Idiopathic Epilepsy- The Dietary Solution

By Dogtor J.
©2003 DogtorJ.com

I have been practicing veterinary medicine for twenty-three years. I graduated with honors from veterinary school in the late 70's, received the Upjohn Award as outstanding senior student in small animal medicine, and followed that with an extracurricular internship at a prestigious medical institution in Boston. I mention these things not to boast but as a matter of fact to illustrate the point that I was more than conventionally schooled in basic medicine and clearly had an ample mind for that medical training. And yet, I fell into the same pattern that most doctors do, that of taking a history and examining that patient just long enough to determine which drug was appropriate to facilitate their recovery. In many cases, this is an appropriate approach...or at least it used to be.

Three years ago, I was personally handed a diagnosis that would change my life forever. At the age of forty-five, I found out that I had celiac disease, also known as gluten intolerance. Once I began researching this condition, a medical revelation of astounding proportion struck me right between the eyes. The list of conditions that celiacs like myself suffered from was a who's who of what is wrong with humans, dogs, and cats. This list included every symptom and condition that I had experienced over the years, including the allergies, heartburn, irritable bowel, headaches, insomnia, chronic fatigue/depression, joint and spinal problems, memory and balance loss, and even my fibromyalgia. However, the list went on to include strong tendencies toward so many of the "diseases" that are taking our friends, acquaintances, and loved ones from us. These were the more devastating conditions such as immune- mediated diseases and cancer. Celiacs truly were the glaring example of what was wrong with human beings.

The Epilepsy Connection

One of the most interesting findings involved epilepsy in the celiac child. In one short article that I came across, it was stated that children with celiac disease who also had epilepsy had their seizure frequency improve, dramatically in some cases, once a gluten-free diet was instituted. As I was already in the mode of comparing what I had read about humans to what I experienced in my veterinary practice, I took this idea on as a project. I was already seeing the potentially universal nature of the damage caused by gluten and the correlation of celiac disease and epilepsy was something that I somehow knew was going to be totally explainable.

The first clues came in the analysis of the components of wheat. Gluten was clearly a major culprit and understanding the pathophysiology of its role in celiac disease was of paramount importance. The first hint was that gluten was used in industry as an adhesive. This just made sense when I read about celiac disease for the first time as the text explained how gluten adhered to the villi of the duodenum. Suddenly, the role of the "glue-ten" in industry and the development of celiac disease became clearly related.

Gluten leaves the stomach as an adhesive and subsequently sticks to those delicate villi of the duodenum, those structures vital to the absorption of essential nutrients such as calcium, iron, iodine, all water-soluble vitamins such as B and C vitamins, and most trace minerals such as boron, zinc and magnesium. The implications of this became immense. Without certain vitamins, proper bodily development and function would be slowed or halted and most enzyme systems would be affected. The immune system would certainly suffer from the relative lack of vitamin C and other essential nutrients. It seemed as though the Pandora's box of medicine had been opened and the celiac was the innocent recipient of the plagues it unleashed.

But this was only the beginning. This did not explain epilepsy...yet. However, the second clue put me on the right track. I quickly found that the foods that caused problems did so in a myriad of ways. Gluten had its damaging effects, causing malabsorption, maldigestion, and what we refer to as the "leaky gut". (This is beyond the scope of this paper but is covered in depth in The Answer found on my Website www.dogtorj.com .) But, there were other components of wheat that had serious ties to the subject at hand. The second clue was the fact that monosodium glutamate was often made from wheat (and soy).

A quick review of the uses of and the side effects of MSG spoke volumes about the true nature of idiopathic epilepsy. As most people know, MSG is used as a flavor enhancer. Its mode of action is as a neurostimulant, stimulating the open-ended nerves in the taste buds of the tongue. By sensitizing these nerves, monosodium glutamate has the effect of making food that passes over them more flavorful. However, there is a significant portion of the population that suffers from serious side effects from the use of MSG, the symptoms of which are directly related to the effect MSG has on the brain once it enters the general circulation. These include migraine headaches, pain syndromes, the "MSG rush", and even seizures. Once it is understood that glutamate is a neurostimulant, these symptoms should not be a surprise.

The fact is that glutamate and its "fraternal twin" amino acid, aspartate, are normal neurotransmitters in the mammalian brain. However, the dietary sources of these amino acids cannot be tolerated well by a certain segment of the population, including many of our pets, especially in their concentrated form. MSG is the source of such concentration for glutamate while artificial sweeteners containing aspartame are the corresponding source of aspartate. It was easy to find the evidence that aspartame was causing the same variety of symptoms in susceptible individuals, including seizures in humans. I knew I was on the right track now.

The third clue came in the study of the devastating condition of Lou Gehrig's Disease, otherwise known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In brief, the condition is caused by the build-up of glutamate at the neuronal synapse. The concentration of glutamate ultimately reaches a neurotoxic level resulting in the death of the adjacent neuron. In summary, glutamate is neurotoxic at high levels, actually being lethal to the nerve if high enough. This is obviously true of its relative, aspartate, which accounts for the reports of memory loss, pain syndromes, and seizures tied to its use. I was getting closer to the truth.

The next findings started pulling everything together and I felt that I was well on my way to explaining why the celiac children were recovering from epilepsy. I began studying why the primary food allergens in pets and people were identical and fell into a limited grouping. According to the FDA, the primary childhood allergens were cow milk, wheat, eggs, and soy, in that order. Veterinarians have known for over twenty-five years that cow milk and wheat were the principle food allergens in dogs and cats. Why was that so and why were they the same in those species? The answer came in the form of "glue".

It didn't take long to find that one of the main proteins in cow milk was casein, which is also used in industry as an adhesive. The evidence was everywhere I looked. It was also evident that medical researchers had one of its components, alpha s-1 casein, as being pegged for its involvement in autoimmune disorders, just like the principle protein, gliadin, in gluten. The revelation then came that allergies were just the warning sign of what was to come if we continued to consume these foods, especially in the quantity that Americans do. Dairy products and wheat now make up more than 60% of the American diet. There had to be a link between this fact and the high rate of allergies, asthma, immune-mediated diseases, and cancer among the American population.

