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Moon face help

Posted , 13 users are following.

Guest
Guest

My face and neck area have been terribly swollen for about four months. I have GCA and have begun to drop my pred dosage. I am now at 25 mgs for one month and will then drop to 20. Can you share your experiences with the moon face with me? On what pred dosage did your face begin to return to normal...how long did it take? I actually feel a bit better than I look! Recently a close friend did not recognize me. I will be on the very slow taper after 20 mgs. Thanks ahead of time, Ann11195

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  • jennissw
    jennissw Guest

    Posted

    I Hated not looking like me. When I got to 10Mg I felt I had to do something. I began face excercise said which helped but, then I discovered the tanaka massage on you tube which promises to get rid of facial fat. It's actually a lymph drainage.  After 3 months my face looks almost normal. I have also cut down to8.5 mg which helps more . I also did a very low carb diet and lost almost 2 stones. 
  • margo25238
    margo25238 Guest

    Posted

    ...oh yes, i am experiencing the same thing.  Along with the moonface, i am very bloated and no longer have a defined waistline - so depressing - can someone who has experienced this tell me it will change???

     

    • EileenH
      EileenH margo25238

      Posted

      It will change - and it may change much sooner if you alter your diet. In the last 3 years I have lost 19kg (nearly 40 lbs), the moon face has gone, the midriff bulge has gone and my waist is back and I need a shoe-size smaller again. I'm wearing clothes I last wore before I started pred 6 years ago and have even got some from 10 years ago! I did change to a different form of pred - but I also cut carbs drastically and have managed to lose weight slowly but steadily. If I have a period with more carbs for whatever reason (visitors, being away from home and unable to control what is put in front of me) I don't lose weight, back to normal diet and it resumes or in a week or so I lose the couple of pounds I have put on by eating carbs.

      Pred changes the way our body processes carbohydrates of all sorts. It causes the body to store the excess glucose formed from carbs as fat, and in particular places: around the face, around the midriff and as a hump at the back of the neck. Carbs also encourage the body to retain fluid and that leads to more bloating.

      I am not the only person on the forums who has tried cutting carbs - and most who have done so have either lost weight or didn't put weight on despite being on pred. It is definitely worth trying. You may not eat much in terms of calories - but the amount of carbohydrate may simply be too much. Most days I eat less than 50g of useable carbohydrate - when I eat more I don't lose weight for a few days. I eat meat and fish with salad and loads of veggies that are grown above ground. Very little fruit. Fruit and vegetables that are grown below ground have a lot of carbohydrate. Whether it is "healthy" carbs or not has nothing to do with it - it is all processed in the body to glucose and the pred has the effet of turning it to fat. On your wait and hips and your face.

    • margo25238
      margo25238 EileenH

      Posted

      Wonderful reply - just what i need to keep me from stay depressed over the change in my appearance.  Thank you for all the information and for your time.  I am currently eating the Atkins Diet, very low carbs.  Will stay on this until i lose the excess weight.  One thing i do notice, not every day, but occasionally, the moonface recedes.  I am on 6mgs right now, down from 20.

       

    • lodgerUK_NE
      lodgerUK_NE margo25238

      Posted

      If I had wanted to diet the 5:2 is better than Atkins.

      However I had GCA and had the moonface and was sad when it disappeared as my wrinkles came back and so did the 'chicken neck'.

      The 'peach fuzz' disappeared very quickly, it just came and went.

      I put in 6 stone and it went away as I slowly reduced the pred.

      I must admit I did nothing except take the pred......my sight was too important to worry about weight gain, moonface and friends who said ' you are too fat and need to lose weight'.  They received short shrift and a lesson in GCA.

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