So Long to Seizures!

This week Termite is starting on the Modified Atkins Diet for Seizures.  He is supposed to be eating less than 10 grams of carbs a day.  To start with, I am shooting for 20 grams.  This is what he has eaten so far today:  a few grapes (3 g), 1 egg scrambled with heavy whipping cream and some cheddar cheese (1 g), heavy whipping cream mixed with water as a no-carb substitute for milk (0 g), a Wendy's double stack with cheese but no bun (1 g), pickles (0 g), 4 hotdogs (0 g), 10 goldfish crackers (4 g).  Still to come is dinner - tortilla-less tacos with cheese, sour cream, lettuce and salsa.

I also fixed some low carb fried chicken today.  This is chicken thighs, dipped in butter and an egg, rolled in crushed pork rinds, and fried in oil.  It tastes really good.  Really good.  Like my Paula Deen cookware?

Termite has a less common type of epilepsy that is notoriously uncontrollable with medication. He has about 20 to 30 seizures a day.  Most of them are small and all of them are short lived, but some of them can knock him over and all of them disrupt and damage his brain.  He is on the highest dose of this third anti-seizure med, and the next med on the horizon for him is a benzodiazepine.  I'm not too thrilled about the idea.  I am also not too thrilled that his recent neuropsychological report says that a contributing factor to his cognitive delay could be the "long-standing use of AEDs (anti-epileptic drugs)."  So the drugs that are supposed to be helping him have less seizures may be messing up his brain in other ways?  Seriously?

I'm very hopeful about this diet.  The reasoning behind MAD (and also the ketogenic diet - the original anti-seizure diet) is this - for people with seizures, carbs are not good brain food.  Our bodies have basically two sources of energy - carbohydrates and fat.  Check out the new MyPlate campaign by the USDA.  The recommended "healthy" diet here is the US is heavy on carbs (grains, rice, fruits, and vegetables), moderate on protein, and low in fat.  In fact, "fat" isn't even on the plate at all. 

But the brain can burn fat for energy just as well as carbs.  In fact, there is something about burning fat for energy that is inconsistent with seizure activity.  In fact, it's so good for the brain that, in some people, the diet actually "heals" the brain.  After two years on the diet, many people are able to return to a normal diet and remain seizure-free or maintain an acceptable level of seizure control.  Here's hoping.  Until then, my grocery cart will be filled with lots of eggs, cheese, and pork rinds.

I'm no expert so for more information dietary interventions for seizures, check out  Dr. John Freeman's book "Ketogenic Diets: Treatments for Epilepsy and Other Disorders" and the Modified Atkins for Seizures website.