How an Exasperated Professional Woman
Discovered the Answer That Wiped Out
Her 12-Year-Old Son’s ADHD

Clayton, labeled with a multitude of psychological and physical diagnoses by a number of highly specialized physicians, seemed to be a walking embodiment of “bad luck; poor kid.”

In the realm of psychiatry, Clayton was “diagnosed” with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a behavioral disorder. He could not focus in school, “zoned out” and was disruptive.

As with many children labeled with ADHD or on the autism spectrum, Clayton’s writing was nearly illegible. On the other hand, he excelled in math.

Physically, Clayton was diagnosed with asthma, and suffered from “environmental” allergies, sinus congestion, postnasal drip, sore throats, eczema, nausea, stomach pains, diarrhea, headaches, canker sores, muscle aches, muscle cramps, hypersensitivity to noises and smells, sneezing, hives, itchy skin with bumps, and frequent infections.

He slept poorly and had trouble breathing when he did sleep. He also suffered from anxiety, fearfulness and carbohydrate cravings. All his symptoms were being treated with 7 different medications prescribed by 5 different doctors.

These included Ritalin for ADHD, allergy medicine, inhalers for his asthma and hives, acid-blocking medication for his stomach problems, and painkillers for his headaches.

This is quite a drug cocktail for a 12-year-old. Yet he didn’t experience much relief from his physical, mental or behavioral symptoms. But this is how we approach a problem in medicine – divide it up into parts, farm them out and pile on the pills.

What a Life for
Clayton and His Family!

When Clayton’s mother found me, she was tired and frustrated. As we began to dig below the surface, we found and treated the causes of his symptoms – which were the 7 keys to an UltraMind.

Here is how we fixed Clayton…

Clayton did not have a neurologic or psychiatric “disease.” He had a “broken brain” caused by nutritional imbalance; toxicity; and altered immune, neurotransmitter and digestive functions. Treating those root causes and correcting the imbalances led to the resolution of all his symptoms.

Read an email Audrey Lampert sent me about Clayton’s success in school.

How One Woman Lifted the Fog of
Depression Permanently Simply by
Healing Her Body

My problems began in 1997 as I finished graduate school and began my professional life. It was supposed to be an exciting beginning – that time in life when all your hard work finally pays off and you are able to join the ranks of successful people.

For me, it was almost exactly the opposite…

At first I tried to tell myself that I was just exhausted from grad school and the stress of my new position. And there’s no doubt, the profession I work in is very demanding. I fly all over the country and work long hours for too little pay. But what I began going through that year can’t be explained by stress and exhaustion alone.

It started with a series of vague, flulike symptoms. I had a low-grade fever off and on. I gained weight, though I could barely eat. I had absolutely no energy. It was all I could do to just get up and make it through my day.

Then I began having chronic sinus infections. After every flight I took, I ended up with another infection that gave me terrible headaches and perpetual postnasal drip and made my fevers even worse.

All this was very strange for me, because I’m not the type to get sick. I’m not a fragile person. But now I was regularly taking time off work to cope with ceaseless flulike symptoms and chronic sinus infections.

I went to just about every doctor my insurance covered looking for answers, but they did little to help. They just threw antibiotics at me without investigating the cause of the problem. One nasal specialist recommended surgery. That seemed completely outrageous, so I didn’t do that. I just didn’t know what to do.

“That’s when I dipped into a major
depression and disappeared from my life.”

I don’t think many of my friends noticed, because I hid it from them for a long time. But I stopped keeping up with my social life. I never went out for drinks with clients or friends after work. I lost at least one relationship because my mood was so low and I refused to go out anywhere. I never smiled. I lost my sense of humor – nothing was funny to me anymore. My personality just sort of flattened out.

Eventually I became so depressed that I had a hard time leaving the house. I would get on the subway and go to work and the whole time I would think, “I can’t wait until I am on the subway coming back home and can lay down on my couch and just rest.”

I had bills to pay, and I’m ambitious enough that I made myself continue working, even though a lot of the time I felt like I wasn’t doing the job I could...or should. Even when I did go to work, it took incredible focus to make it through the day; the small scraps of energy I had were poured into that.

I tried to convince myself that “this is just how people feel,” but no one else at work seemed to be struggling the way I was. Realizing that fed into my mental health issues. I felt defective – like there was something wrong with me in this generic and debilitating way. It made my depression even worse.

Eventually, I went to a psychiatrist and began taking Prozac just to help me cope and make it through day to day. It’s not what I wanted to do, but I didn’t feel like I had any choice.

