Once upon a time....

As an addendum:

I'm six months in, started on 50mg of pred, dropped 5mg every two weeks until I got to 25mg, and now down to 12.5mg which I'm struggling with (actually went back up to 15mg this morning after bad pain and fatigue for the past couple of days).

I am without a doubt at the beginning of Cushings sydrome (go me!)

An addendum to the addendum.....forgot to mention the FARTS and the (eww) poo.... lolol

I vaguely recall many moons ago eating at a fabulous Indian restaurant and wondering what would become of the two couples that ordered and ate two banquets for four.

What could drive otherwise sane appearing people to indulge so recklessly and excessively.  Would they simply feel bloated and annoyed, or would they be tormented by by guilt.

How pleasant, after all these years, to learn that it was nothing more than gastronomic delight. Simply an ambitious tribute to the chef.

Though we did wonder if the excess of food was in some way fuelled by imbibing alcoholic beverages.

There's perhaps a small clue in this much later forum post. NUTS sometimes refers to "Not Using The Steps". Part of a 12-step recovery programme. Could it be that being driven NUTS is some euphemistic cry for help. For a disorder unrelated to PMR.

Or perhaps, after all these years (though I don't know how many even though I was apparently there), there is some yearning for a life long lost. A life long ago, when the stomach was elastic, when bloat was simply a 12 hour episode not a sentence.

Perhaps as simple as the first time bloated on excessive Indian food at least had a known useful cause whereas the current dilemma doesn't even have the enjoyment of eating anything.There's no fun in being bloated without having eaten much. And perhaps a lingering doubt that in current times at least one of the four would find it difficult to eat half a banquet, let alone even thinking of two.

How sad is that?

I'd recommend eating more. Just to see if the bloat gets worse or is in some mysterious way relieved. But then again, that's perhaps not wise.

I definitely wouldn't recommend eating more Indian food as the farts may become more frequent and overpowering than already. And avoid raw onions.

Perhaps I should mention in a disclaimer that I'm only mildly suffering from Cushing's, that I'm not remotely alcoholic, not even a little insane, and always hungry. Though I do seem to oscillate between pred highs and lows. If this little post offends anyone I shall claim it as a pred side effect. The tablets made me do it.

On a very feeble sounding finale, may I wonder if you've considered probiotic yoghurt. Since a daily dose at breakfast marginally reduced my stomach pains I've begun recommending it as the universal panacea for everything.

I've yet to try it as Lassi but feel that a fellow Indian food enthusiast may consider it more so than those who have never massively over eaten for no other reason than stroking the taste buds. They really don't understand. .... A sort of gastronomic Love's Labour's Lost.

Not really much help with "is it pred or something else". Hopefully someone more sensible than I will be along soon.

I had the same experience. Have commented to my friend that I was having a baby. Except one problem, I'm a man. Gained 40 pounds this last year.

I had the same experience. Have commented to my friend that I was having a baby. Except one problem, I'm a man. Gained 40 pounds this last year.

Forgive me for sounding plain boring after Julian's post!  Among the many possible side effects of Pred is fluid retention and that, in turn, results in more fat being deposited in various parts of the body, incudling the stomach, between shoulder blades etc.  Some people will be affected more than others and will need to pay extra attention to their diets to reduce this side effect.  Including lots of known diuretic foods can help, such as asparagus, garlic, fennel, melon and celery, and of course drinking plenty of water.  I echo Julian's mention of yoghurt to give some protection to the stomach - I never went a day without a small pot of 'live' (probiotic) fat-free yoghurt with my breakfast before taking the steroids.  I had always eaten some yoghurt pre-PMR but following a really nasty reaction to the PPI stomach protector pills diagnosed alongside the steroids, these were stopped and replaced with the daily yoghurt with great success.

And being totally boring too - do please check this with your doctor, Having PMR and/or being on pred doesn't excuse us from other disorders... 

prednisone has caused severe digestive distress for me- severe reflux and lately, inability to process food well (this is a polite way of saying all that you've said). lots of farts, bloating, etc. my docs are just puzzled (as they were with the reflux, the nerves in the esophagus that were inflamed with the pred and now this). They just keep saying "we need to keep working to get you off this drug" (duh) and offering me drugs for the symptoms. *sigh* trying to keep the number of drugs I take to double digits .

I would suggest giving your gut a break with some probiotics (straight up not in dairy) and eating just plain crackers for a couple of days, no soup or salt. should help reboot the system. 

and a stay on the sofa . 

Thanks everyone. After two weeks of severe discomfort I developed a 'bad tummy' - it's still going but the bloating and pain has gone. I don't know what the cause is, but suspect it's either the pred or my diet.

Just to be sure I'm cutting out all gluten and dairy for a month to see if that settles my tummy. I'm doing this because of the increased risk of developing another autoimmune disorder manifesting. I've had to up my dose from 12.5mg to 15mg as I've also been unwell for the past two weeks. If it hasn't settled in a day or so I'll have to go to the Dr. AGAIN. She's becomming my best friend!

Food is now down to the basics after cutting out all sugar, seed oils (polyunstarated) and processed food six months ago!

Let's hope some of the weight starts coming off!

Ah, yum, I do remember being a student at Edinburgh  50 plus years ago, and the only good food I could find was Indian food. Otherwise it was greasy fried potatoes with fried eggs and peas at the refectory.  I had been raised partly on Mexican food, so the transition to Indian was easy, the transition to Scottish food difficult. 

      Anyway, remember to add some Khombu seaweed to any splitpeas or beans that you cook in order to reduce the gas. 

     If you give up dairy, how can you eat yogurt??  My feeling is that your problems are probably not due to your diet but to prednisone.  Do at least try yogurt for a few days before you give up dairy. 

       Also you don' t need to eliminate a particular food more than a week or two- not long term.  I didn't know that the last time I went on an elimination diet and I eliminated all the usual suspects for a couple of months, much longer than I needed to according to the dietition.  Turned out I wasn't allergic to any food.