Jasper's Natural Epilepsy approach

[Kirsy & Jasper]

Hi ALL,

First of all - Jasper just had another seizure! BUT we have achieved a LONG 7 week break WITHOUT ANY MEDICATION. We have gone from 4 days! to 4, then 6 and now 7 weeks breaks between seizures.
Here is what I am doing on the advise of Dr. Jean Dodds, one of the founders of GUARDING ANGELS website:
-2 months ago I changed Jasper's Diet to completely GRAIN FREE and only homemade, no more commercial products added
-due to his seizures nearly always happening in the early morning hours (LOW BLOOD SUGAR TRIGGER??), we changed his feeding times. Instead of just one big meal in the evenings, he now gets it split in 2 parts for an am and pm feed. 
-6 weeks ago we started him on Epi-Still, a Herbal Native Remedy, based on Scullcap & Passionflower, which promote a stable and healthy nervous system. He gets 5 drops twice a day on his food. Jasper weighs 18kg.
-6 weeks ago we also started adding Taurine, an amino acid to support calm mood, to his food. 2 X 250mg per day. My Vet advised to give a break every 4 weeks for 6 weeks, so the body doesn't forget HOW to produce its own Taurine. So I stopped it one week ago.
-this might be not so important, but we spray Jasper's resting areas (and ours too now!) with Lavender spray for calmness.

I am not sure, if it is a combination of all those or just one product, but the seizures are getting further apart at this stage and todays seizure lasted less time, then the ones before! I am not sure, if todays seizure was triggered by the half cup of rice (leftover from our Dinner) I added to his last meal. He had been GRAIN FREE for 2 months????
Another strange thing happened: Yesterday morning Jasper suddenly stood in front of our bed at 4am! My husband goes"Oh nooo, not another seizure. Quickly give him some food to distract him". I quickly gave him some food, he ate and we all went back to sleep. No seizure. This morning at 5.30am Jasper again stands in front of our bed, looking at us the same way as yesterday and we are saying what a bad habit this is becoming with him wanting food before "wakeup time". Next minute he vomits and the seizure. I wonder, if I could have stopped this seizure, if I had given him food straight away again??? Did he seizure, because I stopped the Taurine a week ago???
So many questions. So little answers to this disease.
Kirsy, Jasper's loving Mom

[Amanda and Quinn]

I'm so sorry that Jasper had another seizure, but glad to hear that you are having some success with the natural remedies!

Quinn also comes into the bedroom if he's going to have a seizure in the middle of the night, and stands next to the bed like Jasper. He seems to have some warning that they are coming, and comes looking for comfort. It's possible that you did stave it off with the food, or maybe not - I find that Quinn gets a little weird and spacey in general for a day or two around his seizure times. Once I massaged his ears right after he vomited in the way that he does before a seizure, and he didn't seize... but I have no idea if he was actually going to have one or not. They are mysterious things! I have heard of people having success with grain-free diets, but I'd be surprised if Jasper's seizure was triggered by rice. Sometimes I think we look for connections with seizures where there just aren't any. There's something a little off with these guys, and chances are good that without medication they'll have them occasionally no matter what. If you can keep them to every couple of months, that's not bad at all.

Hugs to Jasper. :)

[Kirsy & Jasper]

Thank you Amanda. I think you are right about the rice. I NEDDED to test it though. So, I gave him rice again last night. Couldn't sleep the whole night, BUT NO SEIZURE! Yipee.
I am hoping to get the gaps between the seizures further and further apart and the seizure time reduced.THIS LAST SEIZURE was the shortest one ever, only 30 seconds, but to me like a lifetime! I can NOT getting used to watching it!
Soo helpless. I spoil him rotten afterwards though!!!

[Kirsy & Jasper]

We reached nearly 8 weeks this time!!! Our NATURAL approach seems to b working. The seizures are getting shorter, the gaps bigger and the recovery times afterward are so quick. Just not sure, if it is the COMBINATION of Grain free Diet, Epi-Still and Taurine or JUST the Taurine maybe??? Reason being: I stopped the TAURINE per my Vets advise for a while and Jasper had a seizure a week after I stopped it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Taurine is what is known as an inhibitory amino acid, in that it is one of the aminos that inhibits nerve signals in parts of the brain. Of the combination of the three methods you are using, that's the one that makes the most sense to me from a purely scientific perspective. But the main thing is, your method is working!!!!! I'm so glad for you and Jasper!

[Kirsy & Jasper]

Thanks Karen. You have so much knowledge. Not many people know about TAURINE. Do you see any reason, why I should give Taurine a break, if it is helping the seizures? My Vets said to give it a 6 weeks break after 4 weeks using it, because the body needs to be reminded of producing its own Taurine. A human Herbalist? on my Yahoo site suggested 5 days on, 2 days off. That makes more sense to me.
What's your opinion on this?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I really don't have all that much knowledge about it, lol. The amino acids are pretty basic, and Taurine comes up a lot in animal nutrition, particularly for cats. I looked it up when you originally posted this discussion to see how it might help with seizures.
But I am not a big fan of most alternative medicine, and I would go with the vet's knowledge and credentials any day over an herbalist (what is the training for that?) on a website. When you're dealing with neurotransmitters in the brain, I would not want to take a chance. Can you talk to the vet about why he wants Jasper off of it for such a long period? I find when I'm in doubt about a treatment, it helps to understand the reasons behind the treatment plan, and how everything works.