The "Small Subset" of Neurological Disorders

 

https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/patient-caregiver-education/fact-sheets/narcolepsy-fact-sheet#:~:text=Symptoms%20often%20start%20in%20childhood,the%20number%20may%20be%20higher.

https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/Alz-Greater-Risk.html#:~:text=Current%20estimates%20are%20that%20about,65%20with%20younger%2Donset%20Alzheimer's.

https://www.cdc.gov/epilepsy/about/fast-facts.htm#:~:text=Active%20Epilepsy&text=This%20is%20about%203.4%20million,million%20adults%20and%20470%2C000%20children.&text=According%20to%20the%20latest%20estimates,17%20years%20have%20active%20epilepsy.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+people+are+autistic&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS968US969&oq=how+many+people+are+autistic&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i390l2.11035j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/evidence-and-research/learn-more-about/25-schizophrenia-fact-sheet#:~:text=Schizophrenia%20is%20a%20chronic%20and%20severe%20neurological%20brain%20disorder%20estimated,untreated%20in%20any%20given%20year.

https://www.cdc.gov/stroke/facts.htm#:~:text=Every%20year%2C%20more%20than%20795%2C000,are%20first%20or%20new%20strokes.&text=About%20185%2C000%20strokes%E2%80%94nearly%201,have%20had%20a%20previous%20stroke.&text=About%2087%25%20of%20all%20strokes,to%20the%20brain%20is%20blocked.

Recently I learned of something called ketone esters.  This remarkable elixir increases the levels of ketones in the blood quickly.  "Interesting," I thought.  I suppose I'm the only one that thinks so. 

I found this product on Amazon and ordered some.  We'll see.  I first heard about it in a book called, "Alzheimer's Disease.  What If There Were a Cure? The Story of Ketones," by Mary T. Newport.  I tried to order this book from Amazon, but was prevented because of nonsensical reasons, like it was hazardous, weighed more than 70 lbs, could not be shipped outside of the US, etc.  So, I guess I won't be reading that, except for what is in the sample from Amazon, and what I could glean from comments.  One factoid was the existence of ketone esters.   Imagine if one could quickly resolve a neurological situation with ketone esters?  I'm all for the ketogenic diet, but things can happen.  For example, my brother, for Mother's Day, brought us his idea of what carbohydrate challenged people might eat.  That would be meat and chicken.  Nice.  I enjoyed it and appreciated it.  It's not all we eat though.  Then he had an unusual idea, which is not unusual for him.   He brought a gallon of grape juice and a box of saltine crackers.  Suddenly I saw him hand our mother around 8 oz. of grape juice and a saltine cracker.  She quickly downed her glass of grape juice and wanted more.  Alarm bells went off.  What's going on????  He handed me some too, and everyone else.  All carb challenged people in my estimation.  He gave everyone a nice handout covered in plastic to read along with him.  Then he led us in communion.  I'll admit, this had never happened before.  It was a wonderful idea.  Why grape juice? Why not wine?  I think wine would have put the kabosh on the mischief that followed.  For one thing, a dry wine has fewer carbs.  Besides, Mom is not a wine drinker.  But she is a grape juice drinker.  

And so before I knew it, Mom had consumed about 75 grams of carbs. She wanted more grape juice, 35 grams per one half cup, and she wouldn't mind more crackers.  When he left, he gave us the rest of the gallon of grape juice and the box of crackers.  He encouraged us to celebrate communion often.  Oh me.  Houston, we have a problem.  

I had tried to let the reins loose on the strict ketogenic diet with my mother, until she began hallucinating again, and also trying to wander off outside into the snow.  I really don't like drama.  So the carbs were dialed back and she settled down.   But, it's a holiday!  Let's go off the rails!  

So, out of the clear blue sky the person with dementia was in effect, off her meds.  And what are her meds?  Ketones supplied by her metabolism with a ketogenic diet.  But wait.  Exogenous ketones, in the form of ketone esters, could come to the rescue.  There are other ways of accomplishing this, but not as effective.  I use MCT oil to coax ketones into circulation.  It helps.  I only just found out about ketones esters.  I know about other exogenous ketones, which are powders in which the ketones are combines with salt.  But this tends to limit the quantity one can take.  And the MCT oil, all I can say is, you don't want to take more than two tablespoons at a time unless you're used to it.  Not unless you want to be turned inside out.  

I tried to research this miracle elixir on Google and Youtube.  I kept running into the same wall.  Videos of people that either were morally opposed to the ketogenic diet, like Valter Longo,  possibly viewing it as a fad diet, which I've heard ad infinitum, or people that felt that the ketogenic diet was the one and only way to be in ketosis, and therefore exogenous ketones were a scam.  They would explain that exogenous ketones did no earthly good whatsoever, because they didn't actually cause one to go into "fat burning mode."  Well, what about the fact that ketones serve as a nourishment source for the brain, and can bring those with neurological disorders back from the brink?  Cheesh!  And not infrequently the Youtube keto people encourage having high carb days to flex the metabolism.  Hmmm.  The one exception was Dr. Ken Berry, who spoke for five minutes about the ketogenic diet, and finally spent a couple of minutes addressing the concerns of a "small subset of people," who need ketones and they need them now.  These would be those with a smattering of rare neurological disorders.  Not rare though. If you were to take all the neurological disorders that could be helped by the infusion of ketones, one way or the other, you would probably have 10 million in the US.  Ironically, the ketogenic diet was first developed to treat neurological disorders in children.  

So, that's today in Paradise.