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Steroids - how to manage glucose rise

M

mariavontrapp

Well-Known Member
Messages
293
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
(Type 2) Hi I've been put on a steroid called prednisolone for a couple of weeks. My glucose is already starting to shoot up. Can anyone advise on how I should be dealing with this? I'm on insulin 30 units at tea-time. I'm wondering if I should increase it and by how much. I would appreciate if anyone could share their experiences of this.
 
i'd speak to your DSN / Consultant for medical advice. depending on which insulin your on stays in system for various degrees. you've not stated how much your sugars have went up by. have you tried a short stroll shortly after meals for me if light (stroll on flat as an example) 30 minute walk helped to reduce sugars by a fair bit. swimming reduced by around 3x the gentle stroll. your weight exercise etc will all contribute. you could also try eat a little less carbs and play by ear (don't make a big change small change to carb content to see how goes) slowly and surely gets you there
 
I absolutely agree with Grantg. Your diabetes team will tell you by how much to increase your medication. I was put on 3 separate weeks of prednisone at the beginning of this year following quite a serious chest infection. My blood glucose skyrocketed and I was hospitalised with DKA and I was put on insulin for the first time. I’m T2 and was prescribed 8 units of HumulinM3. I have been given information sheets to tell me how much to self adjust my medication after 3 days or higher than wanted or lower than wanted BG stats. This is dependent on the type of insulin, of course, and shouldn’t be without medical advice.
How are you doing now?
 
I'm with the others... Get the pro's involved to see what to do about the higher blood sugars. Three weeks is a long time to be uncontrolled, and the odds are it'll be a while (maybe weeks) for your blood sugars to normalise after you stop the prednisolone. Maybe get a CGM to keep an eye on things as they're different than usual, if you don't already use one. But yeah... Make the call and get some advice from your team or nurse.

Hope you'll feel better soon!
Jo
 
I've been off the steroids for 8 days now but my glucose is still going and staying much higher than normal. My time in range has gone down to 35% (normally over 80%). I'm hoping the situation is only temporary
 
mariavontrapp said:
I've been off the steroids for 8 days now but my glucose is still going and staying much higher than normal. My time in range has gone down to 35% (normally over 80%). I'm hoping the situation is only temporary
Click to expand...
@mariavontrapp, my understanding, both with oral and injected steroids is it depends on the person. For some, blood sugars are back to normal within 24 hours, for others it takes longer.
I had a look at steroid reactions as I will be having steroid injections in my spine.
 
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