Epilepsy Diet (the G.A.R.D.) Testimonials

[DogtorJ]

Hi Everyone,

In the wake of the recent firestorm that developed on another thread, I have decided to do something that I have never done before. I am going to start posting the Emails I get from people that have had success using the elimination diet (the G.A.R.D....the glutamate/aspartate-restricted diet). I am going to include Emails concerning both veterinary and human responses and dealing with all medical conditions, not just epilepsy. That way, you will (hopefully) get a better picture of why this works as well as the broad scope of conditions that can be helped.

This thread.. on YOUR forum...will act as the "clearing house" for these testimonials. I do not have another forum that I am doing this on. I have not even updated my own site in over two years as far as these Emails go. It will be a lot easier to log on here and place them in this thread than to get into my Website manager and do it. So, I will be sending people to this forum from all walks of life, pet owners or not, to check these out. There will be a link to this site and to this specific thread placed on my Website. Hopefully it will give this forum some good exposure as well.

So, here goes. I have a bunch and this thread will get long, but I will do this for as long as I can and update is as often as I can get here.

Hope this helps,
John

[DogtorJ]

Dr. Baker (my pen name at the time): Thank you for the article. Subsequent to your information I placed a dog that has been having cluster seizures every 12 hours even though being treated by the College of Veterinary Medicine here at the University of Florida in Gainesville with phenobarb, dilantin, KBr, and valium on the duck/potato diet you recommended. I talked with the owner today and the dog has not had any further seizures since starting the diet which has now been four (4) days.. Understand the client is still giving all the other meds but since he was considering euthanasia he is thrilled that there has been a cessation of the seizures. This is a really good test case since this dog has been seizuring for the past several years and has gotten progressively worse. I am very excited about what you have documented as I have certainly had my share of seizuring dogs over the years and although most have infrequent episodes there are those like this dog that just get worse regardless of treatment. I will keep you advised as I plan to incorporate this protocol in my seizure patients. Dr. S.

[DogtorJ]

Hi Doc J

Very nice to hear from you. My guy is doing well. He hasn't had a seizure, ( knock on wood), since mid Dec. The longest he has went inbetween was from the end of June- first part of Sept. I had been giving him Solid Gold Seameal, ran out the end of June & started again 2weeks before he seizured in Sept. Related? ("Yes!!! Seameal is loaded with glutamate as is kelp.) I don't give him any kelp since. I have cut out mackeral & elk meat & upped his veggie intake. I feed minimal beef & am in the process of getting lamb meat.

A bit of disturbing news though. I was informed that a son of his had 3 seizures in Dec. You will like this part. He is eating Science Diet food & has severe food allergies. The people will only listen to what there vet is saying & that is that SD is the best & they just ended up with an unhealthy dog. The dog also ran head first into the fireplace a few months before the seizure & their vet said its not related.

I have offered to pay for a prepared raw diet for this dog for 3 months if they would give it a try. The breeder has also offered to groom him for free if they would do this too. We are hoping to at least get him off of grains.

Thank you for checking in

B.

[DogtorJ]

Hi Dr. J,

I received your paper through the friend of a friend and had already been dairy free for 7 weeks when I read it. Since I read your paper, I have quit eating wheat, too and have had tremendous results. I found your paper to be absolutely fascinating, although in need of some editing! It doesn’t necessarily matter to me what your background is, all I know is I feel GREAT! My uncle is a well-known chiropractor in Austin and he’s the one who discovered my dairy allergy – after 7 years of severe dandruff (that only Aveda scalp remedy used every other day could contain) and other mild skin problems, kicking dairy has nearly eliminated those problems – I would say a 95% improvement. After reading your paper, I cut out wheat – my constant heartburn, and chronic pain in my lower back have improved by nearly the same as above. In addition, I have had improvements in my cervical area and even my MOOD is improved (not to mention my little stomach is little again)! I think you are on the right track and I have been sharing your paper and info with as many people as will listen.

Sincerely, A***** in Austin

[DogtorJ]

On February 18, 2003, I reported on my situation with nocturnal seizures. This all seemingly showed up at the time of menopause. Yet I wonder if it had been hiding in the corner most of my life!

