Vitamins and Minerals
Please remember to check out all supplements with your health practitioner first as some vitamins and minerals can interfere with absorption of anticonvulsant medication. If you suspect a deficiency in your child in any of the areas below, you may wish to request a blood test to confirm your suspicions or otherwise.
Some common causes of epilepsy may be allergies, celiac disease and nutritional deficiencies. Below are a list of vitamins, minerals and additives that may play an important part in the control of seizures.
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
The diagnosis of pyridoxine dependency should be suspected in every infant with convulsions in the first eighteen months of life. Certain clinical features may be indicative, including:
• Seizures of unknown origin in a previously normal infant without an abnormal gestational or perinatal history.
• A history of severe convulsive disorders, in both the family and the individual.
• The occurrence of long-lasting focal
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or unilateral seizures, often with partial preservation of consciousness.
• Irritablity, restlessness, crying and vomiting preceding the actual seizure.*
If large amounts of B6 alone are given, the need for other B vitamins, particularly vitamin B2 and pantothenic acid, is so increased that harm can be done unless they too are supplied.
*Morello, Gaetano. (1996) "Treating Epilepsy Effectively," American Journal of Natural Medicine (October), 14-20.
Calcium
Calcium is a very important mineral for the normal functioning of brain cells, and low levels of calcium can cause seizures. A deficiency of magnesium, a mineral that interacts with calcium, may cause low blood calcium and therefore seizures.*
*Ibid., 151a
Carnitine
Carnitine is not an amino acid in the strictest sense; it's actually related to the B vitamins. But because it has a chemical structure similar to that of amino acids, it is usually grouped with them. It helps transport fatty acids into the mitochondria, part of the cell that contains enzymes responsible for the conversion of food into usable energy.
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