The "glue" connection had been made. The foods that were the "stickiest" were the primary food allergens. But what about those eggs sitting in the number three position? As it turns out, they were simply an example of a "secondary" food allergen, one that forms when the gut has been significantly damaged by the primary foods wheat and cow milk (and another food yet to come). The "leaky gut" from the villous damage allows food protein to come into contact with the bloodstream and immune system in a form that it doesn't recognize. This leads to an immune response to that food and the development of "secondary" food allergies. As eggs are one of the first proteins fed to children after they are raised on cow milk formulas, this just made perfect sense. Otherwise, it makes no sense that eggs, as one of the most bioavailable, high-quality proteins on the planet, would be a primary allergen. But, as a secondary allergen, especially in light of the timing of the introduction of this natural protein after the two unnatural ones, it all makes sense.

But, we must still deal with the number four allergen, soy. Remembering that allergies are just a warning sign, I approached my investigation of the newest "health food" with a renewed vigor. I had learned a long time ago that our body doesn't make mistakes and that there were no contradictions like the one that faced me. Is soy a health food or not? If so, why is it number four already and we aren't even eating much of it yet...or are we?

Once again, it did not take long to find the truth about soy. As I mentioned, soy is used as the other "natural" source of MSG. In fact, it has nearly six times the concentration of glutamate and aspartate of any of the other sources already mentioned. I then put the words "soy adhesive" in the search engine of my computer and was not surprised at all that it, too, was used as an industrial adhesive. Then, I read about the processing of soy to rid it of anti-nutrients in order to make it edible and I could clearly see that we weren't dealing with a health food here.

The "glue" and the concentration of neurostimulants had been well established in the top food allergens. I turned my attention to the other allergens, the grains, and found the same. Yes, the next most troublesome food was corn. The analysis of corn showed high levels of glutamate and aspartate, as did all of the remaining grains rice, barley, and oats. It was a universal trait among the grains and it became clear why we eat them for energy and become carbohydrate addicted. Our brains love all of these dietary stimulants, including caffeine, sugar, chocolate, diet drinks, almost as much as it likes the illegal ones like cocaine. It is likely to be the level of glutamate and aspartate in these complex carbohydrates that give us the energy, not the calories themselves.

But why do some individuals have intolerance to these "normal" components of food? I put normal is quote because I now question the wisdom behind the consumption of these complex carbohydrates, especially at the aforementioned rates. Conventional wisdom has been turned on its ear a bit by the concept purported by Dr. Adkins. He is right about one thing. We don't become obese from simply eating fat. It occurs mostly from eating the complex carbohydrates, which are, in turn, converted to fat when the less active person does not use the calories from these foods. These foods are also many of the major food allergens, as previously mentioned, partly because they are all used as glues, sticking to the duodenum as they exit the stomach. The heartburn we experience is likely to be due to the stomach's dire attempt to break down the glue. My heartburn of three years duration disappeared the week I went off all wheat. These trouble foods are also all glycoproteins (part carbohydrate, part protein) that appear to severely disturb the immune system of susceptible individuals, playing a vital role in the triggering of autoimmune disease. This, too, is covered in The Answer.

The Key

But, I believe the key to idiopathic epilepsy lies in a combination of these factors. Those foods that are rich in glutamate and aspartate are also the foods that adhere to the duodenal villi. Once again, the principle offenders are the gluten-containing grains, the casein-containing dairy products, the soy protein, and to a lesser extent the corn products. By coating the villi, they must reduce the ability of those structures to do their job in the absorption of the essential nutrients required to form the reductase systems that are necessary to clear the neurostimulants from the tissue or the bloodstream. This would have to be true of anyone who consumes these "glue" containing foods. However, in what I call the "worst of the worst", the celiacs, casein intolerants, and soy intolerants...the immune system mounts an assault on the "glue" inducing severe villous atrophy. The villi literally shrink away as a result of the immune attack. This is the lesion of celiac disease.

I have been able to find only three food components that induce this serious change in the villi. They are gluten, casein, and soy protein. I believe that corn and even rice may do this to some extent but the well-known causes are the previous three. Once again, these are the top three primary childhood allergens according to the FDA. This is no longer a surprise. The allergies were just the warning sign of what was to come. And, as I tell my clients, "If you don't like these warning signs, you're not going to like the next set of warning signs either. And, if you don't like them, you're really not going to like what they are warning you of."

The conclusion was simple. The foods to which we are allergic are so for a reason. The primary offenders contain a glue component that sticks to our duodenal villi. These substances block the absorption of essential nutrients as well as provide high levels of the amino acids glutamate and aspartate. In the worst of the worst, the individual cannot form the reductase enzymes necessary to eliminate these neurostimulants from the synapse or the blood and seizures occur.

Therefore, it just made sense that limiting these allergenic foods would potentially have a positive effect on the person or pet suffering from epilepsy as well as have a beneficial effect on a number of other chronic illnesses, especially those in the idiopathic category. This is exactly what has happened in my practice as well as my personal life.

The Results

I immediately began applying what I had learned to myself and the patients in my practice. All of my chronic symptoms listed earlier disappeared over a short period of time. Gone were the intestinal and neurological symptoms in short order. The pets were also making miraculous recoveries from chronic allergies, intestinal disorders, and pain syndromes as well as the subject of this dissertation, epilepsy.

Yes, the idiopathic epileptics were improving one after the other, mostly over night. It did not matter whether they were having five seizures a day or one every three months. They all stopped having as many seizures and most were able to be taken off of their medication or never required anticonvulsants to control their seizures. I now have close to twenty epileptic patients under control by applying this principle. They are on a variety of diets, each with a different degree of glutamate restriction. Some have required only the big three (wheat, dairy, and soy) to be restricted. Others required corn restriction as well and were placed on rice-based diets. The worst of the worst required the potato- based diets. Some began on one diet but required "upgrading" to a more restricted diet months to years down the road.

