Anti inflammatory diet

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hi Mrs O

Eileen assures me you are the one to direct a question to regarding diet. Do you have any words of wisdom on the best anti inflammatory diet and if sticking to it will help with PMR in conjunction with the pred ie. helping the prednisolone to work quicker and preventing flare ups at a later date.  Or in your opinion do you think there may be a link to food sensitivities/allergies and these inflammatory diseases and would it be worthwhile getting checked out for food sensitivities.   Here in Aust they cost close to $800 so if anyone has expereince with these tests with good or bad results I'd be grateful to hear about it.

2

If u have food alergies is good to find out yeh or ney? Then u have a starting place. Keep a food journal.. That's very helpful. 

In most of the research I've read & all my doc advise that autoimmune diseases have very little to do with food...Arthritis, lupus, pmr...I have 2 hip joint replacements if food or diet could have stopped it I would have eaten anti inflam foods by the groves.

But that's just it antiinflam foods helps with the inflammation in the body!? 

In my experience it never really stopped my joints from swelling. Usually I depend more on meds they r more dependable and I can control the dose feel better. 

When eating anti inflam foods how much should we eat on a daily basis has always been a quandary..the results I'm not sure I ever see a difference. I eat them stay away from packaged foods pre made foods and eat whole foods, & stay away from the many foods we know now r bad for us..take all the supplements... I don't give up my chocolate though a lot of sugar is not good, too much of anything is not healthy..I try to use common sense and stay within a Healthy rage of foods that work for me. 

Like right now a bowl of Chocolate icecream is coming to mind! I'm not the best influence..that's for sure..cheesygrin

3

I know what you mean - I have my moments also

4

good to hear about the ice cream, since the begining of PMR, which I was not aware I had I lost my appetite for anything savoury, I always had such a good appetite,now I could live on ice sream and milky puds, obviously I cant do this but have not touched meat for ages and most days just have some grilled fish, have not lost any weight am hoping now I have started preds I might get some apetite back, has this happened to anyone else?

5

Hi Vanessa, confused

Sometimes this can affect UR appetite. Please go over this with UR doc when u start on pred. Have some barbecued ribs Heck it's summer.. 

6

There is no evidence that there is any link to food sensitivities and I certainly wouldn't waste my money on testing at any price and definitely not at $800Aus! They will always manage to find something - and a check done in the UK by sending blood samples from the same person at various times under different names came back with a different result for every single sample! Not entirely scientific but enough to suggest that maybe they are aiming to sell something???

I was eating gluten-free at the time I developed PMR as I have an allergy to something in wheat and it causes a rash that gets to the open and weeping stage if I eat wheat every day. I have no doubt that it has something to do with the underlying autoimmune disorder - but I think it is effect not cause. Amongst the people on the forums I imagine we have tried every dietary thing you can think of. A few people have claimed they feel better on a diet omitting this or that or that this supplement helps - but no one seems to have had any greatly different journey with their PMR. A couple have tried extreme diet instead of pred - but don't appear to have achieved freedom from pain to an extent they could work. If you want to wait for a couple of years the autoimmine disorder may go into remission on its own - it may happen sooner, it may happen later - but you will be in pain and immobile in the meantime. I had mild PMR for 5 years with no medication, just aqua aerobics every morning and Pilates and yoga (very adapted) which enabled me to get moving. It wasn't out of choice, no one recognised what I had, and I never had a day without pain, ordinary pain killers did nothing for me. When I sat for more than a few minutes I could hardly move when I stood up for several minutes. Then it hit like a ton of bricks - I was housebound because I was stopped from driving whilst another suspected medical condition was investigated (and disproven, she hadn't listened in the first place so was chasing a red herring) and in constant pain. By the time I had got out of bed and got dressed I had to rest for an hour before even thinking about getting anything done. I couldn't get things out of even the bottom shelf of the cupboard. The first dose of 15mg pred was a miracle.

What works better than anything else in PMR is a steady but very slow reduction in the pred dose to find the lowest dose that manages the symptoms. That is what the doctors are meant to do - but too many tell patients to reduce in big steps, steps that are too big for most patients and they suffer from steroid withdrawal pain or miss the lowest dose that works and then they trigger a flare. A lot of us now think that most so-called flares aren't flares - they are just the result of reducing to fast. You won't necessarily reduce straight to zero - as long as the underlying autoimmune disorder is active you will need some pred to control the symptoms. And that is all the pred is doing - it has no effect on the real illness. As someone said the other day: when you have a cold you can inhale, take tablets and hot lemon drinks to soothe the symptoms. None of that stops you feeling a bit rubbish because of the underlying infection until it goes away. 

Eating a good diet will help there, not eating just because the pred makes you hungry and also cutting the amount of processed carbs you eat will help with that, and help you avoid both excessive weight gain and the risk of diabetes - both risks with pred but not everyone suffers and some weight gain is fluid retention from the pred. You can avoid the fat and you CAN lose weight while on pred - but it requires discipline.

