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alternative non pharmaceutical treatment for temporal lobe partial complex seizures

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 12:46
Anyone have experience with successful alternative treatments for temporal lobe partial complex seizures? I have recently been diagnosed at 46 years of age and having had 4 seizures over a 4 year period( one a year). Two neurologists have recommended I start taking medication( Keppra). After reading your experiences on these forums with the meds and the side affects I am not real sure I want to even try Keppra or any thing else. You guys are very brave out there, going through all of these trial and error with the medications. Thanks for sharing your stories! My only concern is will the seizures happen more frequently or grow more severe if I don't start medication or treatment. They seem to have been triggered when I was working out with weights , doing pull ups and the last one after jumping on the trampoline with my kids. The Docs think i may have scar tissue from multiple concussions from my early years playing football and rugby. Is there a successful treatment out there that doesn't involve these meds? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

Comments

Re: alternative

Submitted by notfishbait on Fri, 2009-04-03 - 17:41

i read a good book once called "treating epilepsy naturally" about alternative treatments, and med treatments too. very informative and helpful. when i was first diagnosed at 29, i was put on a low dose of keppra. it wasn't so bad, and put my mind at ease a little. although i went through a depression...wasn't sure if it was a side effect or brought on by the recent diagnosis i was very upset and in denial of. also, i was a bit sleepy...probably because i was so depressed..and later found out was also, pregnant...surprise!

anyway, since then, i have tried 2 other meds, and seriously, keppra is one of the more mild, safe ones if you ask me although i am not a professional or a big proponent of pharmaseuticals. but others are horrendous. like topamax...yuck. definately check into that book first. -just my humble suggestion.

i read a good book once called "treating epilepsy naturally" about alternative treatments, and med treatments too. very informative and helpful. when i was first diagnosed at 29, i was put on a low dose of keppra. it wasn't so bad, and put my mind at ease a little. although i went through a depression...wasn't sure if it was a side effect or brought on by the recent diagnosis i was very upset and in denial of. also, i was a bit sleepy...probably because i was so depressed..and later found out was also, pregnant...surprise!

anyway, since then, i have tried 2 other meds, and seriously, keppra is one of the more mild, safe ones if you ask me although i am not a professional or a big proponent of pharmaseuticals. but others are horrendous. like topamax...yuck. definately check into that book first. -just my humble suggestion.

Re: alternative

Submitted by ispy on Tue, 2009-04-07 - 14:05

Wow you sound just like me! Send me an email if you like. I just got diagonised with complex partial seizures at 45 years old, same reason, scar tissue from concussions earlier in life. The difference is my long term doctor, whom I trust a lot, said, "You are going on medication right now". She said it was dangerous to let the seizures continue, as the brain gets used to using that new pathway, and thinks its normal, and you have more. Admittedly I am different from you in that I have been having them several times a week, while sleeping (it wakes me up and boy oh boy is it scary). So I am on Tegretol (really carbamazapine, the generic). We started out at 200 mg in the morning and 200 at night, but the side effects were so awful for me (exhaustion and nausea) that she reduced it to 100mg in morning and 100 at night. I am going up from there by 25 mg, trying to control the nightly seizures. For me, it seems like maybe it is a bit worse with the drug, as if the exhaustion is making it more likely that I have a seizure.

Anyway, all that said, I am with you on the natural stuff. I just haven't been given a chance to find a natural way. I have a nutritionist who uses accupressure and she feels she can even work on the scar tissue (I go for the hocus pocus after I try the MD's!) but I have to be on the drug while she is doing that as we can't risk more seizures. waa. anyway, I think we have similarities.

Wow you sound just like me! Send me an email if you like. I just got diagonised with complex partial seizures at 45 years old, same reason, scar tissue from concussions earlier in life. The difference is my long term doctor, whom I trust a lot, said, "You are going on medication right now". She said it was dangerous to let the seizures continue, as the brain gets used to using that new pathway, and thinks its normal, and you have more. Admittedly I am different from you in that I have been having them several times a week, while sleeping (it wakes me up and boy oh boy is it scary). So I am on Tegretol (really carbamazapine, the generic). We started out at 200 mg in the morning and 200 at night, but the side effects were so awful for me (exhaustion and nausea) that she reduced it to 100mg in morning and 100 at night. I am going up from there by 25 mg, trying to control the nightly seizures. For me, it seems like maybe it is a bit worse with the drug, as if the exhaustion is making it more likely that I have a seizure.

Anyway, all that said, I am with you on the natural stuff. I just haven't been given a chance to find a natural way. I have a nutritionist who uses accupressure and she feels she can even work on the scar tissue (I go for the hocus pocus after I try the MD's!) but I have to be on the drug while she is doing that as we can't risk more seizures. waa. anyway, I think we have similarities.

Re: alternative non pharmaceutical treatment

Submitted by scorpio on Sun, 2009-04-05 - 05:16

Acupuncture has controlled my TLE more or less effectively in the past.  I would recommend it to anyone but success depends a lot on the person treating you: some are better at it than others, in my experience.  Currently content on a dosage of Lamictal/lamotrigine.

Chris

Acupuncture has controlled my TLE more or less effectively in the past.  I would recommend it to anyone but success depends a lot on the person treating you: some are better at it than others, in my experience.  Currently content on a dosage of Lamictal/lamotrigine.

Chris

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