Homeopathic Treatment of Epilepsy

Excerpt from my book Gentle Medicine – The True Causes of Disease, Healing, and Health, 2021, Balboa Press, Bloomington, USA.

Since epilepsy is primarily a chronic event, its homeopathic treatment must be primarily chronic and anti-miasmatic, taking into account all ascertainable causes and correlations. Nevertheless, in the meantime, it will be impossible to avoid using acute homeopathic remedies that have a strong connection to seizures.

Such acute remedies come into play particularly when longer seizures or entire series of seizures occur repeatedly. The acute seizure is basically an acute exacerbation of chronic stress, so that, on the one hand, the acute event is treated to acutely eliminate peaks, for example, in cases of status epilepticus, thus making it possible to avoid heavy conventional medication, and, on the other hand, to reduce and eliminate the miasmatic background of seizures over time.

As always, when considered solely from an acute perspective, only the current symptoms of the acute event play a role in determining the homeopathic remedies, while, for chronic treatment, vaccine correlations, suppressions, anxiety, other diseases that have previously occurred, as well as the ups and downs in the life of the patient, and their pathologies and modalities are all relevant. Just like when examining other chronic diseases, a complete medical history including the family history of blood relatives must be taken.

Example of an acute treatment

I still remember a late-night call from a young father whose whole family was in homeopathic treatment at my practice. It was about his two-year-old son, a severely disabled who had been born prematurely at the 27th week of pregnancy and had been clinically diagnosed with spastic quadriplegia[1], microcephaly[2], absences, and epileptic seizures, and was beginning to experience extended seizures (status epilepticus).

There had been one prior incident which, unfortunately, had received only conventional treatment at the time. This entailed specifically: 10 days of intensive care at a university hospital, including three days when the boy was unconscious; a persistent, very high fever (106 °F), a torturous spinal cord puncture, and “pneumonia contracted while in the hospital”.

He was also given “tons of anticonvulsants plus Valium and various antibiotics”. “Our little boy was on the verge of being intubated; that’s how life-threatening his condition had become.” According to the doctors at the hospital, “his breathing was inhibited only because of the large number of the very heavy medications he had been given”, as the parents reported.

The situation at that time was considered so serious that the doctors could no longer rule out the need to perform imminent resuscitation. After that, the boy changed completely. His spasms, which had begun to loosen a little thanks to the homeopathic treatment we had already begun, became worse than ever, and the boy no longer laughed at all.

He looked very serious, sometimes quite apathetic. He had lost his head control and much more. Even his swallowing reflex had once again become a problem. In short, every little success we had achieved in six months of chronic homeopathic treatment had been destroyed in one fell swoop.

He had been discharged with prescriptions for five heavy-duty medications, three of which were antiepileptics (Orfiril, Epanutin, Sabril) which actually contra-indicated each other and should not be administered simultaneously according to the “Red List”.

The little boy’s father then described his son’s acute condition in great detail. He already knew what was important because we had successfully helped out during a status epilepticus lasting five days with repeated doses of Stramonium. In particular, we discussed the course of the seizures currently recurring and the general condition of the child as well as the development of his condition over the past few days.

In the end, I recommended Belladonna 30C, one globule under the tongue as needed, for the acute symptoms. We then talked a little more about the chronic development of his son over the previous few weeks when the father suddenly interrupted me with the following words: “He’s finally relaxing!”

I was completely perplexed because I didn’t even know that he had already given his son a globule of the Belladonna while we were still on the phone. After just a few seconds, this was good news indeed.

This shows how quickly acute homeopathy can work if the real simile is found, i.e. if the remedy matches (and the patient’s responsiveness is good)! Of course, the status epilepticus was not yet averted; the little one still needed this remedy several more times as necessary, i.e. he received Belladonna whenever it wore off and the seizures returned. But the course of the seizures and the overall condition of the child spoke volumes: immediately after taking it, the child would become more aware, the intensity and frequency of his seizures would decrease, and the boy was in a much better condition than in hospital.

There were absolutely no signs of respiratory depression. The little boy started laughing again pretty soon afterwards and obviously felt much better!

This was just one example of an acute treatment of epileptic seizures. The following is an example of chronic treatment aimed at eliminating the tendency to epilepsy.

