The Experience Miracles Podcast

Two Teens Beat Seizures and Depression and Became BFFs

Sep 3, 2024

Teen Epilepsy Recovery: How Cole and Francesca Beat Seizures and Depression Without Drugs

Episode 36, Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Published: September 3, 2024 Guests: Cole, Epilepsy survivor, South Carolina | Francesca, Epilepsy and eating disorder survivor

Key Takeaways

  • Childhood epilepsy rarely comes alone. Both Cole and Francesca developed depression, anxiety, and additional health challenges alongside their seizures, a pattern Dr. Tony Ebel calls The Perfect Storm, where one neurological challenge stacks on top of another in a predictable sequence.
  • Conventional neurology had no answers beyond medication management. Both teens exhausted prescription anti-seizure medications without achieving seizure freedom, and neither neurologist could explain the root cause or offer a path to full recovery.
  • Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care addresses the underlying nervous system dysfunction driving seizures. Cole drove 16 hours from South Carolina to receive care, and within one week of his first adjustments, he knew it was working. Francesca saw meaningful results within three to four months.
  • The healing sequence matters. Dr. Tony Ebel explains that neurological healing must restore basic functions first, sleep, digestion, immune regulation, before the bigger symptoms like seizures and depression resolve. Patients who understand this are better prepared for the full process.
  • Francesca has been seizure-free for nearly two years. Her depression is gone and her eating disorder has resolved. Cole is skateboarding, playing soccer, working out, and living a full life again, without seizure medications or limitations on daily activity.

Can Children and Teens Recover From Epilepsy Without Medication?

Epilepsy in children and teenagers is not an isolated brain malfunction, it is a signal that the nervous system is under severe, compounding stress. Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, has worked with hundreds of pediatric epilepsy cases and consistently finds the same root picture: a nervous system stuck in Sympathetic Dominance (chronic fight-or-flight), with significant stress at the upper cervical spine, particularly C1 and C2, compressing the brainstem and disrupting Vagus Nerve function.

This episode features two young adults, Cole and Francesca, who both suffered from grand mal seizures during their teenage years, were failed by conventional neurology, and went on to recover through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care. Their stories show what is possible when the root cause is addressed instead of the symptom.

The path to recovery is not instantaneous. Neurological healing follows a specific order: basic regulatory functions, sleep, digestion, immune response, must stabilize before the seizures and co-occurring conditions like depression and anxiety begin to resolve. Understanding this sequence helps families stay the course during the early weeks of care when results may not yet be visible.

Francesca’s Story: From Grand Mal Seizures and an Eating Disorder to Seizure-Free

[02:00 – 13:00]

Francesca: It started near the end of my sophomore year of high school. I had an atonic seizure in December after studying for exams, I didn’t even know stress-induced seizures were a thing. My EEG had been clear, so I thought I was fine. The next morning I passed out on my bathroom floor.

When I went to the neurologist, he said maybe it was just an accident, it might happen again or it might not. Around March of that year I had my first grand mal seizure. Then I kept having them about once a month.

When I say it was a humbling experience, I thought life was decent before, and then you go through waves of mental health issues because you’re having these difficult seizures and medicine isn’t working. You don’t know when they’re coming. Other people aren’t experiencing it, so you feel brought down to a lower level in your head. I got more depressed and hopeless. Then I was also hit with an eating disorder. So I was dealing with seizures, depression, and an eating disorder all at once.

Dr. Tony Ebel: That is exactly why the number one term you’ll hear on this podcast again and again is The Perfect Storm. When someone is struggling with one neurological challenge, especially something big like seizures, it doesn’t come alone. It comes with anxiety, depression, digestive challenges, immune dysfunction, destroyed sleep. Multiple layers stack up in a specific order, like a perfect storm. This isn’t one thing, it’s a multitude of things.

Francesca, when you were in it and asking doctors for answers, what role did the lack of answers play in the struggle?

Francesca: Since no one really had a solution, that played into a lot of the hopelessness. Doctors would say, “We can give you more medicine, but I don’t know what else to tell you.” And even medicine runs out eventually in the seizure world. They had thrown everything at us. Even medication doesn’t completely stop seizures, it might control them a little. There’s no solid solution. People just want it to be done. No one wants to be on medication for the rest of their life.

