(((*** 40 years on vitamin b6 ***)))

[Andrew]

20th February 2011: It was on this day, 40 years ago, that my then paediatrician first administered Pyridoxine HCl (vitamin B6) in the hopes that it would stop my severe seizures.

Here is my story regarding B vitamins:

I had my first seizure at two weeks old. I spent the first six months of my life in and out of hospital. Doctors were mystified by my illness. None of the ‘normal’ antiepileptic drugs that were administered had any positive effects. At this time I was having many ‘different types’ of seizures a day some of which went status. Countless tests were being done including, EEGs, lumber punctures… etc. A top pediatrician from the main city hospital told my mother that he was going to a meeting. He said he would talk about me in the hope that someone there would be able to help us. At this meeting there was a professor who was doing research into childhood epilepsy. He suggested a trial of Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (vitamin B6). Pyridoxine Hydrochloride was administered (I was five months old). Within two to three days my mother noticed a big difference in me. I’d stopped having severe seizures. Because of the positive effects that Pyridoxine had on my seizures doctors slowly weaned me off all the antiepileptic drugs (this was back in 1970-71). I’ve been taking Pyridoxine Hydrochloride on a daily bases ever since.

I was still experiencing my aura when taking vitamin B6 only, so when I was 19 years old, with my doctor's consent, I added a multi B complex tablet to my daily medication. This stopped my aura.

I have only used B vitamins to control my extremely rare, Atypical form of Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) Dependent Epilepsy.

Without B vitamins (mainly vitamin B6 (pyridoxine HCL)) I would probably be mentally impared or worse due to severe seizure activity.

Here is a puzzle I can solve: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-Cube_7

Here is a question that I wrote to fermilab and their reply:

http://www.fnal.gov/pub/inquiring/qu...blueberry.html

Apart from an absent type seizure all my different types of seizures are pretty well controlled.

Here is some information on vitamin B6 Dependent Seizures:

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/pyr...ndent-epilepsy

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/pyr...ndent-epilepsy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/omim/266100

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Vitamin_B6

B vitamins - for me - are the equivalent of your anti-epileptic drug(s).

**DO NOT ALTER ANY MEDICATION WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S CONSENT**

Regards,

Andy

[maddiesmom]

Andrew, Do you know if there is a definitive test yet for B6 seizures? My daughter's seizures stopped after three days on b6, three days BEFORE surgery to remove a brain tumor. Her EEG cleared up after the tumor removal so the doctor has always attributed it to that. But I have noticed absense and nocturnal seizures over the past several years and have upped the B6 but would love professional guidance on this. For me, the fact that the seizures stopped BEFORE surgery on b6 was always quite telling for me. And are there any new guidelines with regard to "how much" b6.

[Andrew]

Hi Maddiesmom,

You may find this of interest: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1486/

also: http://faculty.washington.edu/sgospe...ine/index.html

Regards,

Andy