Hello everyone.
As you might remember my thread from "Newly Diagnosed", I am the person that developed diabetes from taking high dose prednisone for several months. I am about to cease all medication next month. My diabetologist says there is a chance that my diabetes will go away once I stop taking steroids altogether - however, he didn't give me a timeline. While nowadays on low dose I can maintain blood sugars of 5-7 mmol/L range by not eating carbs and exercise daily - yet when I try to eat bread or noodles my glucose shoots through the roof.
I was wondering whether someone knows when would be the best time to test my carb tolerance and insulin resistance? a day, week, month, year after stopping steroids? I wanna know whether I have developed full-blown type 2.
Please forgive me - the very thought of developing diabetes by taking some pills makes my blood boil.
I know just how you feel. I was not told that steroids could cause steroid induced T2 before I developed steroid induced T2 about five or six years ago after I was given a large dose of prednisone for inflammatory arthritis,
Fortunately I was also taking part in a pre diabetes study and I had my first annual check up about three months after I started the steroids so it was discovered very early on.
Even after that though a GO in my practice prescribed steroids for something (can’t remember what) I mentioned that I had had steroid induced T2, was told that there was no chance of that as the prescribed course was too short etc. She didn’t know that I had my own blood sugar monitor at home and could check - needless to say it did seriously spike my blood sugar - so much for her theory!
I wasn’t really given much help from my practice nurse other than a ‘healthy plate’ diet sheet!!! Loads of carbs, low fat etc. Enough said!
I had been wondering how I would know if my efforts to eat well and exercise were working when I had no way of testing my blood to see what was going on.
I went online and discovered a book by Dr David Cavan, I read that from cover to cover , I bought my own blood sugar monitor, made myself a simple spreadsheet and recorded everything I ate exactly what Dr Cavan recommended and in three months my blood sugar was in a very good place.
I found that things I would have thought were healthy really spiked my blood sugar - for example a nice healthy baked potato and salad, my favourite oat bran muffins, loads of things that fitted nicely into the ‘healthy plate’.
Recording before and after eating meals was a really interesting experience, I discovered that anything involving grains of any sort (I eat a totally gluten free diet) were real no, nos for me. Whereas I could have a slice of pavlova with cream and berries with very little increase in blood sugar. I now know what to eat and not to eat.
It was an upsetting experience discovering that T2 was caused by treatment for a medical condition. The steroids did make me feel like superwoman but I’m not sure it was worth it - other than make me aware of how closely I need to monitor my blood sugar for the rest of my life. I would have to think very carefully before I took steroids again and be8ng pre diabetic I’m not sure I would have taken them in the first place if I’d known about steroid induced T2. If only the doctor I saw had mentioned the link. I
think statins can have a similar effect.
I was tested a year after I met the diabetes nurse which was shortly after I finished the steroids and will be checked by my GP every year but I think that’s a long gap in between so now (because I know I eat stuff I shouldn’t) I pay and have my own finger prick HbA1c blood tests done by Medichecks.com so that I can keep an eye on my HbA1c.
With a bit of luck once you stop the steroids completely your bloods will go back to a good place.