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Are you prone to a problem with 'Epilepsy'?
Find your imbalances and create a diet for your Mind Stress Sleep by taking the
free mind stress sleep quiz:
Ayurvedically, a seizure may represent a kind of nervous system colic. The nervous system fires asynchronously, leading to twitching. The recovery stage resembles a reboot of the nervous system. This "reboot" takes time as all systems resynchronize. Awareness starts as a dot then expands slowly to include all systems.
Epilepsy is called Apasmara (Apa = loss, smara = memory, intelligence and/or consciousness) in Ayurveda, and classified as a vata disorder. In Chinese medicine, a seizure is related to heat in the heart.
There are many types of seizures. Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME) is due to chemical malfunction of nervous system, suspected to be systemic and genetic. In one type, a genetic defect causes immature development of the pores in the cell membrane of the nerve axon. As a result, the cell is unable to keep sodium ions from permeating the membrane, disrupting the function of the potassium channel. This makes the nerve fire more often.
Flashing lights may trigger a seizure due to an effect called "cortical driving."
Acute Seizure
If you see a person having a seizure, call 911 immediately. During the seizure keep head forward, lay the person on their side so they don't aspirate saliva or vomit into the lungs. Do not attempt CPR or heimlich (but check breathing to make sure they are not choking). Do not stick anything in the person's mouth.
If the seizure lasts for a longtime (15+ minutes) it can cause hypoxia if the person is unable to breathe well. At the emergency room, doctors may order various tests including an EKG, cat scan, blood test, urine test, and a neurological exam. These tests rule out causative factors. Then, they may recommend an appointment with a neurologist for further testing (EEG, MRI).
If no causative factors are found, it may be epilepsy. Epilepsy is confirmed by two or more episodes of seizures. The probability of a second seizure within one year is 25%, and 45% within 3 years. Unprovoked seizures are most common in infants and at puberty. Infection b y tapeworm (Neurocystericercosis) is the most common cause of epilepsy in many tropical countries as well as some isolated areas of the U.S.
Nonpharmcological treatment
Nonpharmacological treatment of epilepsy includes surgery, vagal nerve stimulation, ketogenic diet, and other alternative/complementary therapies, e.g., yoga, Ayurveda, electroencephalography (EEG) biofeedback technique, aerobic exercise, music therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, acupuncture, and herbal remedies (traditional Chinese medicine). (source: Nonpharmacological treatment of epilepsy)
Ayurvedic Approach
Please review and research the ideas below to determine their suitability for your health and wellness. Please contact your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness.
Avoid Triggers
Keep a journal to record potential triggers. Note time of year, time of day, what the person was doing, recent foods, and where the seizure occurred. Some common triggers include lack of sleep, alcohol, Tamiflu, fever, stress, premenstrual, mirrors, and flashes of light.
Maintain a Relaxed, Balanced & Resilient Nervous System
Research the following techniques below to support the nervous system as much as possible, which may reduce the number and length of seizures.
Monitor Your Nervous System
There are many potential causes of nervous system upset, and these have to be determined on an individual basis.
Notice in general when your nervous system is tense, or "off". Then take simple measures to relax and/or restore balance generally. Set a "wellness checkin" alarm every few hours to 1) self monitor how you feel, 2) move lymph and 3) detox: stretch, drink some water, walk around, etc.
If you notice time "skips", that you are staring, making chewing movements, or posture seems unusually erect, a seizure may be immanent. Get to the ground. Smell an essential oil like mint or even a dirty shoe (olfactory stimulation can abort a seizure).
Support Your Nervous System
Relax
Release tension with deep breaths. Stretch your muscles. Use various contemplative and self awareness techniques to manage and process stress. Antispasmodic herbs and nervines such as lemon balm, shankhapushpi, kava, and cloves may be helpful to prevent the nervous system from going haywire. Mozart's Sonata For Two Pianos In D Major, K448 has been scientifically proven to reduce seizures.
Keep Blood Chemistry Balanced
Colic & asynchronous nerve firings may be reduced by keeping blood chemistry balanced.