I have so many great stories to tell that I could fill volumes with clinical vignettes. Suffice it to say that the food connection was proven over and over again, both on purpose and by accident, through planning and trial and error, and by owners making regular mistakes in food selection. In some cases, one bowl of the wrong food generated seizures within hours of consumption with those seizures becoming immediately under control with the restoration of the restricted diet.

I came very close to publishing my data many times while waiting to amass more substantial numbers of affected patients. How many did I need to go public? I would ask myself. Did I require five, ten, or fifty to be credible in the eyes of my peers? I began writing to my alma mater very early on but was unable to generate much interest. I was surprised and disappointed at first but I decided to be patient. I knew the time would come.

Then, in walked the glaring example. He was number eighteen on the roster of epileptics and would soon be the poster child for this concept. He was a handsome four-year-old German shepherd that was being treated for epilepsy by a colleague of mine. He was brought to me, however, to be put to sleep because his condition had deteriorated over the last year despite the use of two different anticonvulsants. The owner told me that he came to me because the other doctor would not put him to sleep due to the fact that there was more medication to be given. But, the owner was tired of seeing his dog convulse and Shadow had experienced nearly thirty seizures the night before he was presented to me.

Little did my new client know, the information he was about to receive would change his pets life forever. I explained the concept of limiting the diet of the usual suspects (wheat, barley, dairy, soy, corn, and even rice) and how that could stop the seizures almost immediately. He seemed to understand. I told him that we were going to feed his pet a commercially available potato-based dog food. I explained that potatoes had much less of the offending neurostimulants due to the fact they were not in the grain family. (I have a chart of all of the foods we consume with their respective levels of glutamate and aspartate.) I asked him if he would like to know the odds of his dog recovering and he said, I guess. I boldly told him that if Shadow didnt get well, he would be the first out of my last seventeen dogs. He liked those odds.

Then came the interesting part. The medical history was so classical that it propelled this pet to the head of his class. His seizures began three years ago and within two months of a diet change, when the owner switched from one of my safe foods to one of the most forbidden on the market. This was coincidence number one. The second point was that his seizures only occurred at night around ten or eleven oclock. He was always fed early in the evening at approximately five oclock. There was that four to six hour interval that I had determined to be so typical of these pets. Just like the insomniac who is awakened in the middle of the night and the ADHD child who becomes intolerably hyper hours after eating, the epileptic has seizures when that critical amount of glutamate finally reaches the brain, hours after digestion has begun. So, the required amount of time between the offending food being ingested and free glutamate reaching the brain appears to be about five hours.

But, I had to know what happened the day before he brought him in. This would be the third point. Why did this serious cluster of seizures occur? At first, the owner said that there was nothing different about that day. It was not until he returned to pick Shadow up that evening that he told me about the chicken feed. Yes, the day before, the owner had put out chicken feed and Shadow had eaten a large amount of it. (I told the owner, and he later confirmed the fact, that chicken feed was absolutely loaded with wheat.) He then proceeded to eat an extra large bowl of his regular dog food at his usual feeding time. The violent seizures began about four hours later.

I had found my poster child. It was time to go public with the findings.

Conclusions

Idiopathic epilepsy is not so idiopathic anymore, is it? I now view my epileptic patients as little Lou Gehrigs sufferers, unable to clear glutamate and aspartate from their brain. Whether this is an accurate description or not is yet to be proven but the overall concept just described explains nearly all aspects of idiopathic epilepsy.

The cause of the seizures is bound to be the accumulation of the neurostimulants glutamate and aspartate in the brain. Limiting the dietary sources of these amino acids halts the seizures, over night in most cases. This has benefited 100% of my epileptic patients. But the benefits are more than first meet the eye.

The beauty of our body is that it always does the right thing. We may not like what it is doing at the time...the fever, the chills, the gastrointestinal symptoms, the MS attack, the seizure...but it is doing what is proper in all of these cases. The reason we dont like these symptoms or why someone would think that what I just wrote is totally absurd is because they dont understand what the body is trying to do during these episodes. Once again, The Answer goes into greater detail here. But the wonder of it all is that the seizure is actually therapeutic. It took me a while to see it, but this is clearly the case. The seizure occurs in order to clear the brain of the offending agent, the glutamate. If it didnt do so, the level would reach neurotoxic levels and actually kill large numbers of brain cells, just like it does to neurons in Lou Gehrigs Disease. Yes, the seizure has a purpose.

But that brings up a vital issue. Are we doing the right thing by medicating these patients with anticonvulsants? The answer is clearly No if we understand the true nature of epilepsy, isnt it? By sedating the brain, we make it less responsive to the glutamate and aspartate. Therefore, these neurostimulants are allowed to reach much higher levels than would normally occur. But fortunately, most individuals will ultimately have a seizure while on medication, relieving the brain of the neurotoxic levels. This is exactly what we see clinically and those seizures are often the most violent, coming in clusters. Now that we understand this concept, we can explain this phenomenon.

We can now also explain the aura. Epileptics often experience a distinct sensation before having the seizure. Even pet owners that have had epileptic pets for years have picked up on the strange behaviors that precede some seizures. Migraine sufferers, especially those that experience the cluster suicide headaches, often report seeing bright lights and having fleeting thoughts just before the attack. This is the beauty of nature again, issuing a warning sign that the episode is about to begin. These warning signs are bound to be generated by the rising levels of glutamate stimulating the brain just before they reach critical mass. Once that level is reached, the seizure occurs, clearing the brain of the culprit.

In addition to successfully managing the epileptic, the dietary solution provides insight into the wide variety of presentations of this elusive condition. For instance, the typical age of onset in the dog ranges from six months to six years. If this is simply a genetic defect of some sort, why does that first seizure occur over such a wide range of ages? Also, why is it often a progressive condition in the afflicted individual, beginning with milder seizures and longer intervals but changing into more violent attacks that are closer together? This suggests that the cause of the seizures is getting worse over time, doesnt it? The idea that there is a lessening of the epileptics ability to handle the glutamate by a progressive deficiency in the reductase enzymes just makes sense. As the glue-induced malabsorption in the gut worsens, the individuals ability to process the rising glutamate in the brain becomes impaired by the dropping reductase levels. This explains both the variance in age of onset and the shrinking intervals between seizures. In addition, the attacks get more violent, especially once we institute anticonvulsant therapy thereby allowing the levels of glutamate to reach more toxic levels.

