Barb - benzos with food

[Guest guest]

I think I have deleted it already Barb, but basically what I said was we saw

an obvious seizure connection with taking benzos at the same time as a

keto meal - became plain as day when he started having seizures 60-90 mins after

lunchtime (the one period where we did combine them as it was easiest way at

school).

When we altered the benzo timing to make sure there was at least a 60 min gap,

those 1.30-2pm seizures went away immediately - like the very first day we made

the change.

No one had ever told us to do this, but it was just one of those things that

became obvious over time (remembering that D's benzo and diet history is kinda

long) when the patterns started developing, and when I researched it further it

made sense (sort of)...I found an old dentistry journal paper (80's I think it

was) a couple of yrs ago about anaesthetics, and one statement in there was

something like 'caution should be used when administering the benzodiapine

sedatives if the patient has recently consumed a fatty meal'.

So ching ching went the alarm bells, and I asked our hopsital pharmacist to

look into the whys for me. He did, but drew a blank after tracking this dentist

down in the US by phone, (now retired) who said he remembered writing the paper,

but could not remember where he had sourced the original info from that had

prompted the warning...

Sooooo a dead end, but I 'think' the connection is due to the fat soluble

nature of all the benzodiazepine medications - logic would dictate that they

would absorb/metabolise faster in a fatty environment, which obviously keto is.

This would mean a quicker more dramatic dose peak, (where we saw 's

probelm, he was always borderline toxic on these meds as it was ) with therefore

more susceptibility to rebound/withdrawal at the other end of the scale - ie -

before the next dose is due.

Also, benzo meds (as with depakote) are stored in fatty tissues, and the

nature of keto is that you burn fat reserves in between keto meals for

sustenance, much the same as a non keto person uses stored glycogen till the

next meal top up.

This is one reason the TRANX organisation here (drug withdrawal centre) said

that in their opinion, they were an unsuitable medication to mix with keto -

they actually discourage weight loss in their patients when on benzos due to the

'bursts' of released med from fat stores that can upset blood levels, the

stability of which is very important with GABA enhancing drugs. Even though our

kids aren't supposed to lose weight per se, they still go that fat burning

process on a regular basis, it's how they are fuelled in between meals till the

next caloric fat top-up is given.

So when also taking into account the addiction/tolerance aspect that exists

even without the complications of the keto diet, this is why I couldn't get

off them quick enough. I did try and get some 'medical' affirmation from

various neurologists/epileptologists, basically to serve more as a warning to

those starting out on keto with benzos already in the cocktail - I wrote to

some, (including in the US), but none replied with a definite - yes this is a

problem and yes, that is why. No-one said 'no, don't be silly' either though,

which I guess I'll take as a 'maybe'??

So to this day it remains 'officially unanswered', but the proof was in the

pudding with so to speak, and that was enough for me.

PS - Dep used to cause problems too, not to the same obvious extent, but

used to go drooly and 'blah' as dep peaked if given with food on keto,

and even though he is presently controlled, I still can't bring myself to give

this med with a meal - instructions are very definite at school that if they are

late giving dep, they must also delay his keto meal.

I also seperated dep from benzos, (both being CNS depressants it was overkill

for ) whether or not there was a meal due. Which made for hellish juggling

med/meal schedules, as too eats at 7.30 pm and goes to bed almost

straight away afterwards.

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

From: Barbara Swoyer

I missed that post, and . Should I not give Clobazam w/ dinner

do you think? Can you resend ? Jake takes all his meds with meals,

Keppra w/ breakfast, and Keppra, Depakote and Clobazam w/ dinner. Yuck.

Hate to even type that. Can't give it after dinner though, as he goes to be

right after and eats relatively late....7:30 ish.

Barb Swoyer, Jake's mom