Epilepsie Anhang

 

Repertory:

Rickety, tuberculous, scrofulous and flabby - Calc. Sil. Sulph.

Angered - Bufo.

Antidotes of Potassium bromide = Kali-br. - Camph. Nux-v. Zinc-met.

Anxious - Calc.

Apprehensive - Calc.

Arm - rotary motion of the left arm- Stram.

Aur-a: Lasts a number of hours before the attack - Arg-n.

Begins in the brain - Cupr-met.

Begins in the solar plexus and pass upwards like a wave - Bufo. Calc. Cimic. Nux-v. Sil.

Coldness of l. side - Sil.

Feeling of coldness before an attack - Sil.

From epigastric region down to the uterus and limbs - Calc. Cupr-met. Sulph.

“As if a mouse were running up the arm previous to the attacks”. - Bell. Calc.

“As if ants crawling over the face” - Nux-v.

Epileptic attack connected with menstrual irregularities and also in epilepsy occurring at the age of puberty. - Calc. Caust.:

Heat rising from the stomach - Bell.

heavy, followed by paralysis - Plb-met.

Preceding the attacks starts from the genital organs; even during coitus the patient may be seized with violent convulsions. - Bufo.

Previous talks incoherently - Bufo.

Twitching and jerking and hunger previous to the attack - Hyos.

Vertigo - Abs.

Warm sensation rising from the stomach - Abs.

Causes: Emotions - Art-vg.

Fright - Arg-n. Art-vg. Hyos. Calc. Stram.

Indigestion - Sil.

Suppression of exanthema - Cupr-met.

of long standing eruption - Calc. Sulph.

Sclerosis - Plb-met.

Sexexcess - Calc. (follows Sulph.) Sulph.Stann-met.

Fright - Bufo.

New moon - Caust. Sil.

Puberty - Caust.

Selfabuse - Bufo.

Tumors in brain - Plb-met.

Worms - Indigo. Stann-met.

Cerebral symptoms prominent (irritation) - Bell.

Consciousness lost - Calc. Cic-v. Hydr-ac. Nux-v. Oenan. Stram.

            jerking of the head to the right - Stram.

            returning slowly - Plb-met.

clenched hands, set jaws, frothing at the mouth, inability to swallow the attack followed by great drowsiness and prostration - Hydr-ac.

Convulsions - Calc. Cupr-met. Sulph.

Begins upper extremity and ext. mouth, face and eyes - Bell.

Falls to the l. side - Sulph.

Head drawn backwards during convulsions - Bufo.

With exhaustion - Sulph.

Tonic spasm renewed by touch - Strychnia (which one?)

Thinking of fluids, even of blood, brings on convulsions. - Lyssin.

Biting on tongue - Hyos.

Breathing oppressed - Cic-v.

Cold extremities and locked jaws - Oenan.

Constipation and abdominal pain - Plb-met.

Delusions of sight and hearing - Bell. Hyos.

Depressive - Sol-c.

Despondent - Calc.

Discouraged - Arg-n.

Dreads an attack - Calc.

Eyes rotating - Cupr-met.

            dilated or irregular pupils - Oenan.

            fixed staring eyes - Cic-v.

Exhaustion - Bell.

Face and lips blue - Cupr-met.

            Flushed - Bell.

Red - Cic-v.

Swollen - Oenan.

            locked jaws and cold extremities - Oenan.

Falls while walking in the open air, but soon recovers - Caust.

Fears noises - Bell.

            darkness - Stram.

Flushes of heat seem to rise from the solar plexus to the head - Bufo.

Fretfull - Calc.

Frightened - Arg-n.

Hands restless and trembling after the attack - Arg-n.

Head drawn backwards during convulsions - Bufo.

Jerks and violent distortions - Cic-v.

"great flow of ideas and loquacity after the attack." - Agar.

Irritable - Bufo. Calc. Nux-v.

            Irritated nerves - Bell.

Memory weak - Calc.

Menstruation, at time of - Arg-n. Cupr-met. Sol-c.

Mouth frothing - Cic-v. Cupr-met. Hydr-ac. Hyos. Oenan.

            Bites tongue - Hyos.

Teeth locked - Cic-v.

Light - Bell.

Livid - Oenan.

Low-spirited - Arg-n. Bufo.

Nerves overwrought - Sil.

            Centers - Kali-m.

Night - Cupr-met. Hep. Sil.

            regular - Cupr-met.

Opisthotonos (= condition in which the body is held in an abnormal position. Person is usually rigid and arches the back, with the head thrown backward) - Cic-v.