One final issue is the matter of the side effects of those anticonvulsants. In the veterinary profession, it has been presumed that the behavioral changes that can be seen with patients on long-term medications are actually caused by the anticonvulsants themselves. I suggest that we rethink this idea and consider the possibility that it is in fact the long-term suppression of the needed seizures that does the harm. Could it be that the allowed build up of glutamate in the brain resulting in neuronal death is the actual mechanism for the attitude changes such as aggression or lethargy? Why one pet turns hyperactive and aggressive while another seemingly loses his will to live becomes a little more understandable when viewed through the eyes of the actual death of brain cells.

Summary

In conclusion, the critical matter of why one dog has epilepsy while another does not on the same food can be best resolved in the concept of the individuals ability to manufacture the necessary reductase enzyme (e.g. glutamine synthetase at the synapse or glutamate dehydrogenase and the transaminases in the liver) to clear these neurostimulatory amino acids from the brain or from the bloodstream. Seizures will occur in those individuals who have inadequate production of those enzymes and who are consuming foods that are rich in glutamate and aspartate. The lack of the reductase enzymes in either the brain or the liver is likely to be caused at least in part by the malabsorption of those vitamins that are responsible for the formation of that enzyme system. This is due to the glue that is inherent in that food which ultimately damages the duodenal villi or at least causes a temporary blockade by coating their absorptive surface. (We must keep in mind that in the pet, every bite of food is uniform and with each meal, the foods that contain the glue will affect the ability of the duodenum to do its job.) This glue blockade also helps to explain the epidemiologic fact that the countries that drink the most cow milk have the highest rate of osteoporosis. The casein in the milk is blocking the absorption of the calcium in that milk. It is that simple, Im afraid. Osteoporosis is also epidemic among celiacs. Now that the reader understands the role of gluten, this is no longer a surprise.

As in the human celiac patient, the true damage to the gut will be even more recognizable by the formation of food allergies. Unfortunately, not all celiacs have food allergies but most will if the history is taken thoroughly. Both the human and veterinary professions have horribly overlooked the role of foods in allergies in my opinion. But, any veterinarian will vouch for the fact that the most allergic breeds (the Golden retriever, Cocker spaniel, Labrador retriever, German shepherd, Poodle, and Beagle to name a few) are the most common epileptics. This is no longer a coincidence. The allergic symptoms, such as skin and ear disorders, are simply the warning signs that the deeper damage is taking place. This, of course, is true in humans as well.

But, the interesting thing is that the foods that are bad for our pets and us literally scream at us that they are just that. My next paper will be entitled Warning Signs (or How you should have known what you have now was coming based on what you had before). The allergies are just the tip of the iceberg. The excess glutamate and aspartate also stimulate the pain center in our brain, making is as sensitive as the taste buds they were intended to affect. This contributes significantly to an abnormally low tolerance to pain as seen in fibromyalgia, rheumatoid disease, and other conditions accompanied by painful stimuli. Once again, my fibromylagia of two years duration disappeared the month I eliminated wheat. This result is now totally explainable.

These trouble foods do harm in a myriad of ways, it is clear. The idiopathic epilepsy is simply a severe warning sign. I believe a pet left to its own instinct would avoid such harmful foods by trial and error. But, the startling reality is that our pets would never even be exposed to these problem foods in the wild. They would never eat wheat, barley, corn, rice, or oats in nature, as they are all man-made, man-raised crops. In fact, the history of these grains is absolutely fascinating and can be found in The Answer.

So, we can add one more element to this argument, one that rarely fails to illustrate the truth. That is whether something is natural or not. In this case, the foods that create the most problems are totally unnatural for the pet. Cow milk, soy, and all of the aforementioned crops are in that category. Should we be that surprised at the results of their consumption when viewed in that light? But, shouldnt we also be concerned about the human being? Are we that different? Is it natural for the human to continue to drink milk after weaning? We would be the only mammalian species to do so if that were the case. It is a universal mammalian trait to stop nursing once the birth weight is tripled.

Many would ask But what about orphans? The answer I give to them is simple. That is where the sheep and goat milk comes in, neither of which contain appreciable amounts of casein, the problem ingredient in cow milk. Goat milk has been known as the universal foster milk for millennia. The ancients knew this. That source of milk was the reason the Greeks elevated the goat to the heavens in the form of a constellation. It was much later that man chose the wrong source of dairy supplementation, the cow.

We have made a number of similar bad choices in the past, many quite recently. Most of our grains are either corrupted versions of their ancestors or simply poor selections from the start. Man created common wheat from what I lovingly call "God's wheat" in about 400 A.D. This is well described in The Answer. Man also improperly selected corn over the more natural grains like quinoa and millet. But our latest decision to consume soy, which I term the "third plague" behind man's wheat and cow milk, is the "worst of the worst". The rise in pain syndromes and epilepsy in both humans and animals will testify to that fact.

There have been more than ample provisions of nutrients for all creatures on earth. In nature, the animals eat what is proper and that which harms them triggers their warning systems into action to let them know that they have made a mistake. These warning signs range from sore throats to severe allergic reactions. I now doubt whether epilepsy occurs very often in nature due to the likelihood that the symptoms preceding it...the allergies, gastrointestinal symptoms, and lethargy following meals...would warn them off of those offending foods. It is just man who seems to have a difficult time grasping or holding onto this concept.

Why is that? Why has man forgotten that our body does everything for a reason? Why have doctors and veterinarians like myself in the past become so convinced that we are smarter than our body, taking it upon themselves to counteract everything our body does to get through its daily challenges? When did we leave our first love, the wonderment we shared of how perfectly this creation was put together?

