Matthew’s Friends

The Matthew’s Friends is a voluntary, non-profit organization dedicated to providing information, training, support and education on all aspects of dietary treatments for epilepsy for both professionals and patients. They specialize in this one area and work with some of the worlds leading experts in this field. Matthew’s Friends aims to make these dietary treatments available to all those who have drug resistant epilepsy. Epilepsy is a group of disorders of the central nervous system characterized by repeated convulsive (paroxysomal) electrical disturbances in the brain. The major symptoms may include loss of consciousness, convulsions, spasms, sensory confusion and disturbances in the nerves that control involuntary body functions (autonomic nervous system). Episodes of these symptoms are frequently preceded by an “aura.” An aura is described as a feeling of uneasiness or sensory discomfort that precedes the onset of a seizure. In certain patients the likelihood of having a seizure increases with stress, fatigue, insufficient food intake and/or the failure to take prescribed medications.