Complementary and integrative medicine in epilepsy: What patients and physicians perceive

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the extent to which people with epilepsy (PWE) use complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) to treat their illness and to assess their perceptions. We also investigated the perceptions of their treating physicians.

In this cross-sectional study, all adult patients with epilepsy, who had the illness for at least one year, were recruited at the outpatient epilepsy clinic at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, from January 2019 until March 2019. A questionnaire was designed for this survey. We also designed a similar questionnaire to investigate perceptions of the physicians in the same region.

One hundred and one patients participated. Seventy-one patients (70%) believed that CIM would be helpful in treating seizures; the most commonly reported CIM therapies were prayers, exercise, and herbs. Sixteen patients (16%) had actually used CIM to treat their seizures, but only one patient perceived that CIM was more effective than antiepileptic drugs to bring her seizures under control. Thirty-one neurologists participated in the study. Seventeen neurologists (55%) believed that CIM would be helpful in treating epileptic seizures. The most commonly reported CIM therapies were meditation, yoga, and exercise.

Complementary and integrative medicine is considered and used by many PWE to treat epileptic seizures. Cultural issues probably play an important role in having faith in CIM. Physicians involved in the care of PWE should provide appropriate information regarding the safety and efficacy of various CIM treatments for PWE.