S9OUL. Posted April 25, 2021 Posted April 25, 2021 Jemimah was just three and a half when she came to see me and she’d already was on a barrage of medication. She’d been diagnosed with epilepsy a year earlier and since then, she had swellings on her hands and legs, around her joints. Despite her anticonvulsant medication, she still had a seizure every two weeks. Furthermore, the swellings around her wrists, elbows, ankles and knees were hard and showed no sign of subsiding – despite having taking powerful steroids. When her mother Pauline brought her to see me, she felt that there was little I would be able to suggest, especially when little Jemimah had suffered for so long. The first thing I asked Pauline to do was to take wheat and dairy out of Jemimah’s diet. Now I realise that this is a fairly common suggestion when dealing with children’s ailments, but I find that omitting these foods allows you to see what’s really going on. What’s more, the proteins found in wheat and dairy (namely, gluten and casein) can be fairly damaging to the intestines and, in cases like epilepsy, their omission can give the body some reprieve. To cut out wheat, Jemimah had to eliminate chapatti, mandazis, pasta, cereals, cakes and biscuits from her diet. She would also cut out all dairy produce, namely cheese, yoghurt, milk and ice-cream. Adequate hydration is also paramount in cases like this. That means no dehydrating drinks (tea, coffee, cocoa, milo etc) and about 2-3 glasses of pure water. I also prescribed some fish oils, to help nourish Jemimah’s brain. Two weeks on, even though Jemimah had had a seizure, the swellings, which had persisted for the past nine months, had almost gone (sugar appeared to be the trigger). A further two weeks on, Jemimah hadn’t had a single seizure. Another month after that, still no seizure. That’s when we began to reduce the dosage of her medication. Sometimes, we feel that going to the doctor and getting medication is the best thing for our child. As in this case, it’s not always the best solution. A little nutrition can go a very, very long way. Jemimah responded very well to just a few omissions, but sometimes more are required. The key thing to remember is the need to ensure that the foods that are being cut out, are replaced with equally, if not more, nourishing fare. For example, when dairy is eliminated, calcium intake is ensured by increasing amounts of bone-building foods like beans, lentils, dark green vegetables, omena. Three months on, Jemimah is almost medication free and hasn’t had a seizure. Nation Media Group © 2021 Nation Part of Nation Media Group
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