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entering the patient is immediately confronted by the NHS green walls and scuffed floor as
they head for the crowded, windowless, outpatient waiting room, where they will wait,
(sometimes for hours) to see a junior doctor they may have never met before, who may (or
may not) have had time to read their notes and who will be under immense pressure to get
them out of the door as soon as possible in order to see the next patient and stop the clinic
over-running even longer. The doctor may prescribe a new medication but will be at pains to
point out that the chances of it working at this point in their condition may be 10% or less.
This may be a worst case scenario, but you can guess which of these patients would probably
feel better about their condition and more in control as they leave their respective hospitals
and make their way home across the square.

Conclusions

There is often little or no empirical evidence to support many of the complementary and
alternative therapies for epilepsy. However an absence of evidence is not the same as
evidence of absence and some CAM therapies can play an important role in the treatment of
epilepsy. Western and holistic medical traditions can learn from each other and there is much
in the CAM world that should stimulate the interest and research expertise of epileptologists
looking to broaden the range of effective options they can offer their patients, beyond the
realm of antiepileptic medications. It is fitting to conclude this chapter with the words of Dr
John Hughes-Games, a GP, and the former president of the faculty of homeopathy at the
Bristol Homeopathic Hospital.

‘The best way to recover from an illness would be to have someone or something evoke (a)
healing response – no drugs, no knives – splendid! Indeed if homeopathy were only a superb
way of producing a placebo response, its existence would be more than justified by that alone.’

Further reading

BAXENDALE S. Epilepsy: Complementary and Alternative Treatments. Sheldon Press, London, 2012.
BETTS T. Use of aromatherapy (with or without hypnosis) in the treatment of intractable epilepsy – a two-year follow-
up study. Seizure 2003;12(8):534-8.
KHANDPUR S, MALHOTRA AK, BHATIA V et al. Chronic arsenic toxicity from Ayurvedic medicines. Int J Dermatol
2008;47(6):618-21.
JASEJA H. Potential role of self-induced EEG fast oscillations in predisposition to seizures in meditators. Epilepsy
Behav 2010;17(1):124-5.
LIN LC, CHIANG CT, LEE MW et al. Parasympathetic activation is involved in reducing epileptiform discharges when
listening to Mozart music. Clin Neurophysiol 2013;124(8):1528-35.
LIN LC, LEE WT, WU HC et al. The long-term effect of listening to Mozart K.448 decreases epileptiform discharges
in children with epilepsy. Epilepsy Behav 2011;21(4):420-4.
LAHIRI N, DUNCAN JS. The Mozart effect: encore. Epilepsy Behav 2007;11(1):152-3.
HUGHES JR, DAABOUL Y, FINO JJ, SHAW GL. The ‘Mozart effect’ on epileptiform activity. Clin
Electroencephalogr 1998;29(3):109-19.
CHEUK DK, WONG V. Acupuncture for epilepsy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2006; Apr 19;(2):CD005062. Review.
Update in: Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2008;(4):CD005062.
LI Q, CHEN X, HE L, ZHOU D. Traditional Chinese medicine for epilepsy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2009 Jul
8;(3):CD006454.