Epilepsy, Seizures and Convulsions
What Can Make Someone Susceptible to Them (Also Relevant to other Neurological Disorders)
Most of what I write about here is not entirely unique to epilepsy and seizures. Everything I mention is also related to pretty much any other neurological, mood and behavioural issue or disorder. ADHD, OCD, PMS, Anxiety, Depression and even migraines all have similar causes to seizures.
Some possible seizure triggers could be:
High levels of glutamate (causes excitation), and low levels of GABA (which is calming/sedating)
Excess Estrogen
Excessively low blood glucose/Hypoglycemia
Hyponatremia/low sodium also plays a role
Gut irritation (for example, through the toll-like receptor 4 “TLR4”)
I would like to note that I personally know someone that suffered from convulsions. His parents took him to a monastery in Greece one summer and he never had a seizure again. So while things like glutamate and GABA can certainly affect seizures and are interesting areas to look into, sometimes the solution is not purely physiological.
Glutamate and GABA Balance:
I have written about glutamate and GABA extensively in my prior articles. So please check out:
The Dance Of Glutamate and GABA
&
Having said that, I will provide a quick recap on these two neurotransmitters and some practical tips for seizure sufferers.
Glutamate in excess can cause excitation, nervousness, anxiety and seizures. Think of GABA as the “off switch” to these things. If you have seizures you would want to investigate if your glutamate is high and if your GABA is low, relative to each other.
A person suffering from convulsions then may wonder what they could do about this balance.
Vitamin B6 (P5P form - pyridoxal-5’-phosphate)
helps us convert glutamate into GABA
Helps tryptophan turn into niacin instead of quinolinic acid
Quinolinic acid increases glutamate and can cause seizures.
You do not want high quinolinic acid. Vitamin B6, B2, and magnesium keep it in check.
In studies where they give participants vitamin B6, they often coadministered it with magnesium. I think it is a good idea to take these together, to potentiate the anti-anxiety and anti-seizure effects.
Magnesium threonate, glycinate, taurate, and bicarbonate would be good forms to try. Magnesium baths (with magnesium sulfate) may also be a good idea.
Taurine, Theanine and Glycine
These are all amino acids that can be obtained from different foods and tea (theanine is from tea)
They help to increase GABA and thus protect against seizures.
They can all be supplemented.
Lemon Balm Tea
Prevents the excessive degradation of GABA, thus helping you to “hold on” to more GABA
Agmatine, Magnesium and Zinc block the NMDA
Agmatine is an amino acid, zinc and magnesium are minerals
Anything that “activates the NMDA” will lead to more glutamate, so you want things that prevent the activation of NMDA
Agmatine, magnesium and zinc, by blocking NMDA, can thus lower glutamate and this means they can help protect against seizures.
Ammonia can increase glutamate, it should be lowered.
Ceylon Cinnamon and Lithium (and maybe aspirin) can lower ammonia
Vitamin B1 is pretty good at lowering ammonia
Oxidizing carbohydrates well helps us turn ammonia into urea, please read this article to learn how: How to Utilize Glucose Well
Other Calming Teas and Herbal supplements
Chamomile, Tulsi/Holy Basil
Valerian root, Ashwagandha
Consuming enough manganese and molybdenum can help with glutamate issues
Mussels, pineapple and maple syrup are high in manganese
Gluten-free oats and legumes such as yellow split peas are good sources of molybdenum
It seems oxaloacetate may also be able to help with seizures. This is likely partly due to the fact that it can balance glutamate and GABA.
The most important nutrients needed for that enzyme are biotin and manganese. Biotin is high in egg yolks (but egg whites can deplete biotin, so always eat a whole egg, or just the yolk, never just the white) and organ meats. Manganese is very high in mussels, and there is a good amount in maple syrup, pineapple (and pineapple juice), and certain legumes like peas. Some people also supplement biotin, supplements usually come in the range of 300mcg-10,000mcg (10mg).
Estrogen excess and convulsions. Progesterone can help.
