Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

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peanut1
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by peanut1 »

I've been on the diet for a maybe for about 6 weeks or more and it's helped my fungal nail infection a LOT when nothing else seemed to work. Amazingly enough it's helped my eyesight too. However, it has not helped the sleep. I also do not have any specific digestion issues save for the digestion problems that come with the chronic stress of complex PTSD. But there is no noticeable digestive issue signs anyway. Therefore, I'm just going to do the vegetables and continue the coconut oil and of course stay off the grains, sugar, caffeine and excitoxins which I was doing anyway. Probably will not be so strict with the dairy, but only do organic if/when I do dairy. I was also doing very little dairy prior to the diet and did a lot of the vegetables, but didn't mix them up.

badnights
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by badnights »

I did some more research on the coconut milk. I had been positive that Thai Kitchen had no ingredients other than coconut, so I was surprised after your earlier post when I double checked and saw guar gum listed on the cans I had. Turns out sometimes it is listed and sometimes it is not! This might be because in some countries it is not required to be on the label (USA, apparently) whereas in other countries (Spain, I think Canada) it is. That is according to someone on a forum, who wrote that in Spain his cans of Aroy-D coconut milk have a sticker added saying they contain guar gum. Lots of people love Aroy-D coconut milk because it lists nothing but coconut and water as ingredients, but seems that's not quite the truth.

Apparently Native Forest has no additives and no BPA in the can lining.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

peanut1
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by peanut1 »

Beth,

Interesting....glad you let us know!!! I was thinking that this diet could have helped the sleep some, but not by itself. I am probably going to continue most of the diet except not be as strict with it. I definitely have noticed some good benefits.

badnights
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by badnights »

Wahls diet update
I have decided that a ketogenic diet is not compatible with my body doing high-intensity, short-duration strength training.

I need more carbohydrates than recommended, in order not to feel so exhausted after exercise. I know viscerally I have done some kind of damage to myself after gym classes and even after an intense hockey game, the kind where my legs get weak from hard skating. I gave the ketogenic business a good shot; I was in mild ketosis (blood ketones 5 millimolar the one time I checked) at least once, probably deeper ketosis for a month after that, altogether about 3 months of ketosis so plenty of time to get over the initial 2-4 weeks of fatigue, yet I was still devastatingly fatigued after gym.

I am in transition once again, not sure where I will end up. Temporarily, and just to have something to follow, I am back on Wahls Level 2 (the non-ketogenic version), possibly eating a bit more carb than recommended. I can't ignore that my use of hydromorph contin has come down from 18-21 mg/day when I started the diet to 9-12 now (12 mg only 5-7 times a month; 9 more often). Which parts of the diet have been critical? I Don't know. I will stay off the gluten and casein, and keep up with 6-9 c vegetables a day, organ meats, and fish. No sugar. No processed food. But I will add starches, mostly from root vegetables, some little bit from GF grains, so that I never feel physical devastation after working out.

The curse of spending all my time preparing food has lifted with the addition of more fat into my diet. I didn't realize I Was still under the effect of all the fat-is-bad brainwashing I'd had all my life, and was not consuming the recommended amount of fat; so I was hungry all the time.

My days and nights are still backwards; this diet isn't helping with that. I still need zopiclone to sleep and modafinil to stay awake.

SIBO treatment update:
Interestingly, my guts hardly ever hurt after eating these days. So maybe there really was something there.

I ate biofilm-breaking enzymes followed by antimicrobials derived from natural products 3 times a day for 4 weeks, and ate a probiotic capsule 2 times a day, all the while avoiding anything with yeast or mushrooms in it, and anything moldy or rotten, even a hint of mold.

I then spent a month same only antimcrobials twice a day.

Soon that month will end and I will go down to once a day. The probiotics remain at 2 times a day, plus I can eat naturally fermented foods that have their own good bugs in them.

