Stopping Epileptic Seizures Using Omega-3, Vitamin E, Diet,
And More
By Roman Bystrianyk in HealthSentinel.com
http://tinyurl.com/9amcc
Recently a parent brought their child to a neurologist because of
concerns of a possible seizure disorder. After an overnight EEG, which is a
test in which electrodes are placed on the head to measure electrical
activity produced by the brain, the neurologist determined there were some
irregularities and that seizures were possible in the future. The parent
asked a few questions including whether there was anything they could do
with diet to prevent that possibility. The neurologist replied that aside
from the Ketogenic diet, which would only be considered in extreme cases,
that there wasn't anything that could be done.
I decided to see what information I could find on seizures and
epilepsy. According to the website epilepsy.com:
"There is a fine balance in the brain between factors that begin
electrical activity and factors that restrict it, and there are also systems
that limit the spread of electrical activity. During a seizure, these limits
break down, and abnormal electrical discharges can occur and spread to whole
groups of neighboring cells at once. This linkage of electrical discharges
creates a "storm" of electrical activity in the brain. This is a seizure.
When a person has had at least two of these seizures, that's called
epilepsy."
They also note that essentially many times the cause was unknown:
"The reasons why epilepsy begins are different for people of different
ages. But what's true for every age is that the cause is unknown for about
half of everyone with epilepsy. Children may be born with a defect in the
structure of their brain, or they may suffer a head injury or infection that
causes their epilepsy. Severe head injury is the most common known cause in
young adults. In middle age, strokes, tumors, and injuries are more
frequent. In people over 65, stroke is the most common known cause, followed
by degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease."
According to the website that apart from the Ketogenic diet there
wasn't much that anyone could do to prevent seizures. I decided to take a
trip to a local medical library to start my own research to see what I could
come up with. I spent quite a few hours the first night searching and
sifting through studies from a large number of medical journals. I did that
over a number of weeks and accumulated a large number of studies that
provided some amazing information.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
One of the first studies I discovered was from the journal Epilepsia
(1). The authors described that omega-3 fatty acids (or n-3 PUFAs) are
essential for normal brain development and that a deficiency in these fatty
acids can "contribute to the emergence of neurologic dysfunctions". With
respect to epilepsy, "recent studies in animal models have shown that n-3
PUFAs can raise the threshold of epileptic seizures." Based on this
knowledge the study authors provided a spread of 65% n-3 PUFAs (46% DHA, 18%
EPA, 1% alpha-linolenic acid) plus 100 IU of vitamin E to 5 patients with
severe seizure disorders. The spread (about 5 grams) was eaten at breakfast
by 5 patients each day for 6 months. Although this was a small study, the
results were nothing short of dramatic. The frequency of grand mal seizures
(grand mal seizures are characterized by sudden loss of consciousness
followed by violent full-body convulsions lasting several minutes) before
the omega-3 diet and after were as follows:
Patient 1 - Grand mal seizures before were 2-3 per week and after zero.
Patient 2 - Grand mal seizures before were 6-8 per week and after zero.
Patient 3 - Grand mal seizures before were 1-2 per week and after 1 per
month.
Patient 4 - Grand mal seizures before were 1-2 per week and after zero.
Patient 5 - Grand mal seizures before were 14 per week and after 3 per week.
+ Full article here: http://tinyurl.com/9amcc
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Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Classical Homeopath
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm