HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

high blood sugar

Support Forums
>
Diabetes
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 2/3/2011 3:16 AM (GMT 0)
I just checked my brother into ICU for a blood sugar level of 712.  He is on prednisone for lung cancer and chemotherapy.  Can anyone tell me what this means?

 

Posted 2/3/2011 3:38 AM (GMT 0)
Katiecat, I'm sorry about your brother's illness.  712 is extremely high.  Predisone can raise blood sugar and doctors know this.  I'm sure they will try to bring it down, probably with insulin injections.  If he is also diabetic, they must have been monitoring this.  Actually they should have been monitoring it anyway since he was on prednisone.  Sometimes other meds can raise blood sugar.  Stress and illness can, too.  At this point, though the goal is to get the blood sugar down to the 100's.  They would probably do this slowly.  I hope things go alright.
Posted 2/3/2011 5:41 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for your information.
Each time he goes in for an exam every on to three weeks the doctor orders blood work. No, he is not diabetic, up until now! Nothing has ever occured like this before. The last few weeks, has craved orange juice, apple juice, and ginger ale on ice. LOTS! He has been on 10 milligrams of prednisone as part of his chemo, and was just about to go down to 5 milligrams, starting today, then every other day the following week.
The doctor suspects the prednisone as the possible culprit. Too soon to tell.
Posted 2/3/2011 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
Prednisone is well-known to raise blood sugar, which is why doctors always test the patients.  Sometimes they have to take meds like diabetics for as long as the blood sugar is high.  The more carbohydrates he eats, the higher the blood sugar would rise, too, but he should talk to his doctors about changing his diet.  I hope he's doing well and I'm glad the doctors are monitoring his blood work for this.
Posted 2/3/2011 3:37 PM (GMT 0)
High blood glucose will make you thirsty. However, it would be better to drink just plain water or something that is very low on carbohydrates in that case. Juice will just raise blood glucose even if it had "no added sugar".. Prolonged high BGL also comes with a danger of ketoacidosis and that needs medical attention. I believe I had that condition when I was first diagnosed with type 1. I hadn't heard of prednisone until I joined these forums, so I don't know how much it affects blood sugar first hand.
Posted 2/5/2011 4:57 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you everyone, he is home now with insulin and lots of information. He will be all right for now. It may go away when the prednisone is stopped. We will see.
Posted 2/6/2011 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
Katiecat, best of luck to him.  I'm glad he's home.  If you or he have any questions, be sure to come back.