Welcome, you are our th visitor, since 1997.

This Resource is a result of our personal experience.  We found out about the ketogenic diet from the Internet, and this is our contribution to make information more easily accessible to other people.

This section explains the genesis of the Ketogenic Resource and gives a general introduction to the topics as well as information about the organisation of the Resource.

Introduction

Marchant was born in March 1996 and had epileptic fits at birth. He was diagnosed with infantile spasms in October 1996, when he was seven months old. After unsuccessful treatment with anti-epileptic drugs, we tried the ketogenic diet. This brought his fits under control and, by May 1997 when Marchant was just over one year old, he became free from fits. Marchant has been off the ketogenic diet and all anti-epileptic drugs since November 1997. 

Since that time Marchant has had about one fit a year, always induced by some significant identifiable stress.  However, in August 2002, he had an extremely serious fit, and he has been ill since then; the problem has not yet (November 2002) been diagnosed.

Marchant also suffers from cerebral palsy (many children have both conditions, which are obviously closely related).  He is severely physically disabled, but is mentally very capable. Marchant is quadriplegic (all his limbs are affected) and he cannot sit up or move.  He is athetoid (or, more accurately, dystonic), which means that he cannot control his muscle movements which are usually the inverse of what he intends.  His cerebral palsy also affects his internal muscles, creating other problems.  Marchant cannot talk intelligibly - instead he communicates via facilitated communication.  All this creates a complex set of issues which are (going to be!) addressed in this Resource.

Because of its genesis, this site is most relevant to parents with young children that have infantile spasms or cerebral palsy. However, most of the information has more general relevance.

There is very little knowledge or understanding about the ketogenic diet in the UK. It has been used by some hospitals since the 1980s, but the success rates have been poor, possibly because the diet has not been used properly. This Resource is intended to provide support for the ketogenic diet in the UK and to promote the adoption and use of the diet.

So far as possible, we have explained why, because we think understanding comes from knowledge.

Organisation

The Resource has been organised to be easy to use and understand, particularly for people with limited computer resources, or old browsers:

• The format has been kept minimal to ensure that download time is short.

• Each page has been kept short to ensure that it can be read easily and be printed out conveniently for reference.

• The format, style and colours have been chosen so that sections of the Ketogenic Resource can be printed in an attractive manner for reference purposes.

• The structure and linkage between documents has been kept simple, to avoid the reader getting lost.

• Links to external web documents are distinguished from internal links, so that it is clear what information is provided by the Resource, and what comes from the web.

The Ketogenic Resource is organised as a hierarchy of pages.

The hyperlinks are cyan blue on a grey background.  If you "hover" on a link, it changes to black.  Used links (pages in your internal cache) are a lighter cyan blue.  The last used link is a darker cyan blue.

Internal links are in   Times Roman  , external links are in   Times Roman italic  .  If an external link is followed, then your browser will open the external site in a new window.

There are links at the bottom of each page. The   return to   links will take you back to the previous higher page in the hierarchy. The   continue to   links will take you onto the next page, giving a complete tour of the Resource (except for minor reference pages). Using the  continue to   links will be faster because the number of page accesses is reduced, but you may miss the introductory commentary for each page, unless you read this at the higher level first. Where there is more than one link, they are in priority order, with the recommended link first.

Design of the Ketogenic Resource

This Resource was created using Front Page (!), and has been designed particularly for access by Internet Explorer 6.

There are many problems associated with designing a web site that works well for most users.  If you have any difficulties reading this Resource, or other web sites, or if you are generally interested, the design issues are discussed in this section.

If you are using Netscape Navigator, versions 6 or 7, you may have a problem that the font size appears unreasonably small.  This is because you are using Windows font scaling, and for some reason this is not recognised in these two versions of Navigator.  You can improve matters by using the font scaling facility in Navigator (View>Text zoom) to adjust the font size.  Sorry about that.

If you have particular difficulties reading the Resource, or have any recommendations for improving the presentation, then please   e-mail   us.

Structure of the Ketogenic Resource

This is a map of the web site.

Updates

There is a list of updates to the Resource, so that you can check if there have been any changes since your last visit.

Language

The content is written in english english. So far as possible, the structure and grammar have been kept simple, and the same word used repeatedly, rather than synonyms.

The language is not politically correct. In particular, the word "fit" has been used in preference to words like "seizure" or "convulsion". We are aware that the word "fit" is not politically correct, and we are sorry for anyone whose sensibilities are offended by the usage. "fit" is the normal english word for the physical manifestation of an epileptic event, and has a long history, being used in this sense by Dickens, Shakespeare and Chaucer. It is derived from the old english "fitt" meaning "a struggle". Using neologisms for words which are perceived by some to be pejorative, is a self defeating process - it is necessary to change the attitude, not the word. Changing words unnecessarily destroys the very stability which is the essence of english and enables us to enjoy literature created over many hundreds of years.

return to  The Ketogenic Resource