In general, for epilepsy, you want to use relaxants and avoid stimulants. Stimulants include coffee, tea, cola, chocolate, ephedrine containing products (often in diet pills). Herbs that stimulate the central nervous system, and therefore should be avoided, are Cramp bark, Kola nuts, Ephedra and Yerba mate.

Studies have shown that supplementation with Evening Primrose Oil may exacerbate temporal lobe epilepsy. Some studies even suggest sage as being harmful.

Herbs that are calming, and recommended in epilepsy, are Lemon balm, Skullcap, Passionflower and Valerian.

Some try to eliminate common allergy-causing foods such as dairy products, oranges, eggs, tomatoes and strawberries, to test if the seizures are related to allergies. Studies have linked epileptic seizures with the diet, and have shown epileptic seizures reduced or eliminated with avoidance of allergens, which also, can include gluten, food colourings and additives and aspartame. general, for epilepsy, you want to use relaxants and avoid stimulants. Stimulants include coffee, tea, cola, chocolate, ephedrine containing products (often in diet pills). Herbs that stimulate the central nervous system, and therefore should be avoided, are Cramp bark, Kola nuts, Ephedra and Yerba mate.

I hope this helps someone.

thank you for your informative post

there is noooo way i can give up coffee, lol i love it soooo much. i dont think i could start my morning without it http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

stay away from ALLLLLLLLLL diet pills! I was @ my friends house and we were talking about me being tired and having no-drive lately. She gave me a vitamin...she calls them vitamins but it was a diet pill. It was horrible. I had three staring seizures that day, my heart was racing for two days, i couldn't sleep, i was paranoid. horrible!!

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Mandi
"there's no such thing as normal, just a lot of weird people with things in common."

That's awful about the diet pills! It must have be so scary.

Coffee:

I gave the list to my husband and that's what he sid. NO COFFEE..Ya got to be kiddin'. LOL
Usually, he can drink a few cups a day but once about 10 years ago, he told me he had to work (before we were married)a lot of extra hours. It got really late, and he remembers having a coffee buzz from about 3 pots of coffee. Then he woke up with a swollen tongue. As usuall, he had the GM in bed, but somehow he said he knew it was from the coffee. That's before anyone ever warned about coffee. His doctor did tell him about artificial sweeteners-- 3 years ago though and when he found out he drank 4 -6 pepsi a day, he told him to cut it down to one.

I do believe that diet pills containing ephedra are what GAVE me my "E" to beging with. If they didn't then they (the diet pills) were so bad that they started me having seizures earlier than me getting them at the scheduled age of 92. (That was a joke. They did give me "E")

I am ditto with the coffe thing. I couldn't do it in the morning without the coffe. I would not be able to function.

God Bless

Thanks for the info Serenity. I had just started Jon on a supplement (for memory) that has Evening Primrose Oil in it thinking that it was ok. He's not taking that anymore.
Thanks again.

Glad I can help. I don't think every herb does it to every person, but we don't know who the people they will affect are. It's scary really. How little we know.

[This message has been edited by serenityelf (edited 10-20-2003).]

Well, not only that but not all herbal treatments are good for you even if you are in great health. People get falsly swayed into thinking that if it is natural then it must be ok! Well, isn't pot natural?? It is grown right in some peoples back yard but that doesn't mean it is good for you. The only thing it is good for is killing your brain cells... http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif

God Bless,
KittyMom

Right on, KittyMom. I work with adults every day (ed field) who have difficulty today because they spent too much time smoking pot (often they still do) and doing other illegal drugs too often. It's hard to get really dedicated pot smokers to concentrate, motivated and set future goals, let alone getting the info to stay put in their long term memory. My mother always told..tells me, my dear, everything in moderation.

Hi All, about the herbs thing, When I was diagnosed with E, the Doc told me to stay away from Sage and Bergamot- This is what they flavour Earl Grey Tea with, (not just caffeine but this too!!) I get what is known as Partial Nocturnal Seizures only ever at Night, so I have found that if i have Tea/Coffee after 2100 hours there is more chance of me having a Fit, up to then seems to b OK. Hops and Valerian seem to help me sleep easily. Hope this is helpful. Adam UK

I never knew they flavor Earl Grey Tea with those things. Ick! Thanks so much for sharing that. I'm sure it will help us realize we should read the labels of everything and get familiar with what can cause seizures.

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THE NEUR. RECOMMENDED A VITAMIN WITH ZINC FOR MY 8 YR.
GRANDSON. HE HAS ABSENCE SZ.
WHY?????
NANNER

Kitty, will you tell me more about your response on ephedra causing your E? I used to take diet pills of every kind for about 5 years but I had never thought that they might be what caused my E! I stopped taking them when I got married and had a really hard time stopping - I was totally addicted to them and the energy that they gave me. I would love any information that anyone has on this.
Thank you!

Originally posted by Happy2:
Echinacea triggered my last seizure. My neurologist has other epilepsy patients who had problems with it too. Take care

Wow..My husband got his last night seizure while fighting a really bad cold. Guess what he was taking..You got it...Echinacea. Ick.

Originally posted by Peddy's Nanner:
THE NEUR. RECOMMENDED A VITAMIN WITH ZINC FOR MY 8 YR.
GRANDSON. HE HAS ABSENCE SZ.
WHY?????
NANNER

I have no idea. Can you ask the doctor and let us know? Thanks.

Its not a herb,but my husband went into status E when he took Ibuprofen once and he now avoids that drug like the plague,as it could have been the trigger.Anyone else had this happen?

The first grand mall siezure I ever saw was in the grocery store. A women fell in front of me, there was another women with her. I stayed with them because I wanted to see if they needed help. The women told me she was the other women's nurse and she said her seizures all started after taking a diet drug. I don't know if I can mention the name here, but you can buy it over the counter. I really believe this and certain food can cause seizures, expecially diet soda with aspertame.

So little research has been done in general, that only recenly have herbs even been considered "legitimate"....not sure where people thought early medications came from (besides penicillin from a specific mold, and ergotamine from rye bread mold, which got the whole Salem Witch trials going)....it's such a good idea to find out more about them if you take them regularly. I can take cold meds (or I"d die from my sinuses being so plugged up I'd just stop breathing), and without some Coca Cola, I"m not fit to be around (I don't do coffee, so gotta have some vice !!). There are some books out there that have some good info about herbs and supplements that include what medications may be effected by taking them together......excellent thread.

herbs can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. There have been media reports of rookies taking deadly herbs without knowing how to use them correctly (and how much).

I use homeopathic treatments (basicly natural remedies watered down). Even over the counter treatments can interact with our meds or bodies. Using any of these takes basic reading on the remedies to know the proper ones to use and at what strength.

Our AED's even will interact with one another!

When flying a decogestent I'll use to help reduce symptoms is something people tend to avoid, and I don't use it other than on commercial flights.

The main issue is to know what you can take.

--Travis