Palpitation - Calc.

Paralysis - Sec.

Perspiration, warm afterwards - Sil.

on the head and neck - Calc.

Prostration - Chinin-ars. Cic-v. Hydr-ac.

Pupils dilated 4 - 5 days before the attack - Arg-n.

Rapid intervals - Art-vg.

Regular intervals - Cupr-met.

Relaxation on falling asleep - Calc.

Rigidity sudden, 2. jerks and violent distortions, 3. utter prostration - Cic-v.

Sad - Bufo.

Sensitive -  Bell.

Sleep disturbed - Bell.

Speech impaired slightly - Abs.

Startings, tremors and twitching - Bell.

Strange feeling in the head preceding the attack - Cic-v.

Strength sunken - Sec.

Sudden - Plb-met.

Touch < - Cic-v. Strych.

Trembling - Stram.

before - Cic-v.

            After - Cic-v.

Vehement - Bufo. Nux-v.

Vertigo - Calc.

            Preceded - Abs.

Violent - Cupr-met.

Withdrawing himself as much as possible from the outside world, brood over his affliction and become melancholic - Calc.

“As if waves in the brain” Bufo. Cimic.

                                   

Hughes: - Hydr-ac. another remedy. Cases calling for it will be characterized by

loss of consciousness, clenched hands, set jaws, frothing at the mouth, inability to swallow, and the attack followed by great drowsiness and prostration.

 

[Bertram von Zabern]

Epilepsy - Modern Insights From Paracelsian Medicine

There is something ageless about Paracelsus.x writings, comparable to the great works of art by other renaissance men.

Insights:

Threefoldness of Sulphur, Mercury, Sal,

Fourfoldness of earth, water, air and fire,

Mysteries of the inner planetary forces in the human body

wisdom that has prevailed throughout the great ancient cultures.

The arm of Paracelsus' discoveries easily reaches the 21st century, an example being numerous medicinal springs he discovered in Middle Europe, whereby he became

the founder of the science of balneology. The healing power of his spas attract more people now than ever before.

I found my way to Paracelsus as a medical student when I became particularly interested in epilepsy. I thought, if Paracelsus was the greatest physician in history, let us

look up what he had to say about the illness and its treatment. I had to plow through some strange language, where he describes how in a convulsion the "spiritus vitae" becomes trapped in an organ like the heart or the liver, whereby it generates a deadly foam rendering the patient unconscious. Those simple words led me to pictures

about the epileptic process that were alive, and confirmed what I had tried to learn from R.S.'s teachings in this field. Paracelsus' descriptions of epilepsy, like the ones

of anthroposophical medicine, touch on a holistic view of the struggle of a spiritual entity, the human self, with the barriers of the body and certain organs.

Having realized how modern a thinker and how much part of holistic medicine Paracelsus was, I became even more curious about his description of the remedy that was supposed to cure epilepsy. There was a "vitriol" that needed to be heated with the "greatest fire" for two days and two nights until an oil distilled and a "caput mortuum,"

a "skull" would remain in the retort. The distilled oil and the caput mortuum would have to be reunited and redistilled several times. Paracelsus called the remedy "arcanum vitrioli," a spiritual substance with a “secretly gold-like property” that is capable of healing epilepsy.

I had the fortunate opportunity to discuss these old scripts with Walther Cloos, who had developed many of the innovative Weleda preparations through his direct work

with Rudolf Steiner. He explained that the "vitriol" is a combination of natural salts formed by sulfuric acid and metal oxides, mainly copper oxide. By applying heat,

these salts can be separated into their original constituents. Therefore the "oil" is sulfuric acid and the "caput mortuum" consists mostly of copper oxide. The repeated distillations are not only for purification, but they are a rhythmical process of reuniting what had been separated, a form of potentizing. Walther Cloos pointed out that

such processes had to be rediscovered in order to prepare potent medications out of the spirit of nature and the human being.

What is it specifically that connects a pharmaceutical process with this spirit? The cultures of antiquity had an inkling of substances like copper and sulfur being mediators between the celestial "macrocosm," and the human being, the "microcosm." The stellar power of Venus was personified in the goddess of beauty, supposedly born at the seaside of Paphos on Cyprus, the copper island. Copper was and is seen as the metal of beauty and warmth that can heal spasms. Sol-phor was perceived as the carrier of sun heat, as its name indicates. Sulfur is impressively found as crystals, in hot springs, or as a gas wherever volcanic activity takes place. In the human body, sulfur is universally present where an active heat metabolism is required.

