Red Wine

and I need to proofread. 

 

Oh, it was not a good experience!

Was this one the first time you had a headache after a glass of wine?

I am interested because now and then as I said yesterday to someone here I have one glasse or half a glasse of Pinot Grigio - the white one with my broiled salmon.

Never had any headache.

I have GCA and in daily basis follow a sensible diet.

Now I go for my cup of green tea.

xxxx

Hi iellen32.  No, I've developed a headache every single time I have had beer, wine or sherry since I started pred in June.  MInd you, I think I tend to get headaches from alcohol anyway, but not evey time and certainly not as severely.  On the plus side I have been getting far fewer headaches generally.  Except last night just before I went to bed I suddenly felt as though my left eye had exploded.  I got up around 5 and took some aspirins.  Later I took tylenol, but have felt headachy all day.  This one I blame on the weather, but I've felt so tired, it was a wasted day.

Are you talking about light and occasional alcohol intake as well?

These issues with the body regulating/metabolizing carbohydrate and alcohol, and with symptoms response, are all just quantitative variables that may or may not allow one to indulge one way or the other without negative consequences.

I do a bit of drinking myself, but try to keep it in line with the "credits" I have earned in terms of my ability/capacity to indulge without regret.

My point was to explain how it is the combined capacity of liver, muscle and fat cells to properly assimilate the combined load of carbohydrate and alcohol which needs to be managed to some degree such that we avoid pmr flare-ups while also avoiding the conditions that tend to lead to metabolic syndrome, i.e. the oft-associated ailments of pre-diabetes, heart disease and arthritis.

Exercise (accelerated fasting) gives the body a boost in it's capacity to handle the kinds of food and drink that we enjoy without causing symptoms of over-indulgence.

It sounds like the alcohol is just enough to put your body's regulation over the edge.

The liver cells act as a sort of nervous system in control of digestion and hunger, and can for example send chemical signals through the bloodstream which act on the digestive system to slow the absorption of nutrients that you have already eaten.

Receptiveness to the taste of food and drink, along with a slowing of the digestive system are the first sort of response to signals the lever sends out that it is at capacity. The slowing of digestion manifests as reflux.

It is the combined effects of alcohol and nutrients that the liver responds to, the total "caloric load" if you will, that challenges the liver's uptake/storage capacity.

Fat cells help balance the liver's functioning by responding to the insulin signal from the pancreas.  The fat cells absorb converted carbohydrate and so reduce the liver's need to absorb as much, which spares some of the liver's capacity to regulate the entry of nutrients and alcohol into the bloodstream.

One's fat cell count does not change after the teenage years, but the responsiveness of fat cells to insulin changes with one's body weight.

Thinks like alcohol or the seasonal reduction of physical activity thus both act to reduce the body's capacity to consume nutrients, so symptoms of acid reflux, inflammatory responses and even the lack of a taste for good wine can thus be more common around this time of year.

In addition, when fat cells become more saturated and thus less responsive to insulin, and/or when one's muscle mass is reduced (thus also less able to absorb carbohydrate in response to insulin), a continuously-elevated level of insulin results that is associated with cyclic blood sugar swings and loss of energy. In this way it can make for a sort of chain-reaction scenario, where carbohydrate cravings  and a loss of energy for exercise are both acting to further challenge the natural regulation of blood chemistry. At the limit, certain individuals will be at risk for diabetes, which so often goes hand in hand with cardiovascular disease.

It should be obvious then that any intake of alcohol may need to be balanced against reduced macro-nutrient intake and/or increased levels of exercise, so as not to disturb the body's critical system of regulation.

It should also explain why wine tends to taste better before a meal than after. I've stopped at wineries during hours-long bike rides, and I can tell you that the wine never tasted better, with even the dry wines tasting almost sweet!

Dan, thirst helps.  I learned to like beer one evening after a long dehydrating day!

