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HAVE NEW SEIZURE DRUGS IMPROVED OUTCOMES?
There is no doubt that some new, fancy and expensive anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) have been developed and marketed. It seems like neurologists actually prefer to use these new drugs over the older drugs that have had decades of use.
These new drugs can include sodium valproate (Depakote), lamotrigine (Lamictal), carbamazepine (Tegratol), levetiracetam (Keppra) or topiramate (Topamax). Compare these with some of the older mainstays like phenytoin (Dilantin).
These drugs are also being used increasingly to treat migraines and bipolar depression.
WHAT ARE THE INDICATORS FOR BRAIN DAMAGE IN MIGRAINE – (05-18-09)
Attack Frequency and Disease Duration as Indicators for Brain Damage in Migraine
Regular readers of updates know that I have a serious issue with the way we treat migraines and seizures in today’s medical environment. We don’t look at the whole person, we just try to suppress the outward manifestation of the disease state, and yet time and time again we see that this approach is NOT affecting the real problem.
These authors call migraines a progressive brain disease. What a novel but appropriate viewpoint. The overall idea is that patients with migraines need to take a serious look at their lifestyle and understand that, if changes are not made, not only their brain is at risk but also the cardiovascular system.
Seizure, Epileptic Drugs Not Working? 4 Places to Start Healing Your Brain
From the traditional medical approach to seizures and epilepsy, the foundation of the approach is anti-epileptic drug therapy (AED). This foundation is added to by brain surgery or the use of a vagal nerve stimulator implanted in the chest. That’s pretty much the armamentarium. And pretty much disappointing when you look at just how effective these approaches are. But they all leave one important thing out.
CAN A SIMPLE AMINO ACID STOP SEIZURES?
CAN A SIMPLE AMINO ACID STOP SEIZURES? I’ve always been very saddened by our approach to conditions like epilepsy and migraines in this country. We feel that if the events are halted with medications (or, horrifyingly, by surgical removal or parts of the brain) then the treatment is a success.
However, all we have done is stop one sick brain cell from transmitting it’s message to the next. The brain cell is still sick, and in many instances, is made sicker still by the meds. Instead, control of seizures is merely the first stage to healing the sickened brain cells. While I do not advocate withdrawal of seizure medication (a VERY bad idea!!), the augmentation of seizure control has been shown with progesterone (allopregnonalone is the most potent anti-seizure compound o the planet) and some other natural compounds.
This study is the beginning of looking at the amino acid glutamine to increase GABA levels, which is one of the brain’s neurotransmitter “brakes.”
ARE YOUR MIGRAINES AND SEIZURES CAUSING BRAIN DAMAGE?
ARE YOUR MIGRAINES AND SEIZURES CAUSING BRAIN DAMAGE? We’ve known the answer to this question for some time now. This study looks more in depth at the damage that seizures and migraines (YES–migraines ARE seizures) cause to the brain. The ictal periods (the time during an “event”) produce high levels of oxidative damage to the proteins, fats and DNA and this damage may leave a patient prone to further events.
The problem is that this phenomenon is NEVER addressed by neurologists–from their standpoint if a patient is not having an event they are cured. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The damage that begins during an event starts a cascade that needs to be addressed with higher levels of targeted antioxidants and a neuroprotective lifestyle (stress management, exercise, low calorie / high phytonutrient diet). Without this approach, the brain continues to suffer.
MY CHILD GETS HEADACHES–IS THIS NORMAL??
MY CHILD GETS HEADACHES–IS THIS NORMAL?? A recurrent headache in a child is never, ever acceptable. It may be something as simple as simple musculoskeletal stress that can be fixed in one visit with some soft tissue work and an adjustment, or it could be that their physiology is “not happy.” All too often I have had parents who have just dismissed their child’s headache as “normal” after taking them to their PCP. Again–there is nothing “normal” about a headache in a child (or an adult for that matter!).
In this particular study we find that kids with severe or recurrent headache or migraine were more likely to have higher levels of risk factos for cardiovascular disease. This is scary and means that if your child fits in this category a full assessment of their structure and physiology and their lifestyle needs to be done. Anything less, as far as I’m concerned, is malpractice. Unfortunately, it seems to be the standard of care in our country.
DRUG TREATMENT IN EPILEPSY AND MIGRAINES
BRAIN DAMAGE OCCURS DESPITE SUCCESSFUL DRUG TREATMENT IN EPILEPSY AND MIGRAINES. One of my continuing frustrations in our treatment of seizures (this includes true migraines) is that we view the treatement as successful if the seizures or migraines have stopped. The reality is all we’ve done is dumbed down the brain cells’ ability to communicate with one another, but have not improved the health of the neurons. In many cases it is quite the opposite.
This study adds weight to this idea in finding that treatment with one AED (Depakote) actually stopped the brain’s ability to recover from insult (plasticity) and promoted cognitive loss.
BETTER YOUR LIFESTLYE FOR MIGRAINE TREATMENT
MIGRAINE TREATMENT HAS TO INCLUDE LIFESTYLE, NOT JUST PAIN MEDICATION. I have said again and again that the treatments for a migraine have to be body-wide, that the problem is systemic but is manifesting as pain in the head. That is why patients with migraines are at increased risk of things like heart disease and stroke; in this study over twice the risk. If all we do is medicate a patient and stop the headaches, we have fixed nothing. None of the available drugs for migraine lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, so they are obviously not fixing the real problem.
Bottom line is that we HAVE to make the changes and not rely on medications. Exercise, stress reduction, evaluation and avoidance of environmental toxins, high phytonutrient diet, moving away from diabetes.
Natural Headache Cures vs Medications for Migraines
Headache sufferers can live their lives in frequent misery. While there are many natural cures for headaches that can help in the long run, tools for immediate relief of headaches are a strong need.
Far too many headache sufferers turn to medications to cure their headaches, but in no situation does the medication actually fix what is causing the headache in the first place. Many drugs use to treat headaches merely stop one brain cell from communicating with its neighbor, but do not make the original, problematic brain cell any healthier.
MORE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CAUSES OF EPILEPSY
Many doctors that deal with epileptic patients will just shake their heads and say that we really do not know what causes seizures and epilepsy. The best reply to this statement would be to ask this particular doctor what they are personally reading to keep up with the rapidly changing world of medical literature. The answer is usually less than ideal.
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