We are touching on one of the most actual issues of modern healthcare, the workings of the immune system. We are not surprised to find sulfur present in the inflammatory reactions of the immune system. The problem is the extent to which conventional medicine suppresses the body's ability to produce inflammatory reactions. In our medical

practices we meet children and adults who are unable to produce a healthy fever when it is needed; and they always have a low energy level. Others have "never been ill," however they develop cancer or an auto-immune disease such as multiple sclerosis. Most patients with epilepsy have a sluggish and slow metabolism. Their phlegmatic temperament at times becomes fiery and explosive, and their seizures appear as a vain attempt of the body to break through the obstacle of a bogged-down metabolism.

R.S. emphasized the restoration of the failing warmth and heat reactions, which he called the "warmth organism," to be one of the main goals in anthroposophical medicine. Through his teachings I learned to understand why Paracelsus considered his epilepsy remedy an "arcanum," that is, a substance able to transform the life of spirit, soul and body to a new state of health.

Copper sulfate is a salt that had been formed eons of times ago by sulfuric acid and copper oxide. To bring it back to its own state of origin, we need to apply the brightly glowing heat of more than 2000°F! Only then does it separate into its original components. The skill and the apparatus needed to perform this evokes our admiration for the alchemist. But the wisdom in the preparation of the "arcanum" inspires us with awe. A violent heat process is needed to rejuvenate a substance that had rested in nature for countless years. That enormous heat impact is balanced by reuniting the acid and the oxide and redistilling sulfuric acid several times at a much lower temperature.

This way the remedy is brought into the middle realm of pulsation and breathing, which the alchemists called "mercurial," the realm of true healing.

The few thoughts presented here may point towards resources that can open up new avenues for the preparation of potent medications. Substances nature offers us can

 be enhanced in their power.

A substance such as the heat carrier sulfur can be enhanced in its inherent-Power by the heat process described by Paracelsus.

It needs "a good alchemist" to prepare a "spiritual remedy," which means bringing substance into a state of harmony with the cosmic forces that also constitute the human body. The preparation discussed is now available as "Acidum sulfuricum e vitriolo" by Weleda and has helped to balance the tendency towards temper outbursts in people with epilepsy, to activate the warmth organism of patients with poor body heat and to improve multiple sclerosis. Medicine will at all times have to "pass nature's examen," the test of helping patients. Rather than becoming a technology, its challenge is to be an art working with inspiration from sources we have to discover or rediscover.

 

[Dr. Sayeed Ahmad]

Epilepsy, also called seizure disorder, chronic brain disorder that briefly interrupts the normal electrical activity of the brain to cause seizures, characterized by a variety of symptoms including uncontrolled movements of the body, disorientation or confusion, sudden fear, or loss of consciousness. Epilepsy may result from a head injury, stroke, brain tumor, lead poisoning, genetic conditions, or severe infections like meningitis or encephalitis. In over 70%t of cases no cause for epilepsy is identified.

40 to 50 million people suffer from epilepsy worldwide and the majority of cases are in developing countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 2 million new cases are diagnosed each year globally. Epileptic seizures vary in intensity and symptoms depending on what part of the brain is involved. In partial seizures, the most common form of seizure in adults, only one area of the brain is involved.

Partial seizures: simple partial, complex partial (also known as psychomotor), and absence (also known as myoclonic or petit mal) seizures.

a.) People who have simple partial seizures may experience unusual sensations such as uncontrollable jerky motions of a body part, sight or hearing impairment, sudden sweating or flushing, nausea, and feelings of fear.

b.) Complex partial seizures (= temporal lobe epilepsy), last for 1 - 2 minutes. The individual may appear to be in a trance and moves randomly with no control over body movements. The individual's activity does not cease during the seizure, but behavior is random and totally unrelated to the individual's surroundings. This form of seizure may be preceded by an aura (= sensation characterized by feelings of fear, abdominal discomfort, dizziness, or strange odors and sensations).

c.) Absence seizures, rare in adults, characterized by sudden, momentary loss or impairment of consciousness. Overt symptoms are often as slight as an upward staring of the eyes, a staggering gait, or a twitching of the facial muscles. No aura occurs and the person often resumes activity without realizing that the seizure has occurred.

