Epilepsy and spiritual warfare
I was taking a look at my referrers the other day. Someone did a yahoo search on epilepsy and spiritual warfare and my site happened to be the first to come up, which I find kind of funny, considering that attempting to use “spiritual warfare” to win the battle against epilepsy in my daughter almost made me lose me mind.
We all know that Christians can take the spiritual warfare and “name it and claim it” type of thing too far with illnesses, but try battling a disease that Jesus specifically casts out as a demon in the New Testament. You might as well hang it up. It must be unconfessed sin, or a demon, or a negative spiritual influence, or drugs, or sexual abuse or past use of a ouiji board. Go ahead. Do a search on epilepsy and spiritual warfare or demons. There is no shortage of information out there. I had never considered what it must be like to have a disease like deafness or epilepsy that Jesus uses demonized language to heal. Until recently.
One Christian website actually says that demonic manifestation of a believer can take the form of:
Physiological imbalance & physical inability, such as blindness, deafness, dumbness, epilepsy, faintness, foaming at the mouth, change of voice & character, etc.
OH. REALLY?????? COULD it be that the person is actually blind or deaf or dumb or has epilepsy?
Perhaps if we quit seeing God as a gumball machine that just responds to our every whim and wimper, perhaps if we realize that, as painful as our suffering is, there are others that suffer more, we will stop acting as if every illness, every financial difficulty, every job loss is a personal attack from an enemy that we must battle. Perhaps we will realize, that as Job says in chapter 42,
2″I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3′Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4′Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
>
Jamie, this is terrible, and I can imagine how you feel. On Saturday the neurologist wrote me a prescription for Trileptal, which is an epilepsy drug (outrageously expensive), so I kinda can imagine what is going through your mind. It’s often a lot harder to deal with those things when you are in the middle of other Christians, especially those who are embracing ignorant teachings, such as some imaginary connections between demons and epilepsy. Obviously those people know nothing about how a seizure occurs and what causes seizures.
Also, is your daughter taking any medicine at all?
So, Virgil, is an anti-seizure medicine a typical course of action for the illness they believe you are dealing with? Is this just one way to deal with the symptoms of the disease? Yes, my daughter is on 2 meds….keppra and lamictal. Her meds are also expensive…around $2000.00/month, if you can believe that. I really hope that the trileptal works for you. I hope I’m not discouraging you by reminding you that often times the first medicine they try does not work. We went through several before we found a combo that seemed to work fairly well. My prayers are with you and I hope that trileptal works in controlling the seizures.
It really has amazed me how quickly people have resorted to the demonization idea. As a mom, I was so desperate to find answers that I was willing to try anything…I was looking for demons around every corner. Finally God just had to pull a Job on me …really…and kind of put me in my place. It was the best thing that happened in the midst of this whole thing.
Jamie, is that two THOUSAND a month, or did you mean two hundred dollars a month for the medicine? It’s outrageous either way but two thousand?? Dang!! I thought the $150 a month Trileptal was expensive. May I ask how well the medicine works and how exactly you know that it actually works? Is she allowed to drive? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable talking about those things.
And you are not discouraging me at all. I am really really reluctant to go on anti-seizure medicine, mostly because I had two “episodes” so far and one of them happened when I was alone in my car, so technically speaking the neurologist has no clue as to what is causing those things, so I hate taking medicine without knowing the ultimate cause. Is one thing to be diagnosed with epilepsy, and it’s another thing to be told “we don’t know what’s causing those things, so go ahead and take this expensive medicine for the rest of your life..never mind the side effects either.”
It’s very frustrating…and that’s why I haven’t even started to take the meds yet. I’ll do a blog about this soon…I don’t think I should vent on yours
I’ll say a prayer for you guys. Sometimes in a world of modern medicine we forget that God is still the healer.
Virgil,
I don’t mind answering the questions at all…..when we were in the early phases of this thing…I was dying to talk to anyone who had undergone anything similar. YEs 2 THOUSAND a month. ridiculous, isn’t it. We know it’s working because she’s not having seizures at the rate she was having them before. Does that mean she’s seizure free? No. BUT, it’s much better. She’s not quite old enough to drive, but if she were, she would not be able to. I thiink in our state, she has to be seizure free for at least 6 months, which has not happened. The longest she’s gone is 3.5 months, which is still better than weekly seizures.
Yes, I can totally understand your hesitation. That’s why I asked. I knew your diagnosis wasn’t epilepsy. Have you considered going to another neuro to get a second opinion? We finally took our daughter to another city to get a second opinion. We loved our neuro here, but it is a smallish town (no major research center). Or perhaps you’ve already done that.
My prayers are with you too. Feel free to rant on my blog anytime!
Jamie, thanks for answering. I hope you have some really really good insurance or a rich uncle or something.
To be honest I am not sure I know anyone that spends that much money on medicine every month. Let me guess…there are no generics either. Your girl must be so frustrated as well about all of this… Is she really sore and “beat up” after a seizure as well? I know I was…it took me almost a week to recover in each instance.