As a baby my mother fed me cow's milk and said I was a mess with colic. I asked her what they did to try to help. Just fed you more milk and you would cry, and I would cry she said. Then as a six year old or so, I recall going to my grandmother's house for those Sunday dinners we all loved. She always had mashed potatoes, I am from Indiana so have to add that e on potato)--and I would stuff myself with noodles. On the way home in the late afternoon, the sun would be so bright in my eyes and I would get those "half headaches." I presume they were migraine.

As a teen, I loved those milkshakes and breaded tenderloins. More headaches and let's stop along the cornfield and vomit episodes I recall all too well.

As a young adult, I remember waking in my sleep, sitting straight up, and saying-Hey, hey, hey! My husband and three sons recall that deal to this day. Also during that time I continued to have horrible migraines. I wonder if this could have been a seizure disorder even then, or should I say a food allergy disorder. I only wish I would have known then what I am learning now.

Then five years ago came the gran mals in the middle of the night. Of course there were scans, meds, and -- the dreaded depression of dealing with the whole affair. The seizures continued. They were on a monthly cycle, between 12:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. and many times after I had eaten ice cream.

Enters--Dogtor J. On January 12 of 2003, I changed my diet some would say weirdly. For breakfast I ate a banana, apple, and raw cashews...
For lunch I ate Romaine lettuce, sliced pickled beets, kidney beans, onion and a poppy seed dressing. Sometimes I add some boiled egg slices.
In the evening I ate a small amount of fish, etc., potato, and a veggie.
If I was still hungry and wanted a snack--I would eat raw cashews, fresh fruit, or raw veggie.

Guess what?????????????????? I have not had a gran mal since I took your suggestion and am following the above diet. I have lost 10 pounds also. No headaches, no depression, and you will notice no dairy or grain products.

We raise German Shepherds and I tell everyone I guess I am a "real dog." Your diet works for me it seems at this point just like for puppies. The last episode I had was December 20, 2002!

I still take a low dosage of Keppra and take my Melaleuca vitamins each day.

This morning you would have been so proud! At the Easter breakfast at church, everyone is snarfing down all the sweet rolls, muffins, and milk! There I am munching on my raw cashews and bottled water. At noon I ate some beef, fresh asparagus, and ate salad that I had prepared in my way as usual. I really am not even tempted by the junk food now and it makes me so upset to see where our society is headed with their junk mania.

What more can I say but-----THANKS!!!! ~L**** in Indiana

P. S. Where is your office located? Our son is a veterinarian also and graduated from Purdue.

[DogtorJ]

Thanks once again for your help in helping me with my seizure battle. I continue to follow your eating guidelines and continue to do very well. I have not had any dairy products for over two years. Once in awhile I have eaten a grain product, but that is very, very rare. I have been checked for bone density and it actually has improved without the dairy products. That was a real shocker to the doctor but not to me.

I am still taking a very small amount of Keppra. Little by little I am trying to reduce that also. It has been interesting to note that I feel more dizzy as my health improves. I am sure it is the medication causing the dizziness. It seems my body is trying to say....get that stuff out of here! I have not had a seizure since 2003 when you showed up in my life!

Thanks again. ~L**** from Indiana

[DogtorJ]

Hello Dogtor J-

I am a big fan that thanks you for
enlightening us on the GARD aspect of epilepsy and
saving our 6 year old German Shepherd from being put
down by the vet for non responsive cluster epilepsy.We
noticed the time frame after she ate and that was the
clincher.We went out and got Dick Van patten's food
and she has been her normal self for the first time in
years.We are still giving her the phenobarbital-100 mg
once daily and I wanted your opinion on that.I also
wanted to ask you for help getting rid of my incurable
GI symptoms.I have been on the no
wheat,dairy,corn,soy,sugar diet for about two weeks.I
was amazed at how much better I felt stomach acid wise
immediately until the last two days when I have had a
sour stomach again after eating some pineapple.I have
been on Prilosec and then added some Mylanta
today.Then I read your Helo pylori comments.Ouch!Can
you tell me how to deal with this without meds and
what to expect healing wise and what to eat to be
safe?I would appreciate the help in dealing with this
wretched stomach response.I eat only chicken and
beef,vegetables,and fruit.All fresh.Nothing else but
water and Iced Tea.Again,thank you for saving our
girl,Zoe.Hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
B.

