Sky high blood sugar levels on steroids

[mike.cicale]

I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica around 10 m0ths ago, I am t2 Diabetic no meds just diet controlled, my bloods levels have always 5.6 since taking steroids Prednisolone my blood's have shot up to 20, have been eating low carb diets of soup etc, is this normal for steroids to do this, if i speak to my GP he will put me on meds, I'm feeling very good on a soup diet managed to go down to 7or 10.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica around 10 m0ths ago, I am t2 Diabetic no meds just diet controlled, my bloods levels have always 5.6 since taking steroids Prednisolone my blood's have shot up to 20, have been eating low carb diets of soup etc, is this normal for steroids to do this, if i speak to my GP he will put me on meds, I'm feeling very good on a soup diet managed to go down to 7or 10.

How low carb are you, do you know how many grams a day you eat? Quite a few people here need steroids for other conditions, and that does make blood glucose management tricky... Some can do it with a very, very strict low carb diet (as in, 20 grams of carbs or less), some just aren't that lucky and will have to resort to blood glucose lowering medication. If you're seeing blood glucose up in the 20's, that's not really something to mess around with. I understand full-well you don't want to get your GP involved, but that level is not doing you any favours either... Everything above 8,5 basically does damage, and a very high blood glucose can get dangerous. DKA is rare in T2's, but it does happen. Please be safe.

 

[xfieldok]

I am on prednisolone. Do you have a specialist diabetic nurse available through your surgery?

Mine put me on 2 types of insulin. The general nurses do not have a clue about steroids and insulin. I eat keto and with no proper instructions on how to use insulin it took me a while.

If you can speak to someone and they give you insulin, ask if you can have a freestyle libre for the duration of insulin usage.

 

[Tophat1900]

Excuse my ignorance, but wow long will you be on steroids?

 

[andromache]

Steroids send my sugars through the roof as well. (I have MS, so have to take them from time to time.) As matter of routine, GPs will be wanting to keep a course of steroids for polymyalgia as low as possible and as short as possible. Obviously this applies with bells on in your case, and, as others have said, you really need to be working with your GP on this one and inform her/him fully. If you need something to manage your sugars, at least while you continue to need the steroids, that doesn’t mean you’re failed - it’s the steroids’ fault, not yours. Do what’s needed to protect yourself from harm.

 

[JohnEGreen]

I have been taking steroids daily for several years and yes they do make blood sugar control difficult in my case I have been able to get control by following a very strict low carb diet when I don't keep to a very low carb diet then the situation can quickly get out of hand but as has been said some people on steroids require blood lowering medication some times that is unavoidable especially if on long term prednisolone if on a relatively short term course of preds when you stop taking them blood sugars will eventually return to what was normal for you.

 

[Rubette]

I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica around 10 m0ths ago, I am t2 Diabetic no meds just diet controlled, my bloods levels have always 5.6 since taking steroids Prednisolone my blood's have shot up to 20, have been eating low carb diets of soup etc, is this normal for steroids to do this, if i speak to my GP he will put me on meds, I'm feeling very good on a soup diet managed to go down to 7or 10.

I don't know how long you have been on Prednisolone but I've been on it thirty odd years and it has caused no end of problems with skin and other issues. However I have to take it following a renal transplant in the mid-80s which has given me all these years of life I wouldn't have had. They also make me feel hungry so I find a low carb diet is hard to follow. And don't say I should fill up on veg and so on, because they just don't do it for me, even though I love them, and too many cause IBS flare-ups! It's hard striking a balance at times isn't it, between eating healthily, feeling satisfied and keeping the blood sugars in check.

 

[Cloy]

I also have PMR, and have had it for 6 years. I was recently diagnosed with diabetes hba1c 127. Likely steroid induced. I am only starting on the diabetes journey but I feel your pain.