Doctors go to med school for 12 years and then tell their patient, “I can’t do anything.” It’s incredibly frustrating. And enlightening in a way you don’t want to be enlightened, how little they really know outside their narrow scope.

“Medicine is not your only option. There’s definitely a way out.”, Francesca

Cole’s Story: Seven Seizures in One School Day and the Depression Nobody Named

[05:30 – 12:00]

Cole: I started having my first grand mal seizures around the time I was turning seven. My first one, I had just gotten out of the shower. My hands just stopped working, and I fell toward the ground. I woke up in the hospital not knowing where I was. For a seven-year-old, that’s a pretty scary thing.

I didn’t know at the time that I had also developed depression and anxiety. I kept having grand mal seizures, not day after day, but frequent enough that I needed to be on medication and had to have someone with me at all times. I couldn’t take a bath, couldn’t go swimming alone. All these things I saw other kids doing that I wanted to do.

Going into high school it got harder, because that’s when kids started driving and I really liked cars, especially mine. I had put a ton of work into my car but couldn’t drive it. Seeing all these kids driving their cars to school while I had this car I wanted so badly but couldn’t touch, it hurt.

One day they changed my medication and I went to school and had seven seizures. Six of them were at school. I tried to hide five of them. I was embarrassed because it’s embarrassing to not be in control of your own body. By lunch, I had my head down, feeling more coming on. I walked to the nurse with my hand on the wall, almost falling. I told them my name and that I was about to have a seizure, they laid me down, and I went immediately into two grand mal seizures. They had to wheel me to the car in a wheelchair. Then I got home and had another one.

Dr. Tony Ebel: What you both are sharing is something that lame websites like WebMD never write about. They say, “Seizures are caused by, we don’t know.” What nobody talks about is this layer of life. The fact that you feel so different from everyone else. The fact that all you wanted to do was go to school, drive your car, and fight through it. You were up against this not just neurologically, but you were also up against doctors who had no answers for you. You had the subluxation, the stress, the Vagus Nerve shut down, and then the frustration of a medical system with nothing to offer except the next medication.

Discovering PX Docs: Skepticism, a 16-Hour Drive, and the First Adjustment

[16:00 – 24:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Cole, you came from out of state. This wasn’t “there’s a new doctor in town, let’s try it.” This was, “we’re driving to Illinois for two weeks.” What did that feel like?

Cole: I was like, this ain’t real. Too good to be true. My mom listens to a lot of podcasts and she kept skipping over yours because of the title. Then she just had a feeling to listen to it. She heard about you helping kids with epilepsy. We had tried everything, pills, alternative medicine, essential oils. Nothing was working. She called me and said there was a guy in Chicago who helps with chiropractic. I was like, “Yeah, cracking my spine and neck is sure going to help epilepsy.” But I wanted to go to Chicago, so I said let’s do it. We drove 16 hours from South Carolina.

The first time you adjusted my back, I just felt like all my nerves, I felt so good. I slept so much better for those two weeks. Then about a week into it I realized, this is actually working. Every single adjustment felt better than the last.

Dr. Tony Ebel: The science behind that quick response: the more stressed, the more subluxated, the more exhausted and wound up the nervous system is, the better the response to those first adjustments. The need is so much, it’s like a magnetic pull, physics and neurology together. Your body started to heal in the order God designed it to heal. Basic functions need to come online first: sleep, digestion, those foundational systems.

Francesca: I was doubtful too, because I think everyone is. My mom saw a Facebook post about Levi, a well-known case from Premier Wellness Chiropractic, about how chiropractic care helped him so much. I said, “Okay, what does that have to do with me?” Did the phone call, and I was like, “These are really happy people. I wish I could feel that happy.” Walked into the office and the energy was radiating. I thought, how do these people have so much energy this early in the morning? I was feeling pretty bad when I came in, numb, depressed, my skin was discolored, pretty yellow. My gut was a mess. I slowly started seeing real results about three to four months into care.

