Prednisolone steroids

[Peadair O Brionn]

Hi
I’m starting a 7 day course of prednisolone on Monday as as I have COPD and am getting over a chest infection and am coughing quite bad , and I’m a bit wary of the effect on my bg .
I’ve been in the non diabetic range for about 18 months now and my bg hardly ever goes above 6 .
Does anyone know how bad these tablets will effect my bg .

 

[DCUKMod]

Hi
I’m starting a 7 day course of prednisolone on Monday as as I have COPD and am getting over a chest infection and am coughing quite bad , and I’m a bit wary of the effect on my bg .
I’ve been in the non diabetic range for about 18 months now and my bg hardly ever goes above 6 .
Does anyone know how bad these tablets will effect my bg .

Hi Peadair - Sorry to hear you've not been too well of late.

Prednisolone seems to affect different people in different ways, although they almost always seem to raise the bloods a bit.

Doctors don't prescribe steroids willy-nilly, so you must need them. My suggestion would be just to test lots and if the numbers get very high, and worry you, have a chat with the Doc. As a short term issue, it's probably more important to get well and the COPD under control again, than worry about higher than usual blood numbers for a short while.

Look after yourself.

 

[JohnEGreen]

Depends on several variables one of course is the dosage when I was taking over 40mg per day the effect was to raise BG quite significantly and was the cause of my diabetes now I am taking only 15 Mg a day the effect isn't quite so drastic I also find that taking them early in the day reduces the effect slightly.

And of course as has been said the reaction to preds is different for different people.

If you are on a short term course of treatment then I think you will just have to accept that there maybe a rise in bg and trust that once you have stopped taking them your bloods will return to normal well what ever your normal is at present.

 

[Peadair O Brionn]

Thanks for the replies . I’ll prob have to just get on with them as the coughing and infection is raising my bg anyway .

 

[Dark Horse]

http://www.diabetologists-abcd.org.uk/JBDS/JBDS_IP_Steroids.pdf This booklet from the Joint British Diabetes Societies for In-patient Care is obviously aimed at in-patients but may have some useful information, e.g.:-

• Glucose levels in most individuals can be predicted to rise approximately 4 to 8 hours following the administration of oral steroids.