seizures

Three years ago I had 6 seizures in a 4 month period. The doc put me on dilantin and i still take it to this day even though i havent had a seizure since nov 3 years ago. The doc told me that if he was my younger brother i should stay on it the rest of my life. If i do go off of it, i have to ween myself off of it month by month. During this time i wont be able to drive and for 6 months after i am completely off of it. I was wondering if there is some kind of medicinal herb that i could take that would replace dilantin. If there is, i would talk to the doc first, but i was just wondering if there is something else i could take. Thanks

hey Gary,

this probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but consider contacting an herbalist or naturopath in your area. while it would surprise me if there is a botanical equivalent of dilantin, a professional might be able to probe a little deeper and find out what the roots of the issue are and address those.

that's a major difference between modern allopathic medicine and older medical traditions: take a pill for immediate results versus slow changes to the cause of problems. with a few notable exceptions, herbs will not have as dramatic or immediate results as pharmaceuticals. I consider that an advantage of using herbs and other plant medicines, but plenty of people do not.

thank you tel, i will look and see if there are any of those in this area. Might have to go to a bigger town but will do that. thanks again

Dilantin , Tegretol , Depakote are all potent drugs that raise the seizure threshhold in the brain. They are so potent that any sudden change in the dose can trigger a seizure. Blood levels must be drawn to maintain that therapeutic seizure threshhold. My guess is that any botanical that can provide that potent an effect in the brain might also cause many others. Maybe even psychoactive or neurological side effects. Most plants contain hundreds of active compounds. Just a thought.

should see if the chem groups are related to the same ones in valerian root.

check wikipedia for starting with chem form

more than half the brain chems are.

most effective siezure medicines are multipurpose neurological meds. They are used for szrs, mental illness disorders, migraines etc. so unfortunately their actual effect on the brain is some what unknown. for any neurological disorder the Drs. actually don't know why the brain is not working correctly and they don't really know why the meds help. it is totally trial and error, hit and miss medicine.

Finding an herbal remedy is difficult since it is often unknown what causes the seizures. But maybe you do know why you have szrs---tumor, stroke, brain surgery or injury? That could mean that maybe a natropath could determine some kind of treatment for blood flow, antiinflamitory...etc.

My son had epilepsy when he was a toddler. we found that eliminating corn syrup made a big difference, But he was having myoclonic szrs as often as every 2-5 minutes and random grand mal szrs that were lasting 10 minutes. Diet was not enough to help him, so we maxed out the most aggressive drug and finally got results.

weaning meds is a scary thing, but with help from friends and family and a good Dr. You might find what you need. Finding the right Dr or natropath would be your biggest challenge. most Drs will not suport your wishes---they just want to use their medical knowledge and drugs, they usually will not think outside the box.

I realize that I'm posting this a few years too late, but, when our daughter was having febrile seizures we were told that using frankincense essential oils on her big toe, would help prevent seizures.