An interesting study here - actually done in MS patients - that supports thinking keto diet may be useful in PMR/GCA where a large proportion of the inflammation is cause by the cytokine IL-6
"Notably, pathway alterations included a reduction in the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6, accompanied by an increase in IL-10."
The study is small and has many limitations but is still of interest for us I think.
Thanks, shall read. In the 5 years with GCA and Pred I’ve really tried to limit carbs but find it almost impossible. Well, impossible, in fact. As I’ve just been told today I probably now have PMR as well as GCA, , now might be the time to make an effort. 🤷🏼♀️😟
Have you tried the don’t buy it, can’t it eat plan? Or are you like me, watching my husband eat what I can’t?
Timely nudge Snazzy. As I live alone I've only myself to blame if there are chocolates or Hot cross buns in the house ...
Well, at Easter we are sitting ducks when it comes to temptation. Shame it is so soon after Christmas!
😄😄😄😄 I've had 3 months to try and do keto but
haven't found the time. I can't blame Santa or the Easter bunny only my lack of ambition and willpower
Berries and cream/yogurt satisfies my sweet tooth.
I wouldn't beat yourself up if you find keto too hard. A lot of people find it too punishing, including myself. It's not for the faint hearted.
I do wonder how anyone can stick to it and be taking prednisolone. Having just had to increase my dose for a flare and more or less back to 6 mg now, I am struggling with the worst munchies that I have had since I started pred 2 years ago. My tummy is rumbling the whole time.
I know, I know… but how can one eat fish or chicken and veg for three meals a day? I’ll try, honest guv x
Yep. I remember it well. Nuts? I ate lots of those. Do you not eat red meat? Do you not eat dairy?
No red meat, yes cheese etc… I mean, I love chicken fish and veg, but as i said , not 3 times a day… but I’ll persevere…
Funnily enough I tried that for a few days as an experiment when wearing a CGM. Was fascinating to see the different BGL response to the same meal at different times of the day. At breakfast it produced a slight lift out of the normal zone. At lunch it continued that lift to a peak. At dinner is was quite low in the normal zone. My interpretation was that Prednisone was driving the lift during the 8am - 4pm period - almost irrespective of what I ate.
I love chicken, fish and vege. 🌻
That's similar to what I found - see my post on what I discovered using a CGM monitor. The most dangerous period for carbs and sugar was 3-6 hours after taking Pred
Hi, I think I read something somewhere about taking pred with breakfast? 🤔
Yes / I have read your posts on this which helped me understand the role that Prednisone was playing in my BGL rise and fall during the day. I realised I was fighting a losing battle in trying to change that through what I ate at breakfast and lunch. As long as it was clean Keto there was little else I could do.
🌻
That's how I managed to go low carb. I call it mindful shopping. I don't buy anything that leads to over eating (as I can still manage to pig out on some of the so-called healthy items).
I can empathise with seeing the husband eating stuff that you can't eat. I live alone now, but I was married to a cycle racer who scoffed somewhere between 5,500 and 8,000 calories a day, when I was trying to stick to1500 just to stay at the same weight. It was very difficult.
Going carb free is much more difficult for vegetarians. There's only so many ways you can do eggs and veg. So I found myself giving in (mainly to bread and cake) just for some joy. My lapses were too frequent to let the diet have any effect.
I've been told that a strict diet plus exercise would get better results. Muscle burns fat very well. Well, who knows!
I'm planning on having another go - anything is worth the effort if it can control this pain.
There are sme great books by Rose Elliot.
I'm sure that's right and they're on to something. This is a great talk by a world-renowned rheumatologist along the same lines but talking about arthritis, she mentions IL-6 too which is thought to be one of the culprits associated with PMR
youtube.com/watch?v=fo6HM4A...
IL-6 is not just THOUGHT - it IS a player. But not the only one.
Thanks PMRPro, interesting article!
will read later…I only had two months on the keto diet, but I felt no great hunger while on the diet, & no bad side effects, health wise! Thanks, S x
Read with great interest, a few bits stuck out eg In the new analyses ...... breaking research, Kornberg outlined changes that are consistent with reprogramming of immune cell metabolism and activity. Wouldn't that be just wonderful for those of us who possibly have an immune cell metabolism that seems very set in its ways?
Exactly - and why I posted.
Am I right in thinking Keto diet and Mediterranean diet are not compatible? Avoiding red meat seems to be a current recommendation, too. More and more unsure about what to eat and what not to eat. Anyone else muddled?
I’m sticking to a Mediterranean type diet. The thought of the Keto diet actually turns my stomach 😂
Everyone has the wrong idea about "Mediterranean" - I live in Italy, I eat very "Mediterranean" and it is very easy to eat low carb. Italian food is about FAR more than pizza and pasta.
Most of the recommendations about diet make it look hard because it relates to USA eating habits. You shouldn't be eating red meat EVERY day, but a palm/pack of card sized piece of fresh meat a few times a week is OK - it's the AMOUNT people eat that is the real problem.
And although they talk about keto - most people will improve on very low carb - judicious meal planning makes it not too bad.
They're not that different, in fact overlap. Med diet is very healthy. Keto puts more emphasis on restoring balance in your body eg if you have diabetes or are overweight so it's a good starting point for sorting your body out. The follow-on way of life/way of eating is the Mediterranean diet
This article is interesting BUT I would caution with the following. And yes I lost a stack of weight with this type of dieting, yes did bucket loads of exercise and over leaned and yes ended up with GPA - the consultants all think this could well be linked, so be careful peeps!
I think to get the medical results you have to be quite extreme in excluding carbs and ramping up fat without protein not easy, weight loss is dramatic which might be great if you have the sizeable excess weight to lose in the first place but otherwise not a good idea unless medically supervised.
One school of thought is that over leaning (which happens with the Keto diet) often seen with serious exercise like marathon runners leads to auto immune conditions like MS and it’s scary the number of people with MS who will tell you they used to do serious long distance running etc.
After 15 months at my 19 year old son's hospital bedside following an accident - I piled on the weight and started a paid for Low Carb diet. I did lose most of the weight and really learnt to focus on what I COULD eat not focus on what I must not. That helped a bit. Recently I had another dabble and am almost down to the very slim weight I was when I left school. Luckily for me I am not that keen on bread anyway and really enjoy lots of veg with the meat - never mind the potatoes. It is the mind set that is crucial for me - for years I had a worry in my psyche that I might lose too much weight and end up poorly because of that (fine chance of that happening realistically). My Keto breakfast is 100g of berries with yogurt and double cream plus a bit of granola on top - made of nuts and seeds. It lasts me well until lunchtime - having been one of those people who was hungry by 11 sies. I think it is going to stay off too.
Great tip to focus on what you can eat and not feel you're depriving yourself. Although telling myself sugar is poison helps me step away from it when tempted. Sometimes. Thanks for sharing your ideas esp the breakfast
I never find breakfast a problem - German breakfast can be very low carb apart from their bread. But it never poses me a problem in the UK as the bread is rubbish!!! Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for a start ... Loads of salad stuff on the table too.
You are welcome - I use a "Linwoods" granola from the bakery section - they come in several flavours and I have a recipe too but been lazy recently and haven't made my own! Now I am at my goal weight I think a little sugar won't do me any harm, certainly better than the fake sweeteners that really are poison most of them! I used to be a real sugar holic but as time has gone by on low carb I don't have the cravings of days gone by. Good luck
Interleukin 6 Monitoring
Interleukin 6 Connection
Hi can anyone advise if a Keto diet will get rid of the pred weight please?
treatment of prednisone side affects 
