Has anyone tried the keto diet to help with the pain, fatigue, etc?
If you did, did you have good results? Or did it make things worse? How strict did you have to be on the diet?
Also, is it a good choice if you deal with major issues with low blood sugar already? I struggle enough with that already and definitely don’t need a diet that will drop it even more!
I have had some recently tell me I need to “go Keto” and it would take care of things for me. I’ve been around the block enough times to know it is not a sure-fire cure-all, but willing to try if it might help. But I did the gluten free for almost a year and it didn’t help, in fact many of my issues got worse, but that could have been other things and not the gluten free too. There was a lot going on at that point.
Guess I am skeptical that if the gluten free didn’t help, that keto will either, but like I said, I don’t want to pass up anything that might help either.
As you mentioned, having other issues may make it a bad fit for you. I would say talk to your Doc first before going on something like that.
The only advice I got from my Rheum was to lean to a Mediterranean diet. It goes a long way towards meeting an anti-inflammatory diet without being restrictive or extreme.
I don’t stuck to it often enough but I can say that when I’m eating right, it made a big difference in how I felt
EnjoyLife, thank you! Right now I don’t have a doctor, but after doing some more digging and talking to my family, especially my oldest daughter, I am not making the change to keto. It sounds like it could potentially be pretty dangerous for me with my low blood sugar.
I am going to make some dietary changes though after talking to my daughter. About a year ago she was diagnosed with a MTHFR gene mutation. I did a little research for her, but didn’t really give it much more thought outside of its affects on her (it is a cause of miscarriages). I just never really made the connection. She, on the other hand, did make that connection. She has spent the last year learning how to live with it and also how it has probably been affecting our family for generations.
Her doctor’s told her that without seeing me they can’t be certain, but they suspect that at least some of my trouble with the chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, depression and anxiety, and all the rest can probably be tied back to that mutation. Other factors in my life, of course, play into it all as well, but that missing gene is likely the starting factor and the others just built on top of it.
So, as a start I am making some changes to how I eat. In theory, it is easy - in practice, my daughter said it is sometimes a challenge. The basic idea is that I switch from a “white flour, enriched” diet to a non-enriched diet, since that missing gene affects the bodies ability to process the synthetic form of niacin that is put into everything that is enriched. Since my body can’t process it, it builds up in my body causing trouble.
She did warn me though that likely at this point I may not see much “improvement” in my pain and such. My body is reacting to the damage that has been done and that damage may not be repairable, but we hope that with the diet changes (and eventually I will add in some supplements) that we can slow/stop further damage.
I am glad your sister has had good success with gluten-free. My youngest daughter is GF and says it helps her. I tried GF for almost a year and didn’t see good results, but I now know it wasn’t a good fit for me. For some it is a lifesaver though and I am glad they have so many options now.
I got “burned” by the gluten-free craze a few years ago. It swept through the church community here after one of the families had a child who was gluten intolerant. The family decided that they would all go GF - would be easier and the child wouldn’t feel so different - not a bad idea, really. But then it sort of exploded like wildfire when “key” people in the church decided that first one then another really needed to go GF. Pretty soon they had most of the church eating GF - it sort of became the “cure-all” for any and every problem - real or imagined, accurate or not.
Ah - No, there certainly is NOT a magic solution “One size fits all” diet for everyone!
If the keto diet is like the Atkins diet, you’re eating things that you never would eat on a traditional diet.
Like EnjoyLife, my hubby’s doc said a Mediterranean diet would be best for his body/heart.
Yup, I’m on Mediterranean too. Aside from vegetarian and having eliminated loads of what I don’t tolerate… Doesn’t make my fibro any better tho, just doesn’t add even more. @strugglinginKs A gluten free church, lol, a new ‘religion’… people *telling others what’s good for them…?
After a quick look Atkins means low carb, but unlimited proteins and saturated fats, so is probably the unhealthiest of the 3. Keto diet means low carb (10%), but high fats (70%), whilst the Mediterranean diet has more carbs and concentrates on unsaturated fats.
Interestingly this site propagates trying to combine both and shows differences, similarities etc.:
I guess I should have added that i have Sjogrens too. That Mediterranean diet helps the autoimmune part a lot.
The fibro pain is a real killer at times.
I get worried when people jump on gluten free, or any other diet that may be really helpful for some conditions but not for people who don’t have that. In our case, I feel we need to proceed with caution.
Doesn’t make my fibro any better tho, just doesn’t add even more.