Neurological movement disorder: Epilepsy and Seizure can be alleviated

Seizures happen when your brain cells, which communicate through electrical signals, send out the wrong signals. Having just one seizure doesn't mean you have epilepsy. Generally, several seizures are needed before there is a diagnosis of epilepsy.

So far my treatments have been quite successful. Following is a thank-you note from one of my patients:

I began seeing you two weeks ago. I have been having epileptic seizures for 30 years; have had countless seizures; inability to relax and thereby sleep properly and have had a portion of my left temporal lobe removed. The seizures still persisted. (Note, I have also taken a plethora of seizure medications).

Since I have begun to be treated by you, my whole (physical, emotional  and mental) life has taken a very positive change. I sleep with ease, have been complimented by my wife and my neurologist for my relaxed/positive demeanor and posses higher self esteem.

--S.P
 

Studies in China have shown acupuncture to be a safe, reliable way to reduce or lower seizure activity. (According to Bob Clarke, fewer than 5 percent of Chinese studies on acupuncture have been translated into English.) One study indicated that treatment of epilepsy with herbs, acupuncture and massage had the best results.

One German study involved 98 people with epilepsy, ranging in age from 2-52. All drugs were discontinued during the first weeks of therapy. Acupuncture treatments lasted from 1 - 18 months, and 65 people showed marked improvements with an absence of seizures during a one-year period without drugs. Afterwards, patients received acupuncture maintenance treatments once over 2-3 months. Relapses occurred in 5 cases. "In my own opinion," says Ruth Livingstone of the British Medical Acupuncture Society, "acupuncture can help relieve some of the problems which exacerbate epilepsy - stress, poor sleep, etc."

In the U.S., most of the research on acupuncture has been done on dogs. In one study of 5 dogs, all had decreased numbers of seizures after being treated with acupuncture. Three continued to have fewer seizures with lower levels of anti-convulsants; the other two dogs also had a reduction in seizures.

Barbara Drake, a New York artist, was diagnosed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy at age 21. Several years later, she started acupuncture treatments for several years, spaced at weekly, then monthly, intervals. During that time she was able to lower her medications. "It hasn't entirely controlled my seizures, but I've had fewer seizures and I've gained a greater awareness of my body," she says. "I always felt immensely relaxed after each treatment, with a renewed feeling of well-being. My acupuncturist had, I thought, a far better understanding of my body than my neurologist. Her powers of observations were acute, too. One day when I went for a treatment, I told her I'd had a seizure the day before. 'I thought so,' she said. 'The spleen spot on your leg is swollen.'"

One man who had experienced several seizures while asleep was diagnosed with Partial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and his physician prescribed Dilantin. "But," he says, "I was afraid of the side effects of medication. I have instead decided to try acupuncture and Chinese herbal mixtures. I feel there is some control. I've had one seizure since I began treatment. At this point," he says, "the treatment I have chosen seems much preferable to the mind-numbing and toxic effect of the usual prescription drugs.

Children - even babies - can benefit from acupuncture treatments. Says Gary Fleischman, author of Acupuncture: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (Barrytown, Ltd.), "Acupuncture knows no age limit."

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