Can too much sugar increase seizures?

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jlarson

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Everything on this question I can find seems diabetic related. I'm curious however if eating too much sugar -in 1 form, or any form- can increase seizures in epilepsy. I was just looking at a sight (mainly talking about low blood sugar again in diabetics) but it did mention how excess sugar can excite neurons. (Uhhh, HELLO! possible light go on again that no doctor has ever mentioned.) I've read dozens, if not hundreds, of articles saying how people today in general eat WAY more sugar than our grandparents' generation 100 or 120 years ago did -let along THEIR parents and grandparents before that. Has anyone out there ever made any connection or possible connection between too much sugar & increased seizures?
The other thing I've been thinking in depth about that may be causing more of them in me is; I've gone so far as to write down everything I can't pronounce without a pharmacy degree in food I've eaten for a few weeks. Then I went on-line and looked up all these things, and many of them almost scared me given what I read about these chemical preservatives! How the heck can the Fraud and Death....uhhh.....Food and Drug, administration allow these things in food??!!
The main reason I'm SO dug into this is that my pediatrician took me off everything when I was 10. I went all the way up until I was a Jr. in H.S. without any seizures. Looking back, the only thing that I changed during that time was when we moved off the farm and started eating much more out of cans & boxes instead of our own garden and farm raised meat. Along with the fact that I started eating at fast "food" places everyday in H.S. Then suddenly I started having them again and was shoved back on drugs for the next 30 years. The last few years, my seizures have gotten more numerous (granted, long story short, I haven't been on any drugs the last 2 or 3 years). The thing is, again, long story short, I don't believe anything happens for no reason out of the blue. There's ALWAYS a root cause for things that go wrong in our bodies. I'm wondering if there aren't MANY more preservatives, etc. used in food today than there was 30 or 40 years ago....? If so, can may of the new ones be more dangerous to our health than 'they' want everyone to know? As I think I asked once before: How in the world can we get neurologists to think about things like this today? Isn't it worth doing so (or perhaps even morally required according to their Hippocratic oath) for them to think outside the box (or get the proper authority to let them do so again) if it means the betterment of people's health -especially if the drug route doesn't work? Is there anything I could say to my neurologist, or anyone else to see/talk to that could address my concerns?
 
Hi jlarson,

Take my word to much sugar of any kind can cause seizures because the sugar is firing up the neurons in the brain and
in turn a person will have a seizure. When I was younger I ate potato chips like crazy and the next day I would have a seizure
and that's do to the starch in the chips turning to sugar.
What you may want to mention to your Dr. is the ketogenic diet it's a diet high in fat but low in carbs and starch foods. This
diet has been out since 1927 and it helps stop/reduce seizures. If you are interested you can get the book by Dr. John Freeman
called "The Epilepsy Diet Treatment" this book explains all about the diet and gives a few recipes.
The aspartame in nutra sweet is what really fires up the neurons in the brain for some people. I found that out the hard way
after buying diet soda and having many seizures. My Epileptologist told me to stay away from nutra sweet or anything like it.
If you haven't taken any meds in the past few yrs. this is what could be triggering the seizures and also depending on your age
sometimes a persons seizures will increase or decrease when they go through their change.
I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You,

Sue
 
I would personally say in a nutshell: Yes.

For one, it plays on your dopamine, the "feel good" hormone as some say. It's one of the reasons "sugar addiction" becomes a thing. Some people get a dopamine high off of it and then they want a little more and then a little more. Over time, it requires more and more sugar consumption to get that hit and of course, it's a health disaster as too much sugar is not great for you.

It makes sense that a lot of things on this are diabetic related because a lot of the focus on diabetes is around a person's blood sugar.

I have found articles with speculation that those that crave sugar the most may be suffering from vitamin deficiencies. Supposedly sugar can rob the body of nutrients, but if the body doesn't have what it needs, cravings make sense.

After too much sweet these days I feel what they call "brain fog". I can't think well and might feel that I'm constantly on the verge of a seizure. If I don't have sweets, I'm more clear in my mind and my gut overall feels so much better.

More of the danger also comes into play when there's artificial sweeteners in things to make them sweet and the many names those go by. Thankfully I know many of them and I don't buy anything with "natural" and/or "artificial" flavors because they can hide so many ingredients under those names.

The FDA allows many things in foods, as we of course know. What catches the most fire by those that try to follow natural diet, natural medicine, etc. etc. is the "GRAS = Generally Recognized As Safe" ingredients because that's often a cop-out. It's saying, "We don't really know how this will affect you or your loved ones, but we haven't seen any problems so far."

The best we can do is take into our own hands where we spend our dollars. Most grocery stores will be against healthy eating. The majority of grocery stores are high carb foods and also not all that stocked in healthy fats.

I have read that a good balance of healthy fats will help you feel full and curb cravings. I remember I used to take one tablespoon or so of coconut oil every morning. Ick, I hate the taste! But, I went ahead and kept doing it because it's supposed to kill off yeast in the body, which no doubt I had after my many years of having a "sweet tooth". I was craving sweets less and less over time as well as adding a green juice to my routine every morning and that helped a lot. This told me I probably had yeast in my body as well as a lot of nutrient deficiencies (which I keep struggling with and I don't absorb nutrients as well as I should).

Whenever I would have a slip and have sugar, it was like I could feel my blood sugar go too high or something. It was an awful feeling! I would take a spoonful of that coconut oil and in about 20 minutes, I felt totally fine. It helps escort the sugar through the body better, supposedly.

