re Functional Medicine Dr. They have a website. Google Functional Medicine doctor.

I’ve been treated with prednisone for 16 months for Giant Cell Arteritis. I am off as of 2 weeks ago, so I do not know my long term outcome yet.

I found a Functional Medicine doctor, not near me, but she’s written book which I bought. Dr. Terry Wahls. She has protocols which use diet along with exercise, meditation and some supplements. She developed her protocols to help herself. She has MS but believes her protocols work for people with other autoimmune diseases like me. And like many of you on this list.

She tells her story better than I could but 2 things struck me about it. 1. She decided that she wanted to treat the root cause of her disease which she says were poorly functioning mitochondria. She experimented on herself.
2. There was nothing in her protocol that could hurt me. (Of course if you are allergic to any food you would just not eat it)

She has several protocols. She advocates a lot of meat, organ meat, etc. but I don’t eat that so I just chose other options. She has a vegetarian option.

Her protocol at its most basic is adequate protein and 9 cups of fruits and vegetables per day. The 9 cups need to evenly split into 3 groups of foods— sulphur containing foods like asparagus or broccoli; colorful veg and fruit with polyphenols like berries or purple cabbage (purple anything!); and leafy greens like Swiss chard or spinach.

Her website is terrywahls.com and she has a lot more there. I decided to buy her book from Amazon since it was cheaper than some of the more personalized offerings. She’s on lots of podcasts and YouTube offerings.

Oh and for me the most encouraging thing about her story is that she went from being confined to a tilt wheelchair to riding her bicycle again. Following her healthy diet and protocol during my time on prednisone made me feel empowered!