My Personal N=1

[MAB]

It's 6:50 PM here and is still 81 degrees...Thank goodness winter is gone...finally.
AlohaBird I'm sorry didn't mean to hijack this thread

Epilepsy might be like ADD, easy to get side-tracked.

 

[AlohaBird]

Happy Birthday
I hope you treated yourself well with what you enjoy on your special day.
X0X

Thank you.:hugs:

I'm hoping getting rid of my aspartame addiction will help me back off then do away with the meds. We'll see. I'm gonna give it about 6 to 8 months then slowly go off them. I've never gone six months without a seizure before.

Yep, that might be a good idea to get the sodas out of your system first. Let that settle down, then work on the meds.

One of the many neurologist I have had over the years wanted to do a vagus nerve stimulator, but he said it wouldn't control all types of seizures so I choose not to do it. I've got grand mal, petit mal and absence seizures so I'm doomed...lol

Well I figure if I can gete vagus nerve stimulation without getting any hardware put in me, that is a good deal.

To piggyback off what Naka said...I personally fasted (sun up to sun down, one meal a day, no meats sweets or alcoholic treats) during my trial these past two months I my overall health was greatly improved. I am a huge advocate of coconut water and oil because of the potassium and monosaturated fats.

Also great look on killing the fake sugar, I've read it causes health problems beyond epilepsy. This picture I see on social media says it all.

I also began weight-bearing exercises and swimming (in front of a lifeguard) to train my central nervous system to handle a greater load. Your CNS helps prepare your body for rigorous training and I used to train it a ton to help fight off partial seizures from turning into tonic-clonics when I was a teenager. I'm not certain how much it helps, but I will say that I slept better after 30 minutes of lap swimming, which definitely helps a person with TLE

I'm a big fan of intermittent fasting. I generally only eat one dinner meal a day plus tea or coconut water in the mornings. It's the Warrior Diet plan.

Very good image about the fake sugars. Blech.

I really think that any kind of exercise is valuable. It does help you sleep.



Yay! I figured out how the multi quote thingy works. Only those of us enough to remember a time before computers probably realize what an accomplishment that is.

 

[AlohaBird]

Heheh. You guys are right. I don't know if my Hawaiian healer guy could handle non Hawaiian weather. He lives in the low lying area of the island and I live up in the mountains. He says he could never live where I do because it's too cold. This is a place where for a couple of weeks each winter you actually need a light blanket at night. Where he lives gets too hot for my taste in the summer months.
So he's probably not going on tour but if you want to come out to Molokai, I'm sure I could get you an appointment.

I really look forward to my Monday appointments with him.

 

[AlohaBird]

Well, my exercise+getting outside for Vitamin D today took the form of harvesting bananas. I had two stalks come ripe at the same time. The thing about bananas is that, when a tree has a stalk of fruit, you have to take that whole tree down because it will not fruit again and it needs to get out of the way and let some of the younger trees in the cluster have a chance at the sunshine. Bananas propagate by runners like bamboo so they grow in groups.

So two trees down. They're not hard to cut, the trunk is kinda like a giant stalk of celery, fiber and water mostly. But they're heavy and then need to be hauled out of the driveway. Then the stalks of fruit have to be hauled up the stairs and disassembled into hands. The ripe ones all got peeled and put in the freezer and the greener ones will be bagged as they ripen in the sun.

Now I've got that old song about "Come Mr. tallyman, tally me bananas. Daylight comin' and me wanna go home" stuck in my head.

 

[Nakamova]

Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euc9MMRtuSg
Those frozen bananas will be great in smoothies...

 

[AlohaBird]

Oh, I remember that one. I was a loyal Muppets fan as a kid. Harry Belafonte looked like he was having fun with that and sometimes just about to lose it and crack up.

Thanks, Nak for a great memory lane trip.

If you blend solidly frozen bananas+coconut cream+egg yolks and a splash of vanilla you get an awesome soft serve ice cream.

 

[Nakamova]

Note to self: Pick up some coconut cream at Trader Joe's.

 

[lindsayschu2]

OMG I NEED THAT SMOOTHY RIGHT NOW. Why did you have to say that Aloha? By the way thanks for your help--I found the key to my own personal seizure instability problem in the past couple of weeks. I'm sure now it was just hormones (estrogen spikes). I won't tell you how I know, it would be too hard on some of our viewers ;-) but I do know that was my problem. Per your advice I am now using transdermal magnesium in addition to low dose oral--seems to be working better than oral by a long shot and helped pull me through it.

 

[AlohaBird]

Add a bit of 100% cacao powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest, ginger, etc. to basic recipe for flavor variations.

Lindsay, glad the transdermal magnesium is helping. And you can talk about anything here (if you want to of course). Sounds interesting.

