Epilepsy Alternative Treatments

In some cases of seizure, particularly with children, a strict diet is an option for combating epilepsy.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the ketogenic Diet is high in fats but low in protein and without carbohydrates. The diet does so by encouraging the body to use fat instead of the sugar known as glucose for energy.

How exactly the diet works is unclear, but Mayo states that is effective in about 50 percent of the cases where it is applied. There are also now less strict dietary treatments that are being applied against epilepsy with some success.

The New York University Comprehensive Epilepsy Center also recommends the following complimentary and alternative therapies that may help with epilepsy:

• applied behavioral analysis therapy: specialized therapy focusing on small parts of behavior. May be beneficial to children with learning problems.
• autogenic therapy: self-hypnosis that allows a patient “a high degree of physiological and psychological self-control.”
• Ayurveda: a suite of options that involves diet, exercise, massage, breathing exercises, and more.
• biofeedback: this non-invasive treatment involves using electronic instrumentation to train a patient to improve his or her health by using signals from the body
• neurofeedback: a type of biofeedback that focuses solely on the brain
• pet therapy: specifically trained “seizure dogs” can help their owners alert them to an oncoming seizure.
• transcranial magnetic stimulation: this type of non-invasive therapy uses magnetic waves to stimulate portions of the brain, which may be helpful to target sections of the brain affected by epilepsy. This is largely an experimental treatment.