Seizure Case Histories

Ann

Ann was born with great difficulty. Her mother had a high fever and the amniotic fluid was infected. Anne had streptococcal sepsis. She was born severely hypoxic and required immediate artificial respiration. Within 24 hours she started having seizures. Anne was placed in a barbiturate coma in an attempt to control seizures and cerebral edema. She was then treated with valproic acid from age 9 months to 5 years, when Tegretol was added.

Anne was almost 6 years old when her parents started The Institutes program. She was successfully detoxified of anti-seizure medication and had many sophisticated programs added to her basic neurological program of nutrition, oxygen enrichment, patterning, and sensory programs.

Initially on program, Anne's seizures temporarily increased as she received more cortical stimulation. Before she was detoxified, she had up to 40 brief seizures daily, but these dramatically decreased following detoxification. She went 5 years without having any seizures at all, then had one 30-minute seizure when having an allergic reaction to eating an egg. She was again seizure-free for two years, when she had a minute-long seizure following a rigorous day of walking. After this seizure her mobility improved and she was less rigid.

Ann began to use her hands more, crawl better, walk with the parallel bars and talk more since detoxification.

Brandon

Brandon was born full term with no apparent problem. At age 5 weeks, his mother found him not breathing and unresponsive in his crib. She began rescue breathing and Brandon began to breathe. He was air lifted to a large hospital. He had many grand mal seizures and evidence of profound brain injury and swelling. He was placed in a phenobarbital coma and needed full life support. After three weeks in the pediatric intensive acre with no improvement professionals encouraged the mother to stop life support and let Brandon die. When he was taken off the ventilator, he continued to breathe.

Mother took him home 2 weeks later. Brandon was on phenobarbital and several other anticonvulsants for his grand mal seizures. Brandon's mother and grandmother took the What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child Course. At Brandon's initial appointment at The Institutes he was given a program of masking, visual stimulation, nutrition, liquid balance and detoxification. He had two minor seizures during the detoxification process, but the seizures were easily aborted with masking and stimulation.

Brandon's programs were intensified at each visit, including the addition of respiratory patterning, medullary reflex and oxygen enrichment. He achieved a detoxification victory after being on phenobarbital for five years. He became seizure-free and more alert and healthy.

Haley

During the ninth month of pregnancy, Haley's mother was in a near fatal auto accident, and Haley was delivered by emergency c-section. She was profoundly brain-injured, with an extensive subarachnoid hemorrhage and left sudural hematoma. Haley's mother was also seriously injured. Haley began having seizures immediately and was given anticonvulsants.

When she began The Institutes program her number-one problem was seizures. The masking program cut the number of seizures by half and at one point she had no seizures for 8 weeks.

As the neurological program became more involved, and Haley became alert and active, she had a period of increased seizures. The quality of these seizures were quite different - mild, very short in duration, and with no noticeable postictal period. For a period of nine months he again was seizure-free, even during a high fever. While still profoundly hurt, Haley was averaging 1 or 2 seizures daily, but continuing to improve beyond anyone's expectations.

Sameer

Sameer was born nearly full-term but weighted only 4.4 pounds. He began to have seizures on the second day of life. He was hypoglycemic and remained hospitalized for 15 days, until his blood glucose was stabilized. By the age of three months, Sameer showed other signs of brain injury. He continued to have seizures and was given several different anticonvulsants: carbamazipine, Rivotil, diazepan, phenytoin, and valproic acid. Many of his seizures were prolonged, lasting 30 minutes.

His parents took the What To Do About Your Brain-Injured Child Course. At his initial appointment at The Institutes he was given a program that included masking, pattering, reading, auditory and tactile stimulation, nutrition, and liquid balance. Two months later his pediatrician observed Sameer's increased activity and awareness, and his doctor agreed to detoxify him from valproic acid. Sameer was then detoxified from phenytoin, and eventually was completely off anticonvulsants.

Sameer's program became more sophisticated after each visit, and he became very alert and active. He had seizure-free periods, and the occasional seizures were shorter and less intense.

Chesney

Chesney had a subdural hematoma at 3 weeks of age and subsequent neurosurgery. He was blind and immobile and having seizures. He was given phenobarbital and phenytain in the hospital. His seizures were occurring every 2 to 3 weeks in clusters of 3 to 5 days.

When Chesney was 6 months old he went through a 6-week detoxification period. His seizures returned, with up to 15 to 30 mild seizures a day, but after he began the masking program his seizures occurred only during illness, and only 1 to 5 per day. The seizures continued to decline and became very mild. Following these seizures, his mother said that Chesney was more alert, moved better, and his vocalizations increased.