Epilepsy and Diet (The G.A.R.D.)

[DogtorJ]

Hi Everyone,

It's been a long time since I posted on the forum. I wanted to give you an update on my work with seizures and diet.

The success stories of epileptics responding to the glutamate-aspartate restricted diet (The GARD) continue to roll in. I have lost track of the number of dogs that have responded dramatically to the elimination of gluten,casein,soy,and corn. And I am now getting more and more humans who have responded just as phenomenally,reco0vering not only from epilepsy but also autism, ADHD, migraines, insomnia, MS, peripheral neuropathies and more.

I started a thread on a Labrador forum to storehouse testimonials. ( http://lab-retriever.net/board/showthread.php?t=47643). I have many of them in the Testimonial section of my site as well (www.dogtorj.net).

It is critical for pet owners and breeders to understand this concept. There are a number of breeds (e.g Labs, Rotties, Shepherds, Cockers, Shih Tzus and more) that are the poster childen for this concept of food intolerance with their at-risk status for just about everything that can wrong with a dog medically (just as celiacs like myself are in people). Their allergies, epilepsy, immune mediated diseases (e.g thyroid, lupus, etc), early cancer (e.g osteosarcoma), myelopathy ("MS"), and more are good examples.

And I have seen miracles happen in these breeds by simply eliminating the "big 4", or what I now lovingly call the "four horsemen of the apocalypse". When you see just what these foods have their hand in, how often they cause problems in pets and people, and the magnitude of the problems they create, then you will see why I speak of them so dramatically.

Please feel free to contact me in you have any questions. My Email address is all over my Website.

John
John B. Symes, DVM ("aka. Dogtorj")
www.dogtorj.net

PS.I spoke at the annual conference of the AHVMA on this topic last year and will be speaking on it at the upcoming North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando in January. I also spoke at an international conference of MDs on "The GARD" diet last weekend in Chicago. This WILL be mainstream thinking before too long.

 

[poodlesmom]

I found your thread on the lab forum quite some time ago when I was trying to do some research on dogs with seizures. Chloe was having seizures and when I read your articles I switched her kibble to Dick VanPattens Potato & Duck and I am happy to say she has had no more seizures. Since then I have referred others to your thread on the lab forum as well to your site when their furpals have had seizures for them to check it out. Thank you!

 

[DogtorJ]

I found your thread on the lab forum quite some time ago when I was trying to do some research on dogs with seizures. Chloe was having seizures and when I read your articles I switched her kibble to Dick VanPattens Potato & Duck and I am happy to say she has had no more seizures. Since then I have referred others to your thread on the lab forum as well to your site when their furpals have had seizures for them to check it out. Thank you!

Hi Poodlesmom,

That's great to hear! The fact is that the response has been so good that I have trouble falling asleep some nights, knowing that both pets and people do sooooo well when they eliminate the "big 4"...gluten, casein, soy and corn. At first I did not completely understand why, of course. But after 6 years of intense study, I know right down to the retroviral information imbedded in the very DNS of the glial cells around the synapse why this happens.

The human testimonials are the thing that has me going full-out all of the time now. Children with epilepsy, ADHD, autism and more and doing incredibly. Adults with head trauma-induced seizures have stopped seizing in 4 days. Elderly people with "non-treatable" peripheral neuropathy have fully recovered and become totally pain-free in a matter of months. I have a woamn with MS who is completely free of symptoms...once she moved from Boston and all of the serious air pollution. (Air pollution is horribly neurotoxic.)

And great things than these will you do. Once we understand the cascade of events that follow the damage to the absorbing villi of the intestine done by these big four foods, we can remove many of the limitations we have put on our ability to recover. In fact, I no longer put any limitations on what our body can do to get better, only what WE can or are willing to do to see this happen.

Yes, it involves sacrifice but what worthwhile venture does not, right? The main point? We do reap what we sow when it comes to our health. We simply haven't realized...'til now...just how bad the seeds are that we have been planting all of these years. Yep...we are what we eat!

Thanks for the post.

John

 

[poodlesmom]

I do have one confession to make.

One time when I was sick I ran out of the Natural Balance. I made a quick trip to the closest grocery store and bought a bag of another kibble to hold us over until the next week. Within a few days Chloe had another seizure. Suffice it to say, feeling as guilty as humanly possible, I threw out the rest of the bag and immediately went to the pet store and got the Natural Balance.

I will never put her through that again!

 

[DogtorJ]

I do have one confession to make.

One time when I was sick I ran out of the Natural Balance. I made a quick trip to the closest grocery store and bought a bag of another kibble to hold us over until the next week. Within a few days Chloe had another seizure. Suffice it to say, feeling as guilty as humanly possible, I threw out the rest of the bag and immediately went to the pet store and got the Natural Balance.

I will never put her through that again!

Don't feel too badly. People do this all of the time. At least it reinforces the importance of the diet. And, the longer she's on the diet, the more resilient to mistakes she will become, both voluntary and involuntary.

Keep in touch,
John

 

[rowdy ridgeback]

I had my Sheltie on Science Diet and then switched her to Innova. No more seizures after that. Its been over a year now seizure free.

 

[DogtorJ]

I had my Sheltie on Science Diet and then switched her to Innova. No more seizures after that. Its been over a year now seizure free.

That's great. Which Science Diet were you feeding and which Innova are you feeding now?

Hills made a major blunder with their Nature's Best, using wheat and soy. This was huge departure from their routine of using corn and rice as the only grains in their foods. Corn was bad enough in the past but going to wheat-based foods was certainly the worst move ever in pet nutrition. Adding soy and now bringing back dairy products are two other very bad decisions. I really want to know who does their nutritional research.

 

[DogtorJ]

MS recovery

Just got this from the first woman I helped with her MS. She was living in Boston and contacted me about her cat through a forum like this (one of the reasons I do this. ).

She had a very significant positive response to the diet while living in Boston but sort of plateau'd. I explained the role of air pollution in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases and that Boston was on my "hit" list (bad pollution), just like the city I now live in (ugh). She told me that she planned to move to New Mexico, which was the best thing she could have told me.

Within days of moving there, she said she felt better than she had in years. MOnths later, there was not sign of her MS anywhere. Her new doctors were blown away, having to rely on her old records and MRIs to even believe that she had MS. Also, her bone density had dramatically improved (due to the elimination of the "big 4" calcium blockers...gluten, casein, soy, and corn).

I just got the following Email from her. Wow!

*************************
Hi John,

I'm not sure if I told you or not about my latest MRI. Since changing my diet......have my own garden, and moving to New Mexico, nine months now.....my MRI showed the ten leisions in the brain are dormant AND the one in my neck DISAPPEARED completely. I gave up Gluten and Casin altogether, the rest I TRY to avoid.

The air out here is so clean that you don't smell anything, except my two horses < grin >, when the wind blows north. There is also no noise to aggrevate your senses. No stress of to many people or traffic.

I'm hoping that, in the long run, I can delete the rest of those pesky leisons. Wish me luck :~)


C.

 

[tessa_s212]

I do have one confession to make.

One time when I was sick I ran out of the Natural Balance. I made a quick trip to the closest grocery store and bought a bag of another kibble to hold us over until the next week. Within a few days Chloe had another seizure. Suffice it to say, feeling as guilty as humanly possible, I threw out the rest of the bag and immediately went to the pet store and got the Natural Balance.

I will never put her through that again!

I've had the exact same experience. Since we switched Cocoa to a better food she has had only two seizures. One was when she had to be fed crappy food for about a week because my dad forgot to buy her some new food.

I'm telling you.. a good food can make a world of difference!