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Epilepsy
Anastazea's Story
"How I Ultimately Found Relief for Grand Mal Epilepsy."

My name is Anastazea.
This page is about how I am surviving "grand mal," the most serious form of epilepsy - even though the doctors I have sought for help, gave up on me years ago, offering no helpful solution, let alone an outright cure.
I used to have seizures. Bad seizures. I had them for 25 years. I have dislocated both shoulders so many times, I've developed rheumatoid arthritis in both shoulders. During one particular seizure, I dislocated AND fractured my left arm at the same time. On more than one occasion I've had BOTH arms in a sling!
Every time I had a seizure I would ask the doctor to tell me what was wrong with me. Most of the time I would get the same response. The doctor would become incredibly frustrated, his attitude would deteriorate to being rude and degrading. Even though I would be brought in by an ambulance, with witnesses to the seizure, they still treated me like they thought I was a junkie looking for drugs.
Despite having been long ago diagnosed with epilepsy, they would always give me the same answer after each seizure, "Look, we don't know what's wrong with you. Medicine is NOT an exact science, you know." But still they insisted that if I wanted to get well, I'd have to continue to take the medication they prescribed or else ... I was terrified. The doctors came right out and said that they didn't know what they should do, in my case. (At least they were honest in that respect.)
I was raised like everyone else in America - to believe that the doctor knew "everything" and could heal anything. While under conventional doctors care I lost half my teeth, my weight balooned past 300 pounds (I'm only 5'1"), and my dark brown hair turned snow white. This sounds unbelieveable to anyone who has not experienced or been in the regular company of a grand mal epileptic. It was so bad, I could not even be left alone in the bath tub at times for fear that I would drown.
This was not due to side effects from the drugs the doctors said I had to take. They said I would just have to live with it. I found myself dependent on the welfare system, and on the goodwill of whoever had the time or inclination to supervise my daily activities. I was also at their mercy. I also found myself dependent on the public health care system. I had no money to pay for "real" health care becuse I could not hold a job.
My credit rating became terrible because of my instability. I couldn't afford to pay for the drugs the doctors were prescribing for me without public assistance. What was really strange is that the doctors told me that I had to have the drugs to stop the seizures, and yet no drug they ever gave me ever stopped the seizures in 25 years.
My self-image was at an all-time low. I did a lot of stupid things in between seizures. I hurt a lot of people that didn't deserve it by my attitude and actions. The doctors words kept ringing through my head, "Medicine is not an exact science, you know," and "We don't know what's wrong with you."
I began to wonder why I should be forced to trust people who were as much in the dark about my "condition" as I was. These so-called professionals didn't know what was wrong with me and they didn't care to find out. I lost all faith in the medical profession. I took myself off of all prescribed medication. The withdrawals from the drugs I had taken for so long were painful and terrifying. But I felt that deaht would be a better alternative to the way I was living -- but to my amazement I did not die. The seizures grew less frequent although they were still just as violent. In between seizures my thinking was a lot clearer and more rational. I began reading everything I could get my hands on about my "condition." I had nothing else to do. My life was in tatters. I could not even have my children with me for long stretches of time.
I discovered herbal therapy and embarked upon a two year experimentation process. I was working totally alone. My kids thought I'd lost my mind. My mother told me repeatedly that I was crazy. Even my priest tried to discourage me. He kept telling me that I was unqualified to do what I was doing to my body -- that I should follow the doctors' instructions, because they had a lot more education that I had. But their instructions almost destroyed me. After many months of study and experimentation, I developed an herbal regimen that relieved my symptoms WITH NO SIDE EFFECTS! [Editor: The successful result of this experimentation is Kavakosh(tm).]
I have been seizure-free for 4 years and 4 months. That's 3 years longer than any prescription drug or "doctor's advice" ever got me. I have lost 125 pounds! I have held the same job for two years. That's longer than I have ever held a job in my life. For the first time in my entire life I am financially self-supporting. I have lived alone, without supervision, for almost two years. I am totally independent. I am a forty-three year old grandmother, and am able to enjoy my grandchildren. I didn't think I would live to see 35 much less my grandchildren. I am in a relationship with a wonderful man that I love very much. I am now able to put my life back together. I cannot say I'm cured, but I can say that I am in control. I am now able to be a productive member of society, instead of a drain. But, because of repeated injuries during the previous seizures I now have rheumatoid arthritis in both shoulders, which causes almost constant pain in my chest and back. My right shoulder felt nothing, the doctor said I'd destroyed the nerves in my right shoulder and it would never be the same again. I was having such severe chest pains it would make me vomit when it would reach its peak. I once again went to my local public hospital for help. They kept me in there for two weeks, checking for heart trouble. This, despite the fact that they had my medical records for every seizure, head injury and shoulder dislocation for which I had been brought to that emergency room... and even though I told them what the cause of the pains in my chest were. (I just needed analgesic relief.) They found no evidence of heart disease, pronounced me healthy, and sent me home, telling me not to come back! They told me I would just have to live with the pain in my chest.
So one day I called the 800 number for the "Arthritis Foundation" for help, information, anything. Because I could not get any doctor I had been seeing to tell me what arthritis is or how to deal with it. Well, the woman who answered the phone at the "Arthritis Foundation" heard my story and said she didn't know what to tell me. She would not even send me a pamphlet of information. She said what she could do was give me the phone number of my local Arthritis chapter. The woman that answered the phone THERE didn't know what to tell me, either! But she did give me the name and daytime phone number of a man she said was one of the administrator's of our fine local public hospital! (The same place I went to seeking help for seizures and chest pains in the first place. The same hospital that told me not to come back, that they didn't know how to treat me.) Well, I called this hospital administrator.
He told me that the best chance I had for obtaining assistance and treatment for arthritis was to go to the mental health clinic and tell them that I was depressed and suicidal from the pain. Pretend to be crazy. Surely, I would get help there. I went to the mental health clinic and did as he suggested. They told me I did not meet their criteria. They were not going to help me, either! I have been denied access to any kind of health care in my area. I can't afford to pay for "quality medical advise." I've been there before. So now I am in the process of developing, once again, an herbal regimen for the arthritis -- just as I did for epilepsy. Most recently, I have begun to see significant effectiveness in relieving my arthritis, as well.
I know that I am not the only one in the world who has been abandoned by the medical profession. And I am writing this to encourage those people not to give up! To take their health care (and their money) into their own hands, like I did.
It is not my intention to prescribe or diagnose for any body. I only want to share my story. I know that there must be some good doctors out there, somewhere. I just haven't found any that would see me without a bigger price tag than I could afford. I found my own way through a devastating condition, and I found that I can do it without their help.
Now that I have been able to help others who have my condition, I am working on a high ketone diet and herbal formulas I use to keep my seizures and arthritis under control.
If your doctor is successful in your own personal treatment, and you can afford to pay for it, then stay on this path. But if you are in my position, then take a look at the methods. (My products are available directly from Alpha Omega Labs.)
Maybe some day the medical establishment will understand that if they continue to keep quality health care out of common people's reach, we will find another way. Until then I will be here for you. If I don't know the answer to your problem, I will find out the answer. Please send me email. In the meantime, I wish you hope, health, and independence.

Anastazea
New Orleans, Louisiana (USA)
January 15, 2000