Treatment of seizure/epilepsy disorders

First and foremost line of management of seizure/epilepsy is getting good sleep. Secondly, stress reduction. Without these two, no medicine / treatment will be useful. Children usually outgrow seizures (or seizure itself will eventually go off) while growing or after a period of time. Many adolescent people would have fears about leading a married life and the future. Actually, it is in no way related to marital life or sex. So it is not advisable to hide the suffering from anyone since they could get help from known / near ones in case of emergency. One should also develop hope and confidence that seizure and epilepsy will go off eventually by gaining a strong body and mind.

In general, treatment for any disease in any system will get tough and complicated when the causative/triggering factor is not known. Most often this happens in seizure/epilepsy cases and the sufferers are most commonly compelled to get treated for suppression or for presentation of complaints. Anyhow, prognosis always remains good here, calling them preventable seizures.

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Although treatment can control and possibly avoid/delay the seizure episode or emergency situations, there is no promise for cure in all systems of medicines (since it cannot be shown with evidence, even after 2-3 years of absence of complaints, it could not be claimed as cured). Also one should be aware that without treatment, the disease often progresses and causes cognitive dysfunctions/life threatening severe seizure episode or status epilepticus. So, it is important to begin treatment right away from the start-up of the complaint and to continue medication until attaining at the least two years of complaints-free period (in all systems of medicine). Also, it is always advised to use prescribed medicines regularly and not to miss doses even though one may fear the side-effects of anti epileptic drugs (especially in children, since they often become dull, cannot cope with studies and get depressed).

Emergency care - During the natural course of attack, support and preventing injury (especially the head) is vital. Also reviving breathing by extending head backwards, clearing airways, providing oxygen and intravenous fluids / medicines as early as possible will make the sufferer comfortable at the earliest. Usually, a tranquiller or anti convulsive drugs along with vitamins (vitamin B1 – thiamine and vitamin K) supplementation are given intravenously to help the sufferer recover from violent jerks. After recovering from seizure, it is always advisable to treat seizure accordingly analysing the complaints in all the way with all sorts of investigations. The sufferer needs to opt for a prolonged course of medicines (in all systems of medicine) regularly with good nutritious diet and sleep to prevent attack in future. 

General treatment - One cannot deny the remarkable way of switching off the seizure or epilepsy by allopathic – anti-epileptic - drugs. Even though they do not cure the disorder ultimately, the way it controls seizures is a miracle and boon for the sufferer. Taking medicines immediately after the first attack usually prevents further episodes. Generally, in addition to anti-epileptic drugs, vitamin supplements and antioxidants are prescribed to support the brain and its functions. Pregnant women will be provided folic acid and vitamin K to avoid congenital abnormalities.

The common anti-epileptic drugs are sodium valproate, carbamazapine, Phenobarbitone, Phnytoin, Primidone, Clonazepam, etc. Mostly 90 per cent of seizure/epilepsy disorders gets shut down immediately on starting the medicines. Sometimes, it would recur even while the sufferer is following medication. In this case, the alternative choice of drugs will be tried.

Generally Allopathic drugs need to be continued for life or till the sufferer is free from complaint for more than 2-3 years. If the complaint seems to be under control or eventually goes off, tapering of medicines can be considered and this should be implemented in a course of six months to one year. Medicine should never be stopped without the advice of a doctor and before analysing EEG again for epileptic wave patterns (even though EEG is not a strong indicator). Also, it should not be stopped all of a sudden since seizure would rebound with its crescendo at any time shortly after stoppage of medicines.

Mostly 60 per cent of the sufferers can withdraw from drugs slowly without the complaints recurring. If complaints seem to rebound again, they need to follow the medicines for three more years or for life. In uncontrollable cases, where structural complaints (tumours) are there, surgery is advised.

Drug side-effects – usually vary from person to person. Commonly, patients suffer a few or many of these following characteristics - dullness, confusion, irritability, lack of memory, drowsiness, dizziness, tremor, rashes, nausea, vomiting, sleepiness/ sleeplessness, fatigue, depression, blurred vision, double vision, nystagmus (rapid movement of eye ball), liver, stomach, kidney problems, hormonal imbalance, BP variations, weight loss/gain, miscarriage/congenital anomalies while taken during pregnancy, early diabetes, etc. In spite of all these, the memory and experience of past seizure compel every sufferer to depend on the drugs.

Dependency on the drugs also compels one to look for an alternative solution. Homeopathy comes first here as gateway to cure.

Homeopathic approach – Modern system of medicines claims that seizure cannot be cured altogether with medicines and only can be maintained with anti-convulsants, but Homeopathy can challenge and calm one’s brain from these terrible jerks or blackouts with out any side-effects. Homeopathy claims that it is always wise to treat the condition than to suppress it with anti-convulsants.

Normally, fear of dependency on drugs and the side-effects of long-term medication bring sufferers to Homeopathy. Homeopathy can really do wonders for these patients. Homeopathy medicines acts not on the superficial plane but deep down to root out the complaint. So it may need some time to show response or result. Patients may need patience and tolerance (more of this is needed) to enjoy its fruitful results. To make brain spark proof and to have the confidence to win over the disease and its effects, Homeopathy can help. Also, for some persons, the given restriction (no swimming, driving, etc.) will make them feel bad. Here, counseling and treatment according to symptoms works fine. Homeopathy can work excellently for insulating the brain in a good way.

Homeopathy can treat seizure disorders very well by simply riding on the waves of the brain and mind of the person. Homeopathy gives more importance to the patient’s feelings / notions / moods, timing of attack, lunar phases and causative or tiggering factors like tension, sleeplessness, watching TV / playing video games for a prolonged time, etc., than for presentation and nature of complaint for selecting the right remedy. For example, some will get seizure only during sleep, some others will suffer only during the day and never at night, some will suffer during the Full Moon or New Moon phases, some others will suffer after over excitement or after overeating or after they feel afraid of something. Likewise, one’s nature / course of suffering will differ. Homeopathy works out individualisation here and treats person as a whole to root out the disease.

To have good response, it is first the duty of the physician to educate the sufferer about the disease, need for good rest, sleep and diet. In Homeopathy, the response will be quick and good in persons who opt for this treatment in the start-up of the condition and the response will be slow in persons who came for treatment late with dependence on Allopathic drugs. People who depend on Allopathic drugs should not stop them all of a sudden, since if they do so, they would often meet a crescendo of rebounding jerks or blackouts. So, Allopathic medicines / anti seizure medicines used for suppressing seizures should be tapered off in a slow manner after gaining / feeling betterment with homeopathic medicines. First they should increase the duration between medications along with administration of Homeopathy medicines, then they should reduce the anti-epileptic drugs’ dosage levels slowly. One need not worry about going in for two systems of medicine simultaneously since there won’t be any side-effects or interaction.

Homeopathic medicines commonly used in cases of seizure/epilepsy disorders are Aconite, Agaricus, Ambra grisea, Apis mel, Arg nit, Ars alb, Artemisia V, Belladonna, Bufo, Calc carb, Calc phos, Cannabis indica, Causticum, Cicuta, Cuprum met, Gelsemium, Hyosyamus, Ignatia, Kali brom, Kali phos, Lachesis, Lycopodium, Natrum mur, Nux vom, Opium, Passiflora, Plumbum met, Pulsatilla, Rhus tox, Silicea, Strychinum, Tarentula, Valeriana, Zinc met, Zinc phos, etc, These medicines should be taken under the advice and diagnosis of a Qualified Homoeopath. The results of Homeopathy treatment are not drowsy but will be a very peaceful refreshment.