Example of chronic treatment

Little one-year-old Leonard was adopted, so we had practically no information regarding the miasmatic predisposition of his biological family, except for the fact that Leonard had been born in breech position and prematurely during the 37th week of pregnancy.

His birth mother smoked and suffered from high blood pressure. Everything else about his past was unknown. Leonard was brought to my homeopathic practice because of absences, epileptic seizures, hypsarrhythmia[3], and general developmental delays.

When we made the first appointment over the phone, he was on an antiepileptic and a sedative[4], which are used for the “short-term treatment for sleep disorders or salaam convulsions in infants and young children”.

Leonard’s father, himself a therapist in German-speaking Europe, had trained in classical homeopathy and learned from my books about cases of West syndrome that had been cured. He was very impressed with the possibilities of this gentle healing art, especially since his adopted son had received the same diagnosis.

However, I had a different opinion, since Leonard had neither generalized seizures nor a mental and/or motor disability. He mainly suffered “only” from absences, less frequently from extensor seizures (“no flexor seizures”), which his doctor had described, but which Leonard’s parents had never actually witnessed themselves, hypsarrhythmia, and a significant developmental delay.

Nevertheless, the diagnosis was made by the doctors and was to be taken seriously! (After all, the day may still come, especially when administering the heaviest of medications!) When we made the appointment to take the boy’s medical history, the father immediately wanted to phase out the antiepileptic medication that had been administered daily for a month and asked whether this could be done without risk. I had him describe Leonard’s current state of development, before and since taking the medication, and finally encouraged him to go ahead, so that the boy would remain only on the sedative until we started the homeopathic course of treatment.

Leonard’s absences had begun at the age of six months. “He also started teething at that time.” When we took his medical history, he had had six teeth total, two lowers and four uppers. The boy was very quiet, didn’t crawl quite yet, but did roll all over their home.

At the age of seven months, he was titrated to the two medications already described while in the hospital and “immediately became very apathetic”. “Three days later both the hypsarrhythmia and absences had disappeared; however, Leonard was completely hypotonic in one fell swoop”. The father described the absences as “rolling of the eyes for five minutes, about twice a day, over a three-day period”. And so they took him to the hospital.

Leonard has not been vaccinated. Immediately after birth, he had pronounced neonatal jaundice that required seven days of phototherapy. At five months, he rolled off the changing table, “fell on his back and the back of his head, luckily on carpet”.

A week before seeing me, the same thing had happened again, and he developed a fever that evening, “up to 103.6 °F which lasted for three days, followed by a slight rash afterwards, which could have been tertian fever (roseola)”.

Since then, he had been crying more. The little one’s nose was often blocked, “actually it has been right from the start”. – Already a clear sign of a sycotic infant! – He usually clenched his hands into a fist and often curled his toes. He didn’t use his legs when scooting across the floor and was still a long way from crawling.

He was also bloated as an infant. “Especially right after eating, we always had to carry him around for almost an hour.” Sometimes, he also didn’t have any bowel movements for three to four days, “but only since he was hospitalized”.

His butt was irritated and red at times, but there was never an open rash. “We feel like it’s difficult to get his attention”, the parents explained. Leonard made eye contact but it wasn’t always easy for him, as I had also experienced at my office. At the beginning of his life, he developed hydroceles on both sides of the scrotum, which had resolved on their own without any medical intervention.

The fontanel was still open. Leonard always had diarrhea when consuming cow’s milk and his runny nose would get worse afterwards. At the beginning of his life, the boy had been very sensitive to noise. He didn’t sleep well during full moons, but otherwise his sleep was normal.

His hair was mostly matted on the back from lying down so much. Leonard was a decidedly warm child. “A few months ago, he had oral thrush; his palate and tongue were completely white.” His stools were smelly. Sometimes they would be like little pellets, “especially since starting the heavy medications”.

Leonard had bowel movements only every other day. His urine was also very pungent, which the father attributed to the medications (“excretion of toxins”). His big toenails were bent slightly upward, in some cases resembling curved nails.

