Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Epilepsy

If you are diagnosed with Epilepsy, this IS the book to read, especially if you do not want to be on medication the rest of your life or if you do not want seizures (and who does?). There is a wealth of information in this book that has not been published before. Especially the work of Donna J. Andrews is worth considering, since she has a 80% successrate with lowering the amount of seizures in her patients. But there are others. Biofeedback is a great tool as well for some. A friend of mine got her seizures way down with this method. She had many a day, now she has none. I am so proud of her because she refused to be on meds from day one. It is invaluable to know you can do something about epilepsy by understanding and working with your triggers. There is a lesson here to be understood. You can improve the quality of your life. And there are many options. Read this book and find out. This book is worth every penny!

This is a good book for people looking for alternative treatments for epilepsy. It gets a bit technical at times, but it is still a good read. Very informative.

Great book! An interesting and factual collaboration on most alternative therapies, all tried and tested. A must read for anyone dealing with epilepsy.

I am a physician with a personal interest in epilepsy. To read about complementary and alternative therapies for epilepsy in a medical text that is edited by recognized experts has been a real joy. They have done us all a great service by presenting the information in a respectful but scientifically critical manner.This book should be on every neurologist's shelf. It should also be on the shelf of all other physician practitioners that treat epilepsy. Drs. Devinsky, Schachter and Pacia have produced a work that is long overdue.Treating epilepsy can be frustrating since traditional medicine is not always successful in delivering the ideal result (no seizures and no side effects). Patients in desperation are looking for something that will work. Some patients may just want another option because of any one of a number of reasons including fear of potential long-term side effects of medications, or because they harbor a general mistrust of modern medicine for example.With the advent of the Internet, patients and their families are discovering that there are options available which their physicians have not told them about. Some of the options may have merit and some may not. Most patients do not have the medical sophistication to tell the difference. Many doctors do not have the time or the interest to find out. The problem is that when patients go to their physicians with their new-found knowledge, and they are met with total ignorance, indifference or worse yet, arrogance, the physicians immediately lose credibility with their patients.By reading and understanding this book that covers a broad range of "alternative and complementary therapies for epilepsy," physicians will be able to better understand what their patients are talking about and will be able to speak with knowledge and credibility when these ideas are brought up by patients. Having this knowledge will also prompt physicians during the intake interviews to ask if any of these alternative approaches are being used. That information may help with drug dosages (some herbs or supplements can affect enzyme induction) and help to explain treatment failure.Medical practices that serve many well informed patients may see increasing numbers of people asking about these things. That type of patient is expecting more than just a prescription refill and a follow-up in 3-6 months. It could be that some physicians will suggest some of these ideas on their own if they seem right for a particular patient. Spending the extra time and effort may be hard to do because physicians are pushed harder and harder to do more and more in less time, and most practices don't have time during a visit to do more than just the basics. Just the same some people are expecting more.The chapters are generally concise and mostly well referenced and are organized in a very interesting fashion; an expert that champions a particular form of alternative or complementary therapy writes the chapter, and the editors in a very respectful fashion make comments on the ideas presented. They often point out how well the available scientific evidence may or may not support the assertions of the chapter authors. The editors' comments range from very encouraging to highly doubtful, especially when judged by the standard of the double-blind study.Chapter contents include: 1) Relation of Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Epilepsy to Western Medicine, 2) The standards for clinical trials to prove effectiveness of a therapy (the Double Blind trial), 3 Treating epilepsy with stress reduction, 4) The neurobehavioral approach, 5) Self control, eliminating triggers etc., 6) Neurofeedback, 7) Autogenic training, 8) Massage, 9) Aromatherapy and Hypnosis, 10) Meditation, 11) Exercise and Yoga, 12) Ayurveda, 13) Herbal therapy, 14) Phytotherapy (more herbal therapy), 15) Homeopathy, 16) Naturopathic Medicine, 17) Traditional Chinese Medicine, 18) Acupuncture, 19) Nutrition, 20) Fatty acids in the diet, 21) The Ketogenic diet, 22) Hormonal therapy, 23) Trancranial magnetic stimulation, 24) Hyperbaric oxygen, 25) Rebreathing to use CO2 to dilate cerebral vessels to increase cerebral oxygen delivery, 26) Chiropractic, 27) Osteopathic Approach, 28) Craniosacral Therapy, 29) Music Therapy, 30) Art Therapy, 31) Pet Therapy Particularly enlightening chapters are numbers12-22, where herbs, vitamins, food supplements and other nutritional approaches are described rather nicely. Two somewhat disturbing chapters for me are the ones on Naturopathic Medicine (16), and the Osteopathic approach in children (27). The part of the naturopathic medicine chapter that disturbs me the most is the philosophy that epilepsy is possibly a result of lifestyle, diet or habits of the individual and can be cured if the practitioner can find the correct cause and effect a change. Fully subscribing to such an approach could lead to spending big bucks on food supplements and other things that have no proven value or could actually complicate standard medical treatment. In spite of that problem, naturopaths have many fascinating ideas that are worthy of further investigation. The Osteopathic chapter is largely anecdotal. The references are quite dated as well. From modalities that purport to be scientifically oriented I expected better.The greatest value of the book for me is, understanding how others besides those in mainstream medicine think about epilepsy. I highly recommend this book.

This is a great way to learn more about alternative approaches to treating epilepsy. While I am not against the use of conventional therapies, they do not always work, and I do not want to turn down use of "alternative" therapies simply because they have been labeled as such. Some of these things might not have the scientific backing to explain how or why they would work, but may very well work. (Conventional therapies are not always the best-- no leeches, please!) If it's something that poses little to no risk, it may be worth trying.My main concern is that this book needs to be updated. *Seven years is a long time in research*, and a lot might have happened since then: Catamenial epilepsy (the increased likelihood of seizures during parts of the menstrual cycle) is better understood now and is more accepted as a true correlation in the clinic, for example, and not just seen as the patients' imagination. The book, if updated, would be more useful. (And given the price, would be a better deal as well!) Please, please update!I would consider part II, the "Learning to Reduce Seizures" portion of the book, to be most interesting. The techniques being talked about here are things that are (generally) low-cost and low-risk. In particular I found the chapters on meditation and exercise (likely to be) most useful. This is where I would like to start my trial of alternative approaches.Best of luck to everyone!

Many of us living with epilepsy are frustrated with the tradeoffs between pharmaceuticals and quality of life. This book along with its update (Alternative Therapies of Epilepsy 2012 by same authors) are the only books to take an objective look at these alternative therapies. Books about approaches to illness from outside the medical community are abundant but hard to trust. This book is a series of essays by various authors (some medical some alternative) overseen by members of the medical community. I think it will be a historic book as it opens a much needed dialog between traditional providers and alternative therapies. When I showed the book to my neurologist and told him about some of the things I was trying, I was shocked that he agreed that the pharmaceutical approaches had many downsides and the neurological community needed some new approaches.I am presently trying to come off medication and have used some therapies in this book. While I am not off yet, my levels of medication have come down considerably and my quality of life has improved. This book has been a great asset as I consider approaches to let me lower my medication and possibly come off.I prefer the outline of this book to the outline of the update that is entirely written by the authors and hope the next update is done in the format of the original book.