We will not succeed until we return to our origins, reexamining plaguing conditions like epilepsy more through the eyes of a child. "Why does my body do that?" you can almost hear them ask. Why, indeed? We're not asking the right questions about heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, immune-mediated diseases, or epilepsy. However, once we do, answers seem to pop up everywhere.

So, are we really a genetically flawed organism, doomed to extinction, which cannot exist without medication? The idiopathic epileptic is now an example of how wrong we can be in thinking so.

Dogtor J.
© 2003 DogtorJ.com

dogtorj@bellsouth.net

New Addendum (as of 3-3-05)

I am inserting a rather urgent update at this point in time and this place in the site for a numbers of reasons. A recent event has taken place that has thrown my work into the spotlight and I need to make some things very clear. (The addendums that follow this one are also clarifying statements but not quite in the same category as this one.) Note that when I say “clarifying”, I do not mean that what I have written in the past is “wrong”. Incredibly, very little of what I have written from the beginning has required correction. I have simply added to what I have written in the past as my research has continued.

From the beginning, I have alluded to the role of viruses in the development of many of the conditions that befall us. The more I have studied, the more I have seen that this role is HUGE…much greater than I had ever imagined. For example, there are medical researchers that have believed for years that ALL cancer is caused by viruses: not just some, not just most, but all. “But what about all of those carcinogens we hear about all of the time?” you must be asking. To me, they can now best be described as secondary factors that either suppress the immune system, cause chronic damage tissue, or damage our DNA thereby facilitating the work of the real culprit…the virus. As preposterous as this may sound to the lay person, it makes all of the sense in the world to me now, after having studied what they do…their “M.O.”...for the past 5 years.

It has also become painfully clear that viruses have major roles in the development of degenerative neurological conditions, such as epilepsy, autism, MS, and others. Certainly, there may be other organisms/agents involved (e.g. mycoplasms, prions) but we KNOW that certain viruses absolutely love the central nervous system. I have written about them many times in other areas of this site. The herpes viruses stand out (H. simplex, varicella, Epstein-Barr) but so do the paramyxoviruses, represented by the canine distemper virus as well as the human measles and mumps viruses.

I knew some of this when I formulated the G.A.R.D. (glutamate/aspartate restricted diet) and suspected that viruses were involved in some cases of seizures but the astounding results of employing the diet threw me off course a bit as to the percentage of epileptic individuals having viral infections as their underlying pathology. I feel that I know better now.

I now have to say that, as in the bold statement above concerning viruses and cancer, there is a possibility that viruses (or other infectious agents) are involved in all cases of epilepsy. Again, the rapid (and oftentimes complete) recovery of a seizing dog after being placed on the low glutamate diet threw me off for a while. How could a virus be involved if the pet was having 6 seizures a week...or a day in one case... and yet they suddenly went seizure-free within 24 hours of starting the diet, never to have another seizure? Could they get over a viral "infection" that quickly. Not likely, is it?

Ahhh, but that is where my own limited thinking comes in. Just because a virus causes a problem does not mean that it has to be an ACTIVE infection at the time we discover it. Immune-mediated diseases such as lupus, MS, throid illness, and rheumatoid arthritis present as "remitting-relapsing" conditions, don't they? The ACTIVE infection comes and goes, doing harm to cells with each attack and then becoming dormant. Hmmm....

Could that be what is happening in epilepsy? Could those dramatic cases that I write about be individuals that had an episode (or episodes) of viral infection in the past that left the brain (the glial cells of the synapse, to be precise) compromised, leading to that individual's inability to handle the dietary glutamate pouring into it for all of the reasons I wrote in the original paper? I think so. This happens in "autoimmune" thyroid disease, glomerulonephritis (kidneys), chronic active hepatitis (liver), and many other conditions that involve the immune system. The viruses rise up, cause a stir in the immune system, and the resulting attack on those viruses culminates in suppression of the uprising while unfortunately doing some harm to the host tissue at the same. Again, "autoimmune" is a misnomer. The immune system does not attack our tissue for no reason. There is always something there that it does not like. Viruses are a known candidate and likely to be involved in many, many cases of "autoimmune" disorders, just as I wrote in The Answer 4 years ago.

So, we can now see the reason for the spectrum of response to the diet in the large numbers of epileptics that I have dealt with over the past few years. Those that respond quickly and completely are either purely a victim of the physiological problems I describe in the main epilepsy paper OR they are those that have suffered a previous viral attack on the glial cells of their brain, which wiped out a number of those cells, leaving that individual incompetent to handle the abnormally high levels of glutamate in their diet. Those that respond more slowly are more likely to be in the throws of an active infection at the time the diet is instituted.

I still believe that all that I wrote in the original epilespy paper is true and applicable...the gut-damaging foods leading to a state of malnutrition that compromises the enzyme systems controlling the conversion of blood glutamate to the inactive form. That is still highly likely to be a significant contributing factor. (Dogs with liver disease can have seizures and epileptics with concurrent liver disease can have the worst seizure patterns.) But, it may not be the primary issue in many dogs. The unhealthy or reduced number of glial cells of the brain from viral infections (or other infectious agents) may be a large factor in many epileptics. In either case, the high glutamate levels, chronic malnutrition through malabsorption, and compromised brain health and immune systems all play a significant role.

Note: I have had extremely few dogs that did not noticeably respond to the diet in a short period of time. I have never claimed that it has cured all dogs or even helped all dogs. But I do claim that it has helped the vast majority of dogs and totally controlled a very large number of dogs. I have been able to identify the dietary problem in the majority of dogs that have not been controlled by the diet alone. Non-compliance is the single-most important factor, usually "involuntary" non-compliance occurring through cheating on the dog's part or through accidents happening through "polluted" supplements, treats, or overly friendly neighbors.

The questions that must be on many of your minds is "Where do these viruses come from?" and "Why do they rise up when they do, having this remitting relapsing pattern?". There are VERY good answers to these and other questions. Other questions might concern the secondary factors I write about, such as air pollution, brain serotonin levels, and neurotoxins such as mercury and benzene. They all play a role and contribute to the spectrum of affliction as well as the age of onset of symptoms. I think you will see this in the following letter.

