Due to a gluten allergy and dairy intolerance I naturally don’t have it in my diet. The lack of gluten and dairy has also decreased my desire for sugar as well. I do think reducing if not eliminating it is a healthy option. From the moment I cut it out I felt more mental clarity and less pain in my joints. I have however been GF/DF with reduced sugar for years and I developed TN only this year. I believe that there definitely is a link between Gluten, sugar and overall well being, It just didn’t help me with TN. If it is helping you great. You will definitely see a difference with how your body functions:) keep me posted on how it works for you. It’s always a good thing when we can reduce our medications.
Hi Erin,
I've been off LwTN for a long time and used to be a frequent member when the site first came up in 2008.
For over a year I've been following a ketogenic diet in hopes that it decreases TN pain. I have found it to help a little with atypical pain, but really haven't noticed a difference with the shocks and jolts to my nose, ears, and cheeks.
I started a keto/paleo group on Facebook as many people with TN find it impossible to get out and exercise, but we can watch our diets to some degree. Following a ketogenic diet (after talking with your doctor, of course) will help as to not gaining weight and has a lot of other health benefits. Since starting on a KD (ketogenic diet) over a year ago, I have lost 35 pounds without much effort. Many people lose more, but I have fatty liver and several other medical conditions that I don't know are a result of Tegretol or other medications that may have damaged my liver.
So, I don't consume sugar, grains or starches. Some may wonder - sandwiches or pizza? Don't you miss them? There are many recipes and ways to get around it. I used a multi-purpose 1 carb protein mix for making flat breads, muffins, or pizza crust. I've also used cauliflower to make stuff as well. I use zucchini or yellow squash shredded for noodles and eggplant or portobello mushrooms for pasta in lasagna or tortilla in Mexican cooking.
Btw, booklass - excellent - Gary Taubes is a good source for information, so is Jeff Volek, Ph.D., R.D. & Stephen Phinney, MD, Ph.D, along with Dr. Peter Attia. There are plenty of YouTube videos on their work.
Also on YouTube is an excellent low carb cooking channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFGt_87bzlJXHxzvsU8leOQ
I tried following the 'low saturated fat' idea (http://www.franksherwood.com/) and found it didn't help me at all, if anything I felt worse and I gained weight. I've been prediabetic my whole life; thus it was not a good metabolic choice.
However, we always must remember that everyone is different and not everything will work for everyone.
Even if a LCHF (low carb, high fat) diet might not
Melanie Edwards said:
Hiya I have constant friction of my nerve by a structure, but I also have arterial looping and this impacts on the trigeminal nerve too. I have had trigeminal neuralgia for 20yrs now. I have had MVD surgery and the structurehas bbeen cut back, but still a lot of pain. I do now think I have an answer for myself how food effects me. Gluten is inflammatory by nature, if you have friction of the trigeminal nerve, themmyelin sheaf will be worn away and gluten slows down the healing and inflames the area. Foods high in saturated fat have the same effect. There is a low saturated fat diet for trigeminal. You should have a maximum of 10gramms of saturated fat a day. This is very beneficial, not just the healing of the nerve, but your body is more capable of coping. Any foods that are vascular reactive, eg make the arteries and veins flaxuate in width, which will cause friction and impact thennerve should be avoided. Chocolate does this, citrus fruits do this and salt, that's why people have headaches after chocolates. I think vascular dilating foods, high in magnesium might work for some cause it causes less fluctuation in the width of blood vessels. I find food that constricts blood vessels help me. I drink about 7cups of coffee a day now and this helps me because it's a vascular constrictor, this goes against the advice for trigeminal I know, but it works for me, others it might make it worse. You have caffeine in a lot of headache medication cause migraines are caused by vascular dilation. I will always try to eat anti inflammatory foods. There's a great site called Whfoods. They list all the foods that are healthy and anti inflammatory. Lots of omega 3 help the nerve repair, I think diet has an huge influence on how your body deals with trigeminal neuralgia, not a cure, but an optimisation. I'm sorry about the typing. I'm using a phone. This is just my experience. Hope some of my experiences help. Melanie