Physical Health Recommendations. When symptoms and signs of subclinical hypothyroidism are present, cautious and carefully monitored supplementation with small doses of prescribed thyroid medication is often remarkably helpful in altering lipid levels .

Stroke Diet
Because coffee raises homocysteine levels and alcohol raises triglycerides in susceptible persons, their use should be very carefully monitored and reduced to the point at which they are having no significant influence on lipid levels.

Coffee in amounts greater than four cups daily adversely affects cholesterol through the effects of caffeine and by other mechanisms.

Good cholesterol increases with alcohol intake; red wine, with high phenolic content, appears to be one good source. Because of the wide array of adverse effects of alcohol, including its contribution
to cancers, diabetes, and accidents, very modest intake is advised; you need to make it a matter of total abstention if you have a predisposition toward addictions.

The great majority of the cholesterol in the blood at any given time has been made by the liver. Therefore, manipulating the amount of cholesterol in the diet has a very limited effect, especially if fat intake is in a low to moderate range.

Cholesterol in food that has been heated is at least partially oxidized; oxidized cholesterol is toxic to the body, whereas unoxidized cholesterol is not. Excessive restriction of whole egg intake is not warranted.

Limiting or eliminating hydrogenated polyunsaturated trans fats is a high priority (margarine, hydrogenated cooking oils, hydrogenated peanut butter). While butter containing saturated fat is not
desirable, margarines are worse. Monosaturated fats such as olive oil resist free radical deterioration.

Inclusion of liberal amounts of alpha linolenic acids (fish, fish oil, fiaxseed oil) and gamma linolenic acid (evening primrose and borage oils) also favorably affect lipid levels. Added fruit, vegetable, and whole cereal grain fiber lowers cholesterol.

Certain whole foods have been noted for their ability to lower lipid levels. They include soy, yogurt, carrots, and nuts. Many of these whole food suggestions were combined in  research in which subjects lowered cholesterol 33 percent, cholesterol!HDL-C ratio 2 1 percent, and lipoprotein (a) 24 percent with dietary changes. Vegetarian diets are associated with consistently lower blood lipid levels.

Vitamins, Minerals, and Supplements

The extensive array of suggestions for increasing micronutrient and antioxidant intake in foods and supplements in the coronary heart disease section should be followed by anyone with elevated lipid levels, whether or not they have evidence of heart disease.

•    Added supplements of calcium have been shown in one study to reduce serum cholesterol 25 percent and triglycerides 35 percent after one year (400—1,200 mg daily).
•    Chromium, 200—500 mcg daily, reduced cholesterol 8—10 percent in several studies.
•    Vitamin C blood levels are inversely related to cholesterol and triglyceride blood levels. Increasing vitamin C beyond one gram daily has a modest and steady influence in lowering cholesterol and triglycerides.
•    Inositol hexaniacinate, 500—1,000 mg three times a day, achieves impressive cholesterol-lowering and good cholesterol-raising effects.
•    The antioxidants are essential: vitamin E, beta carotene, and Coenzyme Q1O.
•    Pantethine (vitamin BLS) impressively lowers cholesterol in doses of 900 mg daily.
•    In one subtype of hereditary cholesterol problem, L-carnitine normalized very high levels of cholesterol in 90 percent of patients and in another subtype reduced triglycerides to normal in 100 percent of patients. L-carnitine is rapidly depleted in hearts that are oxygen deficient; usual helpful dosages are one to three grams daily.
•    Extracted forms of mesoglycan, a glycosaminoglycan derivative, are available as a supplement that lowers total cholesterol, raises good cholesterol, prevents clot formation, and protects arterial linings from damage when taken at doses of 100 mg daily.
•    Red rice yeast (cholestin), a natural supplement from China, impressively lowers lipid levels, 600 mg one to three times a day. It contains a low concentration of lovestatin, the active ingredient in Mevacor, a prescription drug.