Second type of epilepsy = generalized seizure, tonic clonic, grand mal or convulsion, the whole brain is involved. This type of seizure is often signaled by an involuntary scream, caused by contraction of the muscles that control breathing. As loss of consciousness sets in, the entire body is gripped by a jerking muscular contraction. The face reddens, breathing stops, and the back arches. Subsequently, alternate contractions and relaxations of the muscles throw the body into sometimes violent agitation such that the person may be subject to serious injury. After the convulsion subsides, the person is exhausted and may sleep heavily. Confusion, nausea, and sore muscles are often experienced upon awakening, and the individual may have no memory of the seizure. Attacks occur at varying intervals, in some people as seldom as once a year and in others as frequently as several times a day. About 8% of those subject to generalized seizures may have status epilepticus, in which seizures occur successively with no intervening periods of consciousness. These attacks may be fatal unless treated promptly with the drug diazepam.

Diagnosis:

In persons suffering from epilepsy, the brain waves, electrical activity in the part of the brain called the cerebral cortex, have a characteristically abnormal rhythm produced by excessive electrical discharges in the nerve cells. Because these wave patterns differ markedly according to their specific source, a recording of the brain waves, known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) is important in the diagnosis and study of the disorder. Diagnosis also requires a thorough medical history describing seizure characteristics and frequency.

Treatment:

There is no cure for epilepsy but symptoms of the disorder may be treated with drugs, surgery, or a special diet. Drug therapy is the most common treatment-seizures can be prevented or their frequency lessened in 80 – 85% of cases by drugs known as anticonvulsants or antiepileptics. Surgery is used when drug treatments fail and the brain tissue causing the seizures is confined to one area and can safely be removed. A special high-fat diet known as a ketogenic diet produces a chemical condition in the body called ketosis that helps prevent seizures in young children. Like any medical condition, epilepsy is affected by general health. Regular exercise, plenty of rest, and efforts to reduce stress can all have a positive effect on a person with a seizure disorder.

First aid for generalized seizures involves protecting the individual by clearing the area of sharp or hard objects, providing soft cushioning for the head, such as a pillow or folded jacket and, if necessary, turning the individual on the side to keep his or her airway clear. The individual having a seizure should not be restrained and the mouth should not be forced open-it is not true that a person having a seizure can swallow the tongue. If the individual having the seizure is known to have epilepsy or is wearing epilepsy identification jewelry, an ambulance should only be called if the seizure lasts longer than 5 minutes, another seizure closely follows the first, or the person cannot be awakened after the jerking movements subside.

 

Allopathic treatment:

 

Tergretol = Carbamazepine

This is a powerful anti-epileptic drug with a wide range of activity. It is available as white tablets of two strengths (100 mg and 200 mg), and is usually given 2x daily.

If the dose is too high, the patient may appear to be "drunk", with drowsiness, lack of co-ordination in walking, etc. Reduction of the dose, based on blood levels, is all that is required.

Side effects (unwanted symptoms occurring in someone whose levels are correct) are common in the first few days or week or two (giddiness and light headedness, mild nausea, and dryness of the mouth). These usually disappear within a few days. They are less likely to occur if Tegretol is introduced in a gradual way. A measles-like rash sometimes occurs during Tegretol treatment, and in this event, Tegretol must be replaced by another anti-epileptic drug. Serious side effects are fortunately rare (jaundice due to liver involvement, and lowering of the white cell count of the blood, resulting in persistent ulceration of the throat and mouth).

The manufacturers recommend that blood tests (full blood count, tests of liver and kidney function) be carried out before starting Tegretol, and that the full blood count be repeated weekly for the first month of treatment, then monthly for the first year.

In practice, Tegretol side effects are usually mild, and disappear within the first week or two. It is arguably the most powerful and useful anti-epileptic drug currently available.

Epilim = Sodium valproate

An useful drug with a wide range of anti-epileptic activity. It is thought to act by increasing the brain's levels of GABA.

It is usual to give Epilim 2x daily, with meals, with roughly 12 hours between doses.

Mild side effects (nausea and diarrhea) in the first few days, are common. A fine tremor of the hands is often noticed in patients taking Epilim over the long term. Weight gain and loss of hair (usually reversible) can also occur.

Very rarely: acute liver disease, and there have been instances of acute liver failure, some fatal. Small children and infants with serious underlying medical conditions are most at risk. The question of the safety of Epilim has received careful study by Australian health authorities, and its continued use has been endorsed, for it is in practice a widely used, effective, and well tolerated medication.

It is suggested that Epilim be avoided in patients with a history of liver disease, and that blood tests to check liver function and the level of platelets in the blood (sometimes reduced by Epilim) be carried out before starting treatment, and repeated after one month's treatment, and thereafter at intervals of not more than 6 months. Minor abnormalities of liver function are common in patients taking most anti-epileptic drugs, but evidence of increasing abnormality would require substitution of Epilim.

