Seizures With Progest-e

treelady

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I have been getting seizures in a regular pattern. They started several years ago. I am way passed menopause but I felt that they might be hormone related so I started taking 3 drops of Progest-e at night and 1 drop with each meal. 6 drops a day total, but who can tell with those drops.

I have just come out of the hospital for seizures. I had my seizures at 1:30AM, 6:00AM, 8:00AM. I plan to stay on progest-E because of the 3 seizures the last one was not a grand mal and I have all grand mals only at night. They put me on clonazepam at the hospital to get me out of it and then I slept a day and a half. They wanted me to stay on a lower dose all the time but it makes my heart feel like it is coming out of my chest.

So here is my plan and I am looking for suggestions. I have been on vitamin E forever and am for the most part avoiding PUFA, I'll have a egg here and there. I have never been over wait. I have been eating my daily protein(mostly milk,dairy) but I can't handle the gelatin. I plan on upping my Progest-e to increasing the meal drops 3 drops if that's not too much as well as 3 drops at bed. So would 12 drops be too much progesterone? Maybe I should have 9 drops and see how that goes. I'm still drinking a cup of coffee with 3 cups of 2% and glycine. Many suggest no caffeine for epilepsy. I just started it recently with Ray Peat.

Thank you for reading this :)
 

tara

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Hi treelady,
Many people take a lot more progest-e than that. Peat has suggested 3 drops 5x/day as a good placeto start, and then lowering after things improve. I've been using at least 3 drops ~5x/day for over year. It has not stopped my migraines, but it feels good whenever I take it.

I'm having to limit caffeine, which I've tried introducing since reading Peat. There i some discussion on a couple of caffeine/coffee threads about possible withdrawal effects, and possible effects on lowering TSH, T4 and T3. I suspect that is why I have trouble with it.

THere are a number of night-time stressors that ca make things worse, including darkness and fasting. Some people report red light in the evening being helpful. I think some people have even tried sleeping under red light, but I don't know if anyone persisted. I think you know about glycogen and supper to keep blood sugar up. Another factor can be night-time hyperventilation. Can't remember if you have tried bag-breathing or other techniques to raise Co2 levels. If you have night-time mouth-breathing habits, mechanically keeping mmouth shut can help against that.
 

messtafarian

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Aug 18, 2013
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Hi treelady:

That must be really scary. I have never had a seizure but if I did I would be absolutely terrified and I feel for you very deeply.

So assuming you've done the typical maze and labyrinth walk of tests and appointments, I have a couple thoughts pretty much based on what RP has told me.

One of the reasons he says that progesterone helps with *hot flashes* is because it helps regulate blood sugar. Blood sugar does some sort of uptake-reinfusion in the bloodstream every 90 minutes. When I was having terrible hot flashes, this is exactly the schedule they would follow and I finally got the message from Peat that what hot flashes really are are a response to hypoglycemic emergencies. Without adequate hormonal reuptake, the body has a little...I mean what I was going through, felt like a seizure. It was NOT a seizure, but it was just horribly debilitating.

Anyway, I don't think you're using enough progesterone, first of all. I use a TON. I used to be very sparing with it because I was trying to "balance my hormones" like they say on the websites and now I just don't care, I need the progesterone. So there's that to look at.

Then the other thing that helped me was succinic acid. This is just something to try; Peat did not recommend it to me but when I asked him about it he was a little surprised and finally said it was probably breaking the nitric acid cycle during the Krebs cycle. I am using those words and barely know what they mean, but the point is -- nitric oxide. So maybe breaking the nitric oxide cycle will help in your case also. If you don't want to try succinic acid ( I am not sure about it personally, I can't tell from the internet if it promotes or combats cancer) you can try other things that reduce nitric oxide such as Vitamin B12.

If you are having seizures, this can be a conductivity problem in the brain so there is a chance you are missing or not taking up one of the salts. It's usually always either potassium or magnesium but in your case it's possible you are not getting enough. This is just good for you anyway -- if you feel you are supplementing enough magnesium already, take a ton of epsom baths. I don't have a bathtub where I live right now and I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss them. They're great for you and might help.

Bag breathing might help in case there is a problem with hypoxia.

Actually I've been drinking one glass of regular alka seltzer a day since it is a mixture of salicylate and bicarb. Salicylate reduces inflammation but there *one other thing* that I can't remember it does that makes me think it might help with seizures. It can't hurt.

Whatever you do, go slow, ok? I don't want to be the person you read who inspired you to do all this stuff and landed you in the hospital again. But I think increasing progesterone is probably going to help the most.
 
OP
treelady

treelady

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Tara, thank you. I will take 3 drops dosage. I will start out at 4/day and then figure out where to put the other one. And about your migraines. I thought that's what I had at first so I have been taking butterbur for the pain and it really keep it waaaaay down. I take one when I get up and one when I go to bed each day. Works great for me. Petadolex is what I use. And regarding mouth breathing habits, I wear a bite guard so I don't bite my tongue if I get a seizure but at least when I'm awake, I keep my mouth closed. I can't be sure when I'm asleep though. I am trying 1/2 a cup coffee instead of one. If I have to I will go to decaf.

Messtafarian, Thank you for your concern but I would never know I had seizures unless my husband told me. I remember none of it and fortunately I always have them in bed at home so I'm not out anywhere. Succinic acid - I will look that up. I used to take alot of magnesium but with the Progest-e I guess a slacked off. I just figured how to chew one of the horse pills my body wants so that should help. (I do B12 and bag breathing.)

I guess I didn't say but the time before this I had 6 seizures one nite, this time I had 3 which is more like it was before the 6 and the last one wasn't grand mal. It was in the hospital and they gave me a shot.
 

Peatri Dish

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Oct 30, 2014
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I take about four big drops of progest e on the gums every three hours. I'm still cycling so I have to take a break. So I stop for about ten days. I find it increases my breathing a little bit. I'm a hyperventilator so I keep an eye on that. Early on when I first took it I had a fainting episode. Those used to be common for me. Otherwise, it's been very renewing and relaxing. I have found, too, that more is better. Especially in the beginning.I also have to support my metabolic rate with extra sugar when I start a new Peat protocol and progest e was no exception.
Also, I have a friend who had a couple of very bad seizures and was diagnosed with hypoglycemia unawareness. They put her on a low sugar diet so she wouldn't spike insulin and have another because drops in blood sugar caused them.
I kept telling her to ask about her thyroid, as her TSH was creeping up. Reliably, they waited until it was over 5 and put her on T4. The first thing she noticed was that her blood sugar was more stable.
I'm not an expert in seizures. I'm sure you are checking all the possibilities. I'm simply telling you this to give you hope that you may very well find something very simple makes the difference.
I'm glad to hear you're home and OK. I know you can injure yourself in that situation.
 

messtafarian

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Treelady -- I haaaaate taking magnesium pills. I just never take them even when I buy them because they're huge and chalky and feel like a rock in my stomach. There is Magnesium Oil you can use topically but I don't care for that either really -- it's SALT and it stings and itches. There is also a product called CALM which is magnesium powder you can put in water and make a fizzy drink. One more thing to drink, right?

That's why I suggested the baths. Epsom salts are mostly magnesium salts and they will absorb into your body. Use a lot of salts, get a lot of magnesium :)
 

chelle86

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