7

Hello Denise, I didn't follow any specific anti inflammatory diet as such but after being finally diagnosed (was bedbound for several months), I decided to research anti inflammatory foods with the view that they couldn't harm me, might help me and, above all, I felt it was a way of getting back some sort of control over my life.

I can't say that 

I included oily fish several times a week such as sardines (with bones - good for our bones), mackerel, salmon, and trout.  I also added lots of beetroot, avocado, garlic and turmeric.  I included lots of known diuretic type foods such as asparagus, garlic, fennel and melon.  

I reduced or gave up refined carbs where possible, including white bread, white potatoes (substituted with sweet potatoes) and parsnips.  These foods turn to sugar in our bodies which can increase steroid-induced weight gain and could add to the risk of steroid-induced diabets.  I avoided all processed meats, coffee sugar and alcohol.

To answer your question, I can't state categorically that "it will help with PMR in conjunction with the pred ie. helping the prednisolone to work quicker and preventing flare ups at a later date."  What I can say is that following this type of diet eased my pain along the way, for instance if I missed out on my oily fish for any length of time I would notice returning pain.

A dietitian  gave a talk at one of our PMR support group meetings and she mentioned that although diet control is not as good as steroids for reducing inflammation, it can protect against heart disease and help reduce certain types of inflammation, and a Mediterranean-type diet was recommended.

My ears picked up when she said that phytonutrients in plants, predominantly flavonoids, are also anti-inflammatory substances and among the foods these are found in is 70% dark chocolate!biggrin

I'm sure that if there was "a link to food sensitivities/allergies and these inflammatory diseases", we would have heard about it by now.  $800!  Save your money.......I'd rather spend it on chocolate!

8

Thank you all especially Eileen and Mrs O    We already eat chocolate 70% a small peice or 2 every night - glad to hear it is not on the restricted list.  think I'll save my money and buy fish I'll need that $800 plus a lot more as it is so expensive here compared to meats.  We grow a lot of our own fruit & veges are pretty cheap so I should be on almost a mediterranean diet - but of course I have my weakness such as wholegrain bread, potatoes and coffee or tea - I can give them up if it will help and restrict the calories - all good.  I still haven't reached retirement age so have to work and as we are farmers a lot of that requires strength that this syndrome appears to have sapped right out of me so now I'm less than useless when it comes to helping hubby.  I'm caring for my Mum here as well and she loves the idea that I spend heaps more time with her because I'm restricted in what I can do so it must be meant to be for the next couple of years.  She also had PMR/GCA for 2 years developed AF probably because of it then heamolyptic aneamia this all went on over a period of 4 - 5 years and thanks to prednisolone seems to be symptom free from both PMR and H A now and can hardly remember all the pain - like childbirth she says.  She is now nearly 89 and doing okay although the heart arteries are still a bit dodgy and we have to be careful she doesn't overdo anything.  I presume all she had going on was tied in with the PMR but of course I'm no scientist or Dr so don't quote me on that.  Love and thanks to all for you help and support

9

Yes - my cardiologist here is confident it was the PMR that did the damage that is causing my atrial fibrillation. It is well controlled though - according to the 24 hour ECG I did last week. Possibly a bit too well controlled judging by BP and heart rate recently! I'd just climbed the stairs and it was only 87!

It is far less calories per se as carbohydrate - slowly. slowly the truth of research done 40+ years ago is leaking out. It didn't fit with big manufacturing desires to say "keep carbs down" - so we have been told to keep fat down and the world has become fat because of the massive amounts of carb included in the modern diet. Think what we ate as children in the 50s - far less and almost nothing packaged. And no snacks between meals...

10

Denise, wholemeal foods are good for us in moderation so you don't need to give them up completely.  It's just that some people eat a lot of high carb such foods as potatoes and bread, often white, in which case they are adding to the risk of steroid induced weight gain.

Although it must be wonderful being able to eat all your home-grown fruits and veggies, I can't imagine having to farm of any type when suffering from PMR. 

It's amazing just how many sufferers of PMR/GCA say that one of their parents or siblings have experienced it.   I'm so glad your Mum has made a complete recovery, and that must be extra reassuring for you as you travel a similar road.  I know exactly what she means by saying she can hardly remember all the pain, and it being like childbirth.  I feel similarly - although I can remember such things as being in agony in the ambulances as they jogged along the road to my appointments, I can't remember the actual feeling of pain (if that maks sense) - perhaps we are programmed to forget!  Lots of good luck wishes to you both and make the most of this unexpected precious extra time you can spend together whilst your PMR runs its course, which I hope will be a straight one!

11

Try the Paleo approach - nothing is 'proven' but having some control over inflammatory environmental factors is some help. Not much we can do about genetics or infection risks