[DogtorJ]

Hi Dr.J

I just wanted to give you an update towhen I contacted you 2 yrs ago about my Rhodesian Ridgeback and his seizures.

After finding your site, reading and reading and researching. I summized his seizures were caused by the dog food kibble he was eating. At that point I made the decision to STOP feeding any processed dog food and from then forward began feeding a raw diet only. BINGO......his seizures stopped immediataly!! It's been 2 yrs now and he's been seizure free. He was having grande mal seizures once a month for about 6 months before switching to raw.

S.

[DogtorJ]

Dr. J

Your work with epilepsy has helped my daughter . She has been on numerous meds and also has a VSN implanted in her but her seizures continued. I was given your name from Silvia Skansen the breeder of giants; I bought one of her dogs, anyways from my reading I learned of you and your research. My daughter is 23 and developed epilepsy at 19 yrs old. She has been taking turine for about 6 months and has been free of all meds since April 05 she has only had 1 grandmaual seizer and a few tremors. We have shared your web site and info with many people The question I needed to ask you is that my daughter and her husband are trying to conceive a baby and is it ok to continue with the turine?? And do you have any other suggestions?

Any help you can give would be appreciated. Thanks again for the research and help you have given to my family

C.

[DogtorJ]

Hello Dr. Symes,

Things are going pretty well with us - my wife is about four and a half weeks pregnant and still hasn't experienced another MS flare-up, besides the occasional burning sensation when she eats something to which she's intolerant. We're going in for her ultra-sound tomorrow morning so with any luck we'll know whether we're having a boy or girl. She stopped taking her Avonex shots in May after her last neurologist appointment and before we started trying for a baby. Her MRI showed no new activity at all over the preceding year, which is very unusual for MS patients and we're taking as confirmation of the elimination diet. (Of course the neurologist attributed it to the Avonex, but the interferon and beta-blocker drugs simply attenuate the flare-ups and don't prevent them entirely.)

Last winter we finally managed to find a doctor who would authorize an ELISA blood test for her, and lo and behold the results showed IgG immune responses to twenty-two different foods including the usual suspects wheat, dairy, soy and yeast. Most of the foods she had already identified with the elimination diet, but there were a couple of surprises such as canola oil - she had been cooking with it and was getting some burning that we couldn't assign to a particular food. It was nice having medical documentation that corresponded to what we'd empirically determined!

I've still been doing my own nutrition research, and this summer I started coming across a number of references to the work of a Dr. Weston A. Price, and I finally managed to find his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Price was a research dentist who started noticing a dramatic increase in dental caries and orthodontic problems around the turn of the century, and embarked on a number of trips in the 20's and 30's to find control groups of people living on their traditional foods. He visited groups of people in the Faroe islands, isolated Swiss mountain valleys, African, Australian, South American and Eskimo tribes. What he invariably found was that people living on their traditional foods (which varied widely from one another!) had almost no cavities and perfect teeth, but succumbed to our modern problems within a generation of being exposed to the "displacing foods of modern commerce" - white flour, sugar, pastries, etc. He also found that these people were generally consuming ten times as many vitamins, minerals and other activators as those of us on a "modern" diet.

There are a couple of non-profit societies and other researchers who are continuing Price's work - Sally Fallon's site http://www.westonaprice.org is an incredible resource. Her book Nourishing Traditions is both a cookbook of traditional recipes and the best overview of nutrition that I've ever seen. One of the very interesting things that she points out is that it was traditionally known that wheat and other grains contain anti-nutrients such as phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors and that it is very unhealthy to eat grains in a raw state. Up until the modern era of industrial and prepared foods people soaked their grains overnight in a slightly acid solution and ate it in the morning as a gruel or oatmeal. Soaking the grains would pre-digest the proteins and starch and deactivate the anti-nutrients, making them safe to eat.

I've been a runner for the past ten years, and about a year ago I started to have a chronic inflammation on the bottom of my left foot that I self-diagnosed as plantar fascitis. I started some recommended stretches before running and going to sleep at night that helped somewhat, but the problem never completely went away. I've also been a life-long breakfast cereal eater, and for the past couple of years had been buying Raison Bran cereal in bulk and eating it almost exclusively. After reading Price and Fallon's work I'd been removing all the refined sugar from my diet and switched to a breakfast of oatmeal soaked overnight in water, yoghurt and salt from a recipe in her book. I started this breakfast on a Saturday, and was absolutely shocked to discover that my plantar fascitis had completely abated by the beginning of the week, but returned in reduced intensity a few days later. I considered what else I was eating regularly and realized that during the week I was having an energy bar made from soy flour nearly every day, and sometime twice on days I went running. I stopped eating those energy bars and within a few days my plantar fascitis was completely gone and has stayed gone - just like turning a switch! I also realized that the my knees felt much better and didn't ache when going up the stairs.