Herbs

The most effective herbs are gugulipids and garlic. Fresh garlic preparations work much better than aged garlic. Products that are standardized to contain a daily dose of at least 4 mg or 10 mg of the active ingredients allicin or allini, respectively, are reliable. Artichoke (Cynara scolymus, 500 mg of the extract daily) increases cholesterol elimination from the liver through the bile; 20 percent
reduction in cholesterol and 15 percent reduction in triglycerides has been demonstrated.

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Like other organs of the body, the brain requires a steady flow of blood and oxygen to function normally. When the supply of blood and oxygen is impaired, it can cause a stroke, a sudden malfunction of the brain. If oxygen levels in the brain drop low enough, there can be permanent neurological damage.

Not all strokes are the same. some are so slight the victim may not even be aware he is having one. In some cases, the person experiencing a stroke may simply feel a slight numbness in his face or arm, or may have difficulty speaking or thinking clearly for a brief period of time. For other people, the stroke is so devastating that it can cause permanent paralysis or even death.

Although all strokes are a result of the reduction in blood flow to the brain, that trigger is not always set of by the same thing. Common causes of stroke include atherosclerosis, blood clots, hemorrhage, and aneurysms.

Atherosclerosis, or the narrowing or blockage of an artery due to fatty deposits, accounts for slightly more than half of all strokes. With proper diet, the right supplements, and a healthy lifestyle, atherosclerosis is a preventable disease.

In some cases, a stroke will occur if the artery delivering blood to the brain becomes blocked by a blood clot. There are several supplements that can help to prevent blood clots.

In addition, a weakening in the cerebral artery, called an aneurysm, could cause an artery to break, thus causing a hemorrhage. Although some aneurysms are genetic, maintaining normal blood pressure can help to prevent arterial weakness that can lead to the formation of an aneurysm. Not smoking also substantially decreases your risk of both aneurysm and stroke.

In many cases, however, strokes can e avoided simply by preventing the underlying medical conditions that leave us vulnerable to them.

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On the other hand, there are horror stories of individuals who have suffered severe side effects, or have actually dies, after taking an anticonvulsant.

Many drugs are presently in use against epilepsy. They work through various mechanism, and not all of them work against all types of seizures, but when they are used correctly they are good drugs, and can be of tremendous benefit.

Some of them are designed to suppress seizures by preventing the spread of abnormal electrical activity from the focus to other parts of the brain. Others are targeted toward preventing the spread of electrical excitation from one brain cell to another. To achieve this, they may act on the excitatory neurotransmitters, or they may enhance or mimic the inhibitory neurotransmitters.

However, most drugs work on the surface of brain cells, to block electrical activity along the individual cells. Here are some of them:

Phenobarbital is a landmark drug. It was the first real anticonvulsant ever discovered, and it has been used for more than any other drug in the treatment of epilepsy. Even today, on a world wide basis, it is the most widely used anticonvulsant drug, especially in developing countries.

Primidone Like phenobarbital, primidone has been around for a very long time. In fact, the two drugs are closely related and form a chemical perspective the primidone molecule is quite similar to the phenobarbital molecule. However, these are not identical drugs. Primidone itself has anticonvulsant activity, and it is converted by the body to phenobarbital and to another chemical called phenylethylmalonamide.

Phenytoin has a long history. It was first evaluated as a sleeping pill, but was found to have anticonvulsant effects as well. Phenytoin does not work on all seizure types. It tends to work better on secondary epilepsies. Thus it works best for tonic clonic seizures and partial seizures.

Ethosuximide It bears a certain resemblance to phenytoin, but it’s only effective against absence seizures. It doesn’t work on any of the secondary epilepsies, or against simple partial or complex partial seizures, and it has no effect on epilepsies that begin in adulthood.

Carbamazepine is probably one of the most widely used anticonvulsants. It too was discovered more by accident than by design. It was initially used as an antidepresant, but it soon became clear that the drug’s anticonvulsant properties were much more marked, and it is nor used mainly for these properties.

Valproic  Acid is structuarraly uniwue, and its properties and toxicities are different from those of other anticonvulsants. Vaproic acid can cause weight gain, hair loss and tremor, but generally will less confusion and fatigue than are associated with the other drugs. Also, valproic acid is a broad spectrum anticonvulsant.