Progesterone, by itself, is very calming and pro-GABA and as a result, can help protect against seizures. However, progesterone can be converted to allopregnanolone by the 5 alpha reductase enzyme, and allopregnanolone is an extremely potent calming neurosteroid. So increasing progesterone (and thus allopregnanolone as well) should be highly therapeutic for an epileptic.
I won’t go into detail about how to increase progesterone because I have written about it in detail in my various articles, such as this one:
For the remained of this section, I will post different quotes from Ray Peat’s book “From PMS to Menopause”:
“Estrogen's nerve-exciting action is known to lower seizure thresholds; premenstrual epilepsy is probably another acute sign of the neurotoxicity of estrogen.”
“The stimulating effect some women experience when they are given large, unphysiological doses of estrogen seems to be produced partly by an effect of estrogen that resembles stimulation by cocaine. In a variety of ways, estrogen is a powerful brain excitant: it can provoke epileptic seizures. and it increases the effects of some of the excitatory substances and processes that contribute to brain aging”
“Estrogen increases the brain's susceptibility to epileptic seizures. and recent research shows that it (and cortisol) promote the effects of the which are increasingly implicated in degenerative brain diseases.”
“Experiments have shown that progesterone relieves anxiety, improves memory, protects brain cells, and even prevents epileptic seizures.”
“Because of its profound biological compatibility, the progesterone-vitamin E solution permits otherwise impossibly high doses to be given, increasing by as much as 2,000% progesterone's already dramatic effects in a wide range of major biological problems, including epilepsy, habitual miscarriages, auto-immune diseases, and cancer of the uterus, breast, and kidney.”
“The times (premenstrually, in pregnancy, around menopause, in hypothyroidism, for example) when estrogen is high and progesterone is low, are the times of increased incidence of migraines, epileptic seizures, and development of varicose veins.”
“There is increasing recognition that progesterone can cure migraines and epilepsy,”
“Since migraine and epilepsy can be debilitating, I always urge people to use progesterone to get rid of their symptoms, so they can focus on correcting the basic metabolic problems, which usually relate to diet and thyroid function.”
“I knew that intense and frequent epileptic seizures cause the exhaustion and death of brain cells. A 52-year-old woman had been having seizures for over 15 years. Her neurologist gave her a mental exam every year and considered her to be hopelessly demented. After using progesterone for a few days, she functioned normally. After about a year, she returned to graduate school at the University of Oregon, and got a master's degree with straight As.”
This is a great Ray Peat article on Epilepsy and Progesterone:
https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/epilepsy-progesterone.shtml
Ray Peat’s Progesterone dissolved in vitamin E formula product is Progest-E. This is a great option.
Low Blood Sugar/Hypoglycemia can leave you susceptible to seizures.
When our blood glucose drops, we have many mechanisms in place to increase it back to normal levels. Some people have a hard time doing this, and depending on how low their blood glucose gets, and for how long it is lower than optimal, different symptoms can occur.
“Seizures can be caused by lack of glucose, lack of oxygen, vitamin B6 deficiency, and magnesium deficiency.”
“Hypoglycemia, in itself, like oxygen deprivation, is enough to cause convulsions.”
A slightly low blood glucose level may make you irritable or “hangry”. It may make children behave badly in class.
A more severe low blood glucose level for a prolonged period of time can lead to someone fainting, a seizure, coma and in extreme cases, death.
Thus, having adequate blood glucose is clearly important. Improving your liver’s ability to hold on to stores of glucose, in the form of glycogen, can be one way to help keep your blood glucose within its normal range. The amino acid taurine may be able to help with this. Eating good food and eating enough when you eat can also help keep your blood glucose within normal ranges.
Dr. Broda Barnes in the book “Hypoglycemia, it’s not your mind it’s your liver” explains that poor thyroid function could lead to a poor ability to regulate blood sugar. He believed that many issues related to low blood glucose (ADHD, asthma, epilepsy) were all, to some degree, a result of poor thyroid function.
“Thyroid does many things to protect against seizures. It keeps estrogen and adrenal hormones low and increases the production of progesterone and pregnenolone. It facilitates retention of magnesium and of sodium, and prevents edema in a variety of ways.” - Ray Peat
Vitamin B5 is also an important nutrient for keeping blood glucose from getting too low. Pantethine is a good form of vitamin B5 to supplement if one so desires.
