“Dr. Elliott, would you be willing to manage my epilepsy without medication?”

Lesley, a 26-year-old artist, had recently moved to Santa Fe from the East Coast and needed to find a new doctor. As you can imagine, my first response was reluctance to even consider taking on a patient who refused to take medication for grand mal seizures. The idea seemed too dangerous to even consider. As I spoke to her on the phone, I shuddered as I imagined her having convulsions while driving.

Seizures occur when the brain’s electrical signaling discharges excessively, all at once. The best-known type of seizure is what’s known as tonic-clonic or grand mal, which involves whole body convulsions and temporary loss of consciousness. Other seizures are more limited in scope and may cause a temporary disturbance in consciousness, like absence seizures, aka petit mal. Another type of seizures called partial complex seizures can involve disturbances of movement, emotion, and a temporary inability to speak. The symptoms depend on where the brain is affected.

Seizures can be caused by several different conditions, including congenital brain damage, traumatic brain injury, infections, metabolic imbalances related to blood sugar and electrolytes, exposure as a young child to toxins such as aluminum and mercury in vaccines, hypoxia (inadequate oxygen to the brain), birth trauma, extremely high fevers in children (usually these febrile seizures are transitory), and brain tumors.

Lesley persisted in her intent to have me accept her as a patient. She confessed she had been off medications for several years—unbeknownst to her doctors back east—because she didn’t like the way the medications made her feel. She kept a stash of Valium in her purse and used it when she felt like she might be heading toward a seizure. The Valium prevented the seizures most of the time. But sometimes she didn’t catch the warning symptoms in time and would fall to the floor with convulsions. Witnessing the seizures struck terror in her boyfriend. Although she had begged him to never call the ambulance, he did so with each occurrence.

Lesley said she had reached a point where she could not stand doctors and hospitals. The mere thought of the emergency room filled her with anxiety.

I agreed to take Lesley on as a new patient, but warned her there was no guarantee I would agree to treat her without seizure medications.

On the initial intake I learned that Lesley’s seizure disorder stemmed from birth trauma. She had a difficult delivery with the cord wrapped tightly around her neck, impeding the supply of oxygen to the brain. On top of that, her head got stuck in the birth canal, necessitating removal with large, metal forceps.

Lesley’s mother knew something was wrong with her baby within the first few days by the high-pitched cries and the arching of the back, with momentary spells of rigidity. As a baby, Lesley cried much of the day and slept fitfully. At age six, she experienced her first full-blown grand mal seizure. No one knew what triggered the seizure. Her frightened parents took her to New York City to the best clinic on the East Coast for a full evaluation. Her neurologist said she would need to be on seizure medications the rest of her life.

A few years ago Lesley stopped the seizure medications because she said they made her feel sluggish, apathetic, and interfered with her cognitive abilities.

We struck a bargain. I agreed to be her doctor on condition she would be willing to follow a protocol that I would write up for her with the goal of raising her seizure threshold. Here is what she agreed to do:

• Everyday, without fail, she would take Magnesium L-Threonate, a type of magnesium that crosses the “blood-brain barrier,” along with magnesium glycinate, a type of magnesium that is well-absorbed and less likely to cause diarrhea. Magnesium is important for many functions in the body besides raising the seizure threshold. Other uses include treatment for lessening the frequency of migraine headaches, high blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmias, muscle spasms, leg cramps, and asthma.

• Other supplements she would take daily include B-complex and extra B-12 in the form of methylcobalamin, especially important for brain and nerve function. Omega 3 fish oils are also essential. The DHA component of the fish oil is important for the over-all health of the brain.

• She would eat two tablespoons of organic coconut oil twice a day because of the ketones it provides that are protective of the neurons in the brain. (Refer to the blog post on Reversible Dementia-Part II about how ketones protect the health of the brain.)

• She would purchase a high-quality, cold-pressed essential oil called Frankincense. Every few hours she would put a drop on her finger and place it at the opening of each nostril and take a big sniff. Frankincense has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. By sniffing the essential oil, the molecules follow the olfactory nerve directly into a part of the brain called the limbic system. From there, the molecules can diffuse to other parts of the brain. Sniffing healing substances is an effective way to have direct access to the brain.

• She would eat a ketogenic (ketone-producing) diet low in sugar and simple carbohydrates and high in vegetables and beneficial, plant-based fats, as found in the paleo diet.

• She would avoid harmful fats like fried foods, rancid oils, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats found in processed foods. The damaged fats are taken up into the cell membranes, causing the membranes to become stiff. The loss of suppleness interferes with cell-to-cell communication.

• She would include some form of protein with each meal, along with plenty of the beneficial fats. The good fats are burned as fuel by the brain and produce brain-protective ketones. The fats also help maintain steady blood sugar levels. When sugar and simple carbs are eaten, especially on an empty stomach, the blood sugar surges up, causing the insulin levels to spike, which in turn causes the sugar level to come crashing down. The roller coaster effect is destabilizing to the brain.

• She would follow a regular sleep schedule and try to avoid becoming overly tired or stressed.

• She would commit to practice some form of meditation every day, twice a day, for 30 minutes at a time. Meditation is known to stabilize the brain.

• She would get some form of exercise every day, including walking in nature. She would resume her practice of yoga and Tai Chi, effective methods of calming the nervous system.

• She would avoid all medications known to lower the seizure threshold. If in doubt, she would ask me or the pharmacist—or do her own research on the internet. And, of course, all recreational drugs and alcohol would be avoided entirely. Vaccines would have to be very carefully considered since even the “mercury-free” vaccines have a trace amount of mercury, and also contain aluminum and formaldehyde—all known neurotoxins.

• She would make every effort to avoid exposure to toxic chemicals such as solvents, fresh paints, glues, formaldehyde from outgassing new building materials, and other volatile organic compounds.

A few weeks after Lesley embarked on her new regimen, she said she felt “the best ever—more calm and peaceful with loads of energy.”

On her own, over the past few years before becoming my patient, she had already figured out some of the lifestyle habits that put her at risk for seizures. She especially knew about the risks of being overly tired and overly stressed.

During the ensuing months, Lesley rarely needed to use her Valium. After nearly a year, she had only one grand mal seizure that occurred shortly after a heated argument with her boyfriend.

Stay tuned to hear what happened to Lesley when we took her brain stabilization program to the next level using CBD-enriched hemp oil, and our exploration of a type of brain biofeedback called neurofeedback which has given significant relief for not just seizures disorders, but also other neurodegenerative disorders like traumatic brain injury, chemical-induced brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, and ADHD.

Here’s to you good health!