Symptoms of this rare complication of liver failure include severe nausea persistent abnormal pain, jaundice (yellowish discoloration of the skin), severe nausea, weakness and tiredness, and swelling of the face. Any of these symptoms should be reported to the treating doctor.

Dilantin = Phenytoin sodium

This is the oldest of the effective major anti-epileptic drugs. It is still one of the most potent in preventing major seizures of tonic-clonic and other types, but its troublesome side effects have meant that the other, newer drugs such as Tegretol and Epilim are usually selected instead. Dilantin has a powerful action in controlling seizures, very useful as an additional drug where seizures cannot be controlled by one drug alone, or when it is not intended to continue treatment over a very long period (for example, when anti-epileptic drugs are given routinely for a year or two after brain surgery).

Dilantin overdose produces symptoms similar to drunkenness, with drowsiness, unsteadiness on the feet, etc. Blood levels of Dilantin will indicate the true picture.

Short term side effects of Dilantin are not usually a problem, but side effects developing gradually over a period of years do present serious objections to its long term use, especially as other effective anti-epileptic drugs which do not have these problems are now available. These long-term side effects of Dilantin are the growth of hair on the face, arms and legs, especially in female patients of dark complexion, unhealthy overgrowth of the gums, with a tendency for them to bleed, and mental sluggishness and loss of memory.

If Dilantin is to be taken over a long period, special attention should be paid to brushing the teeth and generally maintaining good oral hygiene. An uncommon complication of Dilantin therapy is the development of an allergic measles like rash, which requires substitution of the drug with another.

Zarontin = Ethisyxunudem

Effective in controlling only absence seizures (formerly known as "petit mal"). As this form of epilepsy begins in childhood,

Side effects are not common, but include nausea and digestive upset, drowsiness and sleep disturbance.

Benzodiazepine Drugs

These drugs have sedative and anti-anxiety properties as well as being anti-epileptic. They are in fact only fairly weak drugs against epilepsy, while their tendency to produce sedation and dependency greatly limit their usefulness. In practice, these drugs should never be used as a first choice, but rather reserved for those situations where epilepsy remains uncontrolled despite treatment with adequate doses of other anti-epileptic drugs.

Benzodiazepine

 

An effort should be made to change every patient still taking these drugs over to one of the newer anti-epileptic medications, difficult as this might be.

Barbiturate anti-epileptic drugs still available include:

Prominal = Methylphenobarbitone.

Mysoline = Primidone.

Phenobarbitone

 

Other Drugs

Ospolot = Sulthiame, Bayer Pharmaceuticals

This drug may have a special value in controlling epilepsy in intellectually disabled, aggressive children. It is not a very effective anti-epileptic, and is not widely used.

 

The Newest Anti-epileptic Drugs

These drugs are the outcome of research aimed at suppressing seizures by either increasing inhibition (through enhancing the activity of the natural inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, or simulating its action); or, alternatively, reducing the effectiveness of natural excitatory neurotransmitters, such as glutamate.

 

Homeopathic treatment:

Calc.:

With its rickety, tuberculous, scrofulous and flabby symptoms, its characteristic deficiency of lime assimilation, as shown in children by the open fontanelles and backward dentition, will frequently be the remedy with which to commence the treatment. The characteristic relaxation on falling asleep and the sweating of the head and neck are fine indications for its use. It has an excellent clinical record. A epileptic suffering continually from the dread of an attack will withdraw himself as much as possible from the outside world, brood over his affliction and become melancholic, and there is no other remedy so well adapted to this condition as Calc. Its anxiety, palpitation, apprehensive mood despondency, fretfulness and irritability, its weakness of memory, its loss of consciousness, its vertigo and convulsions are prominent and characteristic indications for its use in epilepsy. If epilepsy be caused by fright, suppression of some long standing eruption, onanism or venereal excess it will probably be one of the remedies to use in the course of the treatment, and here it would follow Sulphur well. The aura may begin in the solar plexus and pass upwards like a wave, or go from the epigastric region down to the uterus and limbs. Like Sulphur “As if a mouse were running up the arm previous to the attacks”.

Caust.:

Closely allied to Calc., indicated in epilepsy connected with menstrual irregularities and also in epilepsy occurring at the age of puberty.

