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...First Do No Harm (1997)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
2/21
2/21:
...First Do No Harm is a made-for-TV disorder movie of the month, and this time, it's about epilepsy.
In some ways, I'm reminded of Lorenzo's Oil. The drama is compelling to follow as it happened to director Jim Abrahams
and his son Charlie (that's him in the film who was taken away by his mother; in reality, he went from having ninety epileptic
seizures per day to none after going on the diet). So is the acting, especially by Meryl Streep (who did the movie for free)
and Seth Adkins.
Of course, it's completely frustrating for the parents, who know nothing about medicine, to put their total trust in doctors
and hope for the best outcome yet sometimes feel like they haven't really solved the problem. I'm particularly impressed with
the demeanor shown by Meryl Streep and Fred Ward, but Abrahams makes the mistake of going too fast for a while, giving me a
hard time to keep up with the dialogue.
During the film, I don't think that I've learned much about the disorder itself, but the Ketogenic Diet is new to me. Children with
epilepsy are first tried out with drugs which often work, and if they don't respond to them, then either surgery, a medical
device like vagus nerve stimulation, or the aforementioned diet is the next prescribed course of action.
The Ketogenic Diet requires 3 to 4 grams of fat for every 1 gram of carbohydrate and protein. In other words, 90% of calories
must come from fat when it's normally 25% to 40%. Make no mistake about it: the guideline of following the diet is extremely
strict, down to the gram with the ratio and calorie count. At the same time, they take anti-seizure medication. If the child
cheats on the diet, the penalty is a seizure.
The result is that over 50% of the children have their seizures cut down by more than half. Between 10% and 15% are free
from seizures for life. The longer these children are on the diet, the more favorable the outcome becomes. The older they are,
the more likely they're placed on a slightly modified diet. Children on the Ketogenic Diet are often heavily monitored due to
deficiency in minerals and vitamins. Some of the usual side effects include kidney stones, high cholesterol, constipation,
slowed growth, and bone fractures, hence the need for labs and bloodwork tests every three months and bone density scans
once a year.
All in all, ...First Do No Harm is a well-meaning informational film about children with epilepsy, but it's just one
treatment method that may or may not work.