Immune system

Eek I get more and more confused by the day with this silly affliction. Currently suffering with really bad oral thrush. Doc says it's common in long term steroid use so much so she's put the med straight on repeat as she says she has no doubt I'll need it again. She tells me it's a sign that the immune system is struggling due to the pred. So here I am assuming ok I need to boost the immune system otherwise I'm going to catch all and everything. But yes what you say makes sense also. The pred is depleting the immune system thus covering the symptoms. If I boost it the symptoms will return. Ok so I have Vit D and magnesium which I can return to. The Adcal (calcium) made me terribly not able to go to the loo (sorry) so I take live yog twice a day and use at least a pint of milk so can I assume I'm ok where calcium is concerned?

10 out of 10 for being a quick learner!

Calcium - whether 2 yogs and milk is enough I'm not sure. You can calculate it using dietary tables though. Just looked: pint of milk - 700mg, a yog about 100mg, so 900mg just there. What veg do you eat? Other things with calcium? You aren't far off the 1200mg the 2 AdCals would give you. 

If you can't take AdCal there are others you could try, including soluble ones which would probably help the bunged-upness. But you will need vit D separately as you don't get that from diet and can't guarantee getting it from sun. Ask your GP to check your vit D level - it should be at its highest at present, it will only fall during the winter. Here they tell us to take at least 2000 IU/day through the winter - and that's in Italy where we still should get some from sun even in winter, unlike the UK.

Sardines by the bucket load Eileen and salmon, I seem to have a craving for fish for some reason. Chicken, red meat a couple of times a week. Almonds and walnuts in a home made granola I put on my yog in the morning. Green leafy veg, two lots a day usually brocolli/cabbage/kale or spinach. Eggs. I'm being really good with my eats I think and actually finding it enjoyable. I do miss my bread though. We make our own and it was so easy to have a few slices each day, now I ration to weekend only. But hey it's nearly weekend!  

I've been told to take 2000 IU Vitamin D3.  Also  to keep up the dairy intake although studies have shown that the body more easily absorbs calcium from plant sources like broccoli.  I eat both plant and dairy.  Make sure you do not eat too much animal protein as that can interfere with calcium absorption, or even leach calcium from the bones.  Hope this advice works better for you than it appears to have done for me.   

Although I've also been told I'd be a lot worse off if I hadn't been following this protocol!

No - really can't "do" sardines! I KNOW the bones are part of the calcium intake ... But the rest sounds really good! 

I keep a covered dish of hazelnuts and almonds on the table - but almonds seem to have become a scarcity here and the price is getting to silly levels. Is it the same with you?

Can't say I've noticed a scarcity...yet. Weird you do because I thought they grew them in Italy. Maybe a bad harvest?  I find nuts really expensive in general and the supermarkets just sell piddly little packets unless of course you buy the super salted heavilly roasted snack ones which I detest. I buy online at £13.99 for a kilo of organic unblanced almonds. As I ration myself (due to greed) to a small amount each day, it lasts me quite a while. I justify the cost by balancing against all the biccys I no longer buy.

If I could get organic almonds for £13.99 a kilo I'd think I was in heaven! They were well over 20 euros for loose ones yesterday in Innsbruck - in fairness they aren't much more than £14 for the pre-packed I get (or can't get) here. Maybe it is just waiting for the new harvest and Christmas when they'll be used a lot so the first supplies go to the manufacturers. I buy my nuts from the bakery aisle. 

It's unsalted cashews I want - only source is the little supermarket in the village who sometimes have 50g packs for 99 cents..

That's about £15 I think. It all seems a bit crazy and more when I tell you that having just checked where my almonds are from..... Puglia. Mind you how long since they've been harvested and packed is another guess. You need some visitors to come visit with a trunk in the boot full of unsalted cashews!

I couldn't find any in the UK when I looked - was a limited number of shops on offer mind and we're never anywhere long enough to order online at the time.

Puglia has just had some really rubbish weather the last few weeks - maybe the harvest is late...

No - July it seems. Must be another answer. Maybe it was almonds that suffered a dodgy harvest this year - it was olives last year.

Hello tina nd karen. Karen, I understood that you take turmeric (curcumin?) as an antiinflammatory, not as an immune system supplement. I am taking 3g of curcumin a day to help fight inflammation. I have no way of knowing if it is actually helping. Does anyone have an opinion based on experience?

Apparently studies have shown that curcumin is effective in treating inflammation, at least as an extract, as it constitutes only a small part of the turmeric.  Information about this is posted on arthritis foundation sites.

Almonds a huge crop in California and being affected by the drought.  

Thanks, Anhaga. But what about PMR? Can curcumin lower the sustaining level of prednisone?

There is a Facebook page which comes up in an internet search.  I'll send you the link as it does mention curcumin as one of a number of inflammation reducing supplements.  The contest of this is finding substances that reduce the dosage of the dangerous drugs. There is a warning about possible gastic side effects and people are advised to use it only under the care of a physician. 

Hi philoso4, Yes I do take turmeric, in organic powder form, made into a paste with oil and back pepper to aid bioavailability and have done for many years, but not for pmr. I have a skin condition called Hidradenitis Suppuritive. I have no idea how my dosage of the active curcumin compares to yours as I take it according to how bad a flare up I'm having at any one time. As a maintenance dose I only use one teaspoon per day in warm milk but have never had to use more than 3 teaspoons. I never found taking it in capsule form helped me, but it definately does in it's natural form. It is not a cure, but certainly has anti inflammatory properties for that condition. Consequently I also do not know if it helps my pmr as I have no idea how I'd be without it. Neither have I read any relevant conclusive reports on it's benefits for pmr. I stumbled across it purely by accident in a Lancet article about an Indian doctor, who on coming to the UK to do a post grad fellowship on dermatology, queried why European and African races suffered from HS and yet there was a very low incidence in Asians. His research very quickly led him to curcumin as it is commonly used for it's medicinal properties in his birth land. There has been some research done on it which can be found on line. You do have to be wary of those commercial sites which make claims of Turmeric/curcumins' panacea qualities. I asked my gp about it when I started on the pred and he was happy for me to continue using it as he says the dose I'm consuming is probably no more than I'd consume in a daily portion of a good curry.