Perception and Use of Alternative Treatments among Patients with Epilepsy

Objective: Epilepsy is a common neurological disease which affects the quality of life of patients physically, mentally, and socially, and an increase in use of alternative treatments has been found in epileptic patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate alternative treatments used by epileptic patients and to determine the perceptions of epileptic patients toward alternative treatments. Materials and Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted using in-depth interviews with patients with epilepsy at an epilepsy clinic at a university hospital in Thailand between January and March 2015 by 3 interviewers who were standardized training of semi structure interview questionnaire. The end of interview was until saturation. Results: Interviewees included 30 patients averaging 46.9+17.1 years of age, 60 % of whom were female. The most frequent type of seizure patients had experienced was generalized tonic-clonic seizures (had occurred in 50% of patients), and the average frequency of seizures was 1.71 times/month. We found that 56.7% of patients had used more than 1 type of alternative treatment and 33.3% of patients were still using alternative treatments at the time of the interview. Alternative treatments which patients used the most were dietary supplements (20 persons, 36.4%), followed by herbs or herbal products (17 persons, 30.9%) and superstition (16 persons, 29.1%). Most reasons patients gave for their use of alternative treatments were psychological, physical, or belief-based in nature. On average, patients spent 38+9 USD per person per month for alternative treatments. Perceptions of epileptic patients toward dietary supplements, herbs or herbal products, and superstitious methods were unsatisfied (40%, 41.2%, and 18.8% of patients, respectively), satisfied (30%, 35.3%, and 50% of patients, respectively), and indifferent (20%, 5.9%, and 31.3% of patients, respectively). Conclusion: Most of the patients used more than 1 type of alternative treatment. Common reasons provided for using an alternative treatment were psychological, physical, or belief-based in nature. Beliefs seemed to play an important role in one’s faith in an alternative treatment to treat seizures. When a healthcare team recognizes the perceptions of their patients, they can more effectively counsel patients to prevent antiepileptic drug-herb or antiepileptic drug-food supplement interaction and educate patients about the importance of anti-epilepsy drug use. Keywords: Alternative treatment, Epilepsy, Perceptions