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Natural Remedies for Seizures: Is Epilepsy an Inflammatory Condition?

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The superficial understanding of epilepsy is that you have a region of brain cells that fire excessively, causing problems. If we can lock down the action of these cells, everything’s all good.

This is an incredibly simplistic view of seizures, but this is usually as far as most neurologists will get.  The entire effort of an epileptic patient is focused on controlling the seizures.  If this is successful (and, on the first shot, this happens only about 30% of the time) then everyone high-fives each other and pats each other on the back.

All of the anti-epileptic medications attempt to prevent a cell from firing in one way or another.  But, as I’ve certainly mentioned before, this does nothing to address what created the problem in the first place.  Why was this brain cell or region of brain cells “sick” to begin with?  To me, this should be the most critical question asked, yet rarely is.

My book, Migraines and Epilepsy, delves into the “why” question quite heavily.  Of critical importance is how effectively our brain cells can generate energy in the form of ATP (a process that occurs in the mitochondria—the powerhouse of the cell).  Anything that begins to disrupt the ability of the brain cell to generate the massive amount of energy that it requires to function normally is going to create a problem.

Inflammation can do just that.  It is a drag on the system, shifting needed resources to prepare to fight off some invader or other stressor.  In this particular study, the researchers looked for links between epilepsy and inflammation.

Specifically, they looked at several compounds produced by the body that are associated with inflammation, including:

  • Several interleukins (IL-6, IL6-sR, IL-1, IL-1RA and TNF-α,

In addition, since iron plays such a large role in inflammation (iron, when not attached to a hemoglobin molecule and carrying oxygen around, is a strong oxidizing agent—think rust), they looked as several markers of iron status and metabolism:

  • Hemoglobin concentration (Hgb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), hematocrit (Hct) red blood cell (RBC) count, serum iron and copper concentrations as well as several other markers looking at iron metabolism,

While all this sounds a little technical, the bottom line is that they were looking for whether or not inflammation was related to seizure severity and whether or not iron status was also related to seizure activity.

They looked at the interictal period (ictal = the time during a seizure, so “inter” ictal would be the period of time when a seizure was not occurring).  Seizures themselves create a great deal of inflammation to the brain during the ictal period, but by checking the interictal period, it is a much better reflection on what is going on in the epileptic’s physiology.

Overall, here’s what they found:

  1. There was an increase of IL-6 and a decrease of TNF-α in the epileptic patients.
  2. There were also changes in iron metabolism consistent with acute inflammation.
  3. Higher seizure frequencies were seen with higher eCp (a sign that inflammation levels were higher)
  4. Seizure frequency was also higher with lower Hgb and Hct (since these two compounds help deliver oxygen to the brain, lower levels would essentially starve the brain of oxygen and reduce the amount of energy brain cells could make),
  5. Those patients who had longer durations of epilepsy had lower levels of TNF-α.

Overall, while the results of this study are pretty detailed, the bottom line is that inflammation has a clear role to play in epilepsy.  Whether it is directly related or whether it is indirectly related by lowering the ability of red blood cells to deliver enough oxygen to the brain has yet to be seen.

What we can determine, however, is that anti-inflammatory lifestyles high in omega-3 and lower in omega-6, lower stress, unprocessed foods and contains exercise is going to have a strong benefit.  There have been studies on all these aspects, demonstrating that the better you take care of yourself, the less likely you are to have seizures.

CRP Concentrations Correlate With the Severity of Atherosclerosis – (07-24-00)

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CRP Concentrations Correlate With the Severity of Atherosclerosis

C-Reactive Protein is a marker for chronic inflammation in the body. Many experts believe that inflammation is a major contributor to heart disease. Make sure that CRP levels are checked with your cholesterol if you are at risk for heart disease.

Eur Heart J 2000;21:958-960,1000-1008 Dr. Mira-Christine Tataru from Herz- und Gefassklinik, in Bad Neustadt/Saale, and colleagues analyzed the relationship between plasma C-reactive protein levels and the severity of atherosclerosis in 1,112 male and 299 female survivors of acute myocardial infarction and in 326 male and 138 female age-matched controls without coronary disease. Confirming prior studies, Dr. Tataru and colleagues report that plasma C-reactive protein levels increase with age and are higher in smokers than in nonsmokers. Additionally, they report that C-reactive protein concentrations are higher in coronary heart disease patients than in control patients. Among survivors of acute myocardial infarction, C-reactive protein levels correlate with the angiographically detected severity of coronary heart disease. It is also noteworthy, the authors say, that C-reactive protein levels were higher not only in patients with clinically manifest atherosclerosis, but also in patients with preclinical stenoses of the pelvic and leg arteries as well as the extracranial arteries supplying the brain, or aneurysm of the abdominal aorta.

Iron may worsening inflammatory bowel disease – (07-07-00)

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Iron may worsening inflammatory bowel disease

This becomes a catch-22 because many patients with IBD are enemic. It may be possible to use a higher quality iron supplement so absorption is better and no iron will make it into the large intestine.

European Journal of Clinical Investigation 30 (6), 505-510 Iron supplements may increase disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease through the production of the hydroxyl radical. Oral as well as rectal administration of iron resulted in increased pro-inflammatory cytokine production in IL-10-/- mice. We conclude that dietary or topical administered iron increases pro-inflammatory cytokine production in the colon of IL10-/- mice. No significant increase of histological intestinal inflammation was observed.

Alzheimer’s patients have reduced activities in midlife – (04-12-01)

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Alzheimer’s patients have reduced activities in midlife

There are more and more ways to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s that are showing up in the literature. Overall, it appears that AD is an inflammatory process, and lowering your overall levels of inflammation is a good approach to lower your risk. Knowing that exercise can favorably affect inflammation, this fits well with this research study.