I went on that way for 4 or 5 years – taking medication just to make it through every day, forcing myself to get up and go to work, avoiding my social life, and coming home in the evenings to sit on the sofa and watch TV.

The situation finally came to a head one 4th of July at my parents’ house. I stayed in bed the whole weekend, telling them there was no way for me to get up and celebrate. Clearly they were worried...

“When my parents finally came in and
asked me what was wrong, I fell apart.
‘I don’t know, but I’m miserable,’ I said.”

My mother was a patient of Dr. Hyman at the time, and she recommended that I look into his work. One thing that intrigued me about Dr. Hyman was his explanation of how imbalances in the body often affect mental health.

Another intriguing aspect was thyroid function and its relationship to depression...

You see, my core body temperature has always been low, and I’ve been telling doctors about it since I was a teenager. I was always told that I was too young to have a thyroid problem. My tests consistently showed my thyroid levels were low, but they were always just above the level that would indicate a clinical diagnosis of hypothyroidism.

There is an epidemic of hypothyroidism in this country, and most borderline cases like mine go undiagnosed, often contributing to depression that for me was a critical piece of the puzzle.

The other thing that blew my mind was mercury poisoning. In his book The UltraMind Solution, Dr. Hyman explained how amalgam dental fillings can deteriorate in your mouth and the mercury in them can leak into your blood and poison you. This can lead to all kinds of brain disorders, including depression.

Now, right before I got sick, I had a whole bunch of dental work done and had a number of amalgam fillings put in my mouth. Within months I got ill. This was another piece of the puzzle.

“As I learned all this, it was like a
stack of bricks was being taken off my shoulders.”

I had been waiting so long to find out what was wrong with me, and Dr. Hyman finally helped me locate an answer. It makes me very emotional just to speak about it, because for the first time I had hope. For the first time I believed there was a way for me to get better.

My path to recovery is kind of a tale in and of itself. I followed Dr. Hyman’s program step-by-step. After changing my diet, adding supplements and taking some of the other steps he recommends, it became clear that I would have to aggressively look into my toxicity levels and the function of my thyroid.

I got some toxicity tests done, and it turned out that my mercury level was completely off the charts. It was over 260. Normal is below 3. It was clear that I was poisoned with heavy metals and this was contributing to my problems.

I also got my thyroid retested and it was right on the borderline, just as it had been when I was young. Since it was so close and I had every other symptom in the book, it was pretty clear my thyroid wasn’t functioning properly.

Both of these problems required medical intervention to resolve. I had to go on special medications to help my body expel the mercury, and I had to take thyroid replacement to support my hormone levels. I also had to have my dental fillings replaced with more benign alternatives.

It took time and patience, but eventually my mercury level came down. And my thyroid function improved.

“When I got the mercury out,
rebalanced my thyroid and changed
my diet, everything in my life changed.”

My depression is now completely resolved. I no longer take antidepressants and I’m happy to be alive now and not wishing I wasn’t. I spent years feeling incredibly miserable – questioning why I was even alive. Now I feel grateful for life.

I’m turning 40 next week, and I feel wonderful! My sense of humor has come back and my whole view of the world and of life has completely changed. I feel like me again.

But it’s not just my emotional life that’s undergone an evolution; other things – funny little things you wouldn’t normally notice – have changed as well. My hair is back to the way it used to be. My skin looks different. I look better. I feel better.

Every once in a while someone will say something about it. They will comment on my hair or skin. I guess it might be a little vain, but that feels good. People can see the difference. They can see I’m back to being me.

My family has been pretty emotional about the changes in me as well. Since I hid my illness from my friends, my family was always much more tuned in to how sick I was. They are stunned at the difference.

My experience has been incredible in every way, and if I had one thing to tell people who are as depressed or as ill as I was, it’s this:

“You don’t have to feel sick.
It’s not your life sentence.”

Looking back now, I can see that it was because my body was out of balance that I became ill and depressed. I didn’t understand that at the time. I wasn’t educated enough. I wasn’t able to make the connections. So I spent years living with a mouthful of mercury, eating foods that didn’t support me, all while my poor body was struggling to keep up with a thyroid that was out of balance.

You don’t have to go through this. You can heal your body, and doing that will heal your brain. That’s what I learned from Dr. Hyman, and I am thankful for it every day of my life.

Kaki Martin
Cambridge, MA

Key #1: Optimize Nutrition

Optimal nutrition is the most important factor in keeping your brain healthy.

