Scott F.

NMOSD is similar to Multiple Sclerosis but with the auto-immune response can be on the optic nerve. Basically, the immune system "thinks' it is attacking and removing something that does not belong, but the attack is on good/healthy tissue. The attack creates lesions on the myelin (the sheath that covers the nerves) and this attack opens the sheath and at times can expose the nerve. Both NMO and MS symptoms are all over the place and can make diagnosis really hard. It is more of a process of elimination approach to finding the diagnosis (and that sucks). In the summer of 2018, I started with extreme burning sensations on my right thigh. Like if you were to pass a cutting torch across your skin. Then it moved to my left arm and my back. First diagnosis was Shingles without the blistering and rashes. The I started to have what felt like cramps behind my eyes. Then one day loss of motor skills in my left arm which sent me straight into 'stroke protocol'. Then finally on Labor Day morning I woke up and could not see. Everything was the same color as your monitor when you turn it off. Not jet black but just about. By the time I got to the hospital most of the vision had returned. The left arm was sort of hanging around so back into stroke protocol again. Since my symptoms were hit and miss the doctors were sort of stumped. I was mostly scared but this once I was made enough to punch someone. I'm lying there, blurry eyed, left arm not working, my thigh on fire and (pardon the description) the only time I knew I was pissing or pooping was when it hit my ankles. And since the issues were coming and going and the doctor may or may not be present ...I had a doctor basically tell me, "I think you are here for pain pills, do you have a problem?". In both our best interests it was a good thing I was not able to stand up. Luckily, I landed with my current Neurologist, and he ordered a couple test followed by a spinal tap. From there he got me on a 6-hour infusion two times per year. Other than a few minors I have been pretty much healthy since. The carnivore diet has eased the inflammation and the associated pain, and I have not taken any pain medicine since mid-May. The weight loss is a lot like the bonus plan. I have started reading where there are a number of NMOSD and MS patients who have found they no longer require their infusions/medications while on the carnivore diet. it is somewhat exciting and hopeful. It is not that bad of an experience, but the first one usually cost me around $3500 out of pocket but fortunately the second one is "on the house". As far as the doctor who thought I was looking for pills. I photo'ed my medical record. At the time I was 49 years old. I had 7 prescriptions from the time I was 18-49. I wanted to draw a big middle finger, but my wife would not allow it. And to add a funny, as I like to do that, imagine...in the shower, legs collapse, no movement in your left arm and you wind up laying on your good arm. You re yelling for your wife but she is on the other end of the house and can't hear you over the water. With all the negative potential while lying crumpled in the shower the only thing I could think of was "this f'ng hot water is going to run out soon". Maybe it was the lesions on the brain or maybe I just think crazy shit. Don't know. Excited to move forward with the benefits of the carnivore diet. Scott

I agree. I have only actually been hungry twice thus far and have yet to have any real cravings. Most of the meats I use are fairly high in fat content. Both times I felt hungry was when I had pork chops the night before. They were trimmed more than I would like (carnivore or not) and were really lean. The next time I had them I cut them up in a bowl and melted butter on top. The following day I was not hungry after the pork. Might just be coincidence. Scott

There are some videos on centered a lady doing meat runs at Sam's and Costco. She pointed out there were some pre-made items in their freezer section that were good choices for those days when there just isn't enough time to get everything done. I looked but all I saw was stuff that was pre-packaged with sauces and such. Mostly I pre-make what I will eat when working. I went to the gym this morning followed by a 4-mile walk. Standing in the grocery store I remembered I hadn't done anything by being on nightshift. I bought a six pack of the pre-made hardboiled eggs. They hit the spot. I'm sure there are some pre-made stuff out there, but I pinch pennies by buying as well as cooking in bulk (centered around 12 hour shift work). Scott

I'm 54, 6'2" and was 306. Everyone is different. I didn't read any of the instructions about carnivore and just sort of dove in headfirst. I didn't count calories. I ate straight meats right from the start. I did hold onto the Moutain Dew the first week. I lost 30lbs in 31-32 days. I have yet to aim for a target amount of protein or fat. Maybe I should? What I have found, for me personally, if the fat content drops to less than the protein, my energy level drops tremendously. And that is especially the case when my electrolytes were off balance. I'm currently at a 35-36lb loss and I started on May 8th. My energy level is better than it has been in a lot of years. Maybe I should be counting protein and fats but thus far I'm happy/feel good with sort of winging it. Good luck. Scott

Thanks for the reply. Just thought I would throw it out there. I like adding any personal insights of others. Mostly because at the end of your post you didn't say, "Supply is limited, act now. But....if you order within the next fifteen minutes we will throw in another absolutely free". I always wonder how supply is limited but we have enough to give it away. But since science just figured out how to match the number of hotdogs in one package and enough rolls in another I should not stretch the community with more to ponder. Scott