Clonazepam together with nitrazepam and diazepam, belongs to a largerfamily of drugs called 1,4 benzodiazepines. Many drugs within this family are used as sleeping agents or to reduce anxiety. They are sometimes used to prevent alcoholic in withdrawal from experiencing the “DTs”

Clobazam is a 1.5 benzodiazepine. This subtle chemical distinction means fewer problems with developent of tolerance to the anticonvulsant action than there are with clonazepam. For this reason, clobazam is probably the benzodiazepine of choice in the treatment of seizures at the present time.

Vigabatrin The appearance of vigabatrin heralded a new era of anticonvulsants drug in the 1980s in Europe and 1990 in Canada. Vigabitrin has not been approved in USA. Unlike the earlier anticonvulsants, vigabatrin wan not stumbled upon by accident.

Gabapentin Like vigabatrin, gabapentin was designed and created, not discovered accidentally. A growing body of evidence suggests that, beyond its anticonvulsant properties, it may be useful in the treatment of pain disorders, especially the neuralgias associated with diabetes and shingles.

Lamotrigine is an extremely effective new anticonvulsant. It too is a product of drug design, however, the chemist who created it were testing a theory that turned out to be wrong. Lamotrigine works well at suppressing seizures, but the mechanism that makes it effective is not the one its designers were investigating. So its discovered was deliberate but also accidental.

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Changes may be dramatic, or may be quite subtle, some are detectable only through specialized tests, such as a precise measurements of reaction time.

Epilepsy is the disorder experienced by people who have multiple seizures, it is a chronic condition characterized by a predisposition to recurrent, usually spontaneous seizures.

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It is actually impossible to swallow the tongue. This practice hes unfortunately become commonplace, but actually places both the person having the epilepsy seizures and the witness risk of injury.

The person’s teeth may be broken by biting the object, or the object could become lodged in the throat, interfering with breathing. Contractions of the jaw are extremely forceful during a seizure, so the well meaning onlooker may also find himself with a severe bite to his hand. The tongue is, however, often bitten during a seizure, this cannot be prevented and will, in any case, heal relatively quickly.

If the person remains unconscious after the seizure stops, the safest position for the person is one her side. As secretions are frequently present during seizures, and the person will be unable to protect the airway, this position will allow secretions to drain and prevent the possibility of aspiration of fluids into the lungs.

The person may be confused or even violent after a seizure. An onlooker should speak calmy and reassuringly and not try to restrain the person in any way (no holding or pushing), as this can increase agitation. If a person is in a dangerous area such as a roadway, it is wise to try to lead her gently to a safer place. If law enforcement or emergency medical personnel arrive, onlookers should be sure to tell them that the person had a seizure.

Police may mistake confused behavior for drunkenness or drug use, with subsequent  confrontation and restrain of the person, possibly leading to further agitation, violence, and mistakes arrest.

Most people with a known seizure disorder do not need to be taken to an emergency room after a typical, uncomplicated seizure. If injury occurs requiring treatment or if the seizure is prolonged, immediate attention may be required. In other cases, it is sufficient to simply allow the person to recover, review things that may have caused the seizure, and consider whether the treating physician needs to be called.

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Another naturally, occurring hormone, melatonin, is available commercially in health food stored and drugstores and is a widely used as a epilepsy cure for mild sleep disorders. In normal people, melatonin is secreted from the pineal gland according to a precise cycle over a twenty four hour period. Around bedtime, there is a dramatic increase in melatonin, facilitating sleepiness. The secretion of melatonin then falls during the night, and by morning the levels are low.

This cycle is an important part of our circadian rhythm, the system that regulates numerous body functions over a twenty four hours cycle, the most obvious of which is the sleep wake cycle. Some other functions that are part of this include temperature and secretion of some other hormones.

The release of melatonin is sensitive to light, and its release is typically resynchronised every day by daylight and nighttime darkness. When time zones are traversed, daylight “hits” the pineal gland at a different time, initially disturbing the melatonin cycle and contributing to jet lag. Ultimately, the light cues in the new time zone will regulate the melatonin cycle.