“When I first walked in, everyone was so nice. I wasn’t used to the medical system, it’s just dark. I was used to doctors who get them in, get what they want, get them out. But every single adjustment just felt better. About a week in is when I realized: this is actually working.”, Cole

The Healing Sequence: Why Basic Functions Come Before Seizure Resolution

[24:00 – 32:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: What was so essential for you both, especially for you, Francesca, is that we had to build the basics and the foundation first. With tough cases, epilepsy, autism, severe anxiety and depression, what we want to do is get the big stuff gone yesterday. What actually has to happen in a neurological healing process is that all the basic “boring” stuff has to work first: sleeping, digestion, immune system. For you, those were all completely shut down.

The first phases of care focused entirely on those foundational things. Not as exciting as “my seizures are gone,” but crucial to getting there.

We look at healthcare in three categories. There’s medicine, life-saving but not life-restoring. They’re the fire department: they can put out a fire, but they can’t rebuild the house. Then there’s nutritional and natural approaches, supplements, essential oils, dietary changes. You guys had exhausted all of that too. And then there’s neurologically-focused chiropractic, which gets to the actual root cause.

Principle number six of chiropractic science: all healing takes time. I despise that principle because I want to help people as fast as possible. We have sped it up with intensive care programs. Both of you got better as fast as anyone could, and yet it’s still a process. Sleep, digestion, the basics first.

Francesca: My doctor explained the INSiGHT Scans to me, they use this rolling device along your spine and it shows what areas of your vertebrae are most inflamed, where the nervous system is under the most stress. For people with epilepsy, C1 and C2, near the skull, that’s always going to be highly stressed. Mine were really red even after two years of care, though they’ve improved. I’ve been seizure-free for almost two years even while some areas are still healing.

Dr. Tony Ebel: That’s the purpose of ongoing scans, because stress doesn’t stop once we get you through the storm. College, work, relationships, stress keeps coming. And the HRV measurements showed that your Vagus Nerve, that healing, calming, reparative side of your nervous system, was completely shut down while the Sympathetic fight-or-flight side was stuck on. That was driving everything.

Cole: When you showed me the scan results, it was actually kind of cool, because that’s one thing most doctors don’t do. They don’t actually explain what’s going on. They just say, “You have seizures, here, take this.” They don’t show you anything.

“You had such a limited quality of life prior to chiropractic. Now you have an unlimited quality of life with chiropractic, and that is exactly what you deserve.”, Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP

PX Docs vs. Standard Chiropractic: What Families Need to Know

[28:00 – 38:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: There’s a significant difference between a PX doctor who is neurologically focused and one who isn’t. Francesca, you’ve now experienced both. What are the contrast points families should look for?

Francesca: With PX, they really focus on the individual parts of your body that are stressed, and they use the scans for that. They don’t over-adjust you, because that would disrupt your whole nervous system. They might only address two areas of your neck or just your upper back for a session. They really get in tune with your body and they’re very personal with you, they want to know what’s going on in your life. Are you anxious? Are you sad? Because that tells them what areas need attention.

With PX docs there’s a real patient-to-doctor relationship instead of a transactional one where you show up, pay, and they do the same thing every time. It’s a healing environment. It’s homey. You actually want to go.

Dr. Tony Ebel: That level of personalized, customized care is the only way to get full results for a patient. At every PX office, we get every detail, pregnancy, birth, labor, delivery, how a baby is latching. Every detail gives us the complete clinical picture to make the exact right care plan, the exact right adjustment, and choose the right technique. It is meticulous and it happens every single time.

For those listening who are looking for a chiropractor for their family, it has to be a neurologically focused, pediatric PX doctor. That is the level of care and attention that everybody deserves.

Where Cole and Francesca Are Now

[32:00 – 47:00]

Francesca: I’m about to start driving, my parents are still a little hesitant since I missed two years of drive time, but I’ll be living five minutes from campus. I turn two years seizure-free next month. My depression is gone. My eating disorder is basically resolved. Anxiety is still something I work on. I was recently diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), which I had been experiencing for a couple of years without knowing what it was.

Dr. Tony Ebel: POTS sits in the same category as Dysautonomia and subluxation. That C1 and C2 area, where your vagus nerve is, controls and modulates pressure and vestibular function. As you continue through school and add new stressors, your nervous system is still sensitive in those areas. Getting you back under regular PX care is the next step, and we’ll address those remaining pieces.