Bufo:

Epilepsy arising from fright, or self-abuse, or sexual excesses. The aura preceding the attacks starts from the genital organs; even during coitus the patient may be seized with violent convulsions. In another form for which Bufo is suitable the aura starts from the solar plexus. Previous to the attacks, the patient is very irritable, often talks incoherently and is easily angered. It is especially in the sexual form, that brought on by masturbation, that Bufo is signally useful. It has also proved useful in severe cases in children where the head in the convulsion is drawn backwards. Indigo has epileptiform convulsions from the irritation of worms, but the patient must be low-spirited and sad-- "blue as indigo." It is the "bluest remedy in the materia medica." Dr. Colby, of Boston, considers it superior to the bromides. Flushes of heat seem to rise from the solar plexus to the head and there is an undulating sensation in the brain similar to Cimicifuga. Bufo, like Nux vomica, is vehement and irritable.

Bufo. Nux-v. Cimic. Sil. Calc. have the aura starting from the solar plexus.

Stann-met. a remedy for epilepsy arising from reflex irritation, as from worms and also from sexual complications.

Cupr-met.:

A very deep-acting remedy, its well-known power of producing convulsions and spasms and an excellent clinical record make it a valuable remedy in epilepsy. Poisonous doses of Cuprum cause epileptic symptoms, and it is among the most curative remedies for epilepsy in child life. The convulsions start form the brain, though the aura, which is one of long duration, seems to center in the epigastrium. Owing to this long duration of the aura consciousness is not immediately lost, and the patient will often notice the contractions in the fingers and toes before they become unconscious. The face and lips are very blue, the eyeballs are rotated, there is frothing at the mouth and violent contractions of the flexors. The attacks starts with a shrill cry and the cases are most violent and continued. It is also a remedy for nocturnal epilepsy when the fits occur at regular intervals, such as the menstrual periods. Epileptiform spasms during dentition or from retrocessed exanthema may indicate Cuprum.

[Dr. Halbert]:

Cuprum will stop the frequency of the attacks more satisfactorily than any other remedy, it is his sheet anchor in old and obstinate cases.

Butler: claims his best results from this remedy.

Arg-n. the strong indicating features being the dilated pupils 4 - 5 days before the attack, and the restlessness and trembling of the hands after the attack. Menstrual and fright epilepsies often call for this remedy the characteristic being the aura, which lasts a number of hours before the attack. Moral causes may lead to an attack. Patient is low spirited, easily discouraged and frightened.

Œnan.:

Perhaps no remedy more closely pictures epilepsy. Its use in the disease has been mainly from clinical data, but there is ample proof from studying toxic cases that it is homœopathic to many cases of epilepsy.

The reliable and practical symptoms: Sudden and complete loss of consciousness; swollen livid face; frothing at the mouth; dilated or irregular pupils; convulsions with locked jaws and cold extremities.

[Dr. S. H. Talcott]: his experience with the remedy as follows:

1. The fits decrease in number 40 – 50%.

2. The convulsion are less severe than formerly.

3. There is less maniacal excitement before the fits.

4. Less sleeplessness, stupor and apathy after the fits and the debilitating effects of the attacks are more quickly recovered from.

5. The patients treated with Œnanthe are less irritable, less suspicious and less fault finding.

6. The patients are more easily cared for.

Art-vg.: epilepsy from fright or some mental emotion, where the attacks occur in rapid succession, and also in petit mal, where the patient is unconscious only for a few seconds and then resumes his occupation as if nothing had happened.

Artemisia absinthium indicated in seizures preceded by vertigo, a warm sensation rising from the stomach, and by a slight impairment of speech, and Sol-c. are also remedies which in some cases have wrought cures, the latter according to Dr. Halbert, of Chicago. Melancholia seems to be an indication and also attacks appearing at menstrual periods. Verbena hastata is also recommended, but no special indications are to be found.

Kali-br.:

Should have no place in the homœopathic treatment of epilepsy; it is given here because it is the principal drug employed by the allopathic school, and because nearly all cases coming to us for treatment from old school hands are liable to be complicated by a previous treatment with the bromides, notable the Bromide of Potash (= Kali-br.). It is not a curative remedy, but a palliative one; it strikes at the attack and not the disease. It will often modify the attacks, and used as a prophylactic may avert the seizure, but its prolonged use works inevitable harm. It weakens the mental faculties and hastens imbecility.

Camph.: preventing the attacks, shorten the duration and lessen the intensity. It is indicated by all the characteristic of epilepsy and hence is a safer prophylactic than the Bromide of potash.

