Good days and bad days

Posted by lanieg @lanieg, Dec 31, 2022

Hi everyone
I was diagnosed a month ago with PMR. Woke up one morning and had extreme pain in both upper arms, shoulders and neck. Also in my right leg. Have since been on 20 mg prednisone per day and 100 mg 3x a day gabapentin. Both have helped but I find that I can have a good day with little pain and the next day I can barely walk or lift my arms. I've started a food journal to see if that's a factor. Has anyone else experienced this when first diagnosed? Thanks for your input.

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@megz

I eat strictly low carb, but like you, need something a bit sweet occasionally. That's when I have a bowl of diced canteloupe - high in potassium - with greek yoghurt. If a couple of dates is working for you, good. Your PCP won't know how other people may react to a particular food or medicine. Many people just follow the current "superfood" ideas without knowing what oxalates are, or how they combine with calcium to form calcium oxalates.

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Plain yogurt with bananas is my other go to dessert - I'll try cantaloupe!

Eating "clean" these days has diminished my taste for any junk food, not that I indulged that often in the past.

Reading labels has been eye opening. Some organic teas even list "natural" ingredients that look a bit suspect.

Shopping the perimeter of the store these days.

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@megz

I eat strictly low carb, but like you, need something a bit sweet occasionally. That's when I have a bowl of diced canteloupe - high in potassium - with greek yoghurt. If a couple of dates is working for you, good. Your PCP won't know how other people may react to a particular food or medicine. Many people just follow the current "superfood" ideas without knowing what oxalates are, or how they combine with calcium to form calcium oxalates.

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Everything seems to have positive/negative attributes.

I think moderation is the key - a varied diet seems to work for me.

This is from a study that the University of Colorado.

"In most cases, a low-oxalate diet is not necessary. In fact, it is recommended to include many oxalate-containing plant foods in the diet as evidence suggests that these foods play a vital role in disease prevention. However, those who experience frequent oxalate kidney stones or have certain genetic and digestive disorders may want to speak with a physician and registered dietitian for guidance on treatment, which may include appropriately monitoring oxalate consumption."

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@nancy53

Plain yogurt with bananas is my other go to dessert - I'll try cantaloupe!

Eating "clean" these days has diminished my taste for any junk food, not that I indulged that often in the past.

Reading labels has been eye opening. Some organic teas even list "natural" ingredients that look a bit suspect.

Shopping the perimeter of the store these days.

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We seem to have a similar focus of eating "clean" and checking for and avoiding additives as much as possible. I'm also suspicious of things that use buzzwords to imply they're healthy when the opposite may be true.

For example, in Australia the respected Heart Foundation for decades certified processed low fat products as "heart healthy" with a Red Tick certification so buyers could easily see the products. The products replaced fats with carbohydrate fillers and flavour enhancing additives, making them low fat and moderate to high carb. They were more expensive but many people bought them religiously on the Foundation's recommendation. The certification fees were the Foundation's biggest source of income.

*** In 2017 after a world-wide mega-analysis of heart disease dietary risk factors in clinical trials, it was discovered that excessive carbohydrate (sugar) consumption was the biggest cause of heart disease, rather than saturated animal fats. The findings were definite.

The findings were hardly reported on the news, then everything went quiet. Red Tick products suddenly disappeared from shelves and the certification was dropped with hardly a word from the Heart Foundation. A generation of people had been conned into eating things that harmed rather than helped their hearts.

A lot of dieticians still give the old bad recommendation to eat processed low fat foods with high carb - they have not been sufficiently re-educated. And many manufacturers of processed foods who paid a fortune to find ways to replace fats with carbs in their products have not changed their recipes.

That's my long way of saying I'm with you on being suspicious about claims that foods or products are healthy, even when the claim comes from an individual or organisation who should know.

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@megz

We seem to have a similar focus of eating "clean" and checking for and avoiding additives as much as possible. I'm also suspicious of things that use buzzwords to imply they're healthy when the opposite may be true.

For example, in Australia the respected Heart Foundation for decades certified processed low fat products as "heart healthy" with a Red Tick certification so buyers could easily see the products. The products replaced fats with carbohydrate fillers and flavour enhancing additives, making them low fat and moderate to high carb. They were more expensive but many people bought them religiously on the Foundation's recommendation. The certification fees were the Foundation's biggest source of income.

*** In 2017 after a world-wide mega-analysis of heart disease dietary risk factors in clinical trials, it was discovered that excessive carbohydrate (sugar) consumption was the biggest cause of heart disease, rather than saturated animal fats. The findings were definite.

The findings were hardly reported on the news, then everything went quiet. Red Tick products suddenly disappeared from shelves and the certification was dropped with hardly a word from the Heart Foundation. A generation of people had been conned into eating things that harmed rather than helped their hearts.

A lot of dieticians still give the old bad recommendation to eat processed low fat foods with high carb - they have not been sufficiently re-educated. And many manufacturers of processed foods who paid a fortune to find ways to replace fats with carbs in their products have not changed their recipes.

That's my long way of saying I'm with you on being suspicious about claims that foods or products are healthy, even when the claim comes from an individual or organisation who should know.

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It's up to us!

The closer to nature the better.

My inflammation has gotten better in the last month.

Can't wait to be in remission. This is a horrible condition.

Bless us.

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