moderate ketones, weight gain and flax seed oil

[Guest guest]

After 9 months on the diet with pretty good seizure control, my daughter has

had " moderate ketones " and 3 seizures this week!! I'm still doing everything

the same as usual - the recipes are the same, she's been eating the same

quantities, etc. The only thing different is she has gained 1 1/2 lbs. in the

last

2 months, so I'm wondering if that could be the culprit. At first I didn't

worry too much about the weight gain as she had such a horrible problem with

reflux and vomitting that her weight had dropped and figured she was just

getting back to her normal weight.

I know some parents use flax seed oil to keep ketones high. Could you tell

me where to find this, what brand, and how much to give her (mixed in a meal or

plain)?

On top of this, apparently our dietician has left the hospital (nice to be

informed of this?), hopefully her replacement has some experience with the diet!

Heidi, future occupational therapist and single mom to (IS,

Severely/Multiply Impaired, Ketokid since 12/03) and twin brother, (4

years), and

big sis Madison (6).

[Guest guest]

Both Barleans and Omega are good brands. Make sure the store you buy

from has them refrigerated and keep them that way at home. Definitely

resepct the " Best Before " date, the stuff will go bad. So watch when

you buy that its not about to expire.

Don't cook with it, you can't heat it or it changes its form. If you

want to use in cooked food, wait til the food cools a bit, then stir in.

Amounts - starts with a small amount and work up gradually. It can cause

tummy upset for some kids. For some kids its great stuff for raising

ketones, others find they can't handle it. I would start off about 2 g

per meal, do that for at least a week or closer to two. Then up to 3 g

per meal. I am serious about going slow, I found with Jess that she had

an upper limit, any more than 10g per meal and I would pay for it, she

would either start to refuse to eat or would get gaggy. But it raised

her ketones great. We started without fasting at 2:1, then 2.5:1 and

3:1. Neuro wanted to go to 3.5:1 to up ketones, I added some flax

instead, we stayed at 3;1 for almost 2 years.

Also its a very healthy oil independant of the diet, good for lowering

cholesterol and provides a good type of fatty acid that most of us don't

get enough of. Six and a half years of the diet and Jess' cholesterol

was always in the normal range. But I learned to limt the amount of

cream (usually between 25 -30 g per meal and I absoloutely refused to go

abave 40g) and did the rest of the fat as a mixture of flax, olive and

either sunflower or safflower oil, occasionally some canola oil.

Good luck, hope it works for you but remember to go slow

, 's mom

PS About the weight gain, has she had a height gain to go with it?

aubyinusa@... wrote:

> After 9 months on the diet with pretty good seizure control, my

> daughter has

> had " moderate ketones " and 3 seizures this week!! I'm still doing

> everything

> the same as usual - the recipes are the same, she's been eating the

> same

> quantities, etc. The only thing different is she has gained 1 1/2

> lbs. in the last

> 2 months, so I'm wondering if that could be the culprit. At first I

> didn't

> worry too much about the weight gain as she had such a horrible

> problem with

> reflux and vomitting that her weight had dropped and figured she was

> just

> getting back to her normal weight.

>

> I know some parents use flax seed oil to keep ketones high. Could you

> tell

> me where to find this, what brand, and how much to give her (mixed in

> a meal or

> plain)?

>

> On top of this, apparently our dietician has left the hospital (nice

> to be

> informed of this?), hopefully her replacement has some experience with

> the diet!

>

>

>

> Heidi, future occupational therapist and single mom to (IS,

> Severely/Multiply Impaired, Ketokid since 12/03) and twin brother,

> (4 years), and

> big sis Madison (6).

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Heidi, has she gained in height proportionately with that weight gain? And

where has the weight gain put her as far as her ideal weight for height is

concerned? If not the same rate of height gain, and if it put her over her ideal

weight, you will probably find the weight increase is to blame for the lower

ketones.

When they are on too many cals 'keto diet wise' any of those cals excess to

survival/energy/growth etc store as glycogen, in the blooodstream, and when this

is released, it can lower ketones down accordingly.

It may be that the cal lavel she was on has always been a bit high, but with

reflux/vomiting issues, she wasn't 'getting' all of them, but now that she is -

that level is showing to be above what her keto needs are?

Keeping close tabs on height/weight ratio and watchng the ketone trend is the

only way to guestimate really, and it does look like this may be what has

happened, especially if she is starting to have seizures again.

Switching to flax oil might help keep the ketones up, but won't stop glucose

levels rising if she is on too many cals, so that may be a bit of a band aid

rather than sorting out what her actual cal needs are.

I guess if you are happy with her weight/height progress you could try the

flax first to see if it helps control the seizures again, but you may have to

ultimately look at a cal reduction instead. And yes - a dietician to help you

sort this out would be nice.... they really should have been helping you keep

track of weight etc and plotting it on growth charts for you to make sure

everything was being set at the right level,

----- Original Message -----

From: aubyinusa@...

After 9 months on the diet with pretty good seizure control, my daughter has

had " moderate ketones " and 3 seizures this week!! I'm still doing

everything

the same as usual - the recipes are the same, she's been eating the same

quantities, etc. The only thing different is she has gained 1 1/2 lbs. in

the last

2 months, so I'm wondering if that could be the culprit. At first I didn't

worry too much about the weight gain as she had such a horrible problem with

reflux and vomitting that her weight had dropped and figured she was just

getting back to her normal weight.

I know some parents use flax seed oil to keep ketones high. Could you tell

me where to find this, what brand, and how much to give her (mixed in a meal

or

plain)?

On top of this, apparently our dietician has left the hospital (nice to be

informed of this?), hopefully her replacement has some experience with the

diet!

Heidi, future occupational therapist and single mom to (IS,

Severely/Multiply Impaired, Ketokid since 12/03) and twin brother, (4

years), and

big sis Madison (6).