Another medicine shortage finally made mainstream news in recent days here in Canada, and it has to do with a common epilepsy drug.
Published Dec. 12, 2024 11:27 a.m. PST
“TORONTO – The Canadian Epilepsy Alliance says an ongoing shortage of an epilepsy medication is leaving some patients worried they’ll start to have seizures again if they switch to an alternative.
The shortage of Teva-clobazam, which began last May, is expected to last until April next year, according to Health Canada’s drug shortages website.”“Another version of the drug, Apo-clobazam, is available but experts say some people can’t take the medications interchangeably without risking breakthrough seizures.
Dr. Eduard Bercovici, a Toronto neurologist specializing in epilepsy, says drug shortages can be “devastating” for people relying on them to prevent seizures.”
“”One of the main issues with epilepsy is that it is an unpredictable, unprovoked condition and someone who is well controlled and is taking their medication on a regular basis is going to find it very nerve-racking … to know that they may have a seizure with missing medications,” Bercovici said in an interview.
Teva-Clobazam and Apo-Clobazam, manufactured by Apotex, are benzodiazepines that are basically the same, he said.”
Many herbs are listed to assist with epilepsy due to their ability to calm the nervous system, calm muscle spasms, calm stress, anxiety and panic attacks, and aid in rest or sleep.
Historical writings would either refer directly to epilepsy, or refer to it as falling sickness. Some historical writings would use the term convulsions both separately and interchangeably with the terms epilepsy and falling sickness. These terms can be found as far back as Ancient Roman medical texts. What we can glean from these writings isn’t just that certain herbs were used, but often, the parts of the herb were mentioned as well and sometimes even a recipe was given for how to prepare and use the herb.
For example, two genuses of the Peony family were used in Anatolia or Turkey, by taking the root and making a tea out of it to drink several times per day. Recent research around this herb suggests having found a toxin in the root that can cause digestive upset, but it was apparently used in southern Italy and Anatolia to deal with epilepsy.
Another example is Valerian Root. While this one continues to be used to this day, research going back merely to the 15th century notes it is unsafe over a prolonged period of time, potentially leading to emotional instability and depression. Much like St. John’s Wort then, it is placed in the “short term use only” category. For sufferers of epilepsy, this is not a long term answer as a result.
A recipe example takes the common button mushroom, and blends it with vinegar and honey as an ancient treatment for epilepsy. A tea made from Black Cherry shows up in historical writings as well.
Reliance on medication alone is often what causes the panic around these chronic but intermittent conditions when the medication is no longer available. Many foods, herbs and spices have nutritional and medicinal qualities that can aid the epilepsy sufferer, provided they are adjusting their daily nutritional intake to address their condition. Interestingly enough, it was this goal that originally created the ketogenic diet. That diet has been around long enough now for research to uncover the fact that it too should only be short term, or long term damage can result to the person’s physiology.
Phyllis A Balch, in her book: Prescription for Nutritional Eating 6th Ed, wrote an entire chapter on dealing with epilepsy and had the following nutritional observations:
“Taurine has a protective effect on the brain, particularly if the brain is dehydrated. It is used to treat anxiety, epilepsy, hyperactivity, poor brain function, and seizures.
“Zinc deficiency also is commonly found in people with epilepsy, and this may play a part in the deficiency of taurine.”
“GABA can be taken to calm the body in much the same way as diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), and other tranquilizers, but without the fear of addiction. It has been used in the treatment of epilepsy and hypertension.”
“L-glutamine can enhance mental functioning and has been used to treat a range of problems, including
developmental disabilities, epilepsy, fatigue, impotence, depression, schizophrenia, and senility.”
She includes a note about pregnant sufferers:
“Nutritional supplementation is important for people with epilepsy. Pregnant women with epilepsy should take prenatal vitamins and get plenty of sleep to avoid seizures. They also should take vitamin K after thirty-four weeks of pregnancy to reduce the risk of the blood-clotting disorder called neonatal coagulopathy, which can result from the fetal exposure to epilepsy medication.”
She then goes on to list off various nutrients that a sufferer should ensure is part of their daily regimen:
L-carnitine, L-tyrosine, Magnesium, Omega-3, Selenium, Taurine, Vitamin B complex with additional niacin, pyridoxine and B12,Calcium, Zinc, Coenzyme Q10, Quercetin, Vitamin A with mixed carotenoids, Vitamin C with bioflavonoids, vit E
Unfortunately, her list of foods these can be found in were quite short. Of the nutrients listed above, perhaps the shortest list in my database is for L-carnitine, because it is ONLY found in meat and animal-based foods. It is necessary for mytochondrial function, muscle growth, and brain health.
Orthomolecular.org wrote about Vitamin E, mentioning a research paper citing that
“400 IU of Vitamin E per day reduces epileptic seizures in children by more than 60%. (Ogunmekan AO, Hwang PA. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of D-alpha-tocopheryl acetate [vitamin E], as add-on therapy, for epilepsy in children. Epilepsia. 1989 Jan-Feb; 30(1):84-9.) “
In their journal, ORTHOMOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY, VOLUME 2, NUMBER 3, 1973, Pp. 93-103
Clinical Observations on the Treatment of Schizophrenic and Hyperactive Children with Megavitamins
Elizabeth Lodge Rees, M.D., F.A.A.P. wrote:
“According to Dr. Theron Randolph, the most serious of any allergy is that of the CNS, which includes also some atypical forms of epilepsy, headache, irritability, emotionalism, dullness, and failure to think clearly. The problem, reduced to its simplest terms, is to determine what the offending substances are, and to eliminate them from the individual’s environment, either internal or external.”
This is because some allergies affect the nervous system. An elimination diet, or “cave man” diet as this author wrote for children, can help figure out if allergies are the cause of the epilepsy as opposed to a nutritional deficiency.
If this is your first time hearing about Orthomolecular.org, they are an organization that firmly believes in what they coined as nutritional medicine! They have paper after paper in their journals detailing varioius vitamins and minerals in dealing with various ailments. Initially they addressed schizophrenia-related conditions exclusively, but over time have branched out further and their news releases now address a wide range of conditions, not merely neurological or behavioural.
My question always is, if that’s the recommended nutrient list, which foods contain those nutrients and is there any current or historical reference to them beng used for a given condition? Before coming across the recent medication shortage article, my entries in my nutritional/medicinal database for epilepsy were quite short. That list has now grown, and with it, the ability to put together the following sample food chart. This chart is not comprehensive as that is reserved for paying clients, but it is a good jump-off point if you like to do your own research.
Dr Mercola, Dr Axe, and others have written about the necessity of maintaining a healthy nervous system. So if you suffer from epilepsy or any other neurogical condition, knowing the foods that can support your nervous system is imperative.
Being able to support your body’s needs through what you feed it every day is useful. Using food as medicine however, may mean stepping up a given dosage to acheive best results. Some foods are safe to do this with long term, many others require a break or return to dietary levels for a time before resuming medicinal levels again to give the body a rest, most specifically, the liver.
We have learned in our own household, that if we need more of what a given food offers, one way to get it is by making a simple tea out of it. Of course this works best for plant-based foods, though making a bone broth, meat broth, etc is extremely beneficial as well for extracting the goodness out of meat fibers into a drinkable or soup format. So if you need more of the components of a given food, try steeping it in hot water for 1o to 20 minutes, or making an animal-based broth on the stove for several hours to concentrate the compounds, then drink that several times a day. It’s helped us out on numerous occasions to take our food and use it in a medicinal context in this fashion.
