One Year, 105 lbs, and Zero Seizures.
Niff314
Posts: 113 Member
Hey there!
I finally hit my 100 lb milestone and thought I'd share.
Sorry, this is a little long. Here's a pic:
I started working out in August of 2016 in an effort to get my weight under control. It worked pretty well, and I was feeling much better, but I was still having seizures and the medications weren't helping (and never had).
I started keto in March 2017 solely to control my epilepsy.
I've been epileptic since I was 12 years old, and despite decades of anti seizure meds which did nothing to control my seizures but came with a whole host of lovely side effects (paresthesia, aphagia, facial paralysis, skin blisters, and mental fog, among others) and my neurologist insisting I needed brain surgery, I decided to be my own health advocate and take matters into my own hands. I've had three different neurologists over the last 20 years and none of them endorsed nor even encouraged keto as a therapy for me, since for adults they'd found a "low adherence rate". Because of this, they prefer to not mention it which doesn't even give us a chance to try it out for ourselves, which I found to be frustrating as hell.
So I did some research via Johns Hopkins University and The Charlie Foundation, bought a food scale, started with a two-day water fast then dove in. It was challenging at first, but after a couple of weeks it became routine and I didn't have any carbohydrate cravings whatsoever. After seven months, I'm now completely seizure free and off all epilepsy medication.
For me, one of the side effects of keto and the weight loss is more energy and stamina for exercise. I've always loved hiking and being outside, so in tandem with weightlifting (deadlifts, squats and bench), I found I loved getting stronger and healthier. I also noticed the weight loss made exercise much more enjoyable. I'm a dog walker, so I began taking a couple of my dogs on seriously long urban hikes as well as longer trail hikes on the weekends with friends.
I found I loved with the hiking and long distance walking so much, it became somewhat of an addiction. I started thinking again about the Pacific Crest Trail, which I used to hike sections of a couple times per month before I moved downtown and fantasized about hiking when I was in my 30's (I'm 41 now). It's a 2,600-mile hike from Mexico to Canada, and much of it goes through Washington State (I live in Seattle.) Most thru-hikers average 20 miles per day, so I began adding several 20-mile long treks during my week. Doing research on the PCT has become my new favorite pastime.
Because this controls my seizures 100%, I consider this a lifestyle change for me. I have no desire to go back on medication, and having been keto for 7 months now it's become my new normal. My neurologist is even on board, and sent me to a ketogenic nutritionist to help me with my meal plans (medical keto has a higher fat and lower protein percentage than the keto strategy used for non-medical purposes) and run regular blood panels.
MyFitnessPal has been so crucial in helping me track not just my macros but all of my workouts as well - I don't know what I'd do without it.
I finally hit my 100 lb milestone and thought I'd share.
Sorry, this is a little long. Here's a pic:I started working out in August of 2016 in an effort to get my weight under control. It worked pretty well, and I was feeling much better, but I was still having seizures and the medications weren't helping (and never had).
I started keto in March 2017 solely to control my epilepsy.
I've been epileptic since I was 12 years old, and despite decades of anti seizure meds which did nothing to control my seizures but came with a whole host of lovely side effects (paresthesia, aphagia, facial paralysis, skin blisters, and mental fog, among others) and my neurologist insisting I needed brain surgery, I decided to be my own health advocate and take matters into my own hands. I've had three different neurologists over the last 20 years and none of them endorsed nor even encouraged keto as a therapy for me, since for adults they'd found a "low adherence rate". Because of this, they prefer to not mention it which doesn't even give us a chance to try it out for ourselves, which I found to be frustrating as hell.
So I did some research via Johns Hopkins University and The Charlie Foundation, bought a food scale, started with a two-day water fast then dove in. It was challenging at first, but after a couple of weeks it became routine and I didn't have any carbohydrate cravings whatsoever. After seven months, I'm now completely seizure free and off all epilepsy medication.
For me, one of the side effects of keto and the weight loss is more energy and stamina for exercise. I've always loved hiking and being outside, so in tandem with weightlifting (deadlifts, squats and bench), I found I loved getting stronger and healthier. I also noticed the weight loss made exercise much more enjoyable. I'm a dog walker, so I began taking a couple of my dogs on seriously long urban hikes as well as longer trail hikes on the weekends with friends.
I found I loved with the hiking and long distance walking so much, it became somewhat of an addiction. I started thinking again about the Pacific Crest Trail, which I used to hike sections of a couple times per month before I moved downtown and fantasized about hiking when I was in my 30's (I'm 41 now). It's a 2,600-mile hike from Mexico to Canada, and much of it goes through Washington State (I live in Seattle.) Most thru-hikers average 20 miles per day, so I began adding several 20-mile long treks during my week. Doing research on the PCT has become my new favorite pastime.