Stay hydrated. Keep electrolytes balanced. Keep blood sugar levels low by avoiding sugars and carb heavy diet.
Daily exercise helps to move blood & lymph, flushing toxins out of the body and refreshing the whole system. Generally, follow a healthy diet & lifestyle.
Alterative herbs such as amalaki are known to regulate blood chemistry.
Good bowel habits
Avoid foods that cause gas and/or fermentation in the gut. This fermentation creates toxicity which stress the body and the nervous system in particular. Sit on the toilet for ten minutes every morning to encourage regular movements
Sleep Habits
Poor sleep aggravates the nervous system. Learn techniques to improve sleep, as well as how to stay relaxed when not sleeping. Avoid screens after 8pm to encourage a good night's sleep.
Protect the hippocampus and nervous system from oxidative stress and inflammation using flavonoids, antioxidants, and neuroprotectives such as Centella asiatica.
Disclaimer: 'Epilepsy' could be serious and should be checked by a medical doctor.
Augment your diet with these specially chosen ingredients below which may be useful for 'Epilepsy'.
Individual results vary depending the cause of your imbalance and by constitution.
Please research the ingredients below to find which are most helpful for you, and check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine.
We will use this information to better predict food that helps you.
Ojas
OJAS
Ojas is the essence of healthy tissue, immunity, stable energy and happiness. Substances that improve ojas are recommended after long-term illness, debility, emotional and physical trauma, and even sadness.
Encourages feelings of stability and heaviness. Makes you feel settled, mentally relaxed. Mildly sedates the nervous system to ease stress. Can bring a spacey or anxious person back to earth. Reduces agitation, irritation, stress and racing thoughts.
Sedative herbs create a sense of calm in the mind and body by specifically calming or quieting the nervous system. Excellent for anxiety, stress and chronic pain.
An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits oxidation. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals that lead to a chain reaction causing damage or death to cells. Antioxidants terminate these oxidation reactions.
GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, reduces nerve excitability. It is the body's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. Thus, it promotes relaxation, calm, and sleep.
In Ayurveda, oily refers to anything moistening. More specifically, oily refers to building substances that increases fat, or are themselves fatty. For example, sugar is Oily.
Herbs or spices with volatile essential oils that present strong aromas. Aromatic oils shock, refresh and numb tissue, with the end result of relaxing, opening and clearing stagnant fluids in tissues.
Sedative herbs create a sense of calm in the mind and body by specifically calming or quieting the nervous system. Excellent for anxiety, stress and chronic pain.
Encourages feelings of stability and heaviness. Makes you feel settled, mentally relaxed. Mildly sedates the nervous system to ease stress. Can bring a spacey or anxious person back to earth. Reduces agitation, irritation, stress and racing thoughts.
GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, reduces nerve excitability. It is the body's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. Thus, it promotes relaxation, calm, and sleep.
Ojas is the essence of healthy tissue, immunity, stable energy and happiness. Substances that improve ojas are recommended after long-term illness, debility, emotional and physical trauma, and even sadness.
An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits oxidation. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals that lead to a chain reaction causing damage or death to cells. Antioxidants terminate these oxidation reactions.
Flavonoids are a colorful type of polyphenol. As all polyphenols, they have a strong antioxidant effect. Many flavonoids have an anti-inflammatory, and/or antiallergen effect.
In Ayurveda, oily refers to anything moistening. More specifically, oily refers to building substances that increases fat, or are themselves fatty. For example, sugar is Oily.
Herbs or spices with volatile essential oils that present strong aromas. Aromatic oils shock, refresh and numb tissue, with the end result of relaxing, opening and clearing stagnant fluids in tissues.
DISCLAIMER: The pathogenesis of each person's condition is unique, and so the diet must be fit to the individual and the unique root causes of the condition in your body.
The information on this page is for educational purposes only and should not be used to treat a medical condition. It is not a substitute for medical care.
Please check with your doctor before making any changes to your health and wellness routine.