In my case a few weeks ago I was diagnosed with Dent’s Disease which I never heard of before…so I’ve been reading non-stop on this and I even wrote the Wikipedia article on it. My personal speculation is that there is some link between the way my kidneys are working and those “seizures” but the doctors are not buying it. And since I started taking medicine for the kidneys, three weeks ago, I had NO auras as I used to have daily. I don’t know if your daughter experiences auras at all, but they can sometimes be a precursor to a seizure and may help her pre-empt one. I even heard of folks being able to stop a seizure by managing their breathing and mental posture when auras cam; they are really weird when they come about and in my case they started a couple of years ago. At first I thought I was going crazy…it’s the opposite feeling of a deja vu but also a deja vu at the same time, but it’s very weird and strong, to the point that I would not be able to remember a friend’s name for example. Definitely funky stuff, which was dismissed as “due to stress.”
I may end up taking your advice and see another neurologist. This one I respect a lot but he really was in a big hurry to dispense medicine. And that did trouble me.
I feel terrible getting away from your original thoughts…I am really sorry
it’s a crazy crazy world
Virgil,
Please don’t feel bad. I’m more than happy to talk about this stuff. My daughter does occasionally have aura’s and her neuro has told her that the best thing she can do when she experiences one is to keep talking to someone….sometimes that can “reset” the brain and prevent a seizure. Unfortunately, though, many of her grand-mals, or tonic-clonics as they are now called come without ANY warning, which usually results ins some type of injury, as she has no time to get to the floor.
So, are seizures typical of Dent’s disease? I would definitely get a second opinion. I wish I would have done it sooner. It’s your health, your body and your piece of mind. I wouldn’t wait. Just my.02
Paul–it is a crazy world….with many crazy people in it.
Jamie, I can understand the lack of warning is very frustrating and even dangerous. Talking to someone during an aura did seem to have an effect on me, so I agree that the “multitasking” and focusing on another person and on breathing would help the brain work in a different way and could possibly avoid a seizure.
Seizures are not typical of Dent’s however the dehydration caused by Dent’s I imagine can lead to seizures in people who are predisposed to have them. I think that is what’s happening with me. Dehydration and blood calcium imbalance can lead to blood vessels in the brain constricting, indirectly causing a seizure. So while a seizure is a neurological phenomenon, I am speculating that in my case it may not be ultimately a neurological cause. But what do I know? I don’t have a diploma in medicine
I wish your family the best…I’ll say a prayer for you guys.
FYI Reiner has a small article in the book Prayer by Yancey that we are reading. He is a pastor whose son has epilepsy. Anyhow, demons can certainly manifest themselves in various ways– deaf, dumb, epilepsy, speaking in tongues (not the authentic gift kind), appearing to heal, etc. He imitates much of the good stuff. Those not clued in then call good things bad when it comes out Satan has done so (tongues the best example). In the same way, physical diseases and handicaps are never ever said to always be from Satan . . . though he can at times inflict in this way. What we need is a proper view of Satan and a proper view of suffering and the sovereignty of God. And let us drop trying to figure everything out into nice easy categories.
TA-
I can’t wait to see that portion of the book. I sure wish you’d hurry. LOL
Whoa, Jamie, it never once occurred to me that my epilepsy/seizure disorder was a demon.
Virgil, have you had an EEG? Simply put, if your seizures are not being caused by brain mal-functioning, the anti-seizure drugs are like clapping your hands to keep the polar bears away. I know much more about epilepsy (having dealt with it myself for 16 years and in my brother when he was little). I’ve never heard of Dent’s Disease/Disorder. However, if, as you describe, your seizures are being caused by dehydration, you and your doctor might want to treat the underlying causes of that rather than the seizures.
There are many drugs to treat seizures and not all of them are expensive. I think that Jamie’s daughter has a particularly intractable form of seizures that are difficult to treat. Others (like me) are far easier. At either end of the spectrum it creates difficulties and worries that most people never have to think about and adding to that the specter of demonization is nigh on to spiritual abuse. That is just horrible!!
Jamie, I love the quote from Job. It’s just beautiful and I know you’ve come to it through a lot of painful journeying.
Thank you for that post, Jamie. I have fibromyalgia, certainly not as serious as epilepsy, but something I struggle with on a daily basis. I have experienced some of those types of comments - this is an attack from Satan, you need to have faith that you will be healed, etc. I know people mean well but it feels like they are giving a message of shame.
Sonja-I’m glad that it never occured to you, or it wasn’t used by those around you.
Rachel-the book of Job really has been a life saver for me during this whole thing. Have you read it with your fibromyalgia in mind? If not, I recommend it….
Thanks for the suggestion, Jamie. I will do that.
Hi
I have epilepsy. I am also a Christian. Have you ever checked out dailystrength.org? It’s a great way to find out information from people who have epilepsy, have been or are where you are rightnow.
I think that jumping straight to demonic possesion or spiritual warfare directly isn’t the right the to do but seizures can definitely have influence by demons and/or Satan. Whether it is demonic or the physical illness itself…it needs prayer for healing.
I’ve been on keppra and lamictal as well as other AE drugs .I’ll be praying for you and your daughter. Job is a great book.
Love in Christ,
-TiA