Low intake of sodium can also make someone more susceptible to convulsions:
”Low sodium content in the body fluids also predisposed to seizures, so that someone with hyponatremia (low blood sodium) would be more susceptible to induction of a seizure by excessive water intake.”
Some doctors and researchers have stated that hypoglycemia is due to deficiencies in manganese, chromium and zinc. I think biotin is also an important nutrient to prevent low blood sugar.
Lastly, oxaloacetate is supposedly good for normalizing blood glucose, and this is part of the reason it can help with PMS. You can supplement oxaloacetate “benaGene” is the product, or you can increase your production of oxaloacetate by consuming more biotin and manganese.
Gut inflammation can worsen or trigger a convulsion
There isn’t much to say here other than the fact that gut irritants can worsen convulsions through many mechanisms, such as by activating what is called the toll-like receptor 4, or TLR4.
More on TLR4 and epilepsy in this blog:
Epilepsy, as a result of brain injury (TBI), is caused by endotoxin receptor (TLR4)
(http://haidut.me/?p=905)
Bacterial overgrowth can cause an increase in what is referred to as “endotoxin” or LPS, “lipopolysaccharide”. Having bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine can thus potentially increase one’s susceptibility to a seizure. There are breath tests one could do to see if they have SIBO, which is “small intestinal bacterial overgrowth”. Common supplements used for SIBO would be oregano oil, ceylon cinnamon, berberine, monolaurin, caprylic acid, raw honey, garlic, boiled white button mushrooms and clove bud.
“… endotoxin can increase the susceptibility to seizures, but they can also block the ability of cells to respond to normal stimulation.” Ray Peat, Ph.D.
It is also a great idea to utilize Ray Peat’s daily raw carrot salad. The best effects can be seen if this is done daily. This is grated raw carrots, olive/coconut oil, salt and vinegar. The goal is for the salad to act like a broom sweeping the intestine. The ingredients all have synergistic effects.
“The carrot salad improves the ratio of progesterone to estrogen and cortisol, and so is as appropriate for epilepsy as for premenstrual syndrome, insomnia, or arthritis.”
Fixing a potential “leaky gut” can help. Zinc carnosine is very good for this, as is creatine and other things like collagen and glycine.
Many things can help you “block” TLR4, some examples are vitamin D, progesterone, vitamin B2, glycine, and emodin which can be obtained from aloe vera or cascara sagrada. and naltrexone (this is a prescription).
Speaking of vitamin D, here is a great blog on vitamin D minimizing seizures:
Vitamin D may be a safe, seizure-minimizing epilepsy treatment
(http://haidut.me/?p=80)
Practical Take-Aways
Vitamin B6 + magnesium can help protect against convulsions through various mechanisms
Vitamin B1, Ceylon Cinnamon, Biotin and generally doing things to improve the utilization of glucose should all be helpful when it comes to seizures.
Promoting GABA can help with epilepsy.
Taurine, Glycine, Theanine, Lemon Balm, Valerian Root, Chamomile
Agmatine, Magnesium and Zinc can help lower glutamate by blocking the NMDA. Glutamate worsens seizures.
Excess estrogen can worsen seizures, progesterone can help.
Hypoglycemia/Low blood sugar, and low sodium levels can worsen seizures.
Vitamin D may help minimize seizures.
Gut inflammation can worsen seizures.
The raw carrot salad can help if done daily. Grated raw carrots, olive/coconut oil, salt and vinegar.
*None of this is medical advice. I am not a medical professional, always talk to your doctor*
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BTW: I am a frequent guest on the podcast “Stuff Your Doctor Should Know”.
Discount code DEAN works at:
Ona’s Naturals (progesterone oil, topical progesterone and pregnenolone creams)
LifeBlud (Magnesium products, Taurine, Theanine, B vitamins, Methylene Blue)
Health Natura (oral pregnenolone, Methylene Blue)
Saturee (skin care products, desiccated liver, aged Cascara Sagrada)