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How to Prevent Many Seizures in 2-3 Minutes (Simple Breathing Exercise)

Sat, 08/28/2010 - 12:14

In 1960s, leading Russian Physiologist Doctor KP Buteyko, MD PhD and his medical colleagues applied this breathing exercise on hundreds of patients with seizures and epilepsy in the former USSR-Russia. These MDs used the Buteyko breathing medical technique to prevent and treat partial and simple seizures.(I translated many medical people written by Russians.)

Many seizures can develop within some seconds. Hence, to apply this exercises asap is crucial for success. It is sometimes so that one can anticipate seizures and able to control own breathing so that to change the usual development of events.

Steps to follow (or how to execute the exercise)

Start this breath exercise as soon as you anticipate or feel that something wrong is going on with your body and/or mind. Fear and anxiety often trigger ineffective respiratory pattern. Breathing usually becomes even deeper or more irregular, and fast too. These are symptoms of breathing too much.

You have a different and opposite goal. Breathe regularly and only through the nose, while taking small or short inhalations using the diaphragm, instead of taking your large and quick inhales and exhales using your chest muscles. In order to exhale just relax the diaphragm and count for about 3-4 seconds for each exhale. You have to breathe regularly all the time during this exercise.

Due to this shallow/reduced breathing, you should get air hunger or desire to breathe more. It should appear in some seconds after you start the exercise. Maintain this air hunger so that extra carbon dioxide in your blood and brain will calm down the overexcited nerve cells and lessen their threshold of excitability closer to normal numbers. CO2 will also improve blood delivery for the brain. Improved blood supply to your brain
will raise oxygen and glucose transport and increase CO2 level in the brain as well. This is the physiological mechanism and cause of success for this exercise.

Additional parameters for your success

Epileptics are generally chest breathers. This significantly diminishes blood oxygenation and worsen symptoms and duration of seizures. Lower parts of the lungs do not get fresh or new air. Consequently, the success rate for this exercise is higher if you can employ your diaphragm or abdomen or belly for your inhalations, instead of chest.

Note that mouth breathing drastically worsens symptoms of seizures and can lead to more severe types of seizures (especially during sleep). Hence, you should take care about nasal breathing 24-7 or long before you get any signs of seizures. Find an internet Manual "How to maintain nasal breathing 24/7".

Many night time or sleep seizures can also be prevented by correction of risk lifestyle factors. More details about these techniques can be found on this page:http://www.normalbreathing.com/diseases-stop-seizures.php This resource page also quotes many western studies where medical doctors used CO2 to treat seizures or applied some techniques to prevent ineffective or heavy breathing in patients with epilepsy. 

 

Comments

Re: How to Prevent Many Seizures in 2-3 Minutes

Submitted by thebettles on Sun, 2010-08-29 - 02:59

Thank you for adding the link.

I remember asking about other therapies besides pills and what type of connection there is between breathing and epilepsy at my local support group. She looked at us all and said epilepsy is not about oxygen but about the fact that we "all have bad brains".

much love,

marty

Thank you for adding the link.

I remember asking about other therapies besides pills and what type of connection there is between breathing and epilepsy at my local support group. She looked at us all and said epilepsy is not about oxygen but about the fact that we "all have bad brains".

much love,

marty

Re: How to Prevent Many Seizures in 2-3 Minutes

Submitted by Masterjen on Thu, 2013-09-12 - 14:24

Hello, my friend :)  How are you, Marty??  Miss you!

In regards to the initial posted thread:

I will study the link more closely, but really this finding reported is no surprise when you consider that many (but by no means all) of those suffering from seizures can be helped by the deep breathing that comes from doing regular and moderately paced cardio exercises.  Even doing a regular fitness program of an hour a day of cardio that promotes the  "hunger" for oxygen and encourages deep breathing (but not shallow hyperventilation that comes with those less fit individuals overdoing their cardio program) can have beneficial effects on seizures.  So via extrapolation, it fits that if one has enough warning prior to a seizure and can initiate this type of breathing that perhaps the seizure might be prevented or made less severe.  I don't have links on hand to post regarding 'the benefit of cardio exercises on epilepsy' or some such wording, but there is always the trusted google.   I agree that it is great that this is being brought to attention, and it would be good to see a double blind study done here in NorthAmerica to really see what the degree of benefit is.  Perhaps this is a study epilepsy.com could take on?

Hello, my friend :)  How are you, Marty??  Miss you!

In regards to the initial posted thread:

I will study the link more closely, but really this finding reported is no surprise when you consider that many (but by no means all) of those suffering from seizures can be helped by the deep breathing that comes from doing regular and moderately paced cardio exercises.  Even doing a regular fitness program of an hour a day of cardio that promotes the  "hunger" for oxygen and encourages deep breathing (but not shallow hyperventilation that comes with those less fit individuals overdoing their cardio program) can have beneficial effects on seizures.  So via extrapolation, it fits that if one has enough warning prior to a seizure and can initiate this type of breathing that perhaps the seizure might be prevented or made less severe.  I don't have links on hand to post regarding 'the benefit of cardio exercises on epilepsy' or some such wording, but there is always the trusted google.   I agree that it is great that this is being brought to attention, and it would be good to see a double blind study done here in NorthAmerica to really see what the degree of benefit is.  Perhaps this is a study epilepsy.com could take on?

Re: How to Prevent Many Seizures in 2-3 Minutes

Submitted by croesus on Thu, 2013-09-12 - 14:49
Masterjen,  you are absolutely right.   But not once in the past 40 years has a neurologist even mentioned the subject of breathing technique to me.     I have become increasingly aware that my breathing patterns are not right -  shallow breathing, and even catching my breath altogether, often while concentrating,  usually at my computer.      A few months ago,  I mentioned this to a golfing chum and he (although not an epileptic, as far as I know) said  he had the same problems.  He recommended a book on Tao, which has a chapter devoted to breathing.     I got the book, then read up on Buteyko and since then  I have definitely raised my seizure threshold:  as soon as I sense a problem, I focus on nasal and diaphragmatic breathing.    Et voila!  Problem solved.     But I am amazed that  this has not received greater publicity:  OK it may not work for every epileptic,   and of course we must be careful to avoid hyperventilation.   But there is an urgent need for Research and Education on the subject.  It could change the lives of millions.

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