That was it for his symptoms. As previously mentioned, there was no information regarding the primary miasms he had inherited, except for the breech position and premature birth, both of which speak volumes. The fact that Leonard’s birth mother gave up her child for adoption immediately after birth also allowed me to make some educated guesses about his hereditary predisposition.

What kind of mother gives her child away voluntarily? In this case, miasms which were mostly of sycotic nature were evident in the psyche, as I had seen so often in my practice.

Then followed the diagnosis of West syndrome, which I very much doubted. I had seen and treated many other children with this diagnosis. They had many more problems, their motor skills were much more lacking, they continuously had seizures, and they made a downright debilitated impression, such that a mental handicap was literally visible.

None of this was the case with little Leonard. Originally, he had only had a few absences, and even that only about twice a day and only for three days. He probably would have been fine if he hadn’t been prescribed an anticonvulsant.

As I previously mentioned, Leonard was a premature baby and had almost certainly had certain traumatic experiences at birth. Premature babies are always looked after in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), an environment that the little ones find very deeply threatening.[5] It is therefore not surprising that minor seizures occur later, in an attempt to resolve the anxiety and panic attacks in the preterm environment.

Regarding the alleged extensor seizures that the treating doctor claimed to have witnessed in the hospital, it must be said that the parents themselves never noticed them, even though they had been with their son day and night.

The doctor, on the other hand, had only observed the boy for a few minutes a day. This diagnosis was therefore questionable. In any case, Leonard’s parents never noticed any true, recurrent seizures, not before and not after the titration to anticonvulsant treatment, although the father himself was a therapist and knew what to watch out for. Nevertheless, there was a certain tendency to seizures, as the absences and the pathological EEG together with hypsarrhythmia suggested.

What do you think would have happened if vaccinations had been added to this mix? Being born prematurely is itself an absolute contraindication to vaccinations. This is due to the high-level sycotic stress, which Leonard had displayed with “subtle” signs such as bloating, a runny nose, mild diaper rash, constipation, and hydroceles.

And then there were the absences, conspicuous brain waves in the form of a hypsarrhythmia, the hypotension of his skeletal muscles, and the general developmental delays. Vaccinations exacerbate such stresses immensely and/or add new ones, very quickly leading to complications and the most serious disorders, including disabilities. Anti-miasmatic treatment would have been important for Leonard in any case, even without the absences and hypsarrhythmia.

Remedy: Sulfur LM18, 1 drop in a glass of water, stir well (create a vortex), but not with a metal spoon; take only a spoonful, starting gradually, every three days in the morning. Succuss the vial vigorously 10 times before use.

Course: Five weeks after the start of treatment, the father submitted the first progress report. At first, there were a few pimples on the abdomen and buttocks, but “only for a few days”. (Detox via the skin.) Then reddish spots on the face followed.

They had independently phased out the sedative and the boy had been completely weaned off it for a week. He was “significantly more active, even fidgety”, for example when sitting in his chair or having his diaper changed. “He also shows much more interest in everything around him.” He had only had a runny nose once.

As usual, his nose was still blocked. “He wakes up crying once every night, probably because he’s teething. He was visibly better at making and holding eye contact, and Leonard’s scooting had also improved; he was holding up his butt much more.” So much for the good news. We decided to continue treatment with Sulfur.

Less than three months later, the father contacted me about problems involving “easily getting frightened and pain”. Leonard was noticeably sensitive to pain, he would scream hysterically, get very worked up, and hold his breath “up to 20 seconds and longer” causing him to start turning blue in the face.

He had done that before, but it had gotten much worse now. Subsequently, he “collapsed, almost as if he had passed out”. Otherwise, his development was progressing very well. There were no more absences. For the fear and excitability, we agreed to give one globule of Aconitum 30C.

The check-in after about four months of Sulfur intake was very positive. All of the heavy medication had been discontinued, the boy was more aware, could stand up, and was already walking along the couch. He had also gotten really good at crawling.

“He’s lightning fast”, reported the overjoyed father. Leonard was also making sounds now, such as “mom-mom-mom-mom”. His eye contact was “perfect” and the EEG taken two months earlier had been completely normal! “It’s sensational!

A few months prior, there was still plenty of epileptic activity.” For the past six weeks, the boy had been shaking his head about once a day, as if to say “no”, every few seconds. The teething process had slowed down, but it hadn’t really affected him much.