My goodness Dan, thanks for info.  I'm not sure I understood it all, but have always had bad Reactive Hypoglycemia, so much I can't eat fruit not sugar without consequences, yet wine and straight alcohol never affected my blood sugar.  Now with PMR and all these drugs I can't tell sometimes if it's hypoglycemia or just fatigue.  I'll eat sugar stuff or fruit hoping to gain more energy!!! but it never works! 

I've lost 22 lbs. only weighing 117 now.  I crave fat! And salt now.  So I'm wondering about what you said about the fat cells. The Pred has really atrophied my muscles and perhaps fat.

I worry some about diabeties, since my pancreas has worked overdrive most of my life.  Funny how stopping the gluten and grain carbs I am doing better with blood sugars.  

But I also read lately blood sugar can relate to low thyroid /Hashimoto's as well.

thanks for your interesting post.

You seem to be quite knowledgeable regarding the physiology of what you are describing. Are you working in the field of medicine?

 

I'm the same way with sugar.  If I have two margueritas with my taco dinner, I leave the place feeling hungrier than when I arrived!

Drinking a rich Starbucks blended drink does the very same thing, so it's not the alcohol that makes my blood sugar plummet.

The alcohol will perhaps exacerbate one's intolerance of sugar however, as it limits the liver's effectiveness at mopping up a load of sugar, so the pancreas then has to produce more insulin to control the inrush of sugar.

The insulin stays araound for a lot longer than it is needed to control the sugar, this because the system isn't calibrated to handle such high-glycemic foods as modern humans ingest.

As I understand it, about a quarter of the population can tolerate high-glycemic foods, while another quarter of the population is quite intolerant of high-glycemic foods.  The other half are in the middle, tolerating high-glycemic foods in moderation.

There are times when my daily exercise has been going to plan when my glycemic response seems normal, suggesting to me that this is when my liver's and muscles capacity is at it's best, haviing been largely emptied of excess carb uptake due to the hours of daily bike riding.

BTW, the liver and muscles store carbohydrate in the form of glycogen, which is an oxygen-boosted carbohydrate molecule which can allow the muscles to deliver higher power output without taxing one's limited respiratory capacity, as when fleeing a tiger or perhaps hunting wild game. So this could benefit survival, and so has become part of our metabolic system's ways, whether or not our present lifestyles benefit or are perhaps hindered by it.

Since you have lost weight, your fat cells are probably working more efficiently in response to smaller infusions of insulin from your pancreas, but if muscles are atrophied then this muscular form of regulation capacity will have been reduced. So be sure to exercise any and all muscles that will tolerate exercise, and adjust the routine as needed. An adequate dose of pred that allows one to get their exercise routine up and running should allow one to taper as quickly as the pmr will allow.

So hard to exercise. I love mornings, that's when I used to be able to exercise, now with PMR I really fear it due to pains and fear harming the tendons inflammed and I'm SO tired now. So frustrating. I have to take thyroid meds before breakfast so I can't get my Prednisone in until later and it doesn't take affect until probably noon.  Bummer. 

But today I painted a fence! Hope I didn't over due it!

take care. Happy cycling! I hope someday to do that again!!! 

Google this Layne

Effects of Evening vs Morning Levothyroxine Intake A Randomized Double-blind Crossover Trial

They actually conclude "Levothyroxine taken at bedtime significantly improved thyroid hormone levels. Quality-of-life variables and plasma lipid levels showed no significant changes with bedtime vs morning intake. Clinicians should consider prescribing levothyroxine intake at bedtime."

There is also a thread on this site discussing the concept of taking thyroid meds at night:

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/taking-levothyroxine-at-night-improved-my-life--226315

No, I'm not working in any medicne-related field right now, though I do have a pretty good understanding of biochemical-related topics from having worked in a hospital blood lab and having worked in mainly process development (as an engineer) within the pharma industry.

I've had an interest in diet and exercise for a quite long time and have done a lot of reading on these subjects.