Jackson Stormes:A Difficult and Amazing Journey
Living with Dravet Syndrome and all the complications
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2012 Easter Awareness byToni-marie Matich
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Ketogenic Diet
In General
The ketogenic diet is a medical option to treat and control epilepsy (often called medically refractory) which does not typically respond well to traditional medications, treatments, surgical interventions or other methods. The diet goes back to biblical times when worshipers were instructed to fast and pray. The seizures would disappear during the fast and return with the prayer. There many wonderful resources and uses for the ketogenic diet in the modern world to assist with seizure control and even to improve cognition with ALZ patients. The diet is a strict, calorie controlled diet which must be medically supervised and monitored for safety and efficacy. There are multiple approaches to the ketogenic diet and all are effective and work.
In The Movies
In 1997 there was a TV movie which featured a little boy and his family struggling with epilepsy. First Do No Harm featuring Meryl Strep is a great movie to understand the daily life, struggles, unpredictability and frustration with epilepsy and options available to treat children. As seen in this movie based on a real-life family, the idea of seizure control is possible and attainable.
Resources
Ann Bee's Naturals (Ketogenic Friendly Products) http://www.annbeesnaturals.com/Ketogenic-Diet.html
PubMed Article discussing the option of the Ketogenic Diet http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1176378/
Charlie Foundation http://www.charliefoundation.org/
Medically Following with Trained Doctors
John Hopkins is the most widely recognized and known Ketogenic Diet researchers and providers of the diet.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PA
Lucille Packard Children's Hosptial at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA
University Hospital at UMDNJ in Newark, NJ
Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group in Hackensack, NJ
Neuroscience Center at Overlook/Atlantic Health in Summit, NJ
Ketogenic Diet Calculators
KetoCalculator sponsored by KetoCal and Nutricia
PubMed Article: Ketocalulator: a web-based calculator for the ketogenic diet