crohns and induced diebetic because of prednisone

How much pred have you taken and for how long? I haven't run into blood sugar problems -- at least not yet -- however, my bone density dropped down to the level right before osteoporosis (osteopenic) and I wasn't taking all that much ... although I did take it for several years. I was on 10mg for several months at a time, but often had to take 20 - 40mg to stave off a flare. Around 2002-2003 I switched over to Entocort, but I was still using pred off and on for a good 5 years prior to that. I am hoping to get off the Entocort completely in the next month or so (docs just cut my dose down from 9mg to 6mg with a taper to 3 coming soon.)

Unfortunatley, due to prednizone I've been thrown into type 2 diabetes. Because I get my blood drawn every 3 months they were able to catch it. Now, we're trying to control my sugar levels with diet and exercise. With Crohns let's just say it's interesting! I wake up in the morning and try to decide if It's a Crohns, or a Diabetes day. Difficult to manage! I've been trying to monitor my sugar levels regularly and have cut out sugar, and white wheat for the most part. Went back to eating whole grain breads. It's doing a number on my stomach ...everyday is a challenge. Wish I could help you more.

 

Many people that have either used prednisone long term or on and off at high dosages for many years are very likely to develop temporary type 2 diabetes. This is especially likely if you are genetically predisposed to diabetes. I found this out in a similar way to you when I went off of Remicade and methotrexate and exchanged it for a high dosage of prednisone. After about 6 months I developed osteoporosis and type 2 diabetes with an A1C level of 9.8. My doctor had been monitoring my levels without telling me for the whole 6 months because he is also my father's doctor and my father suffers from severe type 2 diabetes. We started out with Metformin and then switched to Avandia after the stomach problems that developed. When I started Cimzia and went off the prednisone I went off the Avandia too without telling my doctor because I thought that it was caused by the prednisone. Within 4 months I was down to a 5.3 A1C level and informed my doctor what I had done. He was not really happy with my approach(which he was justified in being upset) but he did come to the same belief that it was caused by the prednisone. I have since maintained the low A1C level but from time to time notice that my blood sugar levels will drop really low or go really high so I am trying to lose a little weight to be physically able to avoid the onset of it. If your doctor started you on insulin injections there is a high likelyhood that you are type 1 and not type 2. You may want to do the further testing to find out. You may have both Crohn and diabetes.