Re: Thinking of trying keto again or Atkins????

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I am wondering if maybe the diet didn't quite have a chance to work if she still had some meds on board. Many parents find their kids don't get good control until all the drugs are weaned. There can also be issues of med toxicity as the diet changes the way they are metabolized. Just a thought..... it might be worth another try with some fine-tuning and med weaning. I think your idea of gradually getting her there via the ATkins diet is worth a shot.

Patti

Thinking of trying keto again or Atkins????

Hi Everyone,2 years ago we tried the keto diet with my daughter Mallorie when she was 17 months old. She did not do well, quit eating so we had to take her off after 3 weeks. She became seizure free shortly after that when we started giving her vitamin B6 but a year later the seizures came back. It has been a year now since the seizures have been back and we have tried about 9 different medications and none help her, they all cause increased seizures, make her feel terrible or do nothing at all.I have a couple of questions. Two years ago when we tried the diet with her she went into ketosis easily but we didn't see any decrease in seizures during the 3 weeks she was on it. Does that mean that the diet will probably not work for her?For those of you using the Atkins diet how do you keep your child from losing weight? Is it the amount of calories or oil or what? Mallorie is thin and I would like for her to gain a few pounds.She is such a picky eater I was thinking of trying the Atkins diet to let her gradualy get acustomated to a new way of eating.Thanks, (Mallorie's mom 3 1/2yrs.) "The Ketogenic Diet....a realistic treatment option, NOT just a last resort!" List is for parent to parent support only. It is important to get medical advice from a professional keto team! Subscribe: ketogenic-subscribe Unsubscribe: ketogenic-unsubscribe

[Guest guest]

-- There may be many reasons why the diet didn't

work right away and three weeks isn't very long to

give it a chance. When she wasn't eating, was there

any fine tuning of her ratio? Lots of kids go through

this at first and can be helped by lowering the ratio,

adjusting the number of meals, using club soda/fruit

juices, etc. There are many, many fine tuning tips in

the files. Also, if she was on meds, you may have

been seeing the interaction of the two. One final

thought is that, if you keep a log of everything she

eats, you start to see patterns of things she's

sensitive to. We didn't see a whole lot of benefit at

first, either, and it was VERY frustrating. It wasn't

until we started supplementing appropriately, weaned

off meds, fine tuned the ratio and added digestive

enzymes that I can now say we're about 99% controlled.

Good luck. . .oh, and I do think that easing in

Atkins style isn't a bad way to go, but I don't have

any direct experience with it. For us, I think we'll

end up going the other way, going keto to Atkins

ultimately. Take care!--D

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[Guest guest]

,

My daughter is on Atkins and I do not think weight loss is an issue.

You follow the Atkins principals, but give as much calories as you

want. My daughter eats as much as she wants to. I have her weigh in

as much to avoid weight GAIN as weight loss. She gets a lot of cream

and butter, so she gets lots of calories.

If your child goes into ketosis easily, the benefit that I see of the

Atkins is absolutely no weighing and measuring. We just follow the

basic principals and her ketosis is always good. I would highly

encourage you to read the book if you haven't. I started her at

Induction level (explained in the book) and now that I see how easy

she is to keep in ketosis, I am very conserveatively adding in more

carbs. I am also weaning meds.

I would be happy to answer any more questions about the Atkins. I

have been on the diet myself for 2 months, and my daughter for about

3 weeks. I am not an expert, especially in the case of my daughter,

but I do feel like I have a good understanding of the diet itself. I

think there are a lot of misconceptions out there about it.

[Guest guest]

,

We tried the diet at first when Tyler was 7 years old,

but after a week into it he was hungry (which I later

found out was expected) and his inexperienced

dietition just adjusted calories/ratio/foods --

everything at the same time. He started having

seizures again, then threw up after about 7 weeks on

the diet and we couldn't get food down him anymore so

we had to go off. A year later we tried it at s

Hopkins, and we've been seizure free ever since.

Tyler was 8 at the time, and we're due to start

weaning off in a couple of months -- he's been off

medicines since 6 months into the diet.

He was older.. which I'm sure made it a little easier,

but a whole different set of issues to deal with. At

first he begged to go off and wouldn't always eat all

his meals, but we stuck to the 30 minute rule for

eating and when he started realizing he wasn't having

seizures and he was feeling better, I think that

helped him stick with it.

He was VERY underweight... they were concerned about

it at Hopkins and made the diet so that he would gain

about 1/2 pound a week, and now we've got him up to

average.

Not many answers... just giving you my experience as

food for thought. I have no experience with the

Adkins - but have heard it works for people.

You said she went into ketosis quickly -- so did my

son -- probably from them being so thin. But I know

in some children too deep ketosis can cause seizures -

which might have been why you didn't see a decrease.

I hope this helps! Since she's older I say give it a

shot, but I would make sure you're working with a team

experienced in the diet -- it made a huge difference

for me.

Sheri

mom to Tyler, 9, keto kid 5/00 med and seizure free

and Sara, 6

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[Guest guest]

Dear ,

We had the same kind of problems with twice when we put him on

the keto diet. He got into ketosis fast and then got too ketotic and then

before it was too late, he lost his appetite and refused to eat. For us, he

had immediate seizure control but that is not the case will all kids. You

will find that on this list. Every kid is different.

For us, our neuro suggested the Atkins diet due to his succes with sz control

w/out carbs. Like the keto diet, it takes time to " fine tune. " We have

developed our own regime that is stricter than what the " atkins diet "

protocol is. We only allot for 20 carbs per day and that includes everything

(some veggies have carbs and Atkins products ie. shakes, pancakes, cookies

etc). We began charting and adding extra oils to get ketones large. We use

Udos oil (borage, fish and flax).

If I had it to do over again, I would have started on this first

to get him used to the diet. He now tolerates cream fine. We dilute in like

milk and add choc flavoring and stevia. He eats all the keto foods with the

exception of fruits. We haven't added those back in yet.

was 3 and 19 pounds last Feb. due to the AEDs. He had the

adverse effect of anorexia on most meds. He has gained weight on the Atkins

diet. He is now 4 (was in Dec. ) and weighs 37 pounds. Yes, he has gained

18 pounds in 5 months. I am going to have to get strict on the cals because

he has really put on the weight. He loves his milkshakes. I shake up cream,

water, ice and choc in a drink shaker and it is frothy. He loves it and it

helps the ketones.

I have lots of ideas and recipes so so get specific if you want ideas and

I'll be happy to help you in any way I can. It has been an adventure trying

to do this but the rewards have been great for us and a heck of alot easier

than keto b/c of the weighing and ratios etc. has been seizure

free since Nov. other than a break through at Christmas when he got ahold of

some " bad food " .

Let us know how we can help

(mom to , 4, Atkins/keto, still weaning Depakote ( 2 pills

to go) and , 17 mos and healthy as he cna be)