Modern Evidence for an Age-Old Treatment: Can the Keto Diet Cure Epilepsy?
A physician traces one boy’s story and unpacks the research
Six years ago on a spring day in Indiana, suddenly and without warning, Will had his first seizure. Shortly thereafter, the previously healthy 5-year-old was diagnosed with generalized epilepsy. Despite starting treatment, Will’s epilepsy continued to worsen.
His mother, Sarah Ackerman, recalls, “We tried medicine after medicine, upping the doses and combining it with others only to see his condition drastically decline. He went from having just a few generalized myoclonic seizures to over 100 a day within the first two months. His numbers continually increased as the months went on with no reprieve.”
Will’s epilepsy was preventing him from focusing and learning in kindergarten. Sometimes he had so many seizures in a row that he would pass out. When medical treatments for epilepsy fail, doctors often recommend surgery on the affected part of the brain. However, such a procedure was not offered to Will because his seizures were occurring in multiple areas of the brain rather than one specific location.
With surgery off the table and his medication choices running out, Will and his family made the two-hour drive to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital…
