We bang on about cutting carbs when on pred and I thought you might be interested in this article about extremely low carb diets and reversing diabetes and weight gain. It isn't in pred patients but it does show how going low carb works and that it is sustainable on a relatively low income.
The only catch in fact is that you have to adjust to it being a way of life - you can't cheat and you can't go back to your old eating habits without risking losing the benefits.
Dr Michael Moseley wrote some good articles on this theme too.
Thanks for this. On pred for 3 years now. Latest glucose test jumped from 40 to 43 putting me into pre-diabetic range. Gutted by this as am low carb, active, don't drink or smoke & slim. Phone consult (with a GP who has never met me) resulted in no dietary advice, told me to exercise more & said the results aren't too bad. No wonder we have a diabetes epidemic in the UK I did Zoe for 9 months so know which foods give me issues with blood sugar. I have very little wriggle room to change my diet but can make some adjustments. The neuropathy in my feet - could this possibly be diabetes related even though I have only just gone into pre-diabetic range? It started around 4 months after starting pred. Pre pred I was at 36.Tapering from 7mg to 6.5mg currently.
Yes - but you have to bear in mind that YOUR situation isn't the same as normal diabetes - you have steroid induced diabetes. However, you are right - there are still "diabetes nurses" who tell you to eat carbs as "essential" even though that means more medication will be required!
The neuropathy COULD be sugar-related but pred can cause it tooand the fact it started that soon suggests that is more likely to be the cause. Are you on any other medications?
No other meds other than Evacal. Neurologist insists neuropathy is not a pred side-effect. Can you point me to any written papers or similar citing it is please? I'm with you - too much of a coincidence.
It can be as a manifestation of steroid induced diabetes - unusual but it is a brave doctor who says never about anything.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....
I think it is mentioned here somewhere
verywellhealth.com/what-are...
But it can be a manifestation of autoimmune disease - PMR is autoimmune in origin and pred is often started soon after which makes it very difficult to say it is one or the other.
Very helpful thanks. Either way, the neuropathy could be linked to having PMR rather than being an additional medical condition. That gives me hope.
Pre-diabetes (along with varius other things like weight loss and anaemia) was a result of the PMR for me. I delayed taking pred for several months until the need became too great. Meanwhile I did lifestyle changes and by the time my bloods were checked again 6 weeks after finally starting pred all was good and I'd dropped below the pre-diabetes level. Pred, no doubt, would have added to my troubles here (or cancelled out the PMR effect?) Who knows. I don't plan on being a guinea-pig.
thanks for that, PMRpro… I am struggling with trying to reduce carbs but I really have to … just had GP annual checkup that I wasn’t expecting with a charming German nurse… hasn’t realised she was going through everything, and then compare with a few years ago. Despite having a bit of an excuse with my four years on Pred, I was still horrified at the end. “So, I’m shorter than 9 years ago, fatter, heavier and my BMI is up 4 points”. “Yes”, she said cheerily …”but it could have been even worse!” 🙄
Love the fact she comes from Madrid once a month.... I realise more and more that when, which is not any time soon, i am off pred, I will still need to maintain this style of diet, but I personally do think it is more expensive, plus I can't eat red meat so I'm limited even more, I have an almost instant reaction to red meat where I'm off to the loo!
I suppose it depends on what your usual diet is - here in the UK I do see how expensive things are but a packet of good crisps is a similar price to a pack of mince - as opposed to a bit of steak - for me. My daughter and her partner are masters of the yellow sticker shopping approach though and he and I had fantastic lamb steaks the other day for an amazing price (Waitrose even!!).
I reversed my insulin dependent diabetes with a low carb (under 20g per day) diet. I was taking so much insulin that I couldn’t get my doses in one pen. I managed to stay off diabetes medication for about 13 years until I went through serious trauma. Now I’ve piled the weight back on I’m back on the insulin. But, it absolutely can be done. It doesn’t take long to significantly decrease diabetes meds. Michael Mosley said it can be done in 8 weeks and I’d agree with that.
Yes, I reversed type 2 diabetes by restricting carbs, and using an eating window.
me too
thank you so much for sending this very interesting and informative article with some great links to reduces carb diets. Personally know both diet and stress are major factors in my Pred journey. Oh and also exercise.
Thank you for your vigilant research
Totally agree and have the evidence to prove it that I have written up on posts when I did the ZOE programme and follow up with the Libre 2 CGM. I was told I had diabetes and every doctor, GP and rheumie wanted me to start on diabetes meds, but I was convinced that Pred gives you a blood sugar spike so if you eat the right things at the right time you can control your blood sugars and I showed them I was right.
👍
Also, I think just going by the HbA1c reading is as misleading as using BMI to determine if you're overweight. It shows you an average reading over time and mine was high. Yet when I did the blood glucose monitoring with the CGM it showed me how to keep levels within the normal green range. If it strayed occasionally, like having a toasted sandwish for lunch in the danger time window of about hours after taking steroids, it taught me a lesson
Low carb science
Low carb diet and high dose prednisone
Keto/low carb?
Low carb cooking 
Prof Tim Noakes and low carb diet benefits