Camph., Nux-v. and Zinc-met. mentioned as antidotes for the abuse of the Bromide of Potash. Bromide acne is often present in cases coming to us from old school hands.

Sil.:

Suits scrofulous and rickety subjects. The aura starts from the solar plexus (Bufo/Nux-v.). Certain phases of the moon are said to affect the attacks, which are brought on by an overstrain of the mind or emotions. Nocturnal epilepsy, feeling of coldness before an attacks is also characteristic of the drug, and the fit is followed by warm perspiration. An exalted susceptibility of the upper spinal cord and the medulla and an exhausted condition of the nerves. The attacks occur about the time of the new moon. Comes after Calc. in inveterate chronic cases, and coldness of the left side of the body preceding the attack is very characteristic.

Cupr-met.: a remedy for nocturnal epilepsy and must be thought of when attacks invariably occur in the night.

Bayes: regards muscular convulsions as a specially prominent symptom for Cuprum.

Nux-v.:

The characterizing feature of epilepsy is loss of consciousness, therefore, Nux vomica is not often a remedy in the idiopathic form. Cases arising from an excess of the reflex action caused, for instance, by indigestion. The aura starts in the solar plexus, and among the most characteristic symptoms “As if ants crawling over the face).

The middle and higher potencies will be found more useful in the spinal form of epilepsy, and this is the form most suitable to Nux-v.

Plb-met. has caused epilepsy/attack preceded by a heaviness of the legs and followed by paralysis; epileptic seizures from sclerosis, or from tumors of the brain, consciousness returning slowly after an attack is another indication and it is more suitable to the chronic forms of the disease. Constipation and abdominal pains further indicate.

Sec. recommended for sudden and rapidly recurring convulsions, with rapid sinking of strength and paralysis of the spinal nerves.

Cic-v.:

Sudden rigidity followed by jerks and violent distortions, and these followed by utter prostration. The prostration characteristic (equalled only by Chinin-ars.)

There is a tonic spasm renewed by touch simulating Strychnia; but in Cicuta there is loss of consciousness, thus resembling more the epileptiform. There is great oppression of breathing, lockjaw, face dark red, frothing at the mouth and Opisthotonos (= a condition in which the body is held in an abnormal position. Person is usually rigid and arches the back, with the head thrown backward). The reflex excitability is much less than under Strychnia. Another characteristic of Cic-v. fixed staring eyes; others are trembling before and after the spasm and strange feeling in the head preceding the attack.

Sulph.:

Like Calc., is Sulph. a constitutional or basic remedy, and it will act well where there is a scrofulous taint. It is useful for the same class of cases as Calc.; namely, those brought on by sexual excesses or the suppression of some eruption. The convulsions are attended with great exhaustion and it is suitable to the chronic form of epilepsy in children who are typical Sulphur patients. There is perhaps a tendency to fall to the left side. Sulph. also a useful intercurrent remedy in the course of the treatment of an epilepsy. Psor. may also be needed as an intercurrent.

Hyos.:

In epileptic convulsions a most valuable remedy. Much twitching and jerking and hunger previous to the attack, there is frothing at the mouth and biting of the tongue.

A violent fright will produce an attack calling for Hyos. The convulsions seem to have more of a hysterical nature, and there are illusions of sight and hearing.

Stram. has epilepsy from fright, sudden loss of consciousness and jerking of the head to the right, with rotary motion of the left arm/= opposite of Bell.,

Stram.. fears darkness and hates to be alone; he acts like a coward and trembles and shakes.

Agar.. cured a case of epilepsy of 22 years' standing for Dr. Winterburn. He was led to its prescription by the unusual symptom of "great flow of ideas and loquacity after the attack."

Bell. shuns light, fears noises and is sensitive in the highest degree,

Remedy for acute epilepsies, when the cerebral symptoms are prominent, where the face is flushed and the whole trouble seems to picture cerebral irritation/patient is young. An aura “As if a mouse were running over an extremity” or heat rising from the stomach. Illusions of sight and hearing, and the convulsions apt to commence in an upper extremity and ext. mouth, face and eyes. The great irritability of the nervous system, the easily disturbed sleep, the startings, the tremors and twitching and the general Belladonna symptoms will render the choice easy.

Atrop.. (alkaloid of Bell.) also been used successfully in the treatment of epilepsy.

[Hughes]

Hydr-ac.. another remedy. Cases calling for it will be characterized by loss of consciousness, clenched hands, set jaws, frothing at the mouth, inability to swallow, and the attack followed by great drowsiness and prostration. Child disinclined to play and take but little interest in anything.

