Active Low-Carber Forums - View Single Post - Reverse Engineering Epilepsy's 'Miracle' Diet

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. Skip

My neighbor's 5-year-old son was diagnosed with absence seizures, which are a form of epilepsy. The doctor spoke to her about trying a ketogenic diet, but then said it would probably be too hard for her to do. When I tried to encourage her to give it a try, she said, "No, my little guy likes his candy and soda too much for me to make him give them up. We'll just do the medicine."

I wonder if the doctor had been more enthusiastic about it, if she would be thinking about it differently.

That particular attitude from the parent is often seen in dying cancer patients when told to cut down on the sugar. Convinced of the inevitability of the outcome, such a simple solution couldn't possibly make any difference, and even if it did, the price would be too high both for the kid and for the parent. Not having any kids, I wonder if I too would refuse to apply the tough love method for the sake of my kid's health. Tough love would be to deprive that kid's happiness in order to make him healthy. I can't help but think the kid could be much happier too if he didn't have so many seizures.