Halloween—The Purple Pumpkin Project

Halloween is coming up.  In American culture, that means dressing up and trick-or-treating.  Ghouls, goblins, witches roaming the streets one spooky night.  The reward of a bulging bag of candy after a night’s work is satisfying. 

Carving the pumpkin to make Jack ‘o Lanterns are just as important.  There is

SUDEP Awareness Day

Today was the first SUDEP Awareness Day.  That is, Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy.  Death is one of those things that people in the epilepsy community don’t like to talk about.  For decades, it has been hidden. 

Fish Oil Research

You probably know that fish oil is good for your eyes.  There is new research that suggests that fish oil is also good for seizure control. 

According to a study done by UCLA (http://www.clinicalneurologynews.com/home/article/low-dose-fish-oil-cut-seizures-in-a-small-randomized-trial/654f7bb75b4c86dba1d97477a49f0cdf.html), on a low-dose fish oil treatment, there was a reduction of seizure frequency by 33.6% in patients with difficult-to-control epilepsy.

The average number of seizures on a low-dose treatment was 12.18 per month versus 17.67 per month on a high-dose regimen. For those not receiving any fish oil, the average number of seizures was 18.34 per month. 

There is much more research to do on this topic to find conclusive answers.  Let's keep our eyes on this for the future.  

Travel and Epilepsy—Lessons Learned

I am back from my reunion!  I had a great time seeing all my old friends from high school.  It was good to reconnect and spend some quality time together.  As usual, it seemed to go by too quickly, however. 

The travel to Birmingham, Alabama, where my reunion took place, went smoothly.  However, coming home was another story.  The original flight out on Monday, 10/6, was delayed due to mechanical problems, and then canceled.  The same happened to the flight I was rebooked on later that afternoon.  It was stressful, to say the least,

Travel and Epilepsy

I will be traveling to my 25^th High School reunion tomorrow, so I thought I would discuss travel and epilepsy.  There are some considerations people with epilepsy need take.  Especially when flying, there are some things that they should do to travel safely.