 

[lindsayschu2]

I PM'd you. I definitely should not go into details here

 

[AlohaBird]

Ah. I see.

Another great way to get magnesium transdermally is Epsom Salt soaking, if not a whole bath at least a footbath.

 

[Joyful]

I'm cheering you on, AlohaBird! I totally agree that natural remedies are the way to go. I didn't know about the fasting. As a matter of fact, I am Catholic, but am not allowed to fast during lent like most Catholics do BECAUSE of my epilepsy. I've been told that fasting isn't good for me.
But as I think I mentioned elsewhere, I am trying to get off of Depakote at least. I'm on both depakote & dilantin. I'd like to get off all meds., but I'm not going to just stop taking them w/o the drs. approval. I'm not that ignorant.
Hope everything works out for you. I've had this for abt. 35 years and completely understand.

 

[AlohaBird]

The standard medical advice has always been that fasting is bad because it will cause your metabolism to "crash". You need to eat frequently to "rev up" your metabolism. Hogwash! That only applies to people who are running a primarily sugar burning metabolism. The kind of people who start to get shaky and dizzy and get a headache if they don't eat every three hours.

Once you have been low carb paleo for a while, your body will get much better at metabolizing fat and shifting back and forth between glucose and ketones as a source of fuel. This is a normal human metabolism.

On an average body (not even a really fat one) there are several weeks worth of calories stored in fat. If your metabolism only knows how to burn sugar however it is like having a car with several full gas cans in the trunk but stranded and out of gas in the tank.

I'm actually thinking about doing some longer fasting (I don't even really consider the Warrior Diet thing to be fasting. I am so used to eating once a day. It's normal for me.) I'm talking about some 3-7 day serious fasts.

There is some interesting historical medical literature about long term fasting as the standard treatment for epilepsy in Biblical times as well as accounts by Hippocrates.

Worth a try. I just have to use up all this food that's in my fridge.

 

[Joyful]

Thanks alot. This is really helpful. Now, I am only 98 lbs. as it is, so do you still think I should fast ?

 

[AlohaBird]

Really? Are you a petite height? Trying to gauge if you are significantly underweight in which case you really should not do longer fasts and if you do daily IFing, you need to make sure you are still getting a full day worth of calories in your one meal. This can easily be accomplished by putting butter on everything.

 

[MAB]

Do you drink fluids during the fasts? When we fast for the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, liquids are not allowed. It's very difficult.

 

[AlohaBird]

On my daily IFs I do drink teas and the occasional coconut water for hydration and electrolytes.

No offense to your religious background, but I really think that restricting liquids is not healthy for anybody but is particularly dangerous for people with epilepsy.

The longest I ever went without water was three straight days due to a particularly nasty case of food poisoning. I started seeing things that weren't there.

 

[MAB]

Truthfully, I have not been able to forgo the liquids. My husband does but I just can't manage it.

 

[Joyful]

Actually, I have never fasted b/c of the epilepsy. I have been told not only by my dr. but also by my priest that I am not allowed to fast.
Now I am confused. I have always been very petit. Currently I am 5'4" and 98lbs. I have recently gained weight since being on the paleo diet. I believe it is helping me to reach my ideal weight. B/4 starting the paleo I was 95lbs.
I'm not really sure if I'm following the paleo correctly or not - I'm just avoiding sugar, caffine, wheat, gluten, all grains, legumes... I guess that's paleo.
Tonight I had a baked chicken thigh w/ sweet potatoes & garlic baked together in cocconut oil. I have been eating 3 meals a day, just whole meats and veggies.

I hope I'm doing right!

 

[AlohaBird]

Truthfully, I have not been able to forgo the liquids. My husband does but I just can't manage it.

I don't blame you a bit.

Actually, I have never fasted b/c of the epilepsy. I have been told not only by my dr. but also by my priest that I am not allowed to fast.
Now I am confused. I have always been very petit. Currently I am 5'4" and 98lbs. I have recently gained weight since being on the paleo diet. I believe it is helping me to reach my ideal weight. B/4 starting the paleo I was 95lbs.
I'm not really sure if I'm following the paleo correctly or not - I'm just avoiding sugar, caffine, wheat, gluten, all grains, legumes... I guess that's paleo.
Tonight I had a baked chicken thigh w/ sweet potatoes & garlic baked together in cocconut oil. I have been eating 3 meals a day, just whole meats and veggies.

I hope I'm doing right!

You are doing it right. Just have two chicken thighs next time. At 5'4" you could easily be about 120lbs and not be overweight. Some of us have a lot more spare storage of calories on our bodies than others.

And, in your case, I think that fasting is probably not a good idea at all. Even skipping meals.