More strategies that we use for our daughter. Diet and exercise, managing epileptic headaches, vitamin therapy and magnesium oil and epilepsy

1. Teenage Epilepsy
Coping with the Seizures ----- More
thoughts of how we cope

2. Strategies ….Anything that works
• These are some of the things that we do
– alleviate the stress of the seizures
– to control the anxiety of the seizures (and life)
– strategies we use to keep her well
These strategies do NOT replace her medication…
but they do help alleviate the side effects and help
with her well-being….and ours too

3. Exercise --- Any movement at all
When my daughter was feeling so ill and low
- we walked….even when it was midnight
- we walked at least 1 km…sometimes for
as long as hour
the reality is that having seizures makes you feel
unwell….get out of bed and move
Walk and Talk…Just walk and talk

4. Moving in the fresh air…or just getting
out of the house
• Did she feel like getting up?............short
answer is NO
• Did she fight against going out ?.....short
answer is YES
In the early days this was hard …she just wanted
to hide at home and do nothing…or rather she
was waiting for the next seizure to happen

5. Walking and Talking
• We found movement seem to help
• The more exercise she did, the more her well-
being improved
So we walked and talked ….this wasn’t a power
walk or a speedy sprint. It was more about just
getting out of the house and out into the fresh
air ……even if it was cold and raining or late at
night.

6. Serious Exercise ….Absolutely
• My daughter was a high school rower
– she ran 10 kms 3 times a week
– she rowed 5 hours a day during the peak of the
season (5am starts…..4pm starts)
– she rowed in regattas
– she spent hours in the gym
This was often a struggle… but we wouldn’t let her give
up … as long as the school continued to let her row…she
rowed
Now she is older – she still goes to the gym

7. The Parent Role ….Some days it was
hideous
• The exercise and the hideous headaches
– it seems to be the lot of epileptics – headaches
Once she began exercising ….. the headaches got worse. BUT
she kept going ….heart breaking to watch as a parent but we
knew if she could run through the headaches… it would get
better. The more exercise = less headaches
10 Kms runs…ear plugs in and off she went – always in the
top 3 runners to finish. This also gave her a confidence boost
She begun to realise that epilepsy was not the end of the
world.. she could still do lots of things

8. How we dealt with the headaches
• We had to learn to deal with the headaches
otherwise she would have been unable to do
a thing
– take panadol (anything else seemed to interfere
with her meds) …carry them where-ever she went
– use cold water therapy --- wet cold face cloths on
the back of the neck and on her forehead.
Wrapped around her ankles (not freezing cold
cloths…these could bring on a seizure)

9. Headaches….more strategies
• Keep well hydrated…drinking lots of water
(she didn’t drink any energy drinks – they have
lots of additives which interfered with her
meds)
• Cups of sweet tea (English breakfast …but
whatever we could get really)
– A cup of tea for everyone usually …sharing the
experience helped

10. Headaches….more strategies
• Acupuncture
– we used this for years and only lately have not been
using it as much
– we found this relaxed her muscles in her neck and
shoulders which helped immensely
• Hot Epsom salt/baking soda baths
– we still use this one
– about 200 gms of Epsom Salts and the same again for
baking soda.
– Just soak and relax – really helped her and she slept
better afterwards (you can use it too  )

11. Headaches….More Strategies
• Eat regularly – small meals over the day
– avoid any sugar type things (but don’t obsess
about this – a lovely bun with pink icing and
lashings of butter was a treat she enjoyed)
– Paleo diet – our household have all become paleo
eaters. Again not obsessive about it (80/20 rule)
Diet was a hard one – but we realised that it totally
affected how she felt and her ability to cope with her
seizures….meds on an empty stomach is a disaster 

12. What we totally Avoid eating
• No sugar laden foods regularly. She eats very
little cake, no sweets and no sugary drinks.
– if she does eat these things – they are a treat once in
a while …NOT a regular part of her diet
• No diet product of any kind … these products are
full of chemicals
• No energy drinks or bars….they are also full of
chemicals
• No margarines, oils (no canola, sunflower or
veggie)
• No processed or pre-cooked meals

13. What is GOOD to eat
• Lots of fruit and veggies
• Lots of meat, chicken and eggs
• Small amounts of dairy products ..again not the
main meal – just supplementary to the meal (like
butter for instance)
• We use coconut oil and olive oil only in our house
It does mean a bit of work when you change the
household diet…the slow cooker becomes your
friend 

