Dr. Patrick Mullen is a psychiatrist in private practice and a Clinical Instructor at the Department of Psychiatry at University of South Carolina School of Medicine. He recently met a patient who points out some of the potential hazards of natural medications.

Dr. Mullen has disclosed that he has no significant relationships with or financial interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

"I was recently referred a married man in his 30s who had no prior personal or family history of mental illness. 3 days before his visit, he became preoccupied with religious ideas, stopped sleeping, believed he was God, discarded "evil" things, and stabbed the family dog because "dog" is "God" spelled backwards. In reviewing his history, he had been drinking a high glutamine protein drink every day for the past year, and 3 months before this episode he had started taking SAMe 200mg QAM. He had also been taking glucosamine and chondroitin for joint pain, and a vitamin supplement that included ginkgo and ginseng. Once hospitalized, he discontinued all supplements, and is currently stable on Seroquel (quetiapine) 300 mg HS, Klonopin (clonazepam) 1 mg TID, and Lexapro (escitalopram) 20 mg QD. My theory is that his underlying bipolar disorder was uncovered by his supplements, but there's always the possibility that they may have caused the disorder through some unknown independent mechanism."