Because this controls my seizures 100%, I consider this a lifestyle change for me. I have no desire to go back on medication, and having been keto for 7 months now it's become my new normal. My neurologist is even on board, and sent me to a ketogenic nutritionist to help me with my meal plans (medical keto has a higher fat and lower protein percentage than the keto strategy used for non-medical purposes) and run regular blood panels.
MyFitnessPal has been so crucial in helping me track not just my macros but all of my workouts as well - I don't know what I'd do without it.
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Replies
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What an amazing story! You must be so happy and relieved that this is working for you.
And congratulations on your weight loss - you look great!1 -
JoLightensUp wrote: »What an amazing story! You must be so happy and relieved that this is working for you.
And congratulations on your weight loss - you look great!
Thank you so much! I am *very* relieved - it's so amazing to be off of the medication. 4 -
Congrats! Totally inspiring!1
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That's both amazing and sad at the same time! This is why doctors should be trained SO MUCH MORE in nutrition than they currently are. Your normal, conventional doctors are always SO behind in terms of diets that can help so many medical conditions. Prevention and reversal should be taught as a mainstay, instead of "care"!
Beautiful changes, btw.
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wow outstanding you look amazing1
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Wow!! Congrats on being your own advocate and helping your body work for you to make it healthier, strong and seizure free!! That's amazing and the wieght loss is the icing on the cake!! I'm so happy for you and your success story! Keep on being the better healthier you! You are rocking it and beautiful!!
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This is an amazing story. Thank you for sharing it. It really makes you wonder why modern medicine and diet are pretty much mutually exclusive. You are looking fabulous, but WOW! your health results!! Well done to you!2
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What a beautiful thing - seizure free after all those years of medication trial and error to no avail. Free at last!
Medically Therapeutic Keto is so well documented for seizure control it really is a shame it was never suggested to you by your neurologists when meds weren't working. Kudos to you.
I'm very, very excited for you. And you look great too! Congrats on the weight loss.4 -
Good for you! It's really amazing all the things that can be cured or at least drastically improved by just losing weight and eating a balanced diet.0
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So happy for you. You look stunning0
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How often were you having seizures before the change to keto?
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A beautiful story & transformation all the way 'round :-)0
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Amazing!!! You look beautiful 0
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You are friggin' amazing! Congratulations.0
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What an amazng story of health and fitness. I admire how you did your own research and took your health into your own hands and found your healing. You look amazing to boot!0
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Congratulations on your improved health and weight loss! I'm sorry that you had to struggle so long with your epilepsy. I also have epilepsy and I remember all of the terrible side effects from different medications I had to try. I'm so glad this diet is working for you! You look wonderful!2
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Wow! This is an amazing journey. Good for you!0
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Well done, very pleased for you. Other epilepsy sufferers please get proper medical advice before considering stopping or reducing medication.3
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This is really awesome. I just started keto and suffer from severe migraines which gives me almost the same symptoms as a TIA. And gives same brain waves as epilepsy sometimes so hopeing this helps me. Also after reading this I'm be mentioning this to my parents as my dad HAS epilepsy for the past 7years now. And he's gone through soooo many medications and finally getting better but think this would probably help him a lot as well. Congrats to you and hope you have many more years epilepsy free1
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This deserves more "Awesomes" than the software allows. I can't imagine such huge changes in a persons life through diet changes.
As for the PCT, I hope you get to hike it some day. I've hiked portions of it many years ago before it was officially the PCT, and I think it's way more diverse than many other long hikes.0 -
Wow! Fabulous. Please consider posting this in the low carber daily forum. I'm sure many of the posters there (who don't often check the main boards) would enjoy reading about your journey, and success!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
Regardless, how WONDERFUL!1 -
What an amazing story and you look absolutely incredible!! Congrats on taking your health into your own hands.0
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Congrats!!! Awesome work0
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I am curious, do you know what exactly about your diet and switching to keto altered the seizures? Are carbs in general just a trigger? I have quite a few friends that have seizures and I love keto myself so I am curious to know how Keto effected it.0
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I didn't know about the effects of keto on epilepsy so I looked it up - there have been several well done studies on children which found that a keto diet reduced or completely eliminated seizures in more than half of children. Wow, I had no idea! Thanks for teaching me something new today.
You look great and I'm happy for you. Good luck in your hiking adventures!1 -
Totally awesome. Not to take away from your success, but all the reason more - very general comment here and 100% my experience in life, so not suggesting that this applies everywhere to everyone....just has been 100% my experience - why I just don't go to the doctors here in the US. I figure things out for myself. And, they really have no idea about nutrition.
Anyway, much respect for taking things into your own hands, for taking ownership of this and for being personally responsible for your own well-being. And the outcome could not have been any better....even if you would have fantasized about an outcome. Totally off meds (I bet that <kittens> some folks off) - how much money are you saving there (a rhetorical question....).
Anyway, congrats! May you have a long lifetime of seizure - free days!0 -
You look amazing!So glad you shared your story!0
This discussion has been closed.
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