I'm eating one meal a day most of the month. On nights, I eat about 7:30 after the shift starts each night and when I'm off it is about 6PM, but once per day. When I'm on days I eat a small breakfast, maybe a couple hard boiled eggs and that gets me thru the day and then eat at 6PM. I've watched some videos and read some literature on people with the same auto-immune condition I have and several of them spoke highly on the benefit of fasting. A few mentioned their actual diet being carnivore. The weight loss is great, the not taking pain/inflammation medicine is even better but I am reading about people no longer needing their infusions with MS as well as NMOSD. Some strictly carnivore and others with a combination of a no-carb/low carb diets with fasting from as much as 24 hours to five day water fasts. Since I'm not actually getting hungry at 24-hour intervals I have been thinking about stretching it out to 48 to see where I land. Thoughts? Experiences? Scott

Made the 3.0 mile walk the last two days. This morning was a bit rough coming off my 12-hour night shift but not the end of the world. Tomorrow morning, I plan to get the lift in and then do he walk. I always have big plans on the forty-minute ride home but not often do they come to fruition. LOL Scott

You can buy electrolyte drinks or drink mixes like LMNT or recycle. Both are good, I guess. I didn't like the taste myself. I watched a YouTube video of how to buy the LMNT ingredients separate and make my own, much cheaper as well. I didn't like the taste of that either, so I now use the drink mix that I made as salt when cooking meat. As stated before, I didn't read any of the instructions and just started eating animal products. This is just my personal insight, and I can't claim it is transferrable to anyone else, but when my electrolytes were a bit off coupled with not getting enough fat in my diet I felt really slow/sluggish. I didn't feel bad, just sort of flat. Once I made that adjustment, I feel like I have more energy than before I started eating this way. Scott

I slipped the other night. I was getting my steak ready and purely from muscle memory grabbed the Heinz 57 sauce, never even flinched or thought about it. When I sat down to eat it was there. I didn't see the point in wasting it so I ate what amounted to a 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon. It was good and I didn't see any negative impacts. But I punished myself by taking on 3 or 4 tenths onto my morning walk. Sort of paying tribute to the carnivore gods. LOL Scott

Welcome. I'm brand new as well. Only a couple weeks on this board and started around May 8th or so. I'm not a medical professional by any means (but like most I have Google degrees in just about everything, LOL) I lost 30 pounds in 31-32 days. I did not have the carni-keto flu symptoms at all. I did have one case of severe diarrhea but I think my food choices prior to eating would have been the same, regardless of carnivore or not. I have a couple three times where my energy level was flat to non-existent but I'm 54 and a hundred pounds over weight so I'm not quite ready to run a marathon. For the most part my energy level has been better than before. I can say I have only been actually hungry on two occasions since I started. I work 12 hour shifts so I eat based on that at times. Mostly I have moved to a once per day meal and it is not like I am starving then. I have an auto-immune disease that required pain and inflammation medicine at given times throughout the month. After 25-30 days on the carnivore diet, keeping the weight loss in mind as well, I have not gone to the medicine cabinet for the pain/anti-inflammatory medicine in the last two to three weeks. I can't say it will help anything medically for you, but I can say what it has done for me thus far.....and that is without any of my Google Degrees. LOL Welcome. Scott

This morning I ate three ribs left from last night. I'm not sure if the pig seen it coming and tensed up or if he was a hundred years old. They were tough as all get out. I slow cooked them and the rack I fixed with the sugar/brown sugar rub were super tender. The rack I fixed for me was first cousins with shoe leather. Tonight, it will be rib eyes. Scott

I'm the fat guy going calling you names in envy. LOL I'm on the way down so there is a swing back and forth. I can see the difference in 33 lost pounds but have a long way to go. It has been a long time since I had that issue, maybe the late 80's/early 90's coming out of dive school in Panama City. One of the things I found back then is that I was really responsive to beef type protein. I leaned toward chicken and eggs with occasional fish (but of course I ate a ton of crap as well) but when we were cutting weight to make weight/body fat composition I got off beef altogether and was a chicken and fish for protein guy. Maybe a switch up on proteins sources? Sort of guessing. Scott

I would say that is not normal, diet or no diet, and should be closely monitored by both you and your doctor. I went a stretch this week without going at all. I was probably at that point where I was close to being constipated without actually being/feeling constipated. You can read my other post about the 'relief' I had this morning. So after not going for most of the week I did not see any blood. (I did have to look back and admire my efforts). I'm not a a doctor nor a medical professional but I would get that checked out. Good luck. Scott

There are typos and then there are TYPOS. I hit that one out of the park. LOL Yep. During the time of the 2–4-pound swings I had to cinch my belt up a bit tighter and my work clothes at the plant are a lot more loose. I'm happy with the progress and need to shed a lot more weight but I'm not expecting the wicked pace I set the first month or so. I'm at a 33lb loss right now, in the area where I am just not hungry, and my energy levels are higher than they have been in years in years. It feels like a good place. Start and end with a funny. The dumps have been few and far in between as of late. Nothing drastic just not going as often as times past. This morning, I had walked to the 1.5 mile mark from home and made my pivot in the road to go the other way. Whatever had been hanging around this past week decided it was time. Not when I get home, not five minutes from now, but this is about to get bad really quick. I jumped the ditch and ran into a patch of trees along the roadside. I did what I had to do and I had to use what tools I had. I found success in the nick of time. It was more of a non-carnivore event with a cinch of the belt to boot. My swing this morning was four pounds lighter than yesterday. LOL scott

I started around May 8th of this year. The first 30 days I lost 30 pounds in 31 or 32 days. This last week I'm bouncing all over the place. I'm basically eating one male a day. Not that I expect to lose weight at that pace but is it odd that I am fluctuating anywhere from 2-4 pounds every day? I ate a honking ribeye and the next morning I was down 2lbs. The next day I was not hungry and ate much lighter. The following day I had gained those 2lbs back plus 1. The dumps now are few and far between, I feel OK and I guess it comes with the cleaner eating. Just wondering? S

Breakfast this morning. Eggs and left over New York strip.