Cole: So much better. Like Francesca said, I also had depression and anxiety, but I didn’t even realize it until high school. It got pretty bad, to a suicidal point. I was sent to two mental hospitals. The first made it worse. The second did nothing. Then I came here and started feeling so much better. Color started getting brighter. Food started tasting better. On the drive home, we stopped at a burger joint and my mom said the burger was terrible. I said it was the best burger I’d ever had.

Now I go skateboarding every night. I play soccer. I watch sports with my friends and my brother. I work out. I’ve lost a lot of weight. It’s actually life again.

Dr. Tony Ebel: That is the miracle. Not just the subtraction, seizures gone, depression gone, anxiety gone. The addition is the miracle. What comes back. This is the life God designed for you to live: without limitation, without fear, without feeling like you’re different from everyone else.

“It’s real. It actually works. You give it a shot, you’ll see.”, Cole

How Cole and Francesca Became Best Friends

[40:00 – 50:00]

Dr. Tony Ebel: We almost closed without explaining how these two became such fast friends. Real quick, how did that happen?

Francesca: Our moms met at the office. Nicole said her son didn’t know anyone else with epilepsy, and maybe our kids could connect. My mom said yes. We got each other’s Snapchats, and Cole said hi.

Cole: And I was like, “Who’s this weird girl?”

Francesca: I am not weird. I am so exciting to talk to.

Dr. Tony Ebel: From the outside looking in, the story you shared here over the last hour explains it. You both went through things very few people have experienced. To have a close friend who doesn’t have that relatability, who doesn’t carry that same level of empathy for what you lived through, that’s hard. This is what we’re building through Experience Miracles and PX Docs: a community of parents and patients who understand each other and can pass this forward.

The only way we shift this and reach less of the storm for millions of kids is if we get out ahead of it. You two going forward, your parents connecting, this community growing, that is probably the most important part of this whole mission.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can teenagers actually recover from epilepsy without staying on medication forever?

Yes, and Cole and Francesca are two examples. Both had their seizures resolve through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care that addressed the underlying nervous system dysregulation, specifically stress at the upper cervical spine (C1 and C2), rather than managing symptoms with medication. Francesca is nearly two years seizure-free. Cole has recovered fully and lives without restrictions.

Why did Cole and Francesca develop depression and anxiety alongside their seizures?

This is a hallmark of The Perfect Storm: one neurological challenge rarely arrives alone. When the brainstem and upper cervical spine are under stress, the autonomic nervous system becomes dysregulated. The nervous system gets stuck in Sympathetic Dominance, chronic fight-or-flight, which drives anxiety, depression, digestive problems, sleep dysfunction, and immune challenges alongside the primary diagnosis. It is the same root cause expressing itself in multiple ways.

Why did conventional neurology have no long-term solutions for these teens?

Conventional medicine is designed for acute care, stopping a crisis, managing a symptom. It is not designed to restore full neurological function. As Francesca described, neurologists offered more medications when the current ones stopped working, without any framework for addressing root cause. Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care works differently: it identifies where the spine is creating interference in the nervous system, reduces that interference through precise adjustments, and allows the body to heal in the order it was designed to heal.

What should parents look for in a chiropractor for a child with epilepsy?

Look specifically for a PX Docs provider who is neurologically focused and uses INSiGHT Scans to assess nervous system stress before and throughout care. As Francesca described, PX doctors tailor each session to the specific areas showing stress on that day’s scan, they do not apply the same generic adjustment every visit. The relationship is personal and detailed, with the practitioner tracking the full picture of the child’s life and stress load. Find a provider at the PX Docs directory.

How long does it take to see results from chiropractic care for seizures?

It varies by case severity. Cole began to notice significant improvement within one week of his first adjustments during a two-week intensive. Francesca saw meaningful results around three to four months into regular care. Dr. Tony Ebel explains that the healing sequence always starts with foundational systems, sleep, digestion, immune regulation, before the bigger neurological symptoms resolve. Cases involving severe epilepsy, depression, and multiple compounding conditions require sustained care, not a quick fix.

How do I find a PX Docs provider near me?

You can search the full PX Docs directory. All listed providers are trained in Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care and use the same scan-guided approach Dr. Tony Ebel describes in this episode.

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