Diet and GBS

Hi Caroline,
Don’t forget to feed your soul. Life is short. Eat dessert first, enjoy real butter, nothing tastes as good as bacon,

I am a firm believer in the benefits of a healthy diet. Whether or not you ever get “well” again, what you eat makes a huge difference in quality of life. Believe you me, I love chocolate and any kind of cookie but I know that all that sugar lowers the immune system and my brain is much more “foggy” when I indulge. I am not fanatical but I do load up on the vegetables, fruits, grains and a few nuts. Why, because I’ve “tested” my diet enough times to know that, for me, I feel the best when eating this way. And don’t forget lots of filtered water 🙂 Good luck.

I try to include much healthier foods now. I had been doing this before I got sick, but not nearly as many conscious decisions as now. More protein, vitamins, way less fast foods (which my system would get ticked off at me for eating anyhow). I have developed quite a sweet tooth which I assume is due to taking desipramine. But I feel as long as I keep an eye on that it wont cause problems.

I used to workout 4 days a week prior to GBS and I ate very health. Following certain percentage of Fats/Carbs/Protein… Multivitamin, Vitamin C, Calcium, Glucosamine, Creatine, Protein Powder, EFAs and Magnesium (I have a magnesium deficiency). I ate 5 small meals a day, paying special attention to the PWO (Post Workout shake 2:1 simple carbs to protein) and PPWO (Post Post Workout meal high carbs).

I am getting back to that but not yet taking any of my suppliments because I still have 300mg capsuls of Neurontin until I figure out how high to go so I am taking many, many, many pills a day the way it is. I just started taking Vitamin C and Zinc though as we get into the cold/flu season to help with my immune system. I do feel much better overall pre and post GBS if I eat more health although I dont feel different GBS-wise weather I am eating fast food or healty.

Hi Caroline,

Ben, my fiance with GBS 2/06, was hospitalized for three days last week. On Sunday, he woke up in the morning with the normal symptoms of a cold, but by that night his entire body was shaking uncontrollably like the nerves were out of whack. After all the testing, his doctors finally decided that the shaking and trembling were partially due to low magnesium and partially due to GBS residuals. After reading about the effects of low magnesium on the Internet and finding out what foods had magnesium in them, we’ve decided to watch his diet closely and make sure his magnesium level doesn’t get low again. Ben and I tend to eat more vegetables than anything else, and we thought we were both healthy, but, apparently, one of us was still missing some important vitamins. Now I stick a Centrex in the pill container along with the Neurontin and Quinine so he doesn’t forget to take it everyday.

Shannon

[QUOTE=Shannon]Hi Caroline,

Ben, my fiance with GBS 2/06, was hospitalized for three days last week. On Sunday, he woke up in the morning with the normal symptoms of a cold, but by that night his entire body was shaking uncontrollably like the nerves were out of whack. After all the testing, his doctors finally decided that the shaking and trembling were partially due to low magnesium and partially due to GBS residuals. After reading about the effects of low magnesium on the Internet and finding out what foods had magnesium in them, we’ve decided to watch his diet closely and make sure his magnesium level doesn’t get low again. Ben and I tend to eat more vegetables than anything else, and we thought we were both healthy, but, apparently, one of us was still missing some important vitamins. Now I stick a Centrex in the pill container along with the Neurontin and Quinine so he doesn’t forget to take it everyday.

Shannon[/QUOTE]

Also keep in mind that certain things can lead to magnesium loss in a persons body such as alcohol, sugar, caffeine and diuretic drugs.

Not that I didn’t eat healthy before, since dealing with GBS, I have become more aware of what I do to my body, whether eating, exercising, etc. I take supplements to ensure that I get what my body is supposed to get – including what I believe from research, I am naturally lacking. I DO NOT pass up that chocolate cake however because I realize that life is too short to miss out on the finer things. I want to be able to say I did what I could without sacrificing the “nice” things. If I can’t celebrate my son’s 6th birthday by “pigging out” on chocolate cake, then what is the point?? Live life well – I am 44 years old – my father died at 44yrs after being exposed to asbestos at the age of 16. What is the point? LIVE LIFE!

When Nate first got GBS, I asked what vitamins could help him.
I was told Soy Lecithin, Folic Acid, B Complex, Viamin C and a Multi Vitamin to cover any other bases.

Caroline, what happened to Ben happened to me last night. I started shaking uncontrollably and was taken to the hospital, by which time the shaking stopped. I had been shaking for about 30 mins when my husband called 911. The tests taken were for my heart because I had taken 2 nitroclycirins about 20 mins. apart for what felt like an angina attack. The cardiologist didn’t think it was angina and didn’t know what caused the shaking. He released me after 3 hrs saying my heart was good. Now I’m wondering if what caused the shaking is a combination of 1) taking diuretics for hbp, 2) not taking magnesium because it affects my MG -myasthenia gravis. Will check this out with my neurologist. Thanks for your clues. GBS 5/05.

Peg

Peg,

I read your post and wanted to give you an update on my fiance, Ben. He had GBS three months before you (2/05).

During his recent hospitalization, he was given Quinine to stop the shaking. Since his shaking stopped almost immediately after taking it, he was given a prescription for it. He’s still taking Quinine after two weeks because he feels like he still needs it, but he’s doing much better now and is down to just one pill a day. If you can’t get a script for it (we had to call a few pharmacies to have it filled because no one carries it anymore), you can drink tonic water with Quinine. After talking to a couple of people with similar issues, it seems this is just one of those residuals that some people have and some people don’t. I’m pretty sure Ben’s was brought on by a cold he had at the same time. Do you feel like you’re coming down with something?

Shannon