Epilepsy dietary taboos

First, foods that directly excite the central nervous system and lower the seizure threshold； The second is foods/supplements that may interact with anti-epileptic drugs and interfere with their efficacy. ； The third is highly allergenic foods that you are clearly allergic to. In addition, most of the various "food taboos" spread online do not have a unified evidence-based basis, and there is no need to follow them blindly.

Newly diagnosed patients are particularly likely to go to extremes. They either dare to eat anything without taboos, or they listen to the elderly at home saying that beef, mutton, seafood, roosters and even eggs are "hairy foods", so they eat vegetables and white rice every day. In the end, they cannot keep up with their nutrition, and their immunity is weakened, which leads to more frequent attacks. There is actually a misunderstanding between different schools here: Some schools of traditional Chinese medicine do believe that "fishy food that causes wind" may disturb Qi, and have short-term restrictions on patients in the acute attack period. However, if there is no clear allergic reaction during the remission period, there is no need to fast all year round. There is no modern clinical statistical data to prove that regular consumption of these ingredients will increase the risk of attacks. I followed up a 16-year-old high school patient last year. When he was first diagnosed, he gave up all meat and fish. He lost 18 pounds in three months. He couldn't concentrate at all in class and had attacks 2-3 times a month. Later, he adjusted his diet and returned to normal meat and egg intake. As long as he didn't overdose, he only had one attack in the past six months.

The first thing to avoid that has clear evidence-based evidence is caffeinated foods. Don’t think that only coffee contains caffeine. Nowadays, a lot of it is added to internet celebrity milk teas, energy drinks, strong teas and even some sandwich chocolates and refreshing candies. In the past, a patient who just went to college drank 2 cups of milk tea every day for 3 consecutive days to review in order to catch up with the final week. As a result, he had a seizure in the dormitory in the early morning. When he was sent to the emergency room, he was confused. He said he had never drank coffee before and did not know that the caffeine in milk tea was higher than that in American coffee. There is also alcohol, even if it is 3% fruit wine, sparkling wine, or even too much cooking wine, you should try to avoid it. Alcohol will not only directly excite the nerves, but also accelerate the metabolism of anti-epileptic drugs, resulting in a sudden drop in blood drug concentration. The expected drug effect cannot keep up, which is naturally prone to problems.

Another category that is easily overlooked is food supplements that conflict with medications. The most typical ones are grapefruit (grapefruit) and its juice and fruit tea. This is really important to note: almost all commonly used anti-epileptic drugs are metabolized by the liver's CYP450 enzyme. The furanocoumarins in grapefruit will directly inhibit the activity of this enzyme. After eating, the blood concentration of the drug may be 2-3 times higher than normal, which can range from dizziness and nausea to direct drug poisoning. Many people like to take health supplements indiscriminately, such as ginkgo leaf extract and St. John's wort ( Hypericum perforatum ), which can interfere with the metabolism of anti-epileptic drugs. Be sure to ask your doctor before taking them, and don't add them on your own.

A lot of popular science says that we should strictly limit salt and potassium. In fact, this depends on the situation. There is no unified standard: if you take drugs such as carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine that can easily cause hyponatremia, you should eat more salty sodium supplements instead of limiting salt altogether.； You only need to control your potassium intake if your kidney function is not good. Don’t just copy the content online. Everyone’s medication plan and physical condition are different. There is also the recently popular ketogenic diet, which is indeed effective for some patients with refractory epilepsy. However, this is a medical-grade diet plan and must be carried out under the full supervision of doctors and nutritionists. I have also seen many patients messing around at home, eating fat meat and drinking butter every day. In the end, they developed hyperlipidemia, liver and kidney damage, and worsened their condition.

In fact, the diet for epilepsy really doesn’t have so many rules. You don’t need to be nervous about everything you eat. You don’t have to be scared to death if you occasionally crave a bite of caffeinated chocolate or drink a sip of carbonated drinks. As long as you don’t eat large amounts for a long time, there will basically be no problem. Instead, pay more attention not to overeat or starve yourself in order to lose weight. Hypoglycemia can also trigger attacks. Eat well, keep up with nutrition, and improve your physical fitness, which will be more beneficial to controlling the disease.