, PTSD, and other conditions. His insights and pioneering work have affected thousands of lives and he is passionate about continuing to find improved solutions to the age-old problem of brain injury.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
my son suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall 2 years ago and is a nursing home at age v58, he is sometimes combative and spends most of his time confine to a bed, his speech isn’t good and I feel he needs to get something that will help him to be motivated , do you have any suggestions and do you think Omega 3 will help his condition
It may help. Check out the research by Dr. Michael Lewis. http://www.brainhealtheducation.org/. You could also try contacting him through the site as well.
Is Dr. Lewis taking credit for the pioneering use of Omega-3 fatty acids to avert brain injury as reduced to practice by Dr. Julian Bales?
You will have to ask him.
I am good friends with Dr. Bailes and eager to continue to learn from him every time we talk. We have walked parallel paths following his experience with Randy McCloy, who suffered significant brain damage from carbon monoxide and methane gas poisoning during the Sago Mine accident. I took Dr. Bailes’ clinical experience and applied it, documented, and published for the first time ever for a case specifically to a TBI. There is a saying in medicine that we stand on the shoulders of giants and Dr. Bailes is clearly one of the giants in the use of omega-3s and brain injury. I just began to apply it to the military and TBI. In fact, Dr. Bailes and I published a paper on the subject together in the journal, Military Medicine.
Hello Dr M Lewis, I’ve been trying to get hold of you. I have a brother who has suffered some swelling in the brain and would like to talk to you. He is in a critical condition. Please can you contact me on chiantoin@yahoo.com to discuss. This is urgent.
Kind regards,
Please contact Dr. Lewis through his website: http://www.brainhealtheducation.org/. I know he is willing to advise.
Hello Robert,
I can relate to your problem. My wife has RA for 30 years since her twenties. My wife is on Remicade and Methotrexate. The medications have helped a lot but only to a point. Maybe 50 percent better. Here most successful adjunct nutrition has been a therapeutic dose of fish oil. She takes a tablespoon of Carlson’s liquid fish oil per day. About 4000 mg. of EPA +DHA. After six months of taking the fish oil, her inflammation rate dropped into the normal range and has stayed there for years. She continues to use this dose. If you listen to my interviews on fish oil, you will learn that the omega 3/omega 6 balance is crucial and critical for proper cellular inflammatory response. (Search the TAG INDEX to find all of the interviews on omega-3). So the first thing I would suggest is to take the omega-3 blood spot test to determine fatty acid balance and ratios. (You can order this at a discount from Dr. Bibus. See his podcast page and interview for how to receive the best price.) Then I would try the fish oil for six months. Judge the results and go forward. In my opinion, all other nutrients are second in importance to the omega-3 from marine sources. Fish oil can also be helpful in the brain for mood and depression, so it may help there as well. I believe that this is foundational and if one does not shift the omega balance, then success with inflammation and pain is limited.
After this, then you can seek out other nutrients that may help with her individual issues. We can discuss that after the fish oil test. FYI Carlson liquid fish oil and Nordic Naturals liquid fish oil are good tasting. NO FISHY TASTE. Just pure lemon or orange flavor. It is the easiest and best tasting way to get a large dose. Otherwise she would have to take 6 to 12 capsules per day to achieve the therapeutic dose.
I wish you luck and I would love to her about your results should you try the fish oil program.
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