hello!

[libby]

I'm glad to have found y'all!

My family has a history of seizures - my grandfather died in his mid forties during what has been described as a "severe, foaming at the mouth " seizure.

Years later, my aunt ( his daughter) developed seizures upon entering menopause.

A few years ago, my brother developed seizures with the onset of puberty.

Now my son, age 12, is starting to have them.



My brother was sent to neurologists, and it looks like epilepsy is not the culprit, but migraines are.

However, the seizures were treated with Dilantin, and my brother's seizures stopped around age 20 ( he's now 43).

My son still has night terrors at this age, and now the seizures. If he eats migraine trigger foods ( chocolate, bananas, hard cheese, etc) he is just about guaranteed to have a seizure ( and it takes him at least a day to recover).

so...... that's why I'm here.

[Nakamova]

Hi Libby, welcome to CWE!

It's a great resource for information and community support. There are folks here on CWE who have had success in controlling seizures using dietary approaches, so you may want to search (using the tab at the top) for more about that and other alternative approaches. These days, migraines and epilepsy disorders are considered to be on a spectrum, since they both involve paroxysmal brain activity, and since migraine auras are comparable to those experienced by people with epilepsy.

It looks like you're already well aware of trigger foods for your son. It's a great idea to keep a seizure diary to identify all potential triggers (not just dietary ones, but those related to to sleep, metabolism, activity, stress, etc.). If you haven't already, you might want to add a magnesium supplement to your son's diet, since that can help to stave off migraines as well.

Best,
Nakamova

[libby]

Thank you, Nakamova!

What a wonderful forum y'all have here -

I was looking through some of the info here, and now I'm wondering if we're dealing with Benign Rolandic Epilepsy...?

I don't know.

Won't know till I can afford insurance....

I've just always gone on 20 year old information from my brother...



He always has them at night ( grand mal), he still has horrific night terrors, but they're tapering off...

he's dyslexic, he has ADHD - no meds, homeschooled - the FUNNIEST SWEETEST BRIGHTEST kid around.

well, I think so, anyway.



...and we just started the magnesium supplements.



I'm going to keep reading...this place is a gold mine. Now I'm wondering about MYSELF... some of the types of seizures sound really, really familiar...

PLUS.... I'm on Lamictal, but for depression.

hmmmmmmmmm.............

[epileric]

While waiting for insurance you might want to check out this list of alternative treatments. Hopefully you can find one that's useful or at least helpful.

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/...ive-treatments