Ray Peat on Epilepsy and Seizures

Short answer: Ray Peat connected seizures to hormones, water and energy. He wrote that estrogen promotes them and progesterone prevents them, that water retention with low sodium sets them off, and that carbon dioxide and thyroid function raise the threshold.

What Ray Peat wrote about epilepsy

He described progesterone as a very effective antiepileptic, and cites researchers who named the estrogen peak as the probable cause of more frequent seizures around ovulation. Source: Epilepsy and Progesterone

Seizures are more likely at night, during puberty, before menstruation, in pregnancy and in the first year of life, and can be triggered by hyperventilation, running, strong emotion or unusual sensory stimulation. Source: Epilepsy and Progesterone

Water retention and low sodium increase susceptibility. Water intake was once used as a diagnostic test for epilepsy. Source: Epilepsy and Progesterone, Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging

Hypothyroid people lose sodium easily and estrogen holds water, so low thyroid with high estrogen gives both of the conditions known to predispose to seizures. Source: Epilepsy and Progesterone

Raising carbon dioxide inhibits seizures. The drug acetazolamide, which raises the body's carbon dioxide and reduces water retention, is very effective at preventing them. Source: Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging

He wrote that thyroid, progesterone and a high quality protein diet will generally correct the problem, and that unsaturated fats are involved. Source: Epilepsy and Progesterone

Endotoxin from the bowel can add to the instability of the nerves, which is where he recommends the carrot salad. Source: Epilepsy and Progesterone

He mocked the label of hereditary epilepsy as an explanation that explains nothing. Source: Epilepsy and Progesterone

What he suggested in practice

• This is his published view. Epilepsy must be managed with a neurologist, and medication should never be stopped on the basis of an article.
• The factors he discussed: thyroid function, progesterone, protein, sodium, carbon dioxide and bowel health.

Where he wrote about it

This topic comes up in 41 of the articles on his site. These are the most relevant ones:

• Epilepsy and Progesterone · original on raypeat.com ↗
• TSH, temperature, pulse rate, and other indicators in hypothyroidism · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Gelatin, stress, longevity · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Eclampsia in the Real Organism: A Paradigm of General Distress Applicable in Infants, Adults, Etc · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Alzheimer's: The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality — part 2 · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity · original on raypeat.com ↗
• Estrogen — Age Stress Hormone · original on raypeat.com ↗

Quick answers

What did Ray Peat say about epilepsy?

That seizures are promoted by estrogen, water retention, low sodium, low carbon dioxide and low thyroid function, and opposed by progesterone, thyroid, protein and salt.

Why did Ray Peat connect water and seizures?

Because overhydration can produce seizures, low sodium increases susceptibility, and hypothyroid people with high estrogen tend to have both edema and low blood sodium.