Diet taboos for absence seizures

Absolutely prohibit any alcoholic beverages, avoid ingesting large amounts of high-concentration stimulant substances at one time, and avoid long-term hunger or short-term overeating. The other "food taboos" and "high sugar taboos" spread online must be judged based on individual circumstances. There is never a one-size-fits-all general taboo list.

Don’t underestimate these three things. I have encountered too many patients who have fallen into the trap. Let’s just talk about alcohol. Whether it’s liquor, beer, fruit wine, or even alcoholic sparkling water or fermented rice dumplings, as long as it contains alcohol, you have to avoid it. Alcohol will directly lower the seizure threshold of brain neurons and is a clearly proven factor that induces epileptic seizures. There was a 21-year-old college student who had been taking medication regularly for a year and a half without having a seizure. He drank half a glass of sparkling wine at a graduation dinner and had seven absence seizures in a row that afternoon. The qualifications he had saved to reduce medication were immediately invalidated, and the gain outweighed the loss.

As for stimulating drinks, that doesn’t mean you can’t drink coffee, milk tea, or cola at all, but don’t drink them all at once. I received a 12-year-old patient last month. His parents were worried that he would be sleepy during the final review, so they made him two cups of instant coffee every day. As a result, he had 14 seizures in a week. Before, he only had one or two seizures in three to four months. Nowadays, the caffeine content of many milk teas and functional drinks is alarmingly high. One cup is worth two or three cups of American style. If you are sensitive to caffeine and feel flustered and trembling after drinking it, it is best to drink less. If you usually drink half a cup of coffee, there is no problem. There is no need to completely avoid it. Drinking in moderation is perfectly fine.

Having said this, someone must ask, as the old man at home said, "you cannot eat fat food", do you have to abstain from mutton, seafood, and beef? This is actually where the views of Chinese and Western medicine differ. Western medicine currently does not have any large-sample evidence-based research to prove that this type of food is directly related to absence seizures. I have a patient who lives by the sea. He eats seafood every day, and his seizures are under very good control. He has not had a recurrence in three or four years. But from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, this kind of pungent and warm food can easily disturb the wind and disturb the mind. If you are prone to allergies, or the frequency of attacks does become higher every time you eat mutton or seafood, you can avoid it completely. You don’t have to worry about which one is right. Your body’s reaction is the most accurate.

Many people tend to go to the other extreme, that is, excessive taboos. A grandmother brought her grandson for a follow-up consultation before. She said that she was afraid of triggering an attack. She had not given her a bite of meat for half a year, and she rarely even gave her eggs. When the child arrived, his face was sallow, and the hemoglobin test was only 92g/L, indicating moderate anemia. During that period, the frequency of attacks was twice as high as before. In fact, malnutrition itself will reduce the stability of brain neurons, which will make it easier to induce attacks. Normal meat, eggs, fish, and milk can be eaten normally as long as you don't feel uncomfortable. There is no need to lose nutrients for unwarranted taboos.

Of course, there are special cases. For example, some patients with refractory absence seizures cannot be controlled well by conventional drugs. Doctors will recommend trying a ketogenic diet. The dietary taboos of such patients are completely different from ordinary people. Carbohydrate intake must be strictly controlled. High-sugar and high-carbohydrate foods such as rice, cakes, and milk tea must be eaten strictly according to the rations given by nutritionists. No snacks can be eaten secretly. Otherwise, the ketogenic state will be broken and the effect of controlling seizures will not be achieved. However, the ketogenic diet requires full monitoring by a professional team. Do not try it blindly at home, as you may run into risks such as ketoacidosis.

The most common advice I give to patients is not to search for all kinds of strange "taboos". Instead, keep a food diary in your mobile phone memo. Keep a diary of what special things you ate that day and whether you had an attack for two or three months. You will know clearly what things you eat that are likely to trigger the disease and what is completely fine. It is much more reliable than those cookie-cutter lists on the Internet.

In the final analysis, diet is only an auxiliary part of the daily management of absence seizures. The most important thing is to take medication regularly and review regularly. Don’t keep up with nutrition because of blind dietary restrictions, and don’t be greedy for clear high-risk foods. If you do the small details in your daily life well, and the seizures are under control, the quality of life will be the same as that of ordinary people.