Feeding our brains is not something most of us know how to do. What you put in your mouth provides all the raw materials to build the structure of your brain cells and keep all the communication systems running well so you can think, emote, learn and remember.

You have to start with the right food and enough of the right nutrients for the brain to function well.

The problem is that most of us (including doctors) know very little about nutrition and even less about how and why vitamins and minerals are so essential for brain function and health. To restore optimal brain function and health, you need to know WHY you are doing WHAT you are doing.

Among other things in Six Weeks to an UltraMind, you’ll learn how to personalize Key #1, Optimize Nutrition, and:

• Four key nutritional strategies that represent 90 percent of everything you need to stay healthy and heal your broken brain. (These are the basic underpinnings that form the foundational support you need for an optimal brain.)
• The 2 biggest offending foods that cause bad brain reactions. (One out of 133 people has a significant intolerance to one of these foods, but only 3 percent are diagnosed.)
• How to reduce inflammation, balance blood sugar and stimulate new brain cell growth. (This special type of nutrient, common in any health food store, acts like Miracle-Gro for the brain.)
• How using this specific type of supplement has proven effective in improving memory and cognitive functions, boosting mood and reducing stress, improving attention, and reducing aggression in children with ADHD (all with no side effects).
• What you’d otherwise miss BUT need in a basic multivitamin. (Because 92 percent of Americans are deficient in one or more essential vitamins and minerals, everyone should take a basic multivitamin.)
• How to avoid feeling sluggish, foggy, anxious, unfocused and tired. (Simply add this one simple food to every meal and accelerate your neurotransmitter functions.)
• 7 tips for naturally increasing the “happy-feeling” molecule, serotonin. (Discover how getting enough of this special form of vitamin B will help your body transform tryptophan into serotonin, without using antidepressants.)
• How to protect your body against premature aging and morbid obesity simply by eating these special carbohydrates. (The right kind of carbohydrates contain all the vitamins (except B12) and minerals our bodies need to operate optimally and normally.)
• How to reduce stress and enjoy a better night’s sleep. (Simply take 600-800 milligrams of this over-the-counter vitamin.)
• How to intensify your mental sharpness, memory and energy level by taking the RIGHT combination of vitamins and minerals. (NOT having enough nutrients to optimize cellular function will lead to deficiencies can manifest as heart disease, cancer, depression, schizophrenia, ADD or Alzheimer’s disease.)

Key #2: Balance Your Hormones

Your hormones serve as major switches and can influence mood and behavior disturbances such as depression, panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, ADHD, pre-dementia, Alzheimer’s and even weight gain.

Many of us are living out of balance and don’t recognize it. Does your mood or energy swing up and down? Do you crave sugar or salt? Are you uninterested in sex? Do you have thinning hair, or are you putting on more belly fat?

If so, you are not alone. Small molecules in our bodies that we depend on to keep us in balance are going haywire, and these molecules are involved in one way or another in almost every function of the body.

Learn whether your hormones are out of balance and what you need to do to fix them.

• Learn about new studies in The Journal of the American Medical Association that found that people with metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance) and inflammation had dramatic declines in cognitive function. (This is more serious than just forgetting your keys. It is called mild cognitive impairment, which is a prelude to dementia. Now learn the steps for reversing it.)
• Learn how to eliminate food cravings by getting your hormones in balance. (Follow these simple dietary changes to completely correct and reverse insulin resistance and the catastrophic effects it has on the brain.)
• Discover the link between thyroid disease and depression and why this special plan can heal your broken thyroid. (Over 20 percent of women and 10 percent of men have a low-functioning thyroid and only half of those are diagnosed.)
• Learn how to eliminate the symptoms of PMS (and why your fork may be enhancing your symptoms by pushing your hormones out of balance).
• Learn about 4 reversible reasons why you’re losing testosterone and what you can do about it. (And why men don’t have to take “the little blue pill” to be men again.)

Key #3: Cool Off Inflammation

If you have a sore throat, a swollen joint or a rash, you know you are inflamed. But if your brain is inflamed, you feel nothing. Nothing, that is, except depressed, unfocused or, worse, autistic or demented.

New evidence links hidden brain inflammation to almost every known “brain disease,” from depression to dementia, from autism to anxiety, from schizophrenia to sociopathic behavior.

The brain is on fire in the 21st century. If 1 in 3 Americans suffers from a mental illness, and 14 million Americans will soon have Alzheimer’s, and nearly all mood disorders and age-related brain diseases are symptoms of an inflamed or “sore” brain, then this problem touches everyone.