Balance Your Body with Diet, Herbs, & Lifestyles Having These Biocharacteristics
Everything you eat has an effect on your body, which Ayurveda categorizes in a simple and easy way, using biocharacteristics (gunas).
Biocharacteristics are qualities (like cold and hot) that describe the effect a food or herb has on your body.
Cooling foods like cucumber, decrease metabolism.
Heating foods like chili pepper, stimulate your body and increase metabolism.
For 'Epilepsy', you should select foods with the following biocharacteristics.
Individual results will vary, based on your body type and the root cause of your imbalance.
FOODS TO FAVOR
MATCH WITH YOUR WELLNESS PROFILE
HEAVY
ABOUT HEAVY BIOCHARACTERISTIC
Heavy is identified by sedation, sluggishness, or increased weight.
Take these quizzes
to find out if you have an imbalance of 'Heavy' guna
OILY
ABOUT OILY BIOCHARACTERISTIC
In Ayurveda, oily refers to anything moistening. More specifically, oily refers to building substances that increases fat, or are themselves fatty. For example, sugar is Oily.
Encourages feelings of stability and heaviness. Makes you feel settled, mentally relaxed. Mildly sedates the nervous system to ease stress. Can bring a spacey or anxious person back to earth. Reduces agitation, irritation, stress and racing thoughts.
GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, reduces nerve excitability. It is the body's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. Thus, it promotes relaxation, calm, and sleep.
Sedative herbs create a sense of calm in the mind and body by specifically calming or quieting the nervous system. Excellent for anxiety, stress and chronic pain.
An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits oxidation. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals that lead to a chain reaction causing damage or death to cells. Antioxidants terminate these oxidation reactions.
Ojas is the essence of healthy tissue, immunity, stable energy and happiness. Substances that improve ojas are recommended after long-term illness, debility, emotional and physical trauma, and even sadness.
Flavonoids are a colorful type of polyphenol. As all polyphenols, they have a strong antioxidant effect. Many flavonoids have an anti-inflammatory, and/or antiallergen effect.
EPILEPSY IS IN STAGE OF DISEASE #4 - TISSUE DISEASE
If you have symptoms in this category it means your imbalances have overwhelmed your body's resistance causing a full-fledged disease.
Once imbalance reaches this stage it is more likely to cause acute or chronic conditions.
You might be tempted to focus your attention on fighting symptoms in this category, but dismiss earlier warning signs of imbalance - i.e. symptoms in the stage 1 category.
It is ideal to find and address the root causes weakening your system and remove them first.
This ensures you are not adding fuel to the fire of disease.
Once the root causes are removed, you can work on addressing the disease head on along with strengthening your body.
This typically yields a quicker recovery and prevents recurrence.
Ayurveda's preventative approach suggests you pay careful attention to every stage of disease development.
(See all disease stages on JB)
AVOID DIETS, LIFESTYLES & HERBS THAT AGGRAVATE THESE EFFECTS
According to Ayurveda, one or more of the following
doshas
and biocharacteristics may aggravate 'Epilepsy'.
If you have an excess of one of these doshas or biocharacteristics below, Ayurveda recommends reducing foods and lifestyle habits that aggravate them.
Click on the biocharacteristic to learn what foods and
lifestyle habits should be reduced.
Symptoms Tell A Story
The first step to healing is learning patterns from your symptoms.
Symptoms are clues that reveal underlying imbalances.
Symptoms show you where your body is weakened.
Ultimately, all disease has a root in tissues too weak to defend itself.
Ayurveda describes these patterns of weakness using doshas & biocharacteristics.
If you notice a biocharacteristic or dosha appears next to many of your symptoms,
it helps you establish a pattern that may be systemic.
Are you prone to a problem with 'Epilepsy'?
Find your imbalances and create a diet for your Mind Stress Sleep by taking the
free mind stress sleep quiz:
The following symptoms & habits may be related to 'Epilepsy'.
See your quiz results for a computerized assessment of your body type.
Please click on the symptoms below to learn more about them.
