Steroids & High Blood Sugars

Hi Skye and welcome....

I suffer from severe osteoarthritis, and am due to have a total knee replacement as soon as my sugars have come down to an acceptable level. A fairly sizeable injection of steroid would help my knee in the meantime, but again the sugar levels mean that the surgeon is very reluctant to give it. He did explain that the steroid would certainly raise my already high BS level.

I do have twice-yearly injections of steroid into my thumb or thumbs, but the amount is much lower than my knee would need, so my doctor feels it is worth the risk. Mind you, last time I had my thumbs done was long before I was regularly checking my BS. So I have no way of knowing how the last injections affected my BS.

We (that is I, my orthopaedic consultant, my diabetes consultant and my dsn) are aiming for the op to be done in the next 8 weeks, and I can't wait. Once I have recovered, I am hoping to be able to start some gentle exercise, before the other knee gets too bad and precludes it again!!

And of course, having to use a stick at the moment means my thumb(s) are worse than ever!! One thing always leads to another!!

Hi TwelfthSkye, don't worry too much about it since you're on insulin - just use your bolus to get the levels down. I need to take cortisone injections some times too in various joints. Sometimes it doesn't affect my bs much at all and at other times quite a lot. Just keep testing - your bs should be back to normal in 3-4 days.
If you need the shot it's definitely worth getting it but I really think your doctor should've told you to keep a close eye on your bs-levels for a few days afterwards.
Take care /Chatarina

TwelfthSkye said:

Has this ever happened to anyone else. I honestly didn't realize the steroid injection would effect my control like this. Also I'm a little angry that my surgeon who knew i had diabetes didn't pre warn me of this beforehand :x
I phoned my DSN first thing this morning but she has't got back to me.

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You should have been warned that the steroid injection could effect your bg. I've had 4 injections since becoming diabetic due to work and recreational related injuries, the first two didn't do much to my bg but the last two shot my bg into double figures meaning I had to use correction doses to bring it back down.

Hope the treatment works!