In addition, I was told to add in L-glutamine powder to help heal the gut lining (it also has immune funtion and helps repair muscle cells after exercise! Wouldn;t have minded this one long ago). And shortly I will be adding in mega-doses of viatmins C and E, and something else that I will describe when I start it. These latter are to address other aspects of my unhealthiness, not the SIBO per so. Other results of the urinalysis that suggest that I'm oxidizing too much and pre-cancerous blah blah stuff and various metabolic difficulties - -

I wonder if the bacterial overgrowths really are dying off and leaving their toxic carcasses to infiltrate my bloodstream and impair my cognition - - sometimes I think I am not being very clear and have dropped a few notches overall....
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

Rustsmith
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by Rustsmith »

Interesting that you would find that issue with the diet and exercise.

Last fall, I found that my version of the diet for endurance runners was leaving me with no energy in my legs after about 2 miles into a 10 mile race. I could complete the race, but I was not able to run my normal pace. It was definitely a case of running out of carbs and the "hitting the wall" that marathon runners can expereince, but at 2 miles instead of 20.

I talked about it with the team nutritionist. I was expecting some sort of lecture about the evils of low carb diets. Instead, he simply suggested that I switch to a higher carb diet for about 3 days before a race to load up on glycogen from the carbs and then return to my low carb diet immediately after the race. So far, it seems to be working. I have run in two half marathons, a full marathon and a couple of 10 milers since trying his advice and have not experienced "hitting the wall" after two miles since then (but my final marathon was a disaster for other reasons).
Steve

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

srgraves01
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Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:34 am

Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by srgraves01 »

I found that after several months on the modified Ketogenic diet that I had side effects of constipation. My wife found the book" Perfect Health Diet: Regain Health and Lose Weight by Eating the Way You Were Meant to Eat" By Ph.D. Paul Jaminet Ph.D. (Author), Shou-Ching Jaminet Ph.D. They say that your body needs more carbs for various processes and that you can sill go into ketosis by taking BCAAs. They recommend 5G of BCAAs. For myself, I was actually into large ketosis and I was not doing as well as before. They actually recommend potatoes and white rice as good sources of carbs among other things. I came out of ketosis and had a hard time getting back into it when I tried eating rice. For me white rice did not seem to work as well as potatoes. They also say that for different people either casien or whey, or both may be the problem. More people have a problem with casien -- but my wife has a bigger problem with whey. I don't seem to have a problem with either. I tend to eat a lot of cheese, which has a lot of casien. I am able to rotate my meds because I find that anything I try stops working if I just stick to one thing. I am able to go 2-3 nights a week without meds -- I am not saying those nights are easy -- but if I do a lot of foam rolling I can manage.

srgraves01
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by srgraves01 »

Here is a link to a site containing a podcast of about an hour with both Dr. Paul Jaminet and Dr. Terry Whals discussing Ketogenic diets.

http://www.phoenixhelix.com/2015/06/06/ ... l-jaminet/

badnights
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Diet? Stress? Denied IV iron :(

Post by badnights »

I'm puzzling thru my worsened WED. Maybe it's diet??

I've had a few bad nights recently, on the heels of a bad winter that was probably caused by biting off more than I could chew last summer. I've been trying to figure out what I;m doing differently and the big thing that comes up is I've changed my diet to try to eat 1500 mg/day of calcium, after being told my bones were "thinning". I gave up on the 1500 because I was gaining weight! I'm trying to avoid supplemental calcium, which has been linked to cadriovascular disease. Even getting 1000 mg without supplements or dairy is a pain - half a can of mackeral every day and more soaked almonds than I have time to chew, for example. (And Ca-fortified tofu or nut milks is just supplemental calcium in disguise.)

I even started to eat dairy again, because I've never been sure that I shouldn't - - I stopped it on the advice of my doctor who was pleased that I seemed to feel bettter when I stopped gluten. I went whole-hog on the Wahl's diet that she recommended (a paleo-style diet with a ketogenic level if you want to really get into it) and within 3 months I began to drop my medication. Every few months for a couple of years, I dropped the amount of meds I needed til I was down to 1/3 of what I'd been taking. I couldn't be sure it was the dairy, though; the dairy may have been incidental, and the drop in meds caused by other aspects of the diet. So I reasoned that I should try diary again, and if my symptoms worsened enough that I needed more medication within 3-6 months, I should blame the dairy and cut it out again.