Risk Factor: 30% more often Complication: +1.4 times as often
Please login or create a free account to see research statistics filtered on Epilepsy and Ear pain/infection.
Biocharacteristics of 190 People Reporting Epilepsy
On average the biocharacteristics
of people reporting Epilepsy were more aggravated than 55% of other symptoms.
From the 190 people who reported Epilepsy
average deviation in biocharacteristic levels were the following:
Please login or create a free account to see research statistics filtered on Epilepsy and Sour.
3.2% avg client level
8.4% (16) of cases
7,528 have Sour constitution
Risk Factors of Epilepsy
Below you will see general risk factors as well as the greatest risk factors, i.e. those who were also more likely to report Epilepsy.
Overall, 0.56% of people surveyed reported Epilepsy.
Please login or create a free account to see research statistics filtered on Epilepsy and Unable to exercise due to Injury, disease, breathlessness, etc.
Please login or create a free account to see research statistics filtered on Epilepsy and Low fiber diet.
37 cases with both
+1.8 times more likely
19% of cases
10.73% (4,548 cases)
WHAT'S NEXT?
DISCOVER YOUR BODY WITH YOUR FREE INDIVIDUALIZED BODY MAP
Find ideal foods, herbs and lifestyle tips.
See your imbalances, and locate intervention points.
Your body map contains a complete analysis of your Ayurvedic imbalances, organ by organ.
Give your chart to your functional medical doctor or any alternative health practitioner.
Ayurveda strengthens the body while opposing disorders. It takes a holistic,
systemic approach that looks at the whole body. Ayurveda
shows how to interpret signs and symptoms of imbalance, and how to address them
using diet, lifestyle adjustments, and herbs. It shows a person how to optimize their health on a continual basis. You can't
take the doctor home with you, but you can take Ayurveda home with you.
Ayurveda is the most advanced and easy to use home system for self healing.
HOW DOES AYURVEDA WORK?
Ayurveda starts by identifying your body type,
which identifies certain tendencies in your body to get sick (as well as identifying your strengths).
It uses body type to determine the likely root causes of your disorders.
Next, Ayurveda analyzes the nature of your disorder.
It fits all your signs and symptoms into a pattern, expressed as a combination of biocharacteristics (gunas).
For example, you may have a heat disorder, a cold disorder, or an oily disorder, etc.
This simple categorical approach shows you how to correct systemic imbalances and strengthen your body as a whole.
On Joyful Belly, we've created an extensive categorization of food so you can easily match food to your imbalanced biocharacteristics.
By eating an optimal diet that balances your biocharacteristics, your whole body is strengthened
and the conditions that created the disorder are removed. Once the root causes of the disease
are removed, the disease lessens in strength or disappears altogether. Additional remedies -
such as herbs and lifestyle practices - focused on the specific disorder, can greatly enhance
your healing.
GET STARTED
To get started on your Ayurvedic journey, we first recommend that your find your body
type by taking our free quiz. In Ayurveda, every solution is based on your unique body type, so
by taking this quiz, you’ll get the best results.
5 WAYS TO HEAL YOUR BODY WITH AYURVEDA - FREE REPORT!
New to Ayurveda? Not sure how Ayurveda can help you?
This free report shows you 5 simple ways you can heal your body with Ayurveda.
It shows you simple, practical ways manage your health.
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs the Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's hobbies & specialties include advanced digestive disorders, medieval Catholic philosophy,
& botany. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
His wife and family of 7 kids live in Asheville, NC.
Want our top Ayurvedic recipes and health tips? Subscribe to our free newsletter!
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.
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Ayurvedic Perspective on Epilepsy
Stage of Imbalance (Samprapti)
Diet Remedies by Dosha, Biocharacteristics (Guna), Action, etc.
Herb Remedies by Dosha, Guna, Action, etc.
Biocharacteristics & Herb Actions to Favor
Biocharacteristics to Avoid
Related Symptoms
Live Report: Biocharacteristics
Live Report: Risk Factors
Live Report: Complications
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