Why is melatonin important in epilepsy? Humans need for sleep is overlooked in general by Western society, despite the demonstrated importance of sleep in overall health and well being. People with epilepsy need quality sleep more than anyone else, since severe sleep deprivation can actually cause seizures, and anticonvulsant medications can increase the tendency toward drowsiness.

Melatonin supplements can also have direct anticonvulsant effect in photosensitive epilepsy and partial epilepsy. Absent large trials, however, the actual usefulness of melatonin to treat seizures independently of its beneficial effects on sleep is unknown.

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The trick is to calm that abnormal activity without affecting normal thinking and alertness.

Many drugs that are effective for partial seizures affect a specific chemical channel of the neuron: the sodium channel. This is a “gate” through which sodium ions can rush into the cells and is needed for the neuron to fire. Drugs such as phenytoin, carbamazepine, and lamotrigine affect this channel to prevent neurons from firing rapidly. Other drugs, such as valproic acid, ethosuximide, and levetiracetam, act on calcium channels.

Phenobarbital and benzodiazepines act through a specific type of neuron that uses gamma-aminobutiric acid as its transmitter. GABA neurons are usually part of an inhibitory system, and drugs affecting GABA probably work by improving the brain’s self calming ability to quell seizures.

Still other drugs, such as topiramate and felbamate, decrease excitatory pathways. All drugs are better at preventing the spread of seizures than at preventing their initiation, so that small seizures are sometimes the most difficult to completely eliminate.

Although there are theories, it is not known precisely how these drugs work. Some actually seem to have several actions that could potentially calm seizures, other do not have any of these known actions yet are still effective anticonvulsants. As the mechanism of the drugs and the precise abnormality in individual people are not well understood, finding the right match between medication and person is sometimes a process of trial and error.

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More in children than adults, it is sometimes reasonable not to give medication even after epilepsy seizures have been diagnosed. As children are less likely to be at high risk  for injury it might make sense to tolerate a rare, relatively minor seizures rather than expose the child to daily medication which is potential for side effects.

Also, many seizure syndromes in children resolve spontaneously with no long term consequences. Again, simple caution may be advisable as opposed as opposed to the risks of medication.

Most children with epilepsy, however, do require medication. Many physicians and parents worry about the potential influences of epilepsy medicines on critical learning processes that take place during childhood. If a child falls behind in school because he is always sleepy or inattentive, it may be difficult for him to catch up. In general, the influences of epilepsy medications on learning are theoretical rather than known.

Behavior is also a concern in children whenever drugs are used that affect the brain. Even with no effect on learning per se, a drug that effects a child’s ability to sit still in class, or one that makes her irritable and difficult to control, may be much more disruptive and harmful than a rare seizure.

Again, most children do not develop personality changes or irritability when taking drugs for epilepsy, but these effects are possible. Gebapentin, for example, is an extremely safe drug and therefore is often used in children with epilepsy, but a small percentage may develop behavior problems.

Some drugs have side effects in children that do not occur in adults. A rash can occur with any drug, but children seem more susceptible to serious rashes from lamotrigine.

As in adults, anticonvulsant drugs don’t  always work in children. Surgery can be an option whenever seizures persist and adversely affect a child’s life. Many epilepsy specialists actually think that children should be referred for extensive evaluation sooner than adults, as year lost in trials of drug may lead to a lifetime of emotional dependency and limited abilities, whereas early treatment of a child with epilepsy will allow her to develop normally, socially and intellectually.

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Your genetic background determines more than the color of your eyes, your height, and your potential for developing certain diseases such as diabetes. It also determines all the chemicals and structures that make up your brain. While these are similar in different people, they vary in certain enzymes and receptors.

Think, for example about the nose. Everybody has one, and everyone used it to breath. Noses vary, however, in structures. This makes them look somewhat different and also changes the amount of air that can be moved through nose. Most of the time, the variation in air movement between people is not a problem, but occasionally someone’s nose is so small or formed in such a way that the person has trouble breathing, and it needs to be corrected.

