Lemon on sticks

[geater16393]

My rheumy has described a person who has been on long term steroids as having a figure like a lemon on sticks!... I know what he means, I am currently on 2.5mg, have been on pred for over 3 1/2 yrs

When will I get my old figure back??

[TimTooYoung]

Hi Geater16393, I,m trying and failing to keep my figure. I,m trying to do exercise, both walking, cycling and my wife has booked me in for Pilates, we will see how I get on with that. The waliking is great, the cycling is hard. My only thought if we don't move we will get out of shape.

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to TimTooYoung]

TTY, whilst exercise is good for those who can manage it, you can overdo it. Walking in fresh air is excellent - good for boosting those feel-good endorphins so lifting our spirits. Plus, it is weight-bearing so whilst helping to ward off steroid-induced weight gain, it can also help to avoid the risk of steroid-induced osteoporosis. If you are finding the cycling "hard" then you may be pushing yourself too much and it might slow your recovery. Only you can tell. Having said that, however, we have very often found that men seem to be able to 'get away' with more exercise than us ladies with PMR - a hormone thing, perhaps.

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer]

geater, well it's one thing to describe someone on steroids looking like "a lemon on sticks", but I but he didn't bother to give you any helpful advice with regard to solving the situation! On 2.5mg of steroids I would have thought you would have found your original shape returning BUT we definitely have to help in shifting that steroid-induced weight ourselves - it won't just completely disappear on its own. Are you feeling well enough now to increase your daily walking, for instance? Also, are you reducing your refined carb intake - they are among the worst foods for adding to steroid-induced weight gain? Also, as I've just recommended in a reply to someone else's post, you can try including a lot of known diuretic foods in your diet, such as asparagus, garlic, fennel, melon, celery etc.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Charming! Though it is a traditional description for Cushing's syndrome I admit.

I put on a great deal of weight while on pred in the form of Medrol. I had put on weight with PMR anyway because I couldn't exercise despite not being on pred, with pred that weight redistributed to my midriff, but I didn't gain much more. Then the weight shot up in the 9 months I was on Medrol - I also suffered from muscle wasting but my legs never got stick-like, I was just FAT!

Since I stopped taking Medrol and am on prednisone I have worked very hard, cutting carbs drastically, I rarely eat more than 50g useable carb per day. That is equivalent to half a small roll and a lot of salad and veg! I also used the 5:2 diet to kick start the weight loss and have lost 37lbs in just over 2 years. The weight has gone from all over but it is probably most obvious around my middle and that was where people noticed it going first. I am still on pred - 4mg/day. The biggest achievement with the 5:2 approach was retraining with regard to portion size and not feeling hungry on a much reduced calorie intake - it really has never felt an imposition to eat like I do now. Even with reduced carbs, if there is a really yummy dessert when we go out for a meal, I eat it, but I also often bring home half my main course for tomorrow. I aslo eat gelato in summer, not every day though (I live in Italy).

I know other ladies who have lost weight while still on pred and, like me, at least one of them is back to the shape she was pre-PMR. We're both still a few pounds up but that's fine, we're a lot older. She used WW. It can be done - but YOU have to work at it.

[Annodomini]

Lemon on sticks? More like tree trunks in my case....

[Zoesquare1]

Pred causes potassium loss and sodium retention, so I've been working hard to restrict sodium in my diet (very limited preserved/pre-packaged foods and NO added salt), in addition to limiting simple carbs. It's hard to do and takes some getting used to, but also seems to be helping stave off the fluid retention weight (and blood pressure increase) that pred can cause. And at least I FEEL better when I'm not "puffy" with water retention!