You might say we are all on fire.

Discover the secrets to cooling off inflammation for a healthy, happy brain:

• The surprising link between inflammation and autism. (The amazing discovery by a cutting-edge Harvard doctor, who studied autistic children’s brains on MRI scans.)
• Why exercise and fish oil can often be a more effective treatment for depression than antidepressants. (Six remarkable pieces of evidence proving that depression may be systemic inflammatory disease…and what you can do about it.)
• How to slow down if not reverse dementia and Alzheimer’s. (Attack the underlying source of the inflammation by addressing the 9 causes of inflammation.)
• Which foods you are eating that may be injuring your brain. (Certain foods you may eat daily can act to disturb normal neurotransmitter function, causing a chain reaction that overexcites, injures, inflames and ultimately kills brain cells.)

Key #4: Fix Your Digestion

Did you know that your gut has more neurotransmitters and serotonin (happy-mood chemicals) than your brain does?

New science shows the obvious connection between the gut and the brain. What happens in the gut affects the health of your brain.

Your gut is responsible for breaking down food, letting in the good stuff (such as vitamins and minerals), blocking out the bad stuff (such as toxins and bad bugs), and making good bacteria to protect you.

If your gut breaks down because of stress and poor diet, your brain won’t be happy. Breakdown anywhere in this process creates illness. Learn:

• Why your gut has more to do with your happy mood than your brain. (95 percent of your body’s serotonin, or happy-mood chemical, is produced in the gut nerve cells.)
• Why new studies show that it’s your stomach that makes you anxious and irritable. (It’s your irritable bowel that may be affecting your brain…here’s how.)
• Why bad bugs in your gut may be leading to your obsessive-compulsive disorder. (Bad bugs in the gut produce ammonia, a brain toxin that excites and damages brain cells and the mitochondria.)
• Why a little heartburn can lead to brain problems if you fall into the trap of treating it the way that 25 percent of Americans do. (Studies show that people who take long-term acid-blocking medications can become vitamin B12 deficient, which can lead to depression, anemia, fatigue, nerve damage and even dementia, especially in the elderly.)

Key #5: Enhance Detoxification

Our bodies must eliminate all our metabolic wastes and all the toxins we take in from the environment and through our food, air, water and medications.

The toxic burden in the 21st century is overwhelming, and often our bodies can’t keep up. This leads to illness.

Toxic overload shuts down every biochemical process in your body and can lead to dementia, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, to name a few.

Learn the keys to eliminating harmful toxins from your system and maintaining a sharp, focused and alert brain:

• Seven enemies that impair your body’s natural ability to detoxify. (A recent study in The Lancet clearly showed how one food additive can make your children hyperactive.)
• 4 tips for reducing your exposure to mercury. (15 percent of women of childbearing age were found to have toxic levels of mercury in their blood. This simple plan can help you eliminate from your body the second most toxic metal known to man.)
• Nine ways to help reduce dementia and brain aging. (New research clearly shows that exposures to toxins put you at risk of Parkinson’s .)
• Five simple foods that can naturally replenish glutathione, the body’s master detoxifier. (In addition, 2 vitamins that help boost the production of glutathione in your body.)

Key #6: Boost Energy Metabolism

Life is energy. Once no more energy is produced in your cells, you die. The process of extracting energy from the food you eat and the oxygen you breathe is the most essential procedure of life.

Keeping that metabolic engine running smoothly and protecting it from harm are essential for health.

Enough energy means a happy, healthy, focused and sharp brain. Lack of energy means slowed mental function, autism, mood disorders such as depression, and ultimately Parkinson’s and dementia.

Discover the keys to the fountain of youth. Learn…

• 5 specific supplements you can take today to boost energy and reduce oxidative stress. (Loss of function and death of mitochondria account for much of what we see in most diseases, including problems with mood, behavior, attention and memory.)
• One specific lifestyle change you can make to increase energy and reduce fatigue. (Lack of energy means slowed mental function, autism, mood disorders such as depression, and ultimately Parkinson’s and dementia.)
• Whether your mitochondria are damaged and you are losing energy, by taking a quiz. (With 3 specific action plans you can use.)

Key #7: Calm Your Mind

The overwhelming stresses of the 21st century, including social isolation, overwork and disempowerment, create enormous stresses on our nervous systems, leading to burnout and breakdown.

A stiff, rigid, “hard” personality is reflected in stiff cells, rigid plaques in the brain and a general loss of resilience. We lose the ability to renew, remember and repair.

