I have posted on here a few times, but mostly read the threads for encouragement. I have autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Basically my immune system eats my red blood cells. They put me on a high dose of prednisone and then taper it off slowly. I had two different doctors tell me to pretty much forget losing weight and expect to gain weight while on Prednisone. I decided to stick with my low carb WOE this time and before Christmas I lost 17 lbs.! I just wanted to let everyone know this WOE works even when you're on medication that should make you gain weight. I depend so much on this website for encouragement and want to thank everyone for their posts!

Shannyn

Shannyn,

Good for you pursuing your way of eating in spite of being discouraged. I was put on estrogen replacement therapy about 6 months before I started this way of eating. At my one year checkup, my gyn was astounded that I'd actually lost weight. She said patients invariably gain when put on HRT. I think it slowed me down some, but definitely did not stop me.

Don't be such a stranger.

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Shannyn, I can hardly believe this...My Mom has that as well, Most people have never heard of it, and just try to get blood drawn! Luckily my sister is a med tech and can draw mom's blood right beside the machine and knows to keep it heated. How long have you had this? Is yours affected by cold? Mom's is that way and the temp at which her blood reacts is increasing with her age(it reacts around 72 degrees now). It's so strange when she goes to the grocery store with gloves on and her cheeks an nose still turn purple.

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Dragonmom
155/123/130 (highest 175)

Well done, Shannyn! Losing 17 pounds is great!

A doctor put me on a short course of pred not too long after I started this WOE. I'd asked the doctor about the pred interfering with my weight loss efforts and she said she didn't think it would stop me from losing weight.
I couldn't say what the dose was, and dose was tapered off right away, but I lost weight, too. In fact, while I was taking the medication, I felt very energetic - cleared out the cupboards, rearranged the furniture two or three times, pruned all the tree. Alas, it wore off before I got to the closets, LOL!

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

I have tons of "nervous" energy when taking pred nisone too--DH loved it...I baked cakes, cookies, bread, you name it and cleaned non-stop--I almost never slept while taking it and I did gain...invariably I gained...but it was from the constand hunger it caused forme--I took it daily for almost a whole year...NOvember 98-Sept 99 and I was pulled off rather shortly then...almost too fast in several doctor's opinions, but my blood pressure skyrocketed in a few short weeks and my chem 21's were way out of whack all the sudden...IN three weeks I was totally off...by the following January I had a face again and I was no longer considered high risk with the chem panels, but my blood pressure took a while longer to regulate and my asthma took some weird turns in that itme which took more meications, but they avoided prednisone for the most part! I must have gained 30 or 40 lbs in that 10 months...and then there was teh "moon face" and the belly wiehgt which I had never really had before then...I ams till fighting that side effect...but losing would have been possible I suppose if I had been in the mindset to do so. especially short term as the hungry/munchy side effects take a few weeks to develop...I never have a problem when It ake like 10 days but over 15 and I am a food processing machine...go figure!

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Lori

232/190/130
My other journal http://www.lowcarbeating.com/bb/showthread.php?t=1130

Shannyn, congratulations! 17 pounds is awesome. You are to be patted on the back for facing your condition with courage and determination! I know nothing about that disease. Is it curable?

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Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

Mine isn't affected by cold - I was just reading some info. about it on the internet and it said that mostly older people's hemolytic anemia is affected by cold. I am only 32 and pretty much shocked the hematologist that I have it at my age. It isn't curable, but hopefully will be managed with a really low dose of prednisone. I do have the moon face, but it seems to be going away at the dosage I'm on now. My drs. plan is to keep me on this for six months and take me off and see what happens. They've done this once, but it came back with all the symptoms. Maybe this time will be different!!

My mom and SIL are both doing Weight Watchers and wanted me to switch to that, but I knew how hungry I get while on the medication. That's one of the main reasons I stayed with low carb, because I knew I could eat more filling foods (meat, cheese, nuts and some peanut butter). I think it worked much better than WW would have. I'm at a slight stall right now, but working hard to break it!

Good luck with this new treatment! I sure hope you get good results, with the medical and weight parts!

My mom was about 42 when she was diagnosed in 1973 and has been dealing with it since...she is now 74. So, no it's not curable, but you can definately live with it.

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Dragonmom
155/123/130 (highest 175)

Shannyn, thank God they can at least control this. I will also hope that this low carb way of eating may actually help your condition . . . like it does for diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. Also, maybe adding 4 cups/day of green tea to your daily intake will help, too! At least it won't hurt. Green Tea is really amazing stuff. If you have to avoid caffeine, the decaf green tea works, too. Green Tea has A LOT of antioxidants. Pop over to the Green Tea challenge thread (the old one) and read about the benefits.

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Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

I am thankful that it is under control!! My family and friends blamed the low carb diet (of course) for causing this in the first place. I asked the dr. and he assured me there's not much I can do to help or hurt it and he felt low carbing was fine. That was a huge relief to me! I can't imagine dieting any other way now and I've done Weight Watchers several times. I do take a green tea supplement, but I haven't actually gotten into drinking the tea. I love the supplements and need to buy some decaf tea bags and try them. My DH loves tea and drinks quite a bit, including the green tea. I read that green tea can affect blood levels, so I also asked the dr. about this and he said I should be OK with green tea. Thanks for the tip - I'll buy the tea bags when I'm at the store next!

This is great!
As a nurse I often see the weight gain. It is nice for me to be able to tell people that ask the yes! You can lose the wt. lc while on prednisone.

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emijan