14. Spicy, Full Flavour Food…YES 
We are a multicultural family and eat about anything really
- curries
- hot and spicy food
- BBQs
She does have the odd takeaway meal but she is very careful.
Again we don’t obsess about this (well not too much)
The meds do make her stomach sensitive so we use digestive
enzymes and probiotics to help alleviate any stomach
discomfort

15. Supplements …What we have learned
Be very careful what you take !
- we found some of these will interfere with her
meds (this has taken us YEARS to figure out)
- So this is the list of the stuff we use and works
for us ….but by no means take this at face
value – you need to determine what works for
you and be very careful about how you test
them

16. Vitamins …We take
• Multi-vitamin tablet (just a regular one
..nothing special)
• High doses of Vitamin B and Vitamin C
– we buy these off iherb.com
– we use liposomal vitamin C
– She takes them once a day – and whenever she
needs it
these keep her ‘well’ …so no flu or sore throats

17. Magnesium …Oil
We have only added this lately
- Magnesium oil --- you can buy it online. We
try to get the best quality and she sprays this
onto her legs and arms about 4 times a day.
But if she has a stiff neck or feels unwell ..she
will spray this directly on to the area.
We have found this really helps and she carries it
with her 24/7

18. Magnesium --- We add it to her water
bottle
I buy Magnesium citrate online and she puts a
teaspoon into her water bottle each day (along
with Vitamin C powder)
- the taste is not great – but I insist she drinks at
least a bottle a day (follow the instructions on
the packaging)
This really helps too…. with no side effects 
We found she has significantly less headaches 

19. Magnesium…the bath
Didn’t realise that epsom salts are also
magnesium salts
- usually will have a bath in the evening before
she goes to bed when she is not so good
- much better sleep after an epsom bath 

20. All that Electronic Stuff
Reality is that our whole household is one
electronic nightmare with lots of radiation all
over the place
- we do think it does affect her epilepsy
- SO we make sure that her mobile phone and lap
tops are no where near the bed where she sleeps
- We do have wireless….not much you can do about
this especially if your house is full of uni students


21. All that Electronic Stuff
Good Sleep is vital to her wellbeing
- try to reduce the amount of electronic
stuff she will look at least 30-60 mins before she
goes to bed
- all the mobile phones have Bodywell
Chips on them … this reduces the cell phone
radiation absorbed by the user

22. Good Sleep ….Yes it does make a
difference
Earthing Sheet
- this is something we have been using for over a
year now with positive results
- this explains what this is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4F8mterVGE
We know that people will have a different opinion to us
about earthing…but we have become an earthing family,
we all sleep on earthing sheets …..and it has definitely
had a positive impact to her epilepsy

23. Late Nights ….YES you can
My daughter is an uni student….so she has to
stay up late and study
- but we try to make sure not too many of them
in a row
- the reality is that if you live a full life – you
will face stress and it is ridiculous to think
otherwise

24. Learning to cope with stress
• Yes she has to cope with stress .. like it or not
It means that she has to make uni deadlines, get
to work on time and do all the other things she
is obligated to do
- She has learned good time management
skills
- There has to be a balance between work
and play

25. Learning to cope with stress
The benefits of her learning to cope with stress
are two-fold
- she has learned she can do what she
needs to …her epilepsy does not restrain her
ability to do stuff
- it gives her confidence …a good sense of
achievement when she gets her assessments in
on time 

26. Laughter….We Laugh a lot in our house
• We try not to take ourselves too seriously
• We are a loud and active family .. debating
and arguing about everything and anything
• Laughter is the best medicine … it is true – try
for the full belly laughter – honestly it helps us
all 

27. Has she struggled …Sadly Yes
• Her seizures gave her anxiety
– we refused to let her sit at home and become a
sad thing
– Others can make it more difficult with their biases
and discrimination
We have learned to avoid the negative people and
tried to make life a positive experience

28. Awards she has won ….Yes she has 
• She has won national and local awards for the
work that she has been involved in
– no one knows that she is epileptic because she does
not discuss it …As her mum, I often get weepy
because only I know how hard it has been for her
– She has learned to managed her time and well being
so that her health is not adversely affected
It has not been easy at times – and her epilepsy is an on-
going thing that we manage

29. Our Life ….It is on-going
• All these things together with her meds means
that she is relatively well most days
• Her headaches are a rarity these days
• Every day her confidence grows …so she
challenges herself and pushes her boundaries
• It has been more than 6 years since she had a
seizure 
♥Every day without a seizure is a good day ♥

30. Thank you
&
the End