Hi, I was recently recommended a paper on another forum which used a low saturated fat diet to treat TN. This is the study:
They are basing this on the work done to treat MS with low fat diets. According to this study, which is relatively recent, from 2013, there was a really good improvement, with people coming off medications.
However, the study was self-reported, i.e. they rated themselves on how well they had complied to the diet and how much better they felt afterwards. People notoriously lie about what they eat!
Has anyone ever tried an MS-style low sat-fat diet, and if so, what results did you get?
Hi there -
Thanks for sharing this interesting study, although I found that overall there were a lot of confounding variables that make me question their results. It’s probably worth a try though. On a personal note, I am a vegetarian and generally maintain a low fat diet anyways. I have never found there to be any effect from from I eat on the occurence of my TN pain. But each of us is different. I also read a study somewhere that indicated a gluten-free diet may be useful to reduce TN pain. I’ll try to find the link to post. I tried it out for about 6 months (figuring it can’t hurt and it might help), but the only change I noted was a slight weight loss with no change in TN. Keep us posted if you try the LF diet and what your results are, if any. Best wishes for 2017.
Hi Not Again, yes, it’s not the most scientifically rigorous study I’ve ever seen, plus it flies in the face of the ketogenic diets recommended for epilepsy, and the growing data supporting low carb diets for better health. I assume with you being a vegetarian you keep your B12 supplemented? I only mention this because it was B12 shots that put me into remission - I just mention it any time someone might have a B12 shortage, just in case! I’ve been gluten-free for a few months now (doing FODMAPS for IBS) and I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference health-wise other than less bloating! Of course, my TN isn’t active so…
I do feel the gluten-free theory is more because of the current fashion for it than any sound scientific knowledge.
At one time, the US TN Association advocated for a low-inflammation diet similar to the cardiac care diet of the American Heart Association. On balance, however, I haven’t heard any consistently positive results in rigorously controlled trials, during the 20 years I’ve been engaged in support to TN patients. And I’ve heard a lot of quackery in that time. So it’s a buyer beware situation. If you’re going to drastically alter your diet, then talk with your primary medical care provider first.
Regards
Thanks, Red. I’m very aware of fad diets and avoid them like the plague. I have to have my data first! My concern with the low-fat idea is it may well just be a throwback to when the low-fat diet was extolled everywhere, even although it has had spectacularly poor results on general health. My bigger concern, however, is that I was on a very low fat diet for a year and a half before I came down with TN. I believe that it played a contributory (if not a causative) part in it, due to B12 shortage (I lived off fish) and also to the fat itself being missing. Brains need fat so it makes me hesitant and wary to go back to a way of eating I suspect may have caused the problem in the first place!