Complementary & Alternative Therapies

People with epilepsy whose seizures are not fully controlled by antiepileptic drugs or who experience troublesome adverse effects may consider looking into the emerging field of complementary and alternative therapies (CAM). Options in the alternative health care arena include treatments such as herbal medicine, relaxation and biofeedback, acupuncture and even chiropractic therapy.

So what are the pros and cons of complementary and alternative therapies and just how effective are they in treating epilepsy? Alternative therapies are rarely subjected to careful scrutiny through rigorous double-blind controlled studies (that is, a study in which neither the doctor nor the patient knows which patients are receiving the "active" and which are receiving the "inactive" treatment.) Without carefully controlled clinical studies of alternative treatments, we do not know the extent of how helpful, harmful or ineffective they are.

What we do know is that more and more people with epilepsy are using alternative therapies in conjunction with the prescribed treatment of their neurologist. In light of the increasing popularity and utilization of alternative therapies by people with epilepsy, we will explore the most common available treatments used.