I started having seizures around 9 years old. Looking back on it, I honestly think it was all the grains I was sensitive to that were causing me issues. I wouldn't be surprised if I have celiac's disease, but if I do - it's undiagnosed. When I had seizures it was basically, "Let's get you in for an EEG to see if you have seizures," not, "Let's look at what you've been eating and what your deficiencies are." But, the interesting part was before that diagnosis, a different pediatrician found that I was low in B vitamins and when I was taking B vitamins I found significant improvement, but it didn't last when hormone shifts started to take place. Things got worse.

I didn't know wheat bothered me until I was nearly in my 30s! I think, "What have I done?! How much damage have I caused myself?!" My mom stopped wheat for her weight loss and lost around 100 pounds. Her skin problems also went away. I was quite amazed. When I decided to do that years and years later, I noticed I felt better. Then, years after that when I did a food sensitivity test - I have issues with wheat, barley, oats, kamut, farro, rice, etc. Basically every grain on their list came back red for me.

I didn't put it all together until I was an adult. I used to eat wheat every single day for every meal, just about...oatmeal, PB&J, chicken nuggets, breaded chicken patties/burgers/hot dogs with a bun, bread and butter, breakfast cereals, chicken pot pies, etc. etc. it was my daily diet for soooo many years. My parents had no idea it was bad for us until all of us kids were basically grown because grains are supposed to be healthy for us, but it bothers all the people in my direct family. We don't do well with it.

If you want natural, these days you're going to have to try to seek out a good naturopath/homeopathic doctor. There are some out there, but not every area has one. On top of that, I've been to some "naturopaths" and basically they're an excuse to not take insurance and charge hefty sums for labs. One I saw was clearly conventional even though they called themselves a "naturopath". Nothing they recommended was "natural." They were rude to my husband and I. They ordered thousands of dollars in blood work we couldn't afford nor were we gonna pay for. So many red flags kept going off. I unsubscribed from emails for this practice for many years, but it never unsubscribed, and it turned out that he had abandoned his naturopathic practice, changed his name, and started practicing medicine somewhere else. Not sure even why, but it was a little unsettling.

Anyway, if you can get family or friends to say, "This naturopath is great," then that helps to start. Make sure you get a reputable one.

When it comes to epilepsy, though, I'm not sure how well equipped some of these naturopaths would be? How long will the seizures go on for while the gut heals (that can't be reversed overnight)? That's where it could get dangerous if someone were suffering from multiple seizures a day, week, or month. I mean, if they suffered from seizures once in a while, that might be a different thing.
 
I didn't put it all together until I was an adult. I used to eat wheat every single day for every meal, just about...oatmeal, PB&J, chicken nuggets, breaded chicken patties/burgers/hot dogs with a bun, bread and butter, breakfast cereals, chicken pot pies, etc. etc. it was my daily diet for soooo many years. My parents had no idea it was bad for us until all of us kids were basically grown because grains are supposed to be healthy for us, but it bothers all the people in my direct family. We don't do well with it.
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Are you sure it's the wheat -or is it perhaps the fact that it's either genetically messed up (A.K.A. G.M.O.) or doused with glyphosate from Monsatan....errr.....Monsanto? I'm not sure if we're allowed to post other web addresses here, but go look up "Does the Bible say we should eat grains". It's FAR from a religious site, but more talks about originally there only being 4 kinds of wheat created (yes, it mentions Christ 2,000 years ago, but it doesn't get big into theology talk.), but now there are hundreds of kinds due to man's "need" to "improve" on Nature, and what damage that has all done with the way wheat is grown & manufactured today Vs. 2 or 3 thousand years ago -or even 100 years ago. Then it mentions how the milling machine in 1800's took away a vital part of the nutrient part of wheat on us.
That might be a big part of your problem (or most people with a wheat issue.)
 
Are you sure it's the wheat -or is it perhaps the fact that it's either genetically messed up (A.K.A. G.M.O.) or doused with glyphosate from Monsatan....errr.....Monsanto? I'm not sure if we're allowed to post other web addresses here, but go look up "Does the Bible say we should eat grains". It's FAR from a religious site, but more talks about originally there only being 4 kinds of wheat created (yes, it mentions Christ 2,000 years ago, but it doesn't get big into theology talk.), but now there are hundreds of kinds due to man's "need" to "improve" on Nature, and what damage that has all done with the way wheat is grown & manufactured today Vs. 2 or 3 thousand years ago -or even 100 years ago. Then it mentions how the milling machine in 1800's took away a vital part of the nutrient part of wheat on us.
That might be a big part of your problem (or most people with a wheat issue.)
I wouldn't be able to prove 100% about the wheat or other grains it is, of course, but I don't think it's too far out there to say it could be the way it's modified, all the pesticides/insecticides that are used on it (as many are neurotoxic anyway in order to kill bugs - aren't healthy for anyone), etc.

I've looked into Biblical diet things. It's always interesting little bits it says here or there that are kind of random like "eating nuts and seeds" or something to that effect.

There have been studies even on wheat in Europe that's is better quality often times because it's not all modified and not all treated with pesticides and the processing is different. Boy, can processing be a make or break between what a person can and can't handle!

Either way, it's not a thing I don't believe I can fix. Wheat has always seemed to bother me and when I've gone without it I see drastic improvements in my health after a month or so without and then moving forward. At that point, I could have wheat once in a while (a small amount) and feel okay, but not making it a daily habit is important for my body.
 
Low Glycemic Index Treatment is a diet studied for epilepsy that is designed to limit consumption of simple sugars. Diet (including sugar consumption) can have an impact on seizure activity.

 
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