Yep. When we had meat chickens and my son was like four or five. We had Baked Chicken. BBQ chicken. Chicken Salad. Chicken Fettucini. Grilled Chicken. Fried Chicken. You name the dish. We had the chicken especially raised for said event. Scott

I said the same thing. It is one of those shows where I think I could compete. A friend of mine swears he could win it no problem. He is a recovering addict and he said he needed X amount of crack and a place to sit down. He had went many days without eating and when high he had no fears of the mountain lions nor the grizzly bears, they talk about. He says he could win the money, get high and ask if they wanted to go double or nothing. Scott

Sounds good. Congrats on the graduation. Scott

Yesterday bacon and eggs from the tallow I made last week. For dinner we cooked New Tork strips (they were on sale at Sam's a week or so ago). They turned out nice. I was on the Mountain Dew for a week, and during that first week I had two small tabs of ice cream. Since that point I have toed the carnivore line and not broken away from just 'carnivore approved' animal meats, with eggs and butter. Last night was my first cheat. I added a 1/2 teaspoon of Heinz 57 on my plate. It was so funny. I think I did it out of a life-long habit as we were talking as we made our plates. I don't think I actually looked down and said, "I bet that would be good on this strip". Just habit. I decided not to waste it so I indulged. I am hoping a 1/2 teaspoon of Heinz does not become my gate way drug. LOL I normally walk from our house up the dirt road and over to the next road which is 1.3 miles so 2.6 when I get back home. This morning I tacked on the other.2 miles to get a total of three miles. I'm not sure if that counts as 'forgiveness' or not, but it was the best offering I had up to the carnivore gods in the sky. Scott

I work with a guy that hunts like a mad man, then him and another couple at the plant fish just about year around for whatever is biting. He is doing a modified carnivore diet as he phases out non-meat groups while he and his fiancé figure out a together plan. She is not eating this way. He made the same comment that he could save money because the deer meat and the fish are free. I guess the rationale is if you are going to hunt and fish anyway, then the meat is sort of the bonus. He is not hunting the racks so I guess there is some bonus in there somewhere. He just bought a $1400 shotgun and recently paid a couple thousand for a night vision scope to kill coyotes. At some point grocery store hamburger is just cheaper. LOL I think everything is relative. I was shocked that I was spending four hundred a month on the crap I was eating as I am out and about during the day as well as to and from work. I'm thinking by eliminating the crap, saving four hundred $$ I can ease off the bo-bo meat section and shop in the prime and select sections. LOL S

So I didn't read the directions to start off. I started with just meats. Anything from steak to chicken to burgers to fish. And a lot of eggs. The first week I stayed on the Mountain Dew and then kicked it. The first week I also used some Heinz 57 on some chicken. From then it was straight meats and water/drink mixers for flavor. I tried a couple of the 'preferred' electrolyte drinks and for the most part they tasted like crap. I use the cheap Food Lion brand Pink Lemonade for the most part. I even tried to make the homemade electrolyte mix but both of the above made me feel bloated and I tasted salt all day. Ditched that as a plan as well. Now I use the mix I made when I salt the meats. My diet is nothing spectacular and it does not have any real rhyme nor reason. I may eat the same thing a couple days in a row, or I may swap it up. My wife is not on the plan so when she cooks dinner, I'm just eating the meat portion. On occasion we cook twice so I can have food for nightshift. I didn't read the rules or the suggestions prior to starting, just sort of winged it. Scott

I worked the 12-hour night shift, did my 40 minute commute and then lifted for maybe 40 minutes or so. Nothing killer, light weights and a lot of reps per set. I skipped walking this morning. Losing weight and not having to take the prescription has been way more than i expected and even more than I would have asked. I'm hoping I can get back to being able to do push-ups and burpees and sprints. The NMO leaves me a bit dizzy with these exercises. If I get down and do push-ups I'm way dizzy when I get up, sometimes I just plop down for a few seconds. Time will tell. Scott

4 sausage patties and 5 hardboiled eggs. Scott

I'm rolling without the 'niceties' or trying to make it better. I'm good with straight meat and eggs. I have actually enjoyed this way of eating as it sort of fits me I think. I ate two small cups the first week or so and have not eaten anything other than meats and eggs since. I walked the grocery store with my wife and had zero cravings regardless of the aisle. Similar to getting sober and hanging out at the bar. For some it is doable, for some not so much. Best of luck and hold on the best you can. Scott