I first came to Dr. Hyla Cass in August of 1999, after nearly a dozen doctors in New York and California had miserably failed to properly treat a terrible case of insomnia, which persisted for months. The sleeplessness had eventually led to inexplicable anxiety attacks and bizarre symptoms of OCD, neither of which I had ever experienced before. Habitually a very calm person who meditates daily, I was suddenly a complete mess, and I made the necessary decision to seek standard drug treatment. I had never taken a single psychiatric drug in my entire life up to this time. Within days of taking the medications, I found myself surviving only on willpower, along with the false energy from the horrifying side effects of a cocktail of 6-10 powerful psychiatric drugs, including Depakote, Zoloft, Risperdal, Ambien, and Klonopin. Words can never describe what those drugs did to me. The addition of Depakote into the lethal brew was particularly mind-blowing. When I told my newly procured Columbia University psychiatrist that the drug made my body feel like it was going to explode, and that I could feel my pulse in my teeth, neck, ears, and scalp, she commanded me to triple the dose, which I did, only to nearly implode from the constant, insidious, throbbing effect. My hair began to fall out significantly, yet the doctor told me that I had “to take the bad with the good.” I was required to take a weekly thyroid test at a lab to monitor just how bad my thyroid was being poisoned by this drug. The doctor ignored all my phone calls of distress and finally left a firm voice message, saying, “Please understand, Mr. Motise, that your calling me multiple times will not get me to return your calls any sooner. If the matter is urgent you should check yourself into a hospital.” After I heard that message, I knew I had to find a doctor that actually cared about me, because I had not yet found such a thing. I first heard about Hyla Cass from a good friend, and being extremely eager to try a more holistic approach, I immediately set up an appointment. Dr. Cass was incredibly generous with her time, and she patiently and compassionately listened to my litany of symptoms. She told me that she had seen numerous similar case. She confidently told me to immediately get off the Depakote. Within a few days, the throbbing effect had subsided significantly, and within six weeks all pulsing pressure vanished. However, this was just the first step in establishing a proper treatment for my recovery. On our first meeting, Dr. Cass advised me to begin a regimen of high quality natural supplements, while keeping me on one or two of the synthetic medications I had been taking. The unique combination of Tryptophan, Valerian Root, St John’s Wort, GABA, Kava, Melatonin, adrenal supplements, Inositol, and other natural products helped me to wean off the remaining synthetic medications within a few months, and a much improved ability to sleep resumed within days. After just two meetings with Dr Cass that summer, I returned to New York and implemented her prescribed treatment plan. One day, just a couple of months later, my body and mind suddenly felt extremely rejuvenated and clearer, and I realized that Dr. Cass’s decision to take me off of the Depakote, while adding natural substances, was singularly responsible for restoring my life back to its prior level of functionality. I was soon able to jump back into my work as a classical pianist and took on several wonderfully rewarding musical jobs. Coupled with her consummate expertise in the field of natural remedies for the brain and nervous system, Dr. Cass’s medical knowledge of the benefits and dangers of synthetic psychiatric medications is peerless, and there is no physician more qualified to successfully treat and heal the ever-increasing host of neurological and psychiatric disorders in our toxic modern environment. Read her numerous, unreservedly straightforward, informative books. Try to implement her advice into your life. Make an appointment with her if you are suffering from any difficult mental or physical ailment, or if you just want to improve your overall heath. You will not be disappointed. Dr. Cass will calmly and candidly assist you in regaining your health. She sits down right across from you, and you will always leave her tranquil office with a hopeful spring in your step. She gave me my life back at a time when a multitude of doctors had given me only the most dismal of prognoses. They told me I would likely be on medication for the rest of my life. Well, Dr. Cass and I proved them wrong. I haven’t needed a psychiatric drug for over 13 years, since I first met Dr. Cass. She stabilized my condition when all other doctors were at a loss to do so, and she put me on a most welcomed path to true healing. I can’t thank her enough.