Hi all - I am looking for some help, advice, direction of what to do next....not sure if I should see a dr, nutritionist, allergist, etc.

Here is my situation - last year in May, I went and saw a neurologist (after seeing my family dr) because I was having these spells of memory loss/disorientation. Mostly it happened when I was in my house, I would be doing laundry walking through my house to put it up, and suddenly I would know I was in my house but not know which way to go (turn right or left?) to get to the room I was going to. It was pretty scary. It happened at work...I would walk out to the hallway to go to the restroom and look to my right and to my left and literally not know which way to go to get to the bathroom. It was happening pretty often, maybe at least once a day. What made me finally go to the dr was on my way to work I go lost and it really scared me! The neurologist tested my blood for vitamin deficiencies and did an MRI (which was normal). My Vit D came back low but I am also hypothyroidism and so I did already know I was low Vit D.

Within a week or two, I started IP and was on P1 up until November 1st. My episodes stopped happening during that time. Since November 1, I phased off and have been in Maintenance. I have now been having episodes for a couple of weeks.

I am wondering if there is some connection here? Could this be a food allergy? Gluten allergy? I just don't know!

What should I do? I have not been back to the nuero and not sure if that would be the correct type of dr to see on this issue. Any ideas, advice or thoughts? I am 41 years old - just FYI!

Thanks so much for your help!

I'm sorry you are going through this.

I don't know what it is but here is some speculation:

It appears that the ketogenic diet (P1) helped you in some way. Ketogenic diets have been prescribed to help control epilepsy for a long time. Maybe it makes sense to go back to the neurologist and describe this to him/her. Maybe get an EEG also?

I hope you get some resolution soon.

I would start with your regular doctor and ask for a referral to an endocrinologist to have all your hormone levels checked and go from there.

It's not uncommon for women to go through such interludes, ya know! It is very common with women approaching menopause, as the hormones are fluctuating wildly.

EDIT: Remember that estrogen is released from fat cells, so your body is potentially experiencing higher counts than normal.

I'm confused, why are you equating low thyroid and low vit. D?

I'm hypo, and perimopausal. My perimenopause symptoms were ruining my quality of life. Thankfully my doctor is progressive and I'm on hormones. Meno memory IS NOT a way of life!

BTW, I think you should get your thyroid and vit. D levels normalized and go on a LC/HF (a/k/a nutritional ketosis) diet, since you asked.

Here's my thoughts: Have your doctor check you for candida. There are so many different types and they manifest differently. Seriously, your symptoms could be candida. A good osteopath should be able to test for this. On IP we have little yeast, little sugar, and candida in the body lessens. Also agree that proper hormone balancing is critical and IMHO, using bio-identical hormones is best.

Let us know how things work out.

A bit scary... might be worth asking whether temporal lobe epilepsy is a possibility. Could be a type of seizure. Like Murrcat, I have also heard that ketogenic diets are sometimes used to control seizures.

I am sorry, I wasn't clear. Back when I was diagnosed with hypothyrodism, the Endocrinologist also found that my vitamin D was low...so I did already know that my Vit D was low.

Thanks for all of the replies. I really appreciate it. I am surprised that more than 1 of you mentioned seizures/epilepsy. My 9 year old daughter was diagnosed with Secondary Generalized Idiopathic Epilepsy two years ago and when I told the Neurologist this, she did mention this could be a possibility. I guess I didn't think much of it. My daughter's seizures are not your typical seizure. The way it was discovered was at school, they thought she fainted. I immediately took her to the dr to have her checked out and they tested her blood sugar and she was normal. They scheduled an EEG to rule out seizures and she did have seizure activity on the EEG and was diagnosed with Epilepsy. She takes medicine morning and night and hasn't had another episode that we know of. Since her seizures are not your typical seizure, this is really making me think of my episodes....hmmm, maybe I should go back to the neurologist?

I agree with the above posters about following up with doctors, but here's a suggestion that might shed more light on why IP cleared up the symptoms. How about doing a ketogenic maintenance plan? So you would eat more calories than in P1, but keeping your carbs low. Ketogenic diets are generally under 50 net carbs.

Another suggestion which probably already occurred to you is to take a look at the foods & beverages you gave up while on Phase 1, that you have added back again.

Sometimes doctors are not open to looking at nutrition (understatement), so don't get discouraged! You might have to keep at it & doctor shop if your team isn't helpful, maybe starting with an internist so less chance of tunnel vision that would miss something.

Finally, probably this was ruled out already, but sometimes diabetes presents with odd neurologic symptoms.

It sounds scary and distressing, but wow, you found a fix through IP. You may be your own best doctor! Sending you good wishes & hope you will keep us posted.

I have an neice who has epilepsy. Her seizures manifest much like yours. She never actually has a seizure, just is not sure where she is and who people around her are. Usually quite tired after she has one of her "turns". Her turns last just a few minutes and some longer. You really should follow up.

Wow. Thanks so much for this. I think I will make an appointment with my neurologist!

Ok - saw the Neurologist, I was sent for an EEG and called today to come in to go over EEG results with the Dr. I have Complex Partial Epilepsy and will start medicine immediately. She also told me to go low carb - IP P1 is perfect for me (obviously controlled my seizure activity) but that is obviously not recommended forever!

Thanks for listening to my issues - just wanted to let those of you know what my outcome was!

Although being P1 forever isn't really sustainable, it CERTAINLY is sustainable to stay low carb, just adding fats instead of starches. Ketogenic diets work well for many things and seizure activity is one of them.

Much luck to you!

SallyE, I'm glad that you worked that out!!!

Thanks for posting the update! I'm so glad to hear you have it figured out and know what to do. Looks like you are about at goal--congratulations on that too!