This is not just a metaphor for what happens. Your brain literally stiffens, slows and loses function in direct relationship to the thoughts, beliefs and attitudes you have about yourself and your place in the world. How each of us responds to our life – to our perceptions – has enormous implications on how we feel, how we age and the health of our brain.

Uncover the tips for relaxing and making your brain happy and healthy:

• 3 easy-to-implement tools for reducing stress. (High levels of cortisol over the long term injure the hippocampus, leading to impaired memory, dementia and depression.)
• How to strengthen your cardiovascular system, prevent insulin resistance and balance hormones. (This simple exercise only takes minutes a day.)
• How this simple breathing exercise will help stimulate your vagus nerve, to lower inflammation and reduce depression. (This simple exercise releases acetylcholine, which reduces the production of inflammatory cytokines.)

Component #1: The Six Weeks to an UltraMind Audio Program (12 audio sessions on 7 CDs)

Listen in as Dr. Hyman puts all the scientific puzzle pieces together and explains through examples and stories, and with humor, the 7 real causes of your broken brain, how to address them and what you need to do to be free from depression, anxiety, ADHD and Alzheimer’s, as well as brain fog, mental dullness, or any other mental illness or brain disorder.

Begin your healing process by listening to this dynamic self-help audio and allow Dr. Hyman to explain in careful detail why your brain is broken and how the 7 Keys to an UltraMind will help you live a happier and healthier life.

These 12 audio sessions on 7 CDs give you ALL the scientific information distilled into easy-to-understand principles you can use to:

• Feel more alert…
• Experience a more stable mood…
• Develop a stronger, longer-lasting memory…
• Increase your concentration…
• Feel more alive with natural energy…
• Develop sounder sleep…
• Create a sharper, faster brain…

After 20 years in medical practice, Dr. Hyman has developed a unique gift for teaching his patients how to take control of their lives by regaining their health.

You Too Will Understand How Easy It Is to
Take Charge of Your Brain Health Naturally

Audio Program Table of Contents

Session 1: The Broken-Brain Epidemic

Session 2: The Accidental Psychiatrist

Session 3: Myths of Modern Medicine

Session 4: Myths of Psychology and Neurology

Session 5: Key #1: Optimize Your Nutrition

Session 6: Key #2: Balance Your Hormones

Session 7: Key #3: Cool Off Inflammation

Session 8: Key #4: Fix Your Digestion

Session 9: Key #5: Enhance Detoxification

Session 10: Key #6: Boost Energy Metabolism

Session 11: Key #7: Calm Your Mind

Session 12: The 6-Week Basic Brain-Boosting Program Overview

 

 

Component #2: The Six Weeks to an UltraMind Workbook

While you are listening to each session, personalize the information by following along with the Six Weeks to an UltraMind workbook.

Quickly identify which core imbalances in your body are causing your mood or behavioral problems with Dr. Hyman’s special proprietary quizzes.

Special Mental Health Trackers

These quizzes are designed to help you customize the program and treat your imbalances by delivering unique treatment plans based on your scores.

You’ll also get access to a special set of mental health trackers so you can track specifically how you act, look and feel to ensure that you are improving with the program.

Review the life-changing principles delivered in the 12-session audio program while you are working through the 6-week program. Each chapter in the workbook carefully outlines the key information you need to remember:

• Foods you MUST avoid that cause brain damage…
• Foods that improve concentration, energy and mental processing…
• Which nutrients your brain needs and how much…
• Daily tips for improving sleep and reducing stress…
• Toxins to avoid that make your brain sick…

After you’ve completed the audio and the workbook components, you will be ready to begin the 6-week program.

To ensure your success, Dr. Hyman has developed a 2-DVD set with 15 video sessions specifically designed to show you how to incorporate the program into your life.

Component #3: The Six-Week Approach to Optimal Brain Function and Health (15 video sessions on 2 DVDs)

Listen and watch as Dr. Hyman takes you step-by-step through the 4 main steps of the 6-week program. Before you begin the program, you will want to watch as he outlines exactly what you can expect and how you can prepare for success:

In the second DVD, you will learn how to personalize each of the 7 keys based on the scores on your quizzes in the workbook. In addition, you’ll learn how to incorporate each of the 3 UltraMind care plans and transform your brain health by treating your specific needs.

Everyone’s body and brain are different, and this component is the key to customizing the program for your particular needs so you can get the most out of the program.

Special Bonus:
The UltraMind Quick Reference Guide