Perhaps in a similar way, genetics determines all the structures needed to build neurons, synthesize transmitters, and release them when a neuron is active. The slight variations in these form person to person don’t usually result in a problem, but sometimes a combination of factores make neurons overactive and cause epilepsy, but if it occurs in the same person as a change in the receptor, enough over activity may result to cause spontaneous seizures.

A number of types of epilepsy are genetic, and thus the potential for seizures is present from the time of conception. Not surprisingly, most of these people begin to have seizures during childhood. Most of these, as far as we know, are generalized epilepsies.

The exact genetic problems are not known as yet, but many will likely be found in the next years of decades. The epilepsy seizure types seen in these syndromes, however, are varied. Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, for example has many distinct epilepsy seizure types absence staring spells, sudden myoclonic jerks, and generalized tonic clonic convulsions.

Yet this syndrome arises from a single mutation. Somehow, with a single tiny change in an ion channel, a receptor, or an enzyme in the brain, varied random irritability’s become manifest as seizures. Even in this people, the genetics are not simple.

At most, the chances of a child born of a mother or father with JME having epilepsy are about 10 percent. This leads us to suspect that probably not just one gene is involved, a combination of other factors must ultimately result in epilepsy. This complexity may be one reason why it has been so difficult to determine specific causes of genetic epilepsy.

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One way to treat hemorrhagic stroke to do this is to bring the patients high blood pressure into the normal range. The doctor may also treat any swelling and drain blood from the brain, if necessary.

Control high blood pressure
Most intracerebral hemorrhage in people who don’t have aneurysm or AVMs is due to high blood pressure. So, using drugs that bring down high blood pressure is important in these cases. But it can be a complicated procedure immediately after a stroke, and it must be done very slowly and conservatively.

Moderately elevated blood pressure immediately following a stroke is actually helpful. It keeps blood flowing to the outermost capillaries of the nearby arteries that have not been effected. These caterpillaries normally overlap a bit with those from other arterial system to ensure that all parts of the brain are supplied constantly with blood.

During a stroke, like good neighbours, the intact capillaries continue to provide blood to some of the afected tissue. If the patient’s blood pressure is brought down too quickly, however, blood won’t be able to reach those outermost capillaries, and the brain tissue can die.

Treat swelling
Brain swelling can follow a large ischemic stroke or an intracerebral hemorrhage, generally within four days. This serious and fairly common complication doesn’t affect every person who has a stroke. The greater the swelling, or edema, the worse the prognosis.

Symptoms of edema may include a bad headache, difficulty walking, nausea, and vomiting. The person’s consciousness level is also affected and is a sign of the edema’s severity. A person with brain edema may experience drowsiness that comes and goes or lapse into unconsciousness altogether. Because edema can be caused by several different conditions resulting from stroke, treatment varies. A number of drugs can effectively reduce edema.

Drain hematomas
Hematomas are local pools of blood sometimes found in the brain after hemorrhage. In the skull, where there is little space to spare, a hematoma can dangerously increase pressure on the brain, causing further injury. It is sometimes necessary to drain the hematoma to relieve that pressure.

This is done if the hematoma is life threatening and if it is in a place accessible to surgery. Sometimes hematomas drain spontaneously into the brain’s subarachnoid space or into one of its ventricles, or cavities. From there, the fluids is reabsorbed slowly into the body.

Hematomas can cause periods of unconsciousness. Patients with very large hematomas over their dominant cerebral hemisphere have a smaller chance of recovery. For them, neither surgery nor medication is likely to be of much help.

Remove Aneurysms
Most aneurysms are related to artery wall defects that were present at birth. Over a lifetime, these weak spots in the blood vessels tend to become thinner and ballon out. The thinner they get, the more likely they are to leak or rupture. That causes severe, immediate headaches as the escaped blood pools and exerts pressure in the closed quarters of the skull.

Surgery often is called for if an aneurysm or arteriovenous malformation leaks. After an aneurysm leaks once, it is quite likely to leak again, usually within two or three weeks after the first event. Or it may rupture entirely, resulting in a full blow stroke. So far, surgical treatment generally is not recommended for aneurysm that do not already show signs of leakage.

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