This letter was in response to an inquiry by a new-found friend concerning the role of mercury in autism and epilepsy. I have since realized that I have downplayed the role of mercury in light of other findings. I see now that it IS a serious factor but I still contend that it is a secondary one. I could be wrong but you can be the judge after reading this letter. Note: You can substitute the word "epilepsy" wherever you read the word "autism" and this letter should still make sense.

M. wrote:

John,

I know this will catch your eye. This article all but equates Autism with
Mercury Poisoning.

http://www.vaccinationnews.com/DailyNews/July2001/AutismUniqueMercPoison.htm

M.

My response was:

Hi M.,

Thanks for the article. I wish it WERE that simple but I'm afraid that its
not. Everything points to other factors being (much) more important. I believe
that, once again, the immune-mediated food intolerances are the single most
important factor, allowing all of the other factors to come together to
cause the syndrome. That would explain the success stories of mothers with
autistic children having them make FULL recoveries on GFCF diets (gluten-free/casein free). Have you been to www.gfcfdiet.com ? Click on Success Stories. Get a box of Kleenex, though. Some are real tear-jerkers.

I believe that the viruses themselves in the modified live vaccines OR
viruses already present in the brain of that child are the real underlying
cause of the severe brain depression/dysfunction in autism. These are
ALLOWED to rise up and cause the problem as a result of the immune
suppression from the malnutrition caused by the villous atrophy in the gut.
THAT would explain the concurrent GI symptoms. It is true that only 1/4 of
celiacs have diarrhea/chronic GI problems BUT autism would HAVE TO BE a
glaring example of something that happens in the most severely affected
celiac/food intolerant, wouldn't it? So, you would expect a high rate of GI
problems in these victims. They are in that "worst of the worst" category,
having become SO afflicted and at such an early age. They DO represent the
worst end of the spectrum.

NOW, add in the casomorphins and gliadomorphins from the dairy and
wheat...very depressing substances that they can/DO measure HIGH amounts of
in the urine of these kids. These are knocking them out like a morphine drug
because their brains are so affected, both by the malnutrition AND the virus
they have. Yes, there still HAS to be something individual about these kids
and a virus fits the bill.

The mercury is probably a factor as well, but I'm afraid we have a similar
situation in this issue that we do in whole milk issue. People want to blame
everything on lactose in the milk-related disorders and that little sugar is
the least of our worries. It is the proteins, hormones, and viruses (did you
get that?) in milk that are the real issues. Lactose is just an INDICATOR
that we shouldn't be drinking the stuff. Mercury is likely to be the
same...a secondary (or even tertiary) factor but a significant one just the
same.

There is another very important thing about how vaccines "trigger" autism.
Vaccines contain a number of things: modified live or killed viruses,
mercury, and adjuvants that POTENTIATE the vaccines, making them more
powerful. Unfortunately, the latter also potentiate EXISTING viral
infections that already exist in the body. Two glaring examples in vet
medicine are vaccine induced sarcoma and vaccine reactions that we see. In
the former, there is a virus ALREADY in the body of the cat that sets up
housekeeping in the site where we give vaccines. The vaccine does not CAUSE
the tumor but sets the stage for the virus already there to set up
housekeeping and cause a sarcoma. See that? The adjuvants do this. In
various other "vaccine reactions", we see numerous "autoimmune disorders"
that occur following a vaccine. Usually, these occur a month or so after the
shot (just like epilepsy and autism does). I had a dog 6 months ago that
developed acute distemper encephalopathy ONE HOUR after a Rabies shot...ONE
HOUR. Fortunately, I had already done some study along these lines and had a decent idea that this COULD occur. I had read a great article on Mercola's
site about how the adjuvants can UNLEASH pre-existing viruses in the body
and that these reactions could occur within hours of the vaccines. This now
makes perfect sense.

So, to put it all together, what you likely have in autism are kids that
first and foremost some of the worst food intolerants (gluten, casein, soy,
corn). This is also characterized by their ADDICTION to these foods....most
are horribly addicted to dairy and wheat, an indicator that they are having
real problems with these foods. These kids are also immunologically
challenged by this food intolerance, which allows the viruses to run rampant
or for them to at least be a severe accident waiting to happen. Now, give
THEM a modified live vaccine and watch the fireworks happen. Ugh. They do
NOT handle that challenge well and the live paramyxoviruses of the MMR
vaccine go straight to their brain (or the adjuvants unleash the ones
already there.) The brain dysfunction makes them MUCH, MUCH more susceptible to the casomorphins and gliadorphins, which they have an over-abundance of in their brain because the are ADDICTED to the sources of these depressing substances, just like a drug addict. Throw mercury in there and you have a disaster.

But...BUT...put them on a GFCF diet (preferably gluten, casein, soy, and
corn free) and watch what happens. Because the food is doing SOOOOOO much, including providing the knock-out "drugs casomorphins/gliadomorphins), they make CAN make DRAMATIC recoveries...very dramatic in some cases, as read on the www.gfcfdiet.com. Now, not all will make a rapid recovery because the worst of the worst have the worst viral infection of the brain. Those with the mildest infection or who regain their immune competence the fastest recover the fastest. The worst take longer. Those who cheat on the diet will take even longer.

So, the testimonies are VERY explainable, aren't they? Even the spectrum of
success.

You can see why I use the mercury/lactose analogy, right? I think the dairy
industry could easily be fanning the lactose myth flames because they can
take that bad 'ol lactose out of their product (thereby eliminating a very
important warning sign) or you can take a pill to help digest lactose, one
of the worst things you could do for the same reason. Could the vaccine
companies be doing the same? Could they be allowing he mercury issue to be
the main issue in autism as a scapegoat. They can take that stuff out or
better yet try to DISPROVE/DISCREDIT those that purport that mercury is the main guy (and they would be right, eh?). They would rather do THAT than
spend millions of dollars developing new vaccine technology that does no
harm. THAT is the exact same problem we have in vet medicine...getting the
drug companies MOTIVATED to change the vaccines.

