High fat diet helping epileptic symptoms
James Eccles eats bacon and eggs for breakfast to help his epilepsy treatment.
The 17-year-old Silverdale resident was diagnosed with generalised epilepsy at 3 years old and has tried numerous medications, many of which he reached tolerance of or had awful side effects.
He is now on a ketogenic diet and his mum Tracey Eccles says the result has been good.
The diet is high in fat, with adequate protein and low carbohydrates.
Tracey says the ketogenic diet benefits many with seizures resistant to medication, improving seizure control, cognition and behaviour, and has been used for the treatment of epilepsy for more than 80 years. It is expanding to include other neurological conditions for symptom control, she says.
After years of trying to find the best treatment for her son, Tracey decided to study nutrition at Massey University.
A bachelor degree and masters in nutrition and dietetics later, Tracey learned about ketogenic dietary therapy.
‘‘My husband and I know what it’s like to feel helpless and hopeless trying to find solutions to help your child and family,’’ she says. ‘‘James has been on a modified ketogenic diet for most of this year having decreased medication by 85 per cent, is happier, has improved cognition and behaviours, is working fulltime and the family dynamic is greatly improved.’’
James doesn’t miss out on a lot with his diet.
Each day he eats things such as bacon and eggs for breakfast, green salad, avocado, eggs, mayonnaise and salmon, chicken or beef for lunch and tortillas, barbecue, pizza or special pasta for dinner.
There are five levels of diet published in medical literature as effective treatments for epilepsy.
There are support groups around the world for the ketogenic diet, but Tracey says New Zealand is still catching up and she can connect with other dietitians from Australia, England, America, Canada and Europe.
Tracey recently returned from Liverpool, where she attended the fourth Global Symposium for Ketogenic Dietary Therapies for Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders and says her brain is full of new information.
‘ ‘ I believe there are so many New Zealand families looking for help, answers, support and just don’t know where to find it . . .’’
Ketogenic dietary therapy should never be undertaken without supervision of a fully trained team, including a dietitian and doctor and/or specialist.