Refractory Epilepsy

Welcome to the Matthew’s Friends website, a source of information for anyone suffering from refractory epilepsy.

We are the only UK charity with an esteemed medical board, working with medical professionals from around the globe to further access to quality provision of dietary treatments for epilepsy for babies, children and more recently adults too.

What is Refractory Epilepsy?

Refractory epilepsy, it means that medicine isn’t bringing your seizures under control. You might hear the condition called by some other names, such $Refractory Epilepsy$ as uncontrolled, intractable, or drug-resistant epilepsy.

You can have refractory epilepsy as an adult, or your child might have it. About 1 in 3 people with epilepsy will go on to develop refractory epilepsy*.

What are the reasons for uncontrolled seizures?

Seizures can be uncontrolled for four broad reasons.

The diagnosis is wrong.
The treatment is wrong.
Despite the best treatment, triggers or lifestyle factors may affect seizure control.
Properly diagnosed seizures do not respond to the best medical treatment.

How Can Ketogenic Therapy Help?

The ketogenic diet is a special high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that helps to control seizures in some people with retractory epilepsy. It is prescribed by a physician and carefully monitored by a dietitian. It is stricter than the modified Atkins diet, requiring careful measurements of calories, fluids, and proteins.

Both the classical and MCT ketogenic diet involve strict dietary calculation and weighing of all foods. The dietitian will calculate an individual diet prescription, based on energy and protein requirements. This is likely to be started at a lower ratio or MCT content and built up over a few days as tolerated. From this prescription, recipes can be developed; this is usually done using a computer program.

Exchange lists may be used as an alternative means to implement the prescription; this method is commonly used in the MCT diet. Vitamin and mineral supplementation will be needed with classical and MCT ketogenic diets due to their restrictions; this will be prescribed by the dietitian after assessment of individual requirements and dietary provision. On-going diets will need careful fine-tuning to achieve optimal results.

Key Information

The ketogenic diet is a special high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that helps to control seizures in some people with epilepsy.
Doctors usually recommend the ketogenic diet for children whose seizures have not responded to several different seizure medicines.
The typical ketogenic diet, called the “long-chain triglyceride diet,” provides 3 to 4 grams of fat for every 1 gram of carbohydrate and protein.
Several studies have shown that the ketogenic diet does reduce or prevent seizures in many children whose seizures could not be controlled by medications.

For a further introduction into what you can expect from the ketogenic diet with cancer, along with how you should prepare, please take a moment to view the video below:

The above video is an interview with Professor Brent Reynolds about treating Cancer with Ketogenic Dietary Therapies. From the Matthew’s Friends #TalkingKeto series of films

http://www.braintumourresearch.org/types-of-brain-tumour. Accessed June 2014
Wood S. Ketogenic Diet Therapy – Epilepsy & brain tumours. CN 2013 Vol 13, N0.5 Access viahttp://www.nutrition2me.com/resource-centre/free-to-view-articles

Please refer to the following link for more information – https://www.matthewsfriends.org/keto-therapies/keto-therapies-for/brain-cancer/

Contact Us

If you would like any further information regarding refractory epilepsy and how the ketogenic diet may be able to help, please contact us on either Tel. No. 01342 836571, e-mail enqmatthewsfriends.org or via our official Facebook page and we will be happy to answer any of your questions.