Every night, Manhattan resident Amanda Ferrara goes to bed knowing not once, not twice, but at least three times while she sleeps, she will suffer a seizure. A seizure is defined "as abnormal electric activity in the brain that causes an involuntary change in body movement or function, sensation, awareness or behavior." Ferrara takes three different types of medication and has a Vagus Nerve Stimulation implanted under the skin below her collar bone. The VNS sends regular impulses to the brain via the vagus nerve. The VNS helps stop or stall her seizures but does not eliminate them. Ferrara has suffered from the seizure disorder since she was five. According to HealthDay Reporter, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine conducted a study in which adults with epilepsy went on an Atkins-like diet, which featured low amounts of carbohydrates and high amounts of proteins. Ferrara said she has her reservations about the study, but others think it can work. Dr. Debra Doubek, director of Mercy LIGHT, a weight-loss challenge organized by Mercy Regional Hospital, said she supervises the diets of two children with epilepsy. Doubek said a low-carb, high-protein diet is called a ketotic diet. "The ketones get through the blood-brain barrier where [medications] don't," Doubek said. Ketones are chemical byproducts from the body breaking down protein and other fatty acids. Doubek said the two children whose diets she supervises are two and four years old. Both these children have taken anti-convulsion drugs and not gotten the desired results. "These children have tried medications and have failed," Doubek said. "[The children suffer] 50 to 80 percent less seizures [because of the diet]." According to the Johns Hopkins study, patients who successfully completed the six-month trial diet experienced a 50-percent reduction in the number of seizures. The diet required patients to eat less than 15 grams of carbohydrates a day. The rest of the calorie intake was to come from fats and proteins. The study reported after three months on the diet, one-third of the patients had dropped out of the study, stating the diet was too difficult to follow. Ferrara said the diet sounded odd. "I would try it if [the diet] wasn't totally ridiculous sounding," she said. "There's all kinds of weird diets. There's one where you just eat bacon, and there's one where you don't eat sugar at all [for controlling seizures]." Doubek said it requires a little creativity to keep the children interested in sticking to the diet. The diet is also not designed to be life long. "My children drink whipping cream instead of milk," Doubek said. "The long-term plan is they will only be on this diet for two to three years. It diminishes the seizures for the rest of their life." According to the Centers for Disease Control, epilepsy affects 2.7 million Americans. The CDC defines epilepsy as "a general term that includes various types of seizures." To be diagnosed as epileptic, a patient must suffer more than one seizure episode and more than one type of seizure. The CDC reported more than one-third of epilepsy patients still have seizures while receiving treatments.