Hello from a newbie ... - Epilepsy Message Board

Morphy · 01-31-2001, 05:09 PM

Hello from a newbie to the forum .
To cut it short , my very first sign of ever having anything to do with epilepsy
was at 23 , when I got a grand mal having parked my car literally seconds before and was
proceeding to walk cross a road . That was quite an experience and the start of a few more .
I'm taking epanutin 100 g x 3 daily , been living with constant petit mals , and in the
past few months have seen quite a lot of attacks breaking through while still using
the medication . I'm presently waiting to see another " specialist " . That's my 14 years
of it in a nutshell .

What I would like to ask is would it be alright to start on a ketogenic diet while using
medication and are there any foods I should be staying away from completely .
Do any food types have the potential to bring on attacks ?
Thanks ,
Ian .

terrib · 02-01-2001, 01:08 PM

Hi,

I've had nocturnal grand mal epilepsy for 28 years and I checked out the ketogenic diet. It is a very hard diet to follow (high in fats) which leads to weight gain, it is most successful with children. Caffeine, anything with aspartame in it, junk food. Just make sure you eat right,foods high in b vitamins (vegetables) are recommended because our medication depletes our b-vitamin reserves and definitely if you do try out the ketogenic diet take your meds at the same time. From what I remember about the diet you must stay on it for at least a year or two before you see any significant results. Hope this helps.

terrib · 02-01-2001, 01:09 PM

Hi,

I've had nocturnal grand mal epilepsy for 28 years and I checked out the ketogenic diet. It is a very hard diet to follow (high in fats) which leads to weight gain, it is most successful with children. Caffeine, anything with aspartame in it, junk food. Just make sure you eat right,foods high in b vitamins (vegetables) are recommended because our medication depletes our b-vitamin reserves and definitely if you do try out the ketogenic diet take your meds at the same time. From what I remember about the diet you must stay on it for at least a year or two before you see any significant results. Hope this helps.

Morphy · 02-01-2001, 05:29 PM

Hello terrib ,
Thank you very much for your reply , I appreciate it . I had read about the diet and for some reason I thought it might have been used as an alternative to medication .
Thanks again for taking the time to reply and I look forward to learning more on this forum ,
Ian .