Community Forum Archive

The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.

Andrews/Reiter Institute

Sun, 03/29/2009 - 16:16
Topic: Complementary Therapies
I stumbled across this website for the Andrews/Reiter Institute in California, where they claim an amazing success rate for stopping seizures without drugs. It almost sounds to good to be true, and I can't find anyone who has any experience with them. It seems like with a success rate that high they would be front page news in the world of Epilepsy, but none of the Dr.s , nurses, or other people in our support group has ever heard of them. If anyone reading this has any experience with them, please respond. There are alot of us out here that are extremely interested. Thanks for your help.

Comments

Re: Andrews/Reiter Institute

Submitted by matvey on Tue, 2010-04-06 - 01:24
Two days ago, my daughter began to go into a seizure. We used the "startle and shake" method mentioned in Reiter's book, and we were able to arrest the seizure almost immediately. We have tried this method once before, but I think we caught it too late that time. Our regular doctors and neurologists are good at what they do, but they have never told us about non-chemical methods like this for making life easier.

Re: Andrews/Reiter Institute

Submitted by lyzolari on Sat, 2010-01-16 - 15:06
I spoke with her on the phone last year and also met someone who had done her program. I am not sure her program is for everyone. I think that if you have a certain type of seizures behavior modification may work, but not for all epilepsy's. After speaking with Donna and the gentleman who did her program, I was left with some doubt and felt unsure if she really knew what she was talking about. The gentleman I met who did her program that I met, left me feeling like he was selling her program. So I am not sure what to believe. I have heard from an old neurologist that I respect and trust that Dr. Reiter is a good neurologist, so perhaps this is a real opportunity. But the program is ran by Donna Andrews, not Dr. Reiter. I would recommend to try or look into neurofeedback. There is a Dr. in Dallas who is an expert in this area named Dr. Jon Walker, just google him + neurofeedback. He may be able to recommend someone he knows (provider) in your area. I have been doing neurofeedback with someone in NYC for the last year and have noticed some I changes/improvements. Good luck.

Re: Andrews/Reiter Institute

Submitted by matvey on Sat, 2010-03-20 - 13:45

I have been gathering information about this program over the last month (calling and e-mailing references, searching for information on the Internet, and reading reviews of Dr. Reiter's book). So far, I have found a few people who have claimed life-changing results, quite a few (more than 10) glowing reviews, and only one negative report. The negative report was from a doctor who basically dismissed the whole idea of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) without really looking into it.

I have bought this book by Adrienne Richard (who has benefited from CBT) and Dr. Joel Reiter. The information about the medicines is dated (my edition was published in the 1990s), but I HIGHLY recommend the book just for the information it contains--even if you are not interested in CBT. It talks about everything from historical contexts (going back thousands of years) to the most recent research (up to the date of its writing).

I also recommend calling Donna Andrews, as I have. She has a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. Reiter is a neurologist. Their Web site is www.andrewsreiter.com.

My wife and I have not yet decided whether to go through with this treatment for our daughter, but we are leaning in that direction.

Here is a 3rd-party site with more information: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/index.php?p=cognitive-behavioral.

And here is the chart that caught my interest about one month ago: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/index.php?p=alternative-treatments.

I have been gathering information about this program over the last month (calling and e-mailing references, searching for information on the Internet, and reading reviews of Dr. Reiter's book). So far, I have found a few people who have claimed life-changing results, quite a few (more than 10) glowing reviews, and only one negative report. The negative report was from a doctor who basically dismissed the whole idea of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) without really looking into it.

I have bought this book by Adrienne Richard (who has benefited from CBT) and Dr. Joel Reiter. The information about the medicines is dated (my edition was published in the 1990s), but I HIGHLY recommend the book just for the information it contains--even if you are not interested in CBT. It talks about everything from historical contexts (going back thousands of years) to the most recent research (up to the date of its writing).

I also recommend calling Donna Andrews, as I have. She has a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. Reiter is a neurologist. Their Web site is www.andrewsreiter.com.

My wife and I have not yet decided whether to go through with this treatment for our daughter, but we are leaning in that direction.

Here is a 3rd-party site with more information: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/index.php?p=cognitive-behavioral.

And here is the chart that caught my interest about one month ago: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/index.php?p=alternative-treatments.

Sign Up for Emails

Stay up to date with the latest epilepsy news, stories from the community, and more.

Subscribe