Alternative Epilepsy Treatment: Shoe Smell

Epilepsy is a very serious condition. A neurological disorder that can be triggered by flashing lights, strobbing patterns and other intense stimuli, many epileptic attacks are sudden and frightening to the sufferer and repeating seizures can possibly cause brain damage should the bouts be particularly overwhelming and long. There are quite a few medications out on the market which can help to prevent/treat epilepsy, but most of the pharmaceutical medications have unwanted side effects or alter the person's mood/personality too much, while other methods like CBD (Cannabidiol) oil extracted from hemp plants, while very effective at treating and preventing attacks, also is considered illegal in many parts of the States just because it's made from marijuana. Never mind the fact that it helps treat a harmful illness, or that it contains virtually no THC, the active ingredient in marijuana which gets you high; it's made from weed, therefore we can't trust it! Now take one and a half tablets of Epplexicux™ to help lessen your chances of epilepsy and three tablets of Gurenspooo™ to treat the severe case of kidney failure you received from taking Epplexicux™ for two weeks.

So that begs the question: How do people in developing countries help treat epilepsy? Well, I was looking into 'alternative epilepsy treatment' and I stumbled upon something amazing... People in developing countries can and will treat epileptics... with shoe smell... I'm dead serious! It's an Eastern medicine thing.

Apparently how it's supposed to work is that the strong odour present inside a well-worn shoe is supposed to 'aid in the halting the progress of an epileptic seizure and/or abort the generalization of a partial seizure, especially of temporal origin.' The idea was that when you saw someone suffering an attack, you were to remove your shoe and hold the opening over the person's nose/mouth, essentially bringing the insole of the shoe up to contact with the person's nostrils, ensuring that they get a good whiff. And the stinkier the shoe, the better. If you can smell your feet the moment you remove your shoes, then they're at the ideal stink levels. I'm unsure if just ripe socks or feet would work as well, but I'm guessing shoes would probably be better as the person's nose is completely enclosed in the confines of the shoe so they'd be breathing in nothing but shoe smell.

While it might seem like a ridiculous, unscientific and disgusting/cruel 'folk remedy' (Imagine using my shoes if you had an attack... ), it has been in practice in developing Eastern countries for hundreds of years. Long enough to pique the interest of scientists who're currently studying whether this is a practical application of seizure prevention or a wacky hoax spread around back in the day by a guy who really just wanted people to smell his feet.

In any case, the scientific implications could drastically change the way epilepsy is treated. So the next time you take off your shoes and a thick, cheesy musk rises to greet your unsuspecting nostrils, don't cough or plug your nose. Instead, take a big, deep breath of your foot scent and take pride in the fact that while it can clear a room, it can also save a life.


If you have the time/patience, here's the results of one study done in India:

https://www.webmedcentral.com/wmcpdf/Article_WMC00791.pdf

*Cough.*

*Casually bumps the thread.*

Hmm, yes, well, as the saying goes, whatever works...,

Smell is a powerful trigger for the mind.

actually, it does make sense. like when you faint, if person has smelly salt with them. the person put under the person's nose that faint. the salt bring them around.

Tis true. Don't know if I'd want to rely on a smell treatment for an epileptic attack but if it worked as they theorize then one could make a smelling-salt-like product that those with the problem could carry around to be used in case of an emergency event.

the smell salt capsules are small enough you put in your pocket and even your wallet or purse. you use them , when you feel attack coming on. they probably have capsules design for epilepsy or diabetes patients, instead carry those insulin shots for emergency. these capsules could be carry for you by others, you know for emergency is coming.

Either that or a small, portable mask you could carry that you could just put them in so you'd get a concentrated dose...

...If no one's thought of/patented it yet, we could make a lot of money as well as a possible live-saving product.

only thing, I think of why it isn't design that way is the shot injection goes the body much quicker the through the nose. or, it is circulation more quicker in the blood.

strong contraction of dose, might kill the patient through the nose. it goes to the heart instead, it give a heart attack or even a stroke.

I meant 'concentrated' more as in you'd be able to breathe it in easier than just waving the bottle/capsule under the person's face. I should've clarified that.

I meant 'concentrated' more as in you'd be able to breathe it in easier than just waving the bottle/capsule under the person's face. I should've clarified that.

actually, nasal spray or inhaler would have little more of lower dose of the medication would be ok, if the patient was take on daily base.