Pws

[DDT4U]

Hi all, I'm on Atkins and friend of mine may have the Prader-Willis Syndrome. She would like to know if Atkins works for people with PWS????

[Heather150]

Prader Willi Syndrome is not something that "crops" up. It's a birth defect and believe me, if she has it, doctors would have known about it by the time she was in preschool.

Atkins or any diet plan would not be sufficient because people with the syndrome can't help what they do. It's something that has to be medically supervised.

[schellie]

Ditto Heather. I have worked with people with PWS and it is awful and something you definately would know from very young.

[DDT4U]

ok, but, how long has PWS been accepted??????? could it not be that her GP thinks it's in her head anyway!?

[Heather150]

PWs has been around for a LONG time. Like I said...its a birth defect, not a condition that comes up suddenly. She would have been BORN with it, and by preschool age, showing signs. PWS happens 1 in 14,000 children. Characteristics of Prader-Willi Syndrome include decreased muscle tone, developmental delays, insatiable appetite, incomplete sexual development, short adult stature, small hands and feet, and severe behavior problems. Compulsive eating usually begins between the ages of two to four, occasionally beginning as late as six. People with Prader-Willi have an insatiable desire for food. A dysfunction in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus keeps them from knowing when they have had enough to eat, and keeps them craving food.

Here's a good link where I got most of the information above
http://www.moddrc.com/Information-Di...cts/prader.htm

I highly doubt that as an adult, she's just now thinking she has PWS.
Either she has it and has had it from birth and has been diagnosed and is being treated for it, or she's overweight for other reasons.
Sometimes its easier to "be" overweight if you think there's a medical reason of which you can't help it. Unfortunately, PWS is not something we develop all of a sudden.

[DDT4U]

not something she has developed suddenly, not what she thinks she has, I thought she may have it and like here in the Netherlands, dosctors do miss diagnose and yes, she had and has many -almost all the criteria!!!!! I'm a RN and RM and know full well that she may be holding onto a straw BUT the fact remains, she was under the same GP in the US all the time and he may not have thought of PWS or support the diangnosis! MANY still think it is between the ears!!! Just like with MS, ME and God knows how many other diseases now accepted!
ALL I wanted to know is has anyone with PWS done Atkins????

[not2late]

I agree with Heather. Prader-Willi has been around a long time and it's pretty specific. Most of these people are diagnosed as infants.

Has she been tested genetically for it? Because if she has the chromosome defect it would most likely more definitive for PWS.

As for if Atkins would be useful for PWS, I don't know. Most of the PWS people are children and Atkins (as it's written in the book) isn't a diet appropriate for growing infants and children. Would it help an adult with PWS? Maybe, but the hunger thing with PWS is a brain dysfunction, so there is a compulsion to eat. I don't know if the ketosis-appetite suppression would be enough to help with the compulsion.

You can try contacting these doctors: Fred Pescatore, MD and Gil Wilshire, MD. Dr. Pescatore worked with Dr. Atkins and Dr. Wilshire is the head of the Carbohydrate Awareness Council. They'll have better insight into this problem.

Good luck.

http://www.pwsausa.org/syndrome/