Ketogenic Diet Helps Patients with Schizophrenia

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  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    Interesting!
  • KarlaYP
    KarlaYP Posts: 4,436 Member
    Like this! Thanks for posting!
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    Alzheimer's Disease: What if There is a Cure? is a good book on the topic too. Considering that up to a third of all seniors could get dementia, I'm hoping they look into this more.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    Is there any health issue that is harmed with a Keto Way Of Eating? I know it helps many.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    Is there any health issue that is harmed with a Keto Way Of Eating? I know it helps many.

    My guess is it could be hard on some with pre-existing gall bladder issues. That's a guess though.
  • cassandranken
    cassandranken Posts: 129 Member
    edited December 2015
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Alzheimer's Disease: What if There is a Cure? is a good book on the topic too. Considering that up to a third of all seniors could get dementia, I'm hoping they look into this more.

    I work with Alzheimers/Dementia patients. I would love to see any results first hand. Unfortunately I'm not a dietary staff :( They feed the people really well, but what kills me is all the cookies, cakes, puddings, brownies, etc. Several diabetics in my unit. I remember we had hot dog and ice cream day once and later in the night one of the ladies was hungry. I was told I shouldn't give her anything because she's diabetic. I was like "???? she's hungry. If you hadn't given her ice cream and hot dogs and juice earlier maybe her blood sugar wouldn't be sky high."

    But I digress... :|

    Sounds very interesting!

  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Alzheimer's Disease: What if There is a Cure? is a good book on the topic too. Considering that up to a third of all seniors could get dementia, I'm hoping they look into this more.

    I work with Alzheimers/Dementia patients. I would love to see any results first hand. Unfortunately I'm not a dietary staff :( They feed the people really well, but what kills me is all the cookies, cakes, puddings, brownies, etc. Several diabetics in my unit. I remember we had hot dog and ice cream day once and later in the night one of the ladies was hungry. I was told I shouldn't give her anything because she's diabetic. I was like "???? she's hungry. If you hadn't given her ice cream and hot dogs and juice earlier maybe her blood sugar wouldn't be sky high."

    But I digress... :|

    Sounds very interesting!

    This makes me sad. I'm sure this is the norm everywhere. My teenager volunteered for a while in a nursing home nearby. She commented on the desserts that were brought out at every meal. One of the residents that really took a liking to her was a diabetic man with a recent amputation and Alzheimer's. She said that it made her sad to know that his quality of life may be at least slightly improved without all the bread and sweets they had such an abundance of. She said that he in particular seemed to always have candy too. She really liked him. He was always telling her jokes. The same 3 over and over again, but she'd laugh like it was the first time she heard it every time. One of the nurses warned her about getting too close because he wasn't doing very well. He is only in his 50's...
  • neohdiver
    neohdiver Posts: 738 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Alzheimer's Disease: What if There is a Cure? is a good book on the topic too. Considering that up to a third of all seniors could get dementia, I'm hoping they look into this more.

    It makes a lot of sense to me, based on both my experience and that of my spouse. She has lost significant executive reasoning ability (one of the things that another study I saw associated with high blood sugar). She is on two Alzheimer's medications - but has been relatively stable. She has also had diabetes for years - her A1C is in the target range for individuals with diabetes which, needless to say, is considerably higher than the normal range. She has no clue what a carb is, and regularly both complains that people don't provide sugar free deserts - and eats tons of pasta/potatoes/white rice, as well as candy and fruit (especially, but not limited to, when people don't provide sugar free deserts). She doesn't test her blood sugar often, but when she does it is frequently between 180 and 300.

    I've been diagnosed with diabetes less than 3 months, and my blood sugar is below 140 more than 95% of the time (achieved by limiting carbs). I am amazed at how much clearer my thinking is. I was aware that I was struggling a bit more to keep up (I'm rapidly approaching 60, so that didn't surprise me too much), but I was unaware how "foggy" my thinking had become - until I dramatically changed my diet in response to diagnosis and it suddenly cleared dramatically.

    I have been suspicious that my spouse's memory issues are Alzheimer's, given her young age (50s) at diagnosis with the precursor to Alzheimers, and given that her symptoms have been relatively static for the past several years (they typically progress very rapidly for early onset diabetes). But we have been unable to find another explanation. I now wonder whether they are what some have suggested is diabetes type 3 - dementia caused by diabetes.
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    Lost my response. Grr.

    At only 41 years old, I am pretty sure that I was experiencing type 3 dementia. I have fairly stubborn insulin resistance for someone with prediabetes, so the background is there for it. When I went lchf, the improvement in my memory and cognitive skills was quite pronounced. I had thought I was a bit foggy but I had had no idea how bad it was. Even my husband noticed it and commented on it, and he is not the type to notice subtle differences. That is when I started reading about it.

    They don't have a lot of human research in this area yet, but it is being worked on. I just wish it was faster! We all know how slw the medical establishment is to change, and how much slower nursing homes will be to change after that. :(

    I have a good family friend going through this right now. She lives on carbs and desserts. She enjoys them but her dementia is just bad enough that she needs some basic care. If they would change her diet, I wonder how much less help she would need.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    Is there any health issue that is harmed with a Keto Way Of Eating? I know it helps many.

    I know from a friend's personal experience that it can aggravate or worsen bipolar disorder/manic episodes but eating at ketogenic levels. For some types of bipolar, it can lessen symptoms, in her case, it triggered and fed a nearly 6 month manic episode that had to be aggressively treated. Now at a more moderate low carb setting and following another program for tracking, she's back to pre-Keto treatment efficacy with her bipolar.

    If you do the research on this, it says that (forgive me for not remembering percentages) that a smaller percentage of folks (somewhere in the 25-40% range) can be worsened with Keto, whereas most improve or remain the same...
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    edited January 2016
    Is there any health issue that is harmed with a Keto Way Of Eating? I know it helps many.

    Very specifically, there is a group of genetic disorders in which people have defects or deficiencies of the enzymes needed for using fatty acids for energy. Those people, obviously, can't do low carb.
  • 123_lac
    123_lac Posts: 66 Member
    This make sense to me. There are several seizure medications that are also used for psychiatric conditions. So a diet that helps with seizure disorders could very well help with psychiatric conditions.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    I will be glad when we know more about brain related health issues.

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