We HAVE to accomplish this change in vaccines. We have all become too
unhealthy to take modified live vaccines. I'll say that again. We have all
become TOO UNHEALTHY to take modified live vaccines. THAT is the real
vaccine issue.

I hope this helps. Keep in touch,
John

Dogtor J
www.dogtorj.com
http://dogtorj.tripod.com
(Read: THE ANSWER- to "Why is the Plane of Our Nation's Health in a Death
Spiral?")

In conclusion:

I think the reader can now see why I have felt compelled to put this issue in the spotlight. The G.A.R.D. has been a phenomenal success. However, it has been effective on a number of fronts, at a number of different levels. First of all, it is a major Band-Aid for the incompetent nature of these diseased brains when it comes to handling dietary glutamate. THAT is why the results can be so fast and even long-lasting. The glutamate did not belong in there to begin with, as it is a non-essential amino acid, one that the body can make from other amino acids. And yet, the pet's diet (and ours) is absolutely LOADED with this amino acid (along with its sibling, aspartate.)

And what foods provide this "excitotoxin"? The main sources are the top 4 food allergens... those that damage the duodenum. This is no coincidence. Once again, the "big 4" are the gluten grains (wheat, barley, rye), casein (from cow milk), soy (errrrrrrh), and corn. I have concluded that none of these foods are actually "good" for us. It is simply that some individuals TOLERATE them better than others. There is nothing in the way of nutrients that we derive from these potentially harmful foods that we cannot get from numerous other food sources. I have a book that lists all of the individual vitamins and minerals and their food sources and there is not one single nutrient that can only be derived from one of these four food sources (yes, including everyone's favorite...calcium). As I wrote in The Answer, think of those huge dinosaurs that NEVER got milk. We're still digging their bones out of the earth and they never had osteoporosis. Animals in nature do not drink milk and they do not suffer from osteoporosis. "Nuff said.

The G.A.R.D. then has the second (and huge) beneficial effect of eliminating the foods that are damaging the gut. This is paramount in importance, as the damage done by the big 4 (and the resulting malabsorption of critical nutrients) leads to immune incompetence and unhealthy tissue...in this case, the central nervous system. This is not hard to imagine, as the levels of calcium, B complex, vitamin C, zinc and other critically supportive nutrients start to drop over time. In retrospect, I'm amazed that we last as long as we do! (Built to take a licking and keep on ticking.) The cool thing is that the body can and does reverse this with the G.A.R.D. in place.

This diet is also naturally low in allergens, estrogens, pain generators, and more. Allergens and estrogens both play roles here, which are discussed elsewhere on this site. There IS a good reason for catamenial seizures in women. There IS a seasonal influence on seizures that involves both allergens and the dropping serotonin levels that accompanies the shortening days. (This is discussed... along with air pollution... in the following addendums).

I hope this clarifies matters. This has been a phenomenal last few years. It has been a big, long learning process and I have documented it all along the way. You could call this site "The Dogtor J. Chronicles" (smile). But again, the cool thing has been that very few corrections have been necessary. It has been a matter of expanding the knowledge and emphasizing certain points as they became more clear. I believe the above letter summarizes things quite well, reducing its big brother, The Answer, down to a single page. (But I will be writing much more about mercury in the near future.)

Again, please feel free to contact me a dogtorj@bellsouth.net  if you have any questions, comments, or testimonies. Your contribution cannot be over-stated.

Addendum:

For example, recently my wife started eating peanuts and raisins as a late night television snack. Almost immediately, she started having very restless sleep and was complaining about soreness in her muscles and back. A quick trip to the chart showed very high levels of glutamate and asparate in peanuts.

I'm just glad that my canine patients don't eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and down it with a big glass of milk like our ADHD kids do. Let's see: wheat bread (with gliadorphins and plenty of glutamate and aspartate), peanut butter (LOTS more glutamate and asparate), jelly ("sugar gel"), and all of it washed down with cow milk (casomorphins and plenty of glutamate. Oh yeah. Don't forget the arachadonic acid for you pain sufferers).

Hmmmm..... It does all make sense, doesn't it?

Foods rich in glutamate and aspartate: 1) Grains: Wheat, barley, and oats are highest. Corn and rice are lower than the previous three but higher than potatoes. 2) Dairy Products: All Cheeses (cheddar, Swiss, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, PARMESAN) are very high. Casein is very concentrated in cheese and is 20% glutamic acid by composition. 3) Beans: Soy, Pinto, lima, black, navy, and lentils 4) Seeds: Sunflower, pumpkin, etc. 5) Peanuts: Very high, as are cashews, pistachios, and almonds. I have more detailed charts on the site to show exact values for the various nuts. Everything in moderation applies when eating nuts of any kind. So, I do not recommend you reach for nuts when you are really hungry unless you can stop after a few. Nuts are very good for you..in moderation. For example, seven almonds a day gives you what you need . 6) Diet drinks: Primary source of aspartate (aspartame) 7) Prepared foods, soups:  70% of prepared foods and many soups have MSG 8) Meats: Note- All meats are naturally rich in glutamate and aspartate. Lamb (and eggs) are the lowest,  while rabbit and turkey are the highest. However, I believe that the amount in a normal serving of meat should not be enough to cause problems. I think that it is all of the other "unnatural" sources when combined with the meats that are causing the problems.  One of my newest concerns is the presence of glutamate in the flesh of grain-fed animals, especially chickens, turkeys, and cattle. This is s topic of discussion on the celiac forums and we are now believing that this is a real concern and could explain why some celiacs are not responding to elimination diets. Catfish are also grain fed. The fact is that 60-70% of the American Diet is wheat and dairy (with heavy emphasis on cheese). This combined with the amount of artificial sweeteners being consumed and the addition of SOY has led this country into an epidemic of pain syndromes, including fibromyalgia. Epilepsy is definitely on the rise in pets and the combination of wheat and soy in pet foods is playing a huge role. I am seeing first time epileptic dogs within three weeks of starting such diets.   Food low in glutamate and asparate: 1) Fruits 2) Vegetables 3) Potatoes 4) Lamb and eggs are relatively low. 5) Tree nuts (e.g. pecans, walnuts, macadamias) NOTE: These are relatively low when compared to peanuts and cashews. I have more detailed charts on the site to show exact values. Pecans, for example, have half the amount of glutamate that peanuts have but that is still quite a bit. Again, everything in moderation applies when eating nuts of any kind. I do not recommend you reach for nuts when you are really hungry unless you can stop after a few. Nuts are very good for you..in moderation. 7 almonds a day gives you what you need .

