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Diet- What diet changes do for LEMS symptoms
I have become much more aware of what I’m eating and how my body reacts to it ever since being diagnosed with LEMS. For my other autoimmune diseases, especially my psoriatic arthritis, I know that refined sugar increases my inflammation levels and thus my pain levels. With LEMS, my neurologist told me first thing to be very careful with Magnesium because it slows down the neuromuscular junction even more than ours is already. I’ve made sure to only take supplements that do not have magnesium; and I’ve learned by trial and error which foods to be careful of eating due to their magnesium content. One food I was adding to my diet to help feel full for longer and add potassium to my diet was chia seeds. What I didn’t realize, until I could barely walk up stairs after, was chia seeds are very high in magnesium! I avoid chia seeds and some dried fruits that are high in magnesium. How about you? Have you had diet changes that have helped or hurt your LEMS management?
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9 Replies
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After much research on what I could do to slow the progression or reverse symptoms of my autoimmune diseases, I began following the Autoimmune Protocol soon after I was diagnosed with LEMS. It recommends following a strict elimination diet in addition to removing exposure to all toxins. I admit I tried reintroducing wine after being on the diet for a month (Christmas and New Years) and noticed my legs felt worse again. Interesting. I am once again following it strictly and hoping to report it helps with LEMS symptoms as well as other autoimmune symptoms. I highly recommend researching it and seeing if your symptoms improve when following it.
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I’m curious if you had a reaction to all foods that are high in magnesium or only a few of them? If so, what is your diet like now?
Thanks, Debbie
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Hi @dlewis,
I learned from trial and error, and a lot of googling foods and their magnesium content! Chia seeds are 96 mg of magensium per ounce, so a sprinkling, not an issue- using them as thickeners, which is what I did, a huge issue. Bananas, no issue, but I don’t eat dried banana chips- eating a lot of those in one sitting could cause an issue. I literally feel it within 20 minutes of eating too much. One day I ate quite a bit of dried mango, munching along while watching a movie- thinking I was eating healthy! Well, soon I felt the tell tale weakness and sure enough, there’s 36 mg of magnesium in one medium mango.
My diet pre-COVID has been mostly fish, chicken, nuts, veggies, protein bars, and fruit. I try to limit processed and refined sugars, primarily because I also have psoriatic arthritis and keeping my sugar intake down helps with my pain and inflammation levels. Right now I’m struggling with my diet because I grocery shop far less (so it’s hard to keep fresh veggies handy) and it’s showing in my weight and pain levels. I rarely eat red meat and eat minimal dairy and gluten. I’m not on a strict “anti inflammatory” protocol but I do try to follow it’s guiding principals, and it does help.
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Hi Dawn,
That’s good to hear that you can still have magnesium rich foods – just in moderation. That gives me hope that I don’t have to give up some of the foods I like. So now to figure out which ones cause issues and which ones are safe. It’s all in the moderation – I hope! 🤞
Do you have problems with ‘soy’? That was another food product my neurologist told me to avoid. So I’m curious if you or anyone else may have had problems with soy. I’d be curious to hear if that was an issue with anyone.
Debbie
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Hi @dlewis,
I don’t eat a lot of soy because I have fibrocystic breast tissue, which has me at a high risk for breast cancer- and soy is a concern in that area. When I have had soy on occasion, however, I haven’t noticed any issues.
And yes, it is all with moderation as far as magnesium is concerned. As long as it’s not added to your vitamins, and you aren’t taking magnesium supplements, just be aware of how you react to certain foods with magnesium. What I learned when it would happen is that within a few hours, the detrimental effects would wear off. So, when I ate a large amount of dried mango, I just hung out and watched a movie instead of going for a jog 😉 I do like protein shakes but make sure to not drink any with a notable amount of magnesium in those as well.
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Thank you Dawn,
I don’t do well with soy products so I’ve avoided soy as a rule. I thought it was interesting that my neurologist would want me to avoid it. I wasn’t sure if maybe this was something other LEMS patients may have had problems with it. Fortunately, for me my neurologist has treated one other person with LEMS – so it gave him an exposure to the disease before I came along. 😊
Debbie
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Hi Debbie,
That is very interesting about the soy! I’ve never seen anything contradicting it with LEMS or MG; but who knows? You are fortunate to have a neuro who has another patient with LEMS. Mine has been wonderful but I’m her first patient and she told me from day one “We will learn about this together.” Fortunately my background in health ed and pharma gave me a leg up at researching and understanding what I was finding out for info.
I hope you have a great Thursday!
Dawn
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Since I also have arthritis, eliminating diary was a huge game changer for me. Definitely reduced joint pains & joint inflammation for me.
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Hi Carmen Willings,
I’ve done a variation of the AIP diet. And will start it up again when we get home from visiting our daughter’s family. My biggest concern is the restrictiveness of the protocol. Some of the foods on the protocol I can’t eat now. This makes the diet even more restrictive. Have you found the diet to be restrictive? Or are you able to eat all of the foods on the diet? Is this AIP diet a long term diet for you? From what I’ve read it’s suppose to be a short term way of eating … but I’m thinking that I may have to follow it for the long term. But I’m a bit hesitant. Would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks, Debbie
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