PNAS — Abstracts: Friedland et al. 98 (6): 3440

Read entire article here

Enhanced Progression of Early Carotid Atherosclerosis & C pneumoniae – (04-12-01)

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Enhanced Progression of Early Carotid Atherosclerosis & C pneumoniae

We are starting to see more and more evidence that an infectious etiology plays a part in heart disease. I believe that this is a big reason why mainstream medicine has such a problem with heart disease; there is no “one cause, one cure.” Inflammation, hyperinsulinemia, hypertension, oxidation of cholesterol, high homocysteine, infections…the list is quite long. An approach to heart disease prevention needs to be comprehensive and address all these factors. Putting on blinders and lowering only high blood pressure or cholesterol is not good enough.

Circulation — Abstracts: Sander et al. 103 (10): 1390

Read entire article here

Heart Disease Risks Higher for All Asthma Patients – (04-09-01)

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Heart Disease Risks Higher for All Asthma Patients

Still think our life expectancy is going to increase? Look at the number of children developing asthma and how much those numbers are increasing. No we see that patients with asthma have a 33% increase in likelihood to develop or die from heart disease. Considering that evidence suggests that asthma is an inflammatory condition, and that inflammation has been linked to heart disease, this correlation is no great leap. What this does mean is that we must stop covering up the symptoms in all of today’s chronic diseases and address the underlying biochemical faults.

(American Heart Association’s 41st Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention) Carlos Iribarren, MD, MPH, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente, found that nonsmoking patients with asthma were 33% more likely to develop — or die from — heart disease than nonsmoking patients without asthma. “This means that asthmatic patients and their doctors should be particularly careful,” says Dr. Iribarren, “not only about managing their asthma, but also about managing cardiovascular risk factors such as blood cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar.”Dr. Iribarren’s research was prompted by an interest in the “increasing realization,” as he puts it, “that heart disease is an inflammatory process. Since asthma is an inflammatory disease as well, we were interested in finding out if asthma patients had an increased risk of heart disease.”Earlier studies have indicated an excess cardiovascular mortality among patients with asthma. What is new is that the connection — and the risks — appear to be there even for nonsmokers. There have been prior studies of the link between asthma and heart disease, mostly in Europe, but none of them looked specifically at nonsmokers.”The reason to study nonsmokers is to rule out the strong influence of smoking on both asthma and heart disease,” says Dr. Iribarren. “This is an important question because asthma affects about 6% of the general population, and heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the US.”

Green Tea Preparations Protect Skin From UV Radiation Damage – (04-19-01)

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Green Tea Preparations Protect Skin From UV Radiation Damage

This article looks at topically applied green tea extract on UV associated skin damage. It would be interesting to see if oral preparations would have a similar effects. It has been shown previously that Vit C in high doses can raise the minimal erythemic dose (time to develop redness) and potentially protect against sunburn. Remember, a sunburn is basically inflammation caused by oxidative stress produced by the UV rays, and any therapy geared towards lowering inflammation and/or oxidative stress should have a protective effect.

J Am Acad Dermatol 2001;44:425-432 Topically applied extracts from green tea appear to reduce the number of sunburn cells and protect epidermal Langerhans cells from damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Dr. Craig A. Elmets, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and colleagues used extracts from green tea or one of its constituents to treat areas of the skin in six healthy volunteers. Using concentrations of the green tea preparations that ranged from 1% to 10%, the researchers applied the preparations to the backs of their subjects 30 minutes before exposing the treated areas to a “2 minimal erythema dose solar stimulated radiation.” The green tea extracts cause the erythema response to UV radiation to be inhibited, in a dose-dependent manner, the researchers report. The 10% solution offered almost complete protection at 48 and 72 hours, while the 2.5% solution “was found to provide excellent protection, and in some subjects even a 0.5% solution was able to produce a significant reduction in the sunburn response,” Dr. Elmets’ group found. The polyphenolic fractions that were the most efficient at inhibiting erythema were (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate and the (-)-epicatechin-3-gallate, however, there was little effect from (-)-epigallocatechin and (-)-epicatechin, according to the report. In addition, using the green tea extracts also reduced DNA damage, formed after UV radiation. “In an era in which the incidence of the adverse effects of UV radiation is rising at an alarming rate, the introduction of green tea preparations and other natural chemopreventive agents may prove to be a new alternative for protection from exposure to UV radiation,” Dr. Elmets and colleagues conclude.

Alzheimer’s Disease Linked to Proteins Associated With Aging – (05-21-01)

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Alzheimer’s Disease Linked to Proteins Associated With Aging

We have mentioned numerous times the link between inflammation and AD. This study provides further evidence that inflammation plays a key role in development of this disease. Aluminum has been implicated via its displacement of zinc in anti-inflammatory enzymes that protect the delicate brain tissue. Wheat allergy has been implicated via the systemic upregulation of the immune system leading to damage in the brain. As more evidence arises, we will hopefully begin to view AD as a disease of lifestyle that can be modified just like any other.

Trends in Neurosciences Alzheimer’s disease may be caused by inflammatory processes associated with aging, not by plaque-like deposits in the brain, researchers say. Scientists from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said their findings, published this week in the journal Trends in Neurosciences, still lay the blame for Alzheimer’s disease on amyloid beta, but trace the basic cause of the disease to the formation of toxic proteins rather than the build-up of plaque and tangles. “We were able to identify in laboratory test tubes a new kind of toxic activity that is implicated as a root cause of Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Caleb Finch, director of the Neurogerontology Division at the USC Andrus Center’s Gerontology Research Institute. The researchers discovered a novel form of wadded-up amyloid called “amyloid b-derived diffusible ligands” — ADDLs or “addles” for short — that form in the presence of certain inflammatory proteins in the brain.