When should I start seeing some Weight Loss?

I received this prednisone warrior question about when to see the weight gain from weight gain to stop from the prednisone. 

Watch now!

When should I start seeing some Weight Loss?

Transcription autogenerated from the video above so some errors are possible.

So the question is;

Hi, I’ve been on prednisone since February. (60mg) DX with Giant Cell Temporitis. Dr is tapering me & now at 8mg. In the beginning, I got on your supplements. I’m also on Actemra infusions once a month. Would getting back on your supplements help me while on Actemra & low dosage prednisone? Also, was wondering while tapering off prednisone when should I start seeing some weight loss. I don’t eat much but not seeing any loss over last couple months. Thank you for your help!

The general rule is you’re probably not going to necessarily see weight loss until below 5 milligrams, and often not until you’ve been off of prednisone for at least 3 weeks. So I would definitely give yourself some grace and just be patient. 

You’re saving your vision and life by taking this medication for your condition and I’m glad you’re taking care of your health, not eating too much, not listening to the prednisone weight gain or hunger cravings that it’s giving you, that makes sense. 

Supplements to support you while on prednisone

As far as the supplements are there to help support you in hopefully number one, keeping your blood sugars stable. When you keep your blood sugar stable, that helps your hunger cravings to go away and that helps you to not eat as much. Which helps to slow the weight gain and hopefully stop the weight gain altogether so that you can lose weight. That is the ultimate goal. 

If you’re looking for more rapid support with your weight while on prednisone, you could consider using a higher dose of berberine if that’s safe for you and your condition. That’s something you’d have to work out with your doctor. Metformin is a prescription medication that may help with the Prednisone weight gain and blood sugar issues. Those are some options.

Actemra Treatment

 Back to your question about Actemra, that is a medication that was approved for other things and then they got further approval for Giant Cell arteritis, which is fantastic that there’s another option besides just prednisone for you.

It shows that it’s effective in this clinical trial showed that it was helpful and especially in about 56% of the people. Hopefully, you’re one of those 56% and not the 40% something who didn’t have any benefit. As far as whether it would be helpful to continue taking Nutranize Zone while you’re taking Actemra and low-dose prednisone, yes, it will be helpful. I checked the nutrient depletion checker to see if Actemra causes its own nutrient depletion on top of what Prednisone is already doing.

It says no nutrient depletion issues were identified for the selective medications. That is good news, that you don’t need to add anything on top of what you’re getting with the Nutranize Zone and continue taking that. It will support you so that you can keep your weight gain to a minimum and hopefully, we can work on that weight loss as well.

In addition to supporting your bones, immune system, and all of the other possible side effects that prednisone is causing while you continue this long-term treatment. 

Disclaimer:

I have to say this all with a disclaimer that this is not medical advice. I am not your doctor and you should definitely seek a medical opinion from your own doctor to make sure that everything I’ve said is in accordance with their treatment goals for you.

Everything I’ve said so far was based on the little amount of information that you shared with me and there may be other factors that I’m not aware of that could impact what I said.

I hope that all makes sense and continue taking your Nutranize Zone along with Prednisone signing off as Dr. Megan, your Prednisone pharmacist.