Epilepsy, Seizures, and Toxicity: Why Are Childhood Seizures Increasing

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition characterised by recurrent, unprovoked seizures that start in the brain.

One single seizure or fit does not necessarily indicate Epilepsy, and a seizure can be caused by many factors.

Some types of seizures are more common in childhood, such as absence seizures which can be very brief —blink and you might miss it. It looks as though a child is ‘spaced out’, ‘daydreaming’ or not paying attention.

Learn how to help spot signs of seizures, so that you can get early treatment that may reduce the risk of lasting brain injury.

Symptoms of Seizures

Seizures is an abnormal, uncontrolled electrical discharge in the brain altering function or behavior. It is the most common neurological condition in children. Seizures can occur spontaneously or be triggered by things such as stress, excitement, boredom and tiredness. Anti-epileptic drugs can be used to control seizures and establishing good sleep patterns, as well as maintaining a healthy diet have also been shown to help manage the condition.

The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classifies seizures based on the type of onset or where they originate in the brain.

Symptoms of seizures are widely variable but include stiffening (tonic) or rhythmic twitching (clonic) of one or more extremities or the face, staring spells, lip smacking or other non-purposeful movements or distinct periods of changes in behavior such as staring or sudden headache. In children on the autism spectrum, a sudden loss of languageskills or behavioral regression may be caused by epileptic disruption of organized brain activity that may not always show up clinically.

Between the time of the brain injury and the onset of seizures, called epileptogenesis, is a "silent" period because this brain abnormality cannot be detected by current neurological exams or electroencephalography (EEG). Before the actual observed seizure are brief, small electrical microbursts, or microseizures, occur before the onset of clinical recurrent seizures.

four main categories of seizures include:

• Generalized Seizures – affect entire brain
• Partial Seizures – affect part of the brain
• Non-Epileptic Seizures – not caused by epilepsy, but other things such as diabetes, fever, etc

Vaccines can cause fever, and fever in young children can lead to febrile seizures; these facts are not new. Febrile seizures are the most common seizure disorder of childhood and occur in ∼5% of all children, usually those younger than 24 months.
• Status Epilepticus – a seizure that lasts more than 5 minutes

Aside from neurosurgery, which benefits only a small population of Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients, there are no other effective treatments or preventive strategies.

Environmental triggers of epilepsy

Seizures are often unpredictable, but triggers can induce them, such as stress and environmental toxins. Being aware of potential seizure triggers helps avodid another occurance.

Anything that disturbs the normal pattern of the brain can trigger epilepsy. Trauma, illness, brain damage, abnormal development, food intolerances, and heavy metal toxicity can all be factors with epileptic patients. It is estimated that over 75% of patients with epilepsy do not know what is causing their seizure activity.

People with epilepsy are able to reduce the frequency of their seizure activity through dietary modifications and removing heavy metals from the body.

Certain food intolerances such as gluten (wheat, barley, rye, etc) casein (dairy), corn, or soy can be a major “triggers” for patients with epilepsy.

Heavy metal toxicity

Once of the most common ways that we experience heavy metal toxicity is through our teeth. Mercury fillings, gold crowns, and other metals that are placed in our mouth have the ability to “leak” into our bodies and accumulate in various organs, including the brain.

The brain and the Bazan effect

the brain consumes 20% of body oxygen and the central nervous system (CNS) is especially vulnerable to oxidative stress. Iron overexposure causes oxidative stress and ROS, which upregulate the c-fos gene.

Dr. Bazan is a neuroscientist who’s work influenced me while I was a resident at LSU and long before I had a quantum perspective.  Dr Jack Kruse shares extensively about his work; he was the first person who was able to link clinical diseases to the RPE in the retina by discovering what’s now called “the Bazan effect”. He was initially studying what effect seizures and lack of blood flow had on the CNS.  He found when the brain is stressed for any reason, neurons release two types of essential fatty acids, namely omega 6 and omega 3.  There names are arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexonic acid (DHA).  These are essential FFA’s because the body has a poor capacity to make them endogenously.

Following this discovery, when they systemically administered Neuroprotectin D-1 (NPD1), they discovered that NPD1 regulated these bursts of brain electrical activity. So it not only reduced the aberrant brain cell signaling leading to severe generalized seizures, but also the spontaneous recurrent seizures. (Neuroprotectin D-1, discovered in the Bazan lab, is derived from docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an essential omega 3 fatty acid found in fish oil.)

Resources

1. Hironishi M., Ueyama E., Senba E. Systematic expression of immediate early genes and intensive astrocyte activation induced by intrastriatal ferrous iron injection. Brain Res. 1999;828:145–153. doi: 10.1016/S0006-8993(99)01356-6. doi.org/ [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]