Dietary taboos for patients with epilepsy

Beverages/foods containing high doses of caffeine, alcohol and alcohol-containing foods, and ingesting a large amount of refined sugar at one time. Most of the other statements on the Internet such as "all food taboos" and "no meat" spread online are not universally applicable. Some dietary taboos also belong to the differentiated requirements of different treatment schools. They need to be judged based on the individual's condition and treatment plan. There is no unified "fasting list" at all.

Let’s first talk about the three types of taboos recognized by doctors around the world. They are essentially to avoid disturbing the stable state of brain neurons. You can think of the neurons in your brain as a group of excitable children. They are lining up in an orderly manner. If you suddenly stuff them with a bunch of "exciting candies", they will cause a chaotic abnormal discharge. I also treated a 19-year-old boy last week. His epilepsy has been under control for almost two years and he has not had a seizure. He got drunk at a graduation dinner and drank three cans of Red Bull mixed with ice beer. Before the party was over, he suddenly fell to the ground and convulsed. Half of his teeth were chipped. When he was sent to the emergency room, there were blood blisters at the corners of his mouth. In addition to this obvious stimulant drink, there are also many pitfalls of high sugar. There was a 5-year-old patient who was very well controlled. On his birthday, he ate a whole eight-inch mango cream cake without telling his parents. He suddenly had an attack in the middle of the night. The parents were so worried that they thought mango was a "fat substance". Later, they checked his blood sugar and found out that his blood sugar soared to 11 after a meal that day. The sudden rise and fall of blood sugar fluctuations directly induced abnormal brain electricity, and it had nothing to do with half a cent of mango.

Speaking of this, someone must ask, is it true that you cannot eat any mutton, seafood, or goose that I read online? I have been in the Shennai Clinic for 8 years, and I have seen too many patients who follow these taboos even more strictly than the doctor's orders. Last month, an aunt came for a review and said that she had thrown away all the soy sauce and cooking wine at home, and only ate boiled vegetables with a little rice every day. She staggered when walking, and the hemoglobin test showed only 8 grams. Instead, she had two attacks during this period, which was such a loss. Most of these so-called "fat food" taboos regard allergic reactions in individual cases as universal rules - if you are allergic to shrimp, develop a rash or have an inflammatory reaction after eating it, it may indeed indirectly induce epilepsy. But if you have been eating shrimp for 20 or 30 years and you are fine, there is no need to quit. Adequate intake of high-quality protein can help stabilize nerve function.

Of course, this does not mean that all non-consensus taboos are groundless. Different treatment systems do have different requirements. The most typical one is the ketogenic diet therapy that has become popular in recent years, which is completely opposite to our conventional dietary recommendations. We would advise ordinary patients not to eat too many high-fat foods at one time to avoid abnormal blood lipids affecting the blood supply to the brain. However, the ketogenic diet requires more than 70% of calories to come from fat, very low carbohydrates, and an appropriate amount of protein. It relies on ketone bodies instead of glucose to supply energy to the brain. It can actually reduce the frequency of refractory epilepsy. However, this plan has strict indications and is only suitable for some patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. It must be implemented under the full supervision of doctors and nutritionists. There are many cases of ketoacidosis caused by blind attempts at home. There are also taboos on "Fa Wu" that many people believe in Chinese medicine. In fact, it cannot be killed with a stick. "Fa Wu" in the TCM system essentially refers to foods that are easy to induce inflammation, allergies, and Qi disorders. If you have a damp-heat constitution, eating too many spicy and hot foods will easily lead to internal heat and insomnia, which may indeed increase the risk of attacks. In this case, you can adjust it based on the suggestions of traditional Chinese medicine, and you don't have to force it.

There are also some foods that are still controversial, such as MSG and sugar substitutes. Some studies believe that taking a large amount of sodium glutamate at one time may affect the secretion of neurotransmitters. Some large-sample studies say there is no correlation at all. There is no need to worry about this. If you feel dizzy and uncomfortable every time you eat a dish with a lot of MSG, then avoid it. Otherwise, eat it when you need to, and don’t wrong yourself for unsubstantiated claims.

In fact, there is really no need to regard diet as a scourge. Instead of crossing off the list one by one on the Internet, it is better to spend two months keeping a simple diet diary. On the day when the attack occurs, work backwards what you ate 12 hours ago. Repeat it two or three times to find your own trigger food, which is more accurate than what others say. If you want to try a special diet plan, whether it is ketogenic or traditional Chinese medicine, you must seek evaluation from the corresponding department of a regular hospital. Don't mess around with it at home, which may ruin your body and cause more harm than good.