Hi all been reading what some of you are going through tough hey. I have been able to go from 22.5 of Pred since November 2016 to now March 17 to 15 mg pred I was diagnosed May 2016 started in hospital at 150mg and when left hospital was on 75mg pred only got the usual aches and pain doc wants me to keep going down but I'm going to stay at 15 for another week had a bad day yesterday maybe too much gardening the day before but feel need to wait another week till I reduce plus I'm going fishing and crabbing for a week. Might get my stint put in so the blood will flow better in my left arm soon they can't do anything about the left side artery of my neck it will always stay blocked too dangerous to operate. I've been sacked from my job of ten years cause of my illness and yep I'm getting bored frustrated but hey battling on.
And now I have type 2 diabeties and a fatty liver they say its from the pred I've put on 10kilo since this all started and yep given up smoking and social drinking which is from 75kilo to 85kilo. I don't know much about diabeties has anyone any info that can help me work out what I can eat cause most of what I've read there is not much food I can have do you have to say goodbye totally to chocolate?
There is a bit of a science to managing T-2 diabetes, and the more that you test the quicker that you will learn how different foods affect blood sugar.
An over-worked liver is common and is a common cause of other problems, since the liver is the first line of control of how nutrients (like sugar) enter the blood from the digestive system. It sounds like simply substituting lighter foods (foods with more water content) is a good start, and will be necessary to restore your former healthy weight and to restore your liver health. Hopefully this will also put your diabetes into remission, but only if you give it a real try and make solid, immediate changes!
Things like chocolate are not essential foods, and do should be done away with for now while your system is being affected by the prednisone and while yoyur blood sugar is uncontrolled. You will enjoy it much more later if conditions can be changed in your favor. You are a short way along your pmr journey, so make restoring your health a priority.
It takes some effort, but try to determine what sort of exercise activity that you can do without aggravating anything, and try to do it for as long as you can. I benefitted greatly from hours spent cycling, and while I could not lift my arms I could pull downward with some force on a bar, which I still do vigorously every day more than a year later. Getting moving and outdoors early in the day is another important daily activity that made a big difference for me, and I immediately have less pmr symptoms when I delay eating or when I eat less than normal for my activity level.
Good luck!
I'm just curious why were you put on such a high dose of pred to start?
Thanks Dan great info I will be onto doing more excercise & changing my diet.👍
For me, chocolate is a necessity. I make do with dark chocolate sweetened with stevia. The bars are expensive, but worth it to me. There is also chocolate sweetened with mannitol. It can cause gastric distress in some people. Coconut sugar is another option, lower glycemic index. Dark chocolate which is 87% cacao doesn't have a lot of sugar. I'd check these with your doctor, but you may not need to bypass chocolate altogether.
Hi I didn't ask why so high dosage I didn't know anything about GCA all I know they say how much damage was done to my arteries being the left side completely collapsed & and the one going to my left arm slightly closed causing limited blood flow and worried about me losing my eyesight. So they hit the desease with the high dose to get control to save my life I'm thinking this is why 👍😊
I assume you were diagnosed with GCA because of visual symptoms to start on such a high dose - it is something I've rarely come across on the forums.
You should try cutting carbs drastically - and that doesn't HAVE mean totally goodbye to chocolate but it does mean it needs to be kept to a minimum! But all processed foods should come under close examination - and all cakes, biscuits, snacks, bread, pasta, rice and root veg cut out or at least drastically reduced.
Pred changes the way your body processes carbs and probably increases the amount of insulin you produce a lot - and that is what turns any sugar either into energy or, what you don't need immediately, into fat stores for the future when you are starving! Except you are never starving and so the body just keeps storing more fat.
There are a lot of low carb diet sites to read to get the gist of what you need to do. This reduces the blood sugar spikes that trigger the release of insulin and also leads the body to use the fat stores to produce the energy the body needs so the fat stores get used up - but the carb content of your diet has to be low, for some people very low.
I eat a lot of leafy veg and salads and meat, fish, eggs and cheese. I use natural yoghurt - flavoured ones have a lot of sugar hidden in them. But I allow myself a couple of squares a day of high quality, high cocao solids plain chocolate a day. And the very occasional ice-cream or pizza - but they are treats, not day to day items.
All too often you aren't actually hungry when you think you are - you are thirsty. A very simple trick is to drink a glass of water (no sugar and preferably no artificial sweetners which make the body think something sweet is coming so it releases insulin anyway) and go away and do something for 15 mins - and you will probably forget about wanting to snack!
Thanks Eileen I was diagnosed from a scan of my neck cause I was complaining to Doc it hurt a bit to touch I didn't have vision issues or headaches or any of the usual symptoms. Doc has put me on Januvita 100mg one a day is it best to take it morning or night. I will be reducing 1 mg a week till I get to ten my bloods are good having more trouble from symptoms from diabetes need to get it under control.
No idea about the Januvita - never had to take a diabetes medication in my life!
At this stage 1mg per week is very fast - it doesn't give you time to know that the pred is still managing any inflammation. And that is ALL the blood tests can show while you are on pred: that the dose you are on is till adequate to do that.
I'm intrigued by GCA being diagnosed by a scan of (I assume) the carotid artery...
Yep the Carot Artery and the subclavan I'm not medical all theses names had couple of MRI's lots of tests and the Vascular surgeon I first saw which is what they thought it was vascular then it turned out that they come up with GCA and started treatment. Since May I've had a couple of MRI's and there has been no change since May 2016 which is a good thing the desease is not doing anymore damage. I'm 53 and going to get on top of this cause I want my life back! It probably a bit fast reducing but I'll give it a go.
I have found that a small square of very good very dark chocolate, savoured slowly, is far more satisfying than anything sweeter. Very sweet things seem to leave me craving more and feeling a littlesick because of it.
"going to get on top of this cause I want my life back! It probably a bit fast reducing but I'll give it a go"
The pred has not cured anything - it is managing the inflammation until the underlying autoimmune disorder that causes your immune system to attack your body tissues by mistake burns out and goes into remission. Until then you will need some pred, if you are lucky considerably less than you are on now, but nothing you or any doctor can do will change that and 10mg at the start is very low.
Almost everyone starts out as you feel - but be careful because if you overshoot before the inflammation has calmed down you risk a big flare and having to start over again. I hope it doesn't happen - but do bear it in mind.