Epilepsy & Diet ??

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LB2812
LB2812 Posts: 158 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm just curious to hear from others who might have some experience with epilepsy. Does diet have any effect on your seizures??

My friend has struggled with epilepsy for 15ish years now and her doctor recently suggested she stop being a vegetarian and eat meat - particularly red meat. They called it a "modified atkins diet" and said it's helped other people with epilepsy. She's none to thrilled about it of course, but is open to learning more about it. I know in the past I had read something about low/no carb diets helping people with epilepsy, but that it was an issue because a diet like that long term lead to other issues (ketosis? i forget the name. as well as just missing nutrients that you'd get from carbs.)

Just curious, if anyone on here has any experience with this subject. Thanks!

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  • 87monkey
    87monkey Posts: 83 Member
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    I don't really know but my sister has epilepsy. I personally think hers is related to hormones because she tends to have more seizures during her time of month and when her sleep is disrupted. but then again hormones are directly related to diet so even hers could be a lack or surplus of something. She can't afford to see a specialist so sadly she is just given medicine to cover the problem. Their are soooo many types of seizure problems that each case is unique. What does her diet consist of now?
  • Bluffz
    Bluffz Posts: 1
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    Monkey,

    You should look up Ketogenic Diet. It has been proven to help stop seizures in people with Epilepsy. Here is a link to maybe get you more information.

    http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/epilepsy-treatment.html
  • stefjc
    stefjc Posts: 484 Member
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    The ketogenic diet has proper, general scientific support only in children.

    Studies in adult refractory epilepsy have also shown quite a high positive effect but there have not been the same number or size of studies done in adults - those that have been done have not been conclusive.

    So it might be worth trying but...... as has been said, there are so many types of seizure.

    If you Google it and pick your way through the weird mix of sites that pop up you'll find a few good ones (in this instance the Mayo might not be a good starting place, they are a bit biased, as they themselves say :) ).
  • LB2812
    LB2812 Posts: 158 Member
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    I don't really know but my sister has epilepsy. I personally think hers is related to hormones because she tends to have more seizures during her time of month and when her sleep is disrupted. but then again hormones are directly related to diet so even hers could be a lack or surplus of something. She can't afford to see a specialist so sadly she is just given medicine to cover the problem. Their are soooo many types of seizure problems that each case is unique. What does her diet consist of now?
    My friend is similar - worse during that time of the month and when she gets less sleep and also if she's stressed. Interesting!

    My friend is a vegetarian now, and she tends to eat pretty light. Not a cook and always worried about weight. But she will eat eggs and veggie burgers. I think she tries to stay low carb anyway. She eats a lot of fruit i know. Not entirely sure as I don't see her often.

    Interesting about the ketogenic diet (guess that's the name of it! :P) being more supported for children then adults. I"ll have to look that up! Thanks!!
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
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    Seconding the ketogenic diet approach. The high fat is supposedly good for treating seizures.
  • 87monkey
    87monkey Posts: 83 Member
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    Thanks guys I will check that out :)
  • JagerLewis
    JagerLewis Posts: 427 Member
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    My daughter has epilepsy, and she just started the Modified Atkins diet 1 day ago. So I'm not able to tell you from experience if it works, but from what the doctors tell us, it does. I'm just worried how I'll be able to stick with "my" plan, while cooking the things she needs to eat to better her seizure control.
  • Wendeee718
    Wendeee718 Posts: 4
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    I have epilepsy. I am hoping my healthy lifestyle can help me get better. I have gained ridiculous amounts of weight and my meds had to be increased. I feel sluggish and lazy thanks to the meds so I am hoping to change that. My main triggers for seizures are lack of sleep, stress, and alcohol use.
    As for the ketogenic diet approach, my doctor has never recommended it, but I will look into it.
  • JagerLewis
    JagerLewis Posts: 427 Member
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    I have epilepsy. I am hoping my healthy lifestyle can help me get better. I have gained ridiculous amounts of weight and my meds had to be increased. I feel sluggish and lazy thanks to the meds so I am hoping to change that. My main triggers for seizures are lack of sleep, stress, and alcohol use.
    As for the ketogenic diet approach, my doctor has never recommended it, but I will look into it.
    I'm sorry you have to struggle with this as well. My daughter is not on the ketogenic diet...she's on the modified atkins diet. It sounds sooooo much easier to follow. As of now, her carb limit for the day is 20 max grams. Though, they did tell me it will likely go down to 10 grams a day. She also has issues with the amounts of meds that she's on. Talk to your neurologist about it! They did some labs on her, then we started on Sunday. So I'm unable to tell you how great it's working for us, though I've heard that it works so well for others. Good luck to you! :smile:
  • knekno
    knekno Posts: 20 Member
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    A ketogenic diet is any diet that causes dietary ketosis. Dietary ketosis is different than diabetic ketoacidosis, which happens when Type 1 diabetics have very high sugar levels, carbs cannot be converted to energy and fat stores are broken down leading to the person becoming acidiotic (low pH on blood gas); this is a life-threatening medical emergency. Dietary ketosis is caused by the body breaking down fat for energy (you're not feeding it carbs and glycogen (stored sugar) reserves are depleted).

    It's the ketosis that is believed to help with epilepsy. A diet with less than 20 gms of carbs a day is pretty much guaranteed to cause ketosis. I've heard these diets described as low carb, moderate protein, and high fat. This IS the 1st stage of the Atkins diet. It's a specified amount of non-starchy vegetables (that's the primary source of carbs if you're doing this for weight loss) and enough protein and fat to not be hungry--full fat mayo, salad dressing, dairy; no lean meats.

    If you want information, search for Laura Dolson on About.com and Jimmy Moore's Livin Low Carb sites (forum, podcasts, blog) to start. I've done (a lot) of reading and intermittently ate low to moderate carb for about 15 years. It's effective for weight loss, but real pizza was always my downfall! I know it will be a little more difficult for epilepsy treatment, the carbs have to be consistent from meal to meal, so pre-planning is a must. I know a couple of people who did it for their kids, and it both cases it did reduce the number of seizures their kids were experiencing.

    Edit: a search for Jimmy Moore low carb epilepsy returned several podcasts that are interviews with some of the researchers/experts in ketogenic diets for epilepsy.
  • Asalsepassi
    Asalsepassi Posts: 8
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    I'm a grown up who used the modified atkins to great success, but had to stop to an insane rash (possibly due to a splenda allergy?).

    I'm looking into the GI diet nowdays, the preliminary research is lovely, but very very very preliminary (90% success rate! 10 total people in the sample!). The idea that's being researched is that the effects of the ketogenic diet might be in due part to a control of the glycemic response, makes sense to me)

    By the by, the ketogenic diet has been around since the 1920's when William Mayo wanted to replicate the effects of fasting in epileptics, which had found great favor amongst evangelicas, who recommended it to their congregants based on a passage in the bible (Mark 9?)...I'm an atheist myself but totally love that there's a seizure control diet recommended by the bible!

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