Treatment That Is Working For Me

Hello All,
This is what is working for me in hopes it may be helpful for you.

I have had both epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (related to trauma) for twenty two years.
I have experienced improvement with the PNES from EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) and somatic body work just this year.

The EMDR is usually done by counselors, psychologists, etc., and bodywork is done by many folks such as physical therapists, massage therapists, nurses, chiropractors and so forth.
The EMDR is very gentle as well as the somatic body work if done with the right people. If you get a licensed practitioner, your insurance company will reimburse.


I had chronic right arm pain related to childhood trauma that was resolved by bodywork. I also had trauma from car accidents that has been healed with this work. EMDR has helped me 'see' childhood things without deep emotional involvement and assisted in resolution.

I never considered the car accidents as being 'trauma', as my injuries were 'treated and released'. My body sure did.

My PNES has all but ceased.

I do get seizures in my sleep if I overdo it. It's a chronic problem of mine when I start to feel better. I want to do everything as I have felt awful for so long. Balance is something I am not yet good at!

I also worked on an ambulance for five years. I felt alot of it was traumatic. So was alot of my nursing experiences. So much adrenaline releases, hard situations/decisions in the moment. I was young and loved it but it did leave some scars.

I've been a nurse almost thirty years. In hospital for five.

Being a patient is traumatic too!

I also have PTSD from the childhood stuff so I take Ativan for anxiety, Prozac for the resulting depression, seizure meds, medicine for thyroid and kidneys, and now only occasionally do I need the pain medicines.
I have two herniated discs, one in neck, one in low back. I'm nursing them as I do not want surgery. I have a worker's comp injury from computer overuse - right shoulder nerve entrapment. If I end up in the hospital with PNES, my MD does give me small amounts of IV Ativan just to help with anxiety - not the large doses normally given for epilepsy. IV ativan turns me into a very weird person. (crawl over bedrails, nonstop talking, etc.)

I have a vagal nerve stimulator to control the epilepsy - it's like a pacemaker for the brain - a battery with a wire that wraps around a large nerve in my neck. It fires every 3 minutes for 30 seconds. This has basically stopped the epileptic activity (as long as I don't overdo!) with the medicine.

As far as I know there is no special medicine just for NES/PNES, unless the NES is found to have a clinical cause like mitral valve prolapse (a minor heart malfunction), diabetes, etc.

There are medicines that can assist with accompanying symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Counseling has been very helpful to me in part due to the less than professional treatment I've received from the medical community over the years. I've also needed intensive treatment for the childhood issues.

My spiritual path has been a great comfort and support as it teaches love, nonjudgement and forgiveness of self. Being with a group of people who practice these has been very healing.

Lastly, speaking up for myself when medical folks have treated me poorly has been healing too. When I found out that epileptics were being treated less than humanely at an emergency room, (and I had too) I chose to speak up to this hospital.

I've been speaking to them now for years, and don't know how much headway or good has been done. At least we now have a full time neurologist and I hope that will increase the knowledge level around seizure care. I know it has made me a stronger person, and the last horrible incident spurred me on to find the article that recommended EMDR - and that has helped my healing.

I hope this helps yours.