Caust.:

In Petit mal = patient falls while walking in the open air, but soon recovers. It is said to be useful when the attacks occur at new moon. It menstrual epilepsy and that occurring at puberty.

Kafka: Hep. nocturnal epilepsy.

Caust. perhaps better suited to recent and light cases.

Kali-m.. a most useful; it has an affinity for the nerve centers and is slow acting.

 

[Peter Hinderberger, M.D., Ph.D.]

RS.: In the third curative education gives a picture of epilepsy:

The epileptic is able to dive down with his ego-organization and astral body into the physical body and ether body - that, he can do; but he does not come forth into the physical world, he is held fast within. Let us consider then how it will be if the astral body enters into the lung, and is holdfast there, cannot get out again. The astral body will remain pressed against the surface of the lung: astral body and ego-organization will be, so to speak, dammed up, congested beneath the surface of the organ.

This condition then manifests outwardly as a fit. That is what fits really are. Every time a fit occurs, an inner congestion is taking place at the surface of one or another organ. These congestions are to be found, above all, in the brain. But we know how the parts of the brain are related to the other parts of the body; a congestion in the brain may be due entirely to the fact that congestion is present in the liver, or in the lung, in which case the cerebral congestion is only a projection, a feebler copy of the congestion in the bodily organ.

Besides RS.'s description of epilepsy we need to understand why this patient became ill in the first place. This will help us determine where in the physical body the astral body is "damned up", and only then can we look to nature to find the corresponding plant.

There is a theme that goes through her biography: rejection and disappointed love/inability to love. Her mother was only nice to her when the patient was sick. She ran away at age 16 and got married at age eighteen in her restless quest for love. When the seizures started she was without friends, her husband was always away, and her two year old daughter turned against her. Her intimate relationships were unstable, and her desire to be filled up with "food, men and babies" came out of this lack and desire for love. Obviously her rhythmic system - especially her heart - needed primary healing.

Where in nature can we find a plant that "simulates " the illness picture of this patient? We need to find a plant that has a "compressed" astrality within and works primarily on the rhythmic system.

Plant: RS. prescribed Belladonna +/o. Hyoscyamus repeatedly - in cases of epilepsy. The nightshade family presents itself as an ideal plant family for seizures, because of the strong astrality contained in the alkaloids and solanines. In this patient's case, her extreme desire for darkness could also point us into the direction of the solanaceae.

A plant that works especially on the rhythmic system is Hyoscyamus niger. It is the mediating plant in Cardiodoron and Plantago Primula cum Hyoscyamus. It does not have a strong root system like Mandragora and does not express itself through striking blossoms. The first impression of Hyoscyamus is that of a very strong rhythmic structure: there is an abundance of leaves but contained in a well defined rhythmic order.

RS.: astrality is compressed in henbane. He describes the action in this plant in the human organism as follows:

"Suppose some human being has a brain with a structure that is not properly maintained. He tends to lapse into clouded, somnolent states because his astral body is not established firmly enough in the physical body of his brain. He drinks the juice of henbane and that produces in him a firm plant form which in turn gives rise to a strong negative. And so by energizing the etheric body of his lower body and bringing into it a firm form through the taking of henbane, clearly denned thoughts may arise in a person whose brain was, so to speak, too soft, and the clouded state may pass away."

Can it be that in this patient the astral body is not "firmly established" in the brain because it is held back and compressed in the heart?

Repertorization:

Using the classical homeopathic approach by repertorizing the symptoms, Hyoscyamus comes up very strongly, too: it is listed under convulsions- without consciousness, during menses, during sleep, photophobia; involuntary urination during convulsions. Quite a few remedies are listed under these rubrics. However there are two rubrics that characterize this case perfectly: convulsions from disappointed love, and catalepsy from remitted love. Only Hyoscyamus is listed in the first, and only Hyoscyamus and Lachesis are listed in the latter rubric.

Treatment:

Considering the hereditary disposition and the questionable compliance due to the arrhythmic lifestyle of this patient I decided to give one dose of Hyoscyamus 200C.

Follow up:

7-14-88 She had 2 episodes of what she described "like a seizure coming on, but did not." She lost her ability to palmread, "but I feel I am further along on the spiritual path."

I see her regularly, because I see her two young children as patients. So far (as of 8-94) she has not had another seizure since the initial visit. Her lifestyle is more rhythmic, and she is more grounded. However she still has a long way to go to find the trust and love she lost.

 

 

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