His breathing had improved and his nose was no longer ever blocked. Even his digestion was back to normal; his stools no longer consisted of little pellets. Now and then, the diaper area was red and treated with an ointment.

However, I advised not to use suppressive ointments containing zinc oxide. “We even get his full attention now.” The fontanelle was normal and the boy no longer reacted adversely to cow’s milk. When sleeping, he usually lay on his back.

When lying on his side, the head was often stretched out and pulled back. He didn’t react unusually to full moons. Leonard’s hair was still matting on the back of his head. His big toenails hadn’t changed either. So much for the good news. After reviewing the records, he was prescribed Medorrhinum LM18, in the same dosage as Sulfur.

Then I didn’t hear anything for a long time. There were no more interim reports. Only after six months of his taking Medorrhinum did I hear back from Leonard’s father to discuss the remedy. Leonard was doing very well.

He was constantly making progress. He was walking, but rather cautiously. He could say his first real words such as “mommy”, “daddy”, and “doggy” and understood everything. He no longer held his breath; “it had only happened a few times now and then for about two weeks, when got worked up about something again”.

His head shaking, his skin, nose, and ears were all normal. His digestion was healthy, for the past two weeks rather runny and soft, about two to three times a day (previously only once a day). For the previous five days, the boy had been waking up twice at night sometimes.

His big toenails had improved a lot and “curved up less”. “It was like a clean cut! The nails have grown back smooth and shapely.” His appetite and thirst were completely normal. Three months earlier, there had been another EEG which registered negative in every regard.

At that point, the doctor had only stated “a harmonious developmental delay of about four months”. A little over a month earlier, there had been “minor seizures”, with Leonard “buckling with one arm”, his body twitching briefly, while smiling. All together, these lasted for only about 30 seconds.

A week later, he had had a high fever, about 104 °F, which lasted three days without further symptoms. After reviewing all the documents, I advised the father to continue the chronic cure with Medorrhinum LM24, 1 drop dissolved in half a liter of water, every five days, again starting gradually. This was the last remedy given to Leonard; since then he has been healthy and has developed completely normally.

I deliberately chose a short, clear example, since everything else would go beyond the scope of this book. For additional, more detailed chronic case histories and information on the homeopathic treatment of epileptic seizures, I’d like to refer interested readers to my three books: Sind Impfungen sinnvoll? – Ein Ratgeber aus der homöopathischen Praxis (Do vaccinations make sense? – A guide based on homeopathic practice) and Klassische Homöopathie für die junge Familie (Classical homeopathy for the young family), 2 volumes.

Bibliography

• Allen, J. H., The Chronic Miasms, 1921, Reprint Edition 2006, B. Jain Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Dehli
• Grätz, Dr. Joachim-F., Gentle Medicine – The True Causes of Disease, Healing, and Health, 2021, Balboa Press, Bloomington, USA
• Grätz, Joachim-F., Plattner, Inge, Questionnaire for the Homoeopathic Treatment of Your Child, 2011, 16 pages, Tisani Verlag, Oberhausen i. Obb., Germany

[1]    Spastic quadriplegia: spastic paralysis of all four extremities.

[2]    Microcephaly: pathological reduction in the size and content of the skull compared to the age-related proportions of other body parts.

[3]    Hypsarrhythmia: very noticeable, highly pathological EEG, “as is common with severely disabled children”. The EEG curve shows generalized, irregular, high-amplitude activities with multifocal polymorphic spasm potentials (e.g. with infantile spasms).

[4]    Sedative: unlike tranquillizers, acts relatively unspecifically on all functions of the central nervous system and dampens the sensory, vegetative, and especially the motor centers.

[5]    For more information, please see my two-volume work Klassische Homöopathie für die junge Familie – Kinderwunsch, Schwangerschaftsbegleitung und Geburt, Kleinkindbetreuung, Entwick­lungsstörungen und Behinderungen, natürliche Entwicklung (Classical homeopathy for the young family – Desire to have children, pregnancy support and birth, toddler care, developmental disorders and disabilities, natural development), 3rd edition, 2013/2016, in particular the chapter on Developmentally Challenged and Disabled Children.