*Addendum #3- This section dives into yet another piece of the pie by discussing the role of the blood brain barrier: its normal function, its permeability to the "excitotoxins",  and how it becomes damaged by air pollution, allergic and immune-mediated reactions, hydrogenated oils, and more. This will make a phenomenal amount of sense to the reader while greatly supporting the "theory" of epileptic seizures being caused by the neuroexcitatory amino acids, glutamate and aspartate.

I highly recommend a book I just found last week at Book-A-Million. It is titled Treating Epilepsy Naturally, by Patricia A. Murphy. It can be found on Amazon.com by clicking here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0658013793/ref=lib_dp_TFCV/104-7402088-0108717?v=glance&s=books&vi=reader#reader-link

*My current view of epilepsy in a nutshell- (New as of 4-05 and EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!!)

This letter to a client basically sums it all up. I will be writing an entirely new paper in the near future that will contain all of this information- and more. I think the following letter will serve this purpose for the time being. It has most of the elements of the "syndrome" we call epilepsy.

Sharon writes:

Hi,
I have just been to your site and read Epilepsy and Diet. I found it
very interesting.
Is it the food (or ingredients thereof) or vaccines that cause the
first sensititvy?
Is it both that then cause sensitivity to other things in the
environment that trigger siezures?
Do you do long distance consults?
Sharon

My Response:

Hi Sharon,

It's good to hear from you. Great questions. I now think the answer lies in your last question-that BOTH work together causing sensitivity/over-reaction to other things in the environment, triggering seizures.

My only question now is how often are viruses involved. I could believe that they ARE involved in ALL cases, just as some medical researchers (including myself) believe that all cancer in viral. The virus COULD be the initial culprit in all cases, damaging the glial cells and allowing the glutamate to build up at the synapse. The viral infections could be remitting/relapsing types of infections (like Herpes are prone to do), which causes the epileptic to have periods of severe affliction followed by more quiescent periods. In the meantime, their efficiency is reduced with each viral episode.

This is where the diet (The GARD) comes in... and comes in STRONG. It not only is a great Band-Aid, dramatically cutting the amount of glutamate that this "inefficient" brain has to handle, but it also allows the gut to heal, reversing the malabsorption syndrome that caused the malnutrition that in turn allowed the viral infection to rise up in the first place. See that? The virus was there for a long time, sometimes even being there before birth (vertical transmission) or acquired DURING the birth, as Herpes can be acquired. It sits dormant until the immune system crashes. This happens because of the big four in the diet, which damage the duodenal villi blocking the absorption of the essential nutrients I list all of the time. The same damaging foods are LOADED with glutamate which brings on a myriad of signs, from insomnia to pain to ADHD to seizures in the worst of the worst.

THEN, as the brain becomes more and more unhealthy, the environmental issues come more into play...the mercury, benzene, and other air and food/water pollutants. It becomes more and more of a "syndrome" at that point, with all of these factors working together. Estrogens play a HUGE role in this process in women by being both neurostimulating, irritating, and immune suppressive, a deadly combination when it comes to anything viral (like breast cancer).

So, back to the original question I have. Are viruses involved in all cases. I think that is distinctly possible. I was fooled at first by the dramatic recovery I was seeing in dogs (and people) put on the diet. I wondered how in the world an individual with severe epilepsy could possibly stop having seizures OVERNIGHT and NEVER have another one just by changing the diet IF it was a viral thing. Now I know: In those, you are catching them at a time that the viral infection is in remission but during which time the previous infections have left the brain inefficient to the handling of glutamate. In other words, the previous damage has reduced the number of glial cells in the brain and the glutamate handling capacity of that brain has been compromised. If you put that individual on a glutamate/aspartate restricted diet, they will do very well. If they stay on the diet and are strict, they may become well enough (as their gut heals) to never have another, as their immune system gets back to normal health, as does their brain, and liver and kidneys (the enzyme systems of which control blood glutamate levels). They spiral in the RIGHT direction instead of their previous spiraling out of control. The diet is also low in estrogens and is hypoallergenic. The importance of the former we just covered. The latter is important, as the action of histamine "opens" the blood brain barrier and allows more blood glutamate into the brain (to counteract the depressing effects of the histamine. An "antidote" if you will. This is how cool our body is. SMILE) The GARD for people is also naturally low in hydrogenated oils/trans fats, another horrible substance that opens the BBB, carrying with it God-knows-what.

Others individuals will be caught in the throws of an active viral
infection. These will have a reduction in seizures (I haven't had one that hasn't gotten better to some degree) but may have a number of seizures over the near future as they start healing and get the infection back under control. That process would explain those that I have had seizures that tapered off and THEN stopped altogether.

This makes the most sense to me now, especially when you consider the nature of the virus and the types of viruses that we KNOW inhabit the brain (Herpes, paramyxovirus). This IS their "M.O." And, once again, epilepsy is the body's way of dealing with these guys, limiting their activity while warning us of their existence. If we don't understand these things, then we "get" to have brain tumors, the ultimate act of these little terrorists.

Hope this helps clear things up,

John

Your letters, my answers:

You can now go to the new site!

 

The New DogtorJ.com is done! Yes, the time has finally come for this homemade Website to go the way of the buffalo. I know that you all join me in looking forward to using a site that is better organized and more accessible....prettier, too! I've even corrected most of those annoying typos (I hope).

Feel free to check it out now at www.dogtorj.com. I am still working hard to populate all of the pages so don't worry if a link does not work. They should all be active in the near future. In the meantime, this current site will remain on-line until I get all of the bugs worked out.

Let me know what you think! It's not too late to make some changes.

Dogtor J