Natural treatment for seizures?

[AnnaM]

Is there one? I know avoiding certain things will help...Stress, make sure well rested, check into food allergies, vitamin levels..etc..Anything more specific?

I hate giving my son seizure drugs (he is on topamax now). His neuro started him on 15mg, and within 24 hours he had hallucinations, anxiety/fear, sleep disturbances (sitting up and acting out his dreams.. more than his usual 'comment or two' while asleep) ..Anyways, his neuro said to cut the 15 to 7 for 4 days, than go back to 15. Past 2 days he is back to the same...but also seems to be a bit distant. I will be calling his neuro tomorrow...Thinking she will put him on something else, especially if he has another bad night (around 5am seems to be the worst for sleep issue) ...Problem is, there is not much out there for a 3 yr old to take (he has nocturnal tonic clonic absence frontal seizures) ..Keppra...gosh! I'm reading horror stories about that one! Everyone seems to have a bad reaction...The other, lamatogine? (spelling?) ..He was originally going to take that, but the flesh eating skin rash that could result in death freaked me out so bad we thought the Top would be the lesser of the 2 evils...

Okay, I am rambling as it is late...sorry about that! Any help would be appreciated

 

[epileric]

Do remember that sometimes it takes a while for someone to get used to the side-effects of an AED. It can be hard to find one that works so don't give up too quickly. Even I've just started Clobozam & am waiting a few weeks (usually I give it a month) to see if the side-effects subside.

I know there are some herbs that are supposed to help seizures. I have tried most of them with no success & after doing some research realized that most studies say that the effects are mostly placebo effects. I would be careful with them because herbs are not as well monitored for purity & strength as medications and they can vary from batch to batch in strength depending on things as where they were grown & under what conditions.

There's concern that some mothers are giving their babies herbal supplements and teas that could be a health risk since they are not regulated. According to a study done for the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, nine per cent of infants in a major survey were given a wide variety of herbal supplements and tea.

The purity and potency of such supplements and teas are not regulated in the same way as pharmaceuticals and may lead to adverse drug reactions and may contain heavy metals and other contaminants - which could be harmful, says the study.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/05/herbal-remedy-danger-do-you-take-herbal-supplements-and-teas.html

There are some diets that I think would probably work better like the Ketogenic Diet & the Modified Atkins Diet.

Even though I know of minimal studies done on EEG Neurofeedback there are some people that claim to have some progress with that.

Whatever you do, don't take your son off of his meds cold-turkey & if you do decide to use herbs or diet to see how that helps make sure you tell your doctor because they can interact with medications & other herbs.

Also, don't worry about rambling, I do whether it's late or not.

 

[momof3boys]

Well, alot of the seizures drugs have risks. For me, Ive been taking Keppra now for over 12 years and its worked wonders for me! I was orignally put on Keppra with Carbatrol, but over the years, my dr thinks I might have outgrown the grand mal seizures, so Im down to only taking the Keppra. So far things are going good. I did try taking the Lamotrigine, or what my dr referred to as Lamictal. I started taking that mid April, and within two weeks I was having a severe allergic reaction to the drug. It made me break out with sores around my jaw and chin area, the more I went up in dose, the worst they got. I also had swelling in my glands in the neck area. Those were the two things that lead my primary care dr to tell me to contact my neurologist right away about getting off of the drug. Luckly, after quiting, I improved alot! Ive been good ever since. So just cause you see there are lots of different side effects with each medication, doesnt mean it will be the same way for your son. Hang in there. I will be praying you find a good answer for your son!

 

[Andrew]

Natural treatment for seizures? In some rare cases, B vitamins are all that is needed: I had my first seizure when I was two weeks old. I was diagnosed with a type of Pyridoxine Dependent Epilepsy in 1971 (I was five months old). If my B vitamin level (mainly a high dose of B6) drops I develop photosensitive seizures [including Status Epilepticus]. I have been using vitamin B6 for almost 41 years for the sole purpose of controlling seizures.


http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/pyridoxine-dependent-epilepsy


http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/pyridoxal-5-phosphate-dependent-epilepsy


http://faculty.washington.edu/sgospe/pyridoxine/index.html


http://memo.cgu.edu.tw/cgmj/3301/330101.pdf


I also have dyslexia (diagnosed 2005) and have just been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (diagnosed 2011):


http://www.autism.org.uk/asperger


http://www.autism.org.uk/living-wit...diet-and-vitamins-therapeutic-approaches.aspx (page 2)


http://www.autism.com/pro_b6_studies.asp


Some "Famous people with disabilities":


http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_0060.shtml


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

 

[AnnaM]

Andrew - who diagnosed you with Pyridoxine epilepsy? My sons symptoms fit..never heard of this. He will be seeing a endocronologist due to body temp issues etc Jan 6 (focusing on hypothalmic disorder) ..My son also saw a geneticist to rule out mito disorder, which they have kinda of done for now based on the knowledge they have..Not sure if they tested for Pyridoxine tho...Will find out. Just wondering which doc I should speak with if he has not been tested for this type of epilepsy.

Thanks for you help

 

[AnnaM]

Thanks Kristin and Epileric...Just makes me sick that I feed my toddler drugs at night...I wish there were another way

 

[Andrew]

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 prescirbed Pyridoxine Hydrochloride - which I use on a daily bases - ever since.

At 19 years of age I introduced a multi B complex tablet to my daily medication. I have had my B complex tablets checked out at the hospital and they were safe for me to take. The B complex tablet stopped an aura that I was experiencing almost every morning.

Also see: http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/news/concerns-raised-over-policy-add-folic-acid-flour, http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/about/positionstatements/folicacid.html

I still experience Absent seizures.

My Pyridoxine Dependent Epilepsy is - as far as I am aware form the results of a genetic test - Atypical.

A high dose of vitamin B6 may cause Peripheral Neuropathy.

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

 

[AnnaM]

Thanks for all that you have shared, Andrew. Still need to call the geneticist my son saw to see if they tested for this, tho I think they did not. Will discuss with his neuro, see what she thinks..

 

[Krista2882]

Is Vitamin B6 the same as Folic Acid? Maybe that's why my neurologist wants me to take such a high dose of it. He never told me why he wants me to take it regularly.

 

[epileric]

Is Vitamin B6 the same as Folic Acid? Maybe that's why my neurologist wants me to take such a high dose of it. He never told me why he wants me to take it regularly.

You're close. Folic acid is Vitmine B9

Folic acid (also known as vitamin B9,[3] vitamin Bc[4] or folacin) and folate (the form naturally occurring in the body), as well as pteroyl-L-glutamic acid, pteroyl-L-glutamate, and pteroylmonoglutamic acid[5] are forms of the water-soluble vitamin B9.

 

[momofthree]

Anna, my son is 8 and started having nocturnal clonic/tonic seizures about 7 months ago, the doctors first line of defense was Keppra and I too was terrified, I read terrible things about it as well however it has completely controlled his tonic/clonic seizures, he has not had one break through, he has had tremors and odd feelings, in those cases we have slowly increased the Keppra. I can not say that he has no side effects, he does. He is entirely too emotional, every time we up the dose he seems to have some rage issues and he has issues with sleep. For sleep we give him 2 mgs of Melatonin and that does the trick most of the time, and from what I understand it is completely safe with no ill effect. The way I look at is he can not function with seizures so the side effects of the drugs are a necessary evil at the moment. When we took him off of the keppra for his EEG study in the hospital he got violently ill and his seizures were extremely difficult to control. I am forever thankful that Keppra works and while I hate the side effects they are much better then clonic tonic seizures. Good luck.