How to Use Diet to Treat Epilepsy

Dietary approaches are often used to help treat epilepsy and may lead to a significant reduction of seizures in some patients, specifically children. The most commonly recommended diet for children with epilepsy is the ketogenic diet, which requires close supervision by a doctor and is generally only used in cases where patients do not respond to medication. Read on to learn more about how to use diet to treat epilepsy.

Instructions

• 1

  Talk to your doctor about use of the ketogenic diet, a form of fasting that has been used to treat epilepsy for several decades. The goal of this approach is to force the body to burn fat, in which the diet is very high, which increases the production of ketones. Ketones inhibit abnormal activity in the brain and spinal column.

• 2

  Be sure to understand that your child will begin the diet in the hospital while being treated for epilepsy. He will only be allowed to drink a specific amount of fluids during the first two to three days and will not be given anything to eat. This portion of the diet is done while in the hospital so that doctors may monitor your child's condition and prevent negative side effects as best as possible.

• 3

  Prepare for your child to experience negative side effects as her blood sugar begins to drop, which may be traumatic for both you and your child. Extremely low blood sugar may cause your child to become confused, expressionless or irritable in mood and she may appear pale or sweaty. In most cases, your child's doctor will be able to closely monitor the blood sugar level to prevent any harm.

• 4

  Wait out the required two to three days of starvation until your child's ketone levels begin to rise in his urine and blood. Your child's doctor will then begin the next stage of the ketogenic diet, which primarily involves foods that are very high in fat, including butter and dairy items like heavy cream. Significantly smaller portions of proteins, such as meat, chicken or fish, and fruits and vegetables are also incorporated.

• 5

  Anticipate that your child will be slowly taken off any medications used to treat epilepsy when beginning the ketogenic diet. If your child experiences a decrease in and steady control of the number of his seizures while on the diet, his doctor may recommend stopping the use of these medications completely.