I don't have any other indications of a wheat or soy intolerance and in fact now eat a five-grain breakfast mix of oats, wheat, triticale, rye and barley that I soak overnight. The problems appear to stem from the raw wheat cereal and soy flour, with all their anti-nutrients and enzyme inhibitors intact. I'm also not positive, but I think my astigmatism might have gone away too - I'll find out the next time I go to the optometrist! I've been following some other diet recommendations as well that may be contributing factors, and have been taking cod liver oil capsules for vitamins D & A, and the n-3 fatty acids.


Sincerely,

D.

[DogtorJ]

Doc, I Have To Admitt It's Hard And Often Times Dicouraging That You Can Not Eat Certain Foods You Love But You Are Right.
I Have Been For The Last Month Or So Winging Myself Off Of Dairy, Wheat And Soy Products And I Feel Better Than I Have In Years. I Only Have One Problem, I Tend To Starve Myself At Certain Points.what I Need Is A List Of Things You Can Eat That Are Really Good For You.please Help!!

G

[DogtorJ]

Incredible info !!!

I recently started drinking soy instead of low fat milk, thinking it would be beneficial.

After talking with David and reading the results of your research, I understood why I was having some stomach problems, fatigue, headaches and dificulty sleeping. I am no longer using the soy drink and feeling much better.

Thank you , thank you, thank you...

B.

[DogtorJ]

Dear Dr. Baker (again, my pen name, which is actually my middle name),

Your article was just recently referred to me. It is superb and certainly in line with what I have discovered with my "pack" of Irish Setters. I am attaching a brief (3 pages) article I wrote for our state Irish Setter Club. I believe that your theories, nay actual results, are well supported in what has occurred in specifically two of my dogs. The one was near death after fighting IBD, Colonities and PeriAnal Fistulas for over 3 years. He is now a picture of health at 9 1/2. The epilseptic dog has been seizure free since switching to raw diet last March, immediately after his first seizure cluster. Thank you for your efforts.

Sincerely,

T.

[DogtorJ]

To J.S. Baker, D.V.M.

Thank you indeed for making contact. I know you now as J. S. Baker, D.V.M. or "Dogtor", but I am assuming the J stands for something?

You and I have been in the profession approximately the same length of time, however I did not start my vet studies until I was about 27 having first studied agricultural science followed by secondary school teaching for four years. Like you, I graduated well from University and like you, once I was struck by the diet/health nexus, it became my passion.

To say I am impressed with your work is a gross understatement. I have, over the last six to eight months, read several awareness raising books on the role that dietary gluten plays in disease production. However, your synthesis of the pathophysiology of gastrointestinal, neurological and other degenerative diseases has allowed shadowy ideas to develop into concrete [and exciting] forms. Thank you indeed for sharing your knowledge and insight.

I have not had a chance to read even a quarter of your web site, however, what I have read tells me that your work is of landmark importance. And even that statement trivializes what you have to say.

I look forward to reading the full 40 page text [my wife promises to print it out for me tomorrow.]

Eventually the profession WILL look seriously at the fundamental role nutrition plays in health states. Your work hastens that day.

Trusting we can stay in contact

Sincerely

I.B.

[DogtorJ]

Dogtor J,

I think you'll find this interesting.

My mini doxie has been on the lamb & rice diet for going on a couple of weeks now. I haven't yet tapered down her phenobarb.

Yesterday morning I dropped a (frozen-type) Belgian waffle. Unfortunately, she grabbed & ate most of it.

She had a seizure last night at 1:00 am! She's never had a seizure on her full dose of phenobarb. (NOTE: this is the typical 5-6 hour interval that occurs between eating and seizure in pets NOT on AEDs. Once on drugs, this interval gets distorted)

In my mind this gives credence to your diet plan.

V.in Atlanta