Monday, June 16, 2008

No seizures in 13 days...

Great news, I have made it a whole 13 days now without any seizures! The addition of the Depakote may be the trick. Hard to say as I also had my VNS settings adjusted. We shall see how it goes...

(I added one of Blogger's new features - a poll to see what percentage of the readers have epilepsy. Please participate. I have also moved the subscribe buttons to the top. Feel free to get this in your reader or email.)

6 comments:

DogtorJ said...

What have you done dietarily to help control your seizures? Have you eliminated gluten, dairy, soy and/or corn?

All of these proteins are potential neurotoxic to those who are sensitized to them. In fact, corn lectins are the hot topic right now in the autism community as they have now seen the vast improvement but limitations of removing all gluten and casein from the diets of afflicted individuals. (As you probably know, many autistic children also have horrible epilepsy.)

This has become my specialty and my mission. Please feel to write anytime if you have any questions on this topic.

John

John B. Symes, DVM
www.dogtorj.com

Unknown said...

Hmmm... my "diet", if you call it that, consists of lots of the ingredients you mention. For instance, yesterday I started out the morning with yogurt and a bowl of cereal. For lunch I had Pizza. Later in the afternoon I ate some corn chips. And at dinner I had a BLT.

If I understand correctly, you are saying that cutting out the milk and wheat products could help.

DogtorJ said...

Yes!!! I really thought you already knew all about this. I have posted here before but haven't been very persistent. I have been getting your Email alerts for quite some time but have been too busy to respond much.

I have been treating canine epilepsy with diet alone for over 7 years now with ASTOUNDING results. I speak at veterinary conferences on this subject. I dubbed the diet "The GARD" and my site explains in exhaustive detail.

But I started getting numerous human inquiries*** and have been educating a rapidly rising number of people about the dietary influences in epilepsy in their children and themselves. That's how I've become involved in the autism community. (***Google "epilepsy diet" and my site comes up right away.)

For confirmation of what I write, simply Google "celiac disease, epilepsy" and you'll find lots of scientific proof of the links between gluten and seizures. Then apply all that you read to the other memmbers of what I call "the big 4"...gluten, dairy, soy and corn.

You can then read all about the roles of seasonal factors and environmental pollution on my site to get a whole picture, especially why there is a huge spike in seizures in Spring and Fall.

I hope this helps. Feel free to Email me anytime. My address is on my Website (www.dogtorj.com).

Get ready to get well!!!

John

Unknown said...

I didn't read much of your stuff when you posted several years ago. I was convinced that my epilepsy comes from physical issues that were only partially mitigated by brain surgery that removed some tissue that was hemoraging on the brain. To me, it didn't seem like something that could be related to wheat alergens. I am finally taking the time to read your "The Answer" article - and then using the thesis to see if it could match my epileptic symptoms. I'll post on it. Let me know what you think.

DogtorJ said...

I have found that the diet improves seizure frequency and severity no matter the underyling cause. I have now had dogs with brain tumors show significant improvement in their seizures while on the diet.

This makes sense to me, especially when we see the mechanism behind the lectin's (glycoproteins from gluten, casein, soy, corn) damage to neurons.

Why does one person with head trauma or systemic illness develop seizures and another doesn't? It is only the degree of damage incurred by these insults or is there something else in play? Could it be the same thing that makes one seemingly healthy person have idiopathic epilepsy and another not?

As you'll see from the site, what we are talking about is waaaay more than a wheat allergy. The allergies are simply the product of (the thing "seen") the damage being done by the antibody-sized proteins from these foods. the food allergies arise at the time these foods damage the lining of the gut or start entering the system and damaging other tissues (e.g. thyroid, joints, liver, blood cells, neurons). The immune response (the "allergy")is secondary to the direct damage these glycoproteins do to tissue.

That is why many individuals are negative on the immunological tests for these food allergies/intolerances. Not all people respond appropriately. As it turns out, those individuals can actually be the worst intolerants of all.

This is a whole new realm to explore. It should make sense to you. If not, please do Email me. But between the damage these food do to our intestinal lining and its ability to absorb vital nutrients, the direct damage these proteins do to neurons and other tissue, the high levels of "excitotoxins" these foods contain, and the inflammation-provoking levels of estrogen they contain, we should all be able to see the role they can play in seizures of all types.

I hope this helps,
John

Unknown said...

I read "The Answer" article on your site. I really liked it. So I am going to try to cut out the Big 4 and see if that helps. Since yesterday morning I have had no wheat, milk, or soy products. I am sure it takes longer than a few days before your intestines begin to recover from the damage. How soon do you see results in dogs after putting them on a wheat-free diet?