Abstracts

Over the past decade there has been a vast increase in the number of people using complimentary and alternative medicines (CAM) as a way of treating disease and maintaining health. The use of such therapies has become more widely recognised by the medical profession and it is probable that many of these therapies could prove beneficial in the treatment of many conditions. However, there is little regulation or standardisation of these therapies and few have been evaluated in properly controlled clinical trials. We therefore wanted to establish how many of our patients had used CAM, either for their seizures or for other conditions, and whether they thought that these had either a positive or negative effect on their seizure control.
Patients were recruited from epilepsy and general neurology clinics at both teaching and district general hospitals in the Greater Manchester area. Patients were also recruited from the community setting via the Community Awareness and Resources for Epilepsy (CARE) service. Patients were asked to complete questionnaires detailing their demographics and information about their seizures. They were also asked whether they had ever used CAM, what they used it for and whether they thought it had affected either the severity or frequency of their seizures. The only criterion for inclusion in the study was a minimum age of 16. Patients with learning disabilities were included, with the questionnaire being completed by their guardian/carer.
In total 341 questionnaires were completed, although not all were answered fully. 122 (35.8%) patients had used CAM, with 36 (11%) using CAM for seizure control and 97 (28%) for other reasons. Use of CAM, either for seizure control or for other reasons, was not predicted by age, sex, level of education, seizure frequency, or number of antiepileptic drugs taken (P[gt]0.05 for all variables tested). 31 (9.1%) patients reported using CAM known to have an adverse effect on seizure control, e.g. St John[apos]s Wort, evening primrose. Alternative medicines that were anecdotally reported to be helpful in seizure control included melatonin, aloe vera, valerian and Chinese herbal medicine. Patients also reported improvements in seizure control after undergoing aromatherapy, homeopathy, Reiki and reflexology. These improvements were subjective, and no attempt to formally assess the effect of these therapies on seizure control was made.
Although 1 in 3 patients reported use of CAM at some time, the number of patients who had used CAM for seizure control was small. No patient demographic predicted use of complimentary medicine. As some patients found certain therapies had a positive effect on their seizures, further investigation of these may be warranted.
[Supported by: Miss Easterford[apos]s travel expenses were paid for by the Wigan and Leigh Epilepsy fund. Drs Clough and Duncan and Sister Pickles are National Health Service employees and received no remuneration for their involvement in this study.]