But my symptoms got worse after about 3-4 weeks. I cut the dairy out again, and things improved :(:( no cheese :( :( for a week or two... until the last few nights, I'm having increasingly worse symptoms and last night didn't sleep much at all. I let myself be late for work so I got 2 fairly good hours 9 -11 AM.

Why?

I'm eating teff porridge instead of fermented oatmeal. Maybe I'm sensitive to teff? Maybe there was something I needed in the oatmeal, in the one-day of half-day fermentation? Maybe I shouldn't have traded raisins for figs (which have a bit of Ca in them. Maybe I'm not eating enough carbs for the amount of work I do at the gym (I don't eat rice like I used to, figuring my starch can come from teff, which has Ca; I'm having trouble recovering from workouts in timely fashion again;). I can't think what else I'm doing differently. Maybe not enough veg?

I'm trying to keep up the fight, keep trying. But I got very disappointing news from my doctor a month or so ago; she heard back from the specialist - after initial inquiry more than a year ago, she had to remind him - that he would not consider me for IV iron unless my ferritin is UNDER 40. I pointed her to the 2018 paper, which isn't in her computer system yet, but ultimately it's his decision not hers. I'm surprised because last time I talked to him personally, about 4 yr ago (where does time go), he was willing to write to a hemotologist in my area to recommend I get IV iron! (which I asked him to do, but I guess he forgot...)

I don't know where he gets the 40 number from. I thought he would go with the recommendations, which say 100, and I'm about 120 but could get back under 100 by stopping iron pills for a few weeks. But to get under 40! I would have to live in abject hell for 3 or 4 months while my ferritin dropped! (And isn't that just ridiculous, that I should even contemplate it. That it's possible to meet the criteria for IV iron eligibility by denying myself a treatment that helps me live a normal life is a sign that the criteria are flawed.)

So I don't know what to do now. I will have to go to the States for an infusion and I have no idea how to even start that process. I am so discouraged. But I have to do something.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
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I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

ViewsAskew
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by ViewsAskew »

This stuff is so hard sometimes.

:( :( :(
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

srgraves01
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by srgraves01 »

Sorry to hear about your difficulties. Somethimes it seems like RLS is an opponent in a chess match. And you make a move that helps you out; then the RLS makes a move that messes you up again. I just saw Dr. B today for the first time and I am very optimistic. I suggest you ask Ann about him.

Steve

badnights
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by badnights »

Thanks for your encouragement :)
I've talked to (well, emailed with) Dr B before. Actually, I've talked to him too, at the symposium the Foundation put on last September.
I think that last bad week was caused by a loooong buildup of stress and trying to get up on time for work when I knew I needed more sleep.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

legsbestill
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by legsbestill »

So sorry to read of your worsened symptoms, Beth. I hope it turns out to be stress related for which at least there is an obvious (if not always easily achievable) solution. Also watch out for sleep deprivation - I think this can exacerbate RLS symptoms (in a cruel irony and easier to identify than to address). Maybe you could start your quest for a US based iron iv transfusion by phoning the Johns Hopkins Hospital RLS clinic. They may be able to suggest how to approach it from abroad. I seem to recall that on their website they actually make reference to patients who are coming from abroad. I am sure that with your positive and engaged attitude you will find a solution to your current difficulties.

badnights
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by badnights »

I just filled out the online appointment request. We'll see what other hoops I have to go through. Thanks for kicking my butt :) that wasn't so hard
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
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I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

Polar Bear
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by Polar Bear »

Beth, such a positive step.... brilliant.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

ViewsAskew
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Re: Wahls diet for WED? Trying it.

Post by ViewsAskew »

WOW!
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

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