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Diets might help to avoid seizures
By: Corene Brisendine
Posted: 2/19/08
Every night, Manhattan resident Amanda Ferrara goes to bed knowing not
once, not twice, but at least three times while she sleeps, she will
suffer a seizure.
A seizure is defined "as abnormal electric activity in the brain that
causes an involuntary change in body movement or function, sensation,
awareness or behavior."
Ferrara takes three different types of medication and has a Vagus Nerve
Stimulation implanted under the skin below her collar bone. The VNS
sends regular impulses to the brain via the vagus nerve. The VNS helps
stop or stall her seizures but does not eliminate them. Ferrara has
suffered from the seizure disorder since she was five.
According to HealthDay Reporter, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
conducted a study in which adults with epilepsy went on an Atkins-like
diet, which featured low amounts of carbohydrates and high amounts of
proteins.
Ferrara said she has her reservations about the study, but others think
it can work.
Dr. Debra Doubek, director of Mercy LIGHT, a weight-loss challenge
organized by Mercy Regional Hospital, said she supervises the diets of
two children with epilepsy. Doubek said a low-carb, high-protein diet
is called a ketotic diet.
"The ketones get through the blood-brain barrier where [medications]
don't," Doubek said. Ketones are chemical byproducts from the body
breaking down protein and other fatty acids. Doubek said the two
children whose diets she supervises are two and four years old. Both
these children have taken anti-convulsion drugs and not gotten the
desired results.
"These children have tried medications and have failed," Doubek said.
"[The children suffer] 50 to 80 percent less seizures [because of the
diet]."
According to the Johns Hopkins study, patients who successfully
completed the six-month trial diet experienced a 50-percent reduction
in the number of seizures. The diet required patients to eat less than
15 grams of carbohydrates a day. The rest of the calorie intake was to
come from fats and proteins.
The study reported after three months on the diet, one-third of the
patients had dropped out of the study, stating the diet was too
difficult to follow.
Ferrara said the diet sounded odd.
"I would try it if [the diet] wasn't totally ridiculous sounding," she
said. "There's all kinds of weird diets. There's one where you just eat
bacon, and there's one where you don't eat sugar at all [for
controlling seizures]."
Doubek said it requires a little creativity to keep the children
interested in sticking to the diet. The diet is also not designed to be
life long.
"My children drink whipping cream instead of milk," Doubek said. "The
long-term plan is they will only be on this diet for two to three
years. It diminishes the seizures for the rest of their life."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, epilepsy affects 2.7
million Americans. The CDC defines epilepsy as "a general term that
includes various types of seizures."
To be diagnosed as epileptic, a patient must suffer more than one
seizure episode and more than one type of seizure.
The CDC reported more than one-third of epilepsy patients still have
seizures while receiving treatments.
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