Newsweek's Cover Story - Epilepsy

[Cint]

It gives a definition of CAM and integrative medicine, and then if you want more you can go to the NCCAM website, which has nothing on seizure disorders. How does that help anyone find answers?

Well, if you do thorough research, on the NCCAM website, one of the places that discusses epilepsy is under "Research". Click there, and then go to Memory Disorders. There you'll see that they are recruiting folks that have partial epilepsy for a study of fish oil, for anyone who wants to go the alternative route.

Personally, I'm not that into alternatives, since I have far too many problems and some of them have been complicated by herbal medications and alternative measures.

Since epilepsy (seizure disorder) is considered a brain disorder, why should food sensitivities, hypoglycemia, intestinal disorders be included in the article? IMHO, that should be under Endocrinology.

As was said earlier, the article in Newsweek was mainly to educate the general public about the basics of epilepsy and I applaud them for doing so!

[Kansas Educator]

While I agree that research (and public education) into epilepsy needs to include all avenues -- including alternative medicine because we all know many people who have benefited from it, I think that like many diseases, epilepsy will not turn out to be a "one size fits all" disease and therefore, what works for one, may not work for another. For that reason, we need to applaud any research that goes into alternative medicine OR new anti-epileptic drug's. And actually, I think that cancer is a perfect example. I had breast cancer 12 years ago and was a direct recipient of research into new drugs that went on prior to my diagnosis. For that reason, I did not have to be subjected to chemotherapy but did have to take tamoxifen for 5 years and I have never had a recurrence. Because of this research, breast cancer death rates are down but so are general rates because of the research into prevention (i.e. avoiding hormonal therapy). While many kinds of cancers are still deadly, the outcomes of a number of them have improved due to research into prevention AND new drug therapies. I would hope we will continue to see the same multi-pronged approach into the treatment and possible prevention of epilepsy.

[RobinN]

Since epilepsy (seizure disorder) is considered a brain disorder, why should food sensitivities, hypoglycemia, intestinal disorders be included in the article? IMHO, that should be under Endocrinology.

Because the three that I listed can cause a seizure disorder.
Unfortunately Neurology <> Endocrinology do not work together to figure out the cause of the brain disorder.

Many disorders of the brain begin in the intestines. This is being proven time and time again. If we want to limit Epilepsy to only those problems that start and end in the brain then maybe there needs to be some revisions of the definition of Epilepsy.

I am also thankful for articles like this, since it creates discussions that are necessary to the table.

I have never been told about alternatives, by any of the main stream doctors that Rebecca has seen. That is my beef.

[LuvMyTwins]

with Robin. I see Dr. Devinsky and although he "believes" in complementary therapies, I don't think the medical community as a whole is willing to use them in lieu of meds. Now, to look at this in a positive light, there may not be enough research to substantiate going that route (to a doctor). Yet, at some point, we all need to look beyond a pill.

Even oncologists had to begin to look at diet!

The connection between the gut and brain is incredible. As someone with candida, hypoglycemia and IBS, I can definitely say that they are all related to my seizure threshold. As much as food is life, food can be a killer for many people.

My one negative about the article was that there was a bit of doom and gloom (as skille said) in the article. Yes, we all know Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy is a reality for all of us, but most of us live healthy, active lives. I felt as though I was reading a lot of sensationalism in one of the articles. You know, let's shock them and they'll keep reading.---LMT

[Bernard]

This was the comment I posted:

Thank you Newsweek for publishing this article and highlighting the need for more solutions in epilepsy care. Some of the most promising potential treatments (EEG neurofeedback, neurobehavioral therapies, diets/NPY/trp/LNAA) that deserve and require more research are not patentable or likely to be sponsored by private industry. Foundations like CURE are essential to making progress on treatments that offer real hope and not just another drug with horrible side effects.