The Worst Home Remedies

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MrKap

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I'll try anything once, and there have been a few home remedies which have proven to be potentially harmful to me, or triggered seizures.

I'll name some.

Natural Turpentine - 3-4 drops in tea. Triggered seizures. Read that it was an ancient cure. I do not recommend. I've seen other people drink substantially more with no ill effect, so.

Castoreum - Again an ancient cure which I tried by rubbing on my wrists, and it did nothing, so I put it in a room vaporizer. My heart rate jumped up 20bpm and I had a high blood pressure event. My heart rate did not return to normal until several days later. I definitely do not recommend that stuff.

Anyone else have crazy home remedies that turned out to be something unexpected?
 
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I took some of my Mom's melatonin pills that she said cured her insomnia and so would be great for my nocturnal seizures. NOT. It triggered seizures when I had been seizure free for a long time.
 
Turpentine is HIGHLY neurotoxic.

Makes me wonder how it made it's way into history as a remedy.

I think there is both thujone, which I am sensitive to and is a known neurotoxin past a certain threshold, and terpenes in them which I believe may be what makes marijuana so effective. But I don't know that, so.

AlohaBird said:
I took some of my Mom's melatonin pills that she said cured her insomnia and so would be great for my nocturnal seizures. NOT. It triggered seizures when I had been seizure free for a long time.

Yeah, some people react badly to the stuff while others seem to have no issues. I wonder if there is a manufacturing difference between some versions or if some people process it, or use it differently. I've never tried because some people claim they get weird sleep effects like paralysis and so on.
 
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I did some research after that happened and it seems that people who have nocturnal seizures are most at risk for adverse effects with melatonin.

And just because something appears in the historical record as having been used as a cure once upon a time does not mean it is a really good idea. Leeches and bloodletting were once thought to be curative for a lot of conditions. Medical history is trial and (lots of ) error.
 
I decided that perhaps heavy metal might be an issue with me. Some type of exotic metal pollution from bee propolis as ingesting the juices while chewing it as gum could have been the reason for my recent long term steady epileptic activities. The region where it is from has published health concern issues about it.


So, I cooked a beef heart, marinated in vinegar, cod oil, cilantro and heaps of fenugreek, whole and freshly ground.


My blood pressure rose, I became lethargic probably due to a blood sugar drop or something (I came to the conclusion it was closer to a drop in oxygen transport, rather than blood sugar), and I could not fall asleep easily that night due to minor lengthy epileptic activities.


Today, I did some more research on fenugreek and it will trigger seizures in some, and cause hallucinations, which I also experienced in the form of closed eyed visuals.

So while I believe my heart and circulatory system may have benefited from chelaton, as it felt less congested, my head is a little more swollen in the nasal passage, and my cognition hasn't been too hot.

I think it isn't the worst thing I've done, but it's something I will not be repeating without lots of caution.
 
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I thought it was a fluke but now today after having indian food a few times and seizures after both i am reading that the herb fenugreek can cause seizures.
I think this is def a trigger for me. Anyone else?
 
Before everyone goes running away from Indian food.....

I can't find a single report of fenugreek, in the amounts present in a serving of food causing a seizure all by itself.

The only reports I found were of people who took it at much higher concentrated supplement doses. There are some supplements out there particularly for erectile dysfunction that use huge doses of fenugreek along with a bunch of caffeine to make you feel like Superman I guess. Some people have keeled over and had seizures from these.

The other reports of seizures I could find were because of interactions between blood sugar lowering medications (used for diabetes) and fenugreek. Fenugreek has the same blood sugar lowering properties as the diabetes meds but the problem comes when you take both together. Your blood sugar can go way too low causing fainting and, in extreme cases, seizures.

Fenugreek also has the same blood thinning effect as Warfarin (and similar blood thinning anti-clotting meds) and a problem can arise when you take both together. Your blood can become unable to clot leaving you vulnerable to excess bleeding and bruising.



If eating out at at Indian restaurant, or any Asian restaurant, I would want to know if they cook with MSG, a known migraine trigger and often reported seizure trigger.
 
I know that fenugreek is an aluminum chelator. That's all. Too much is toxic, so, I think you'd need to be hyper sensitive to it somehow, or eating way way way way way too much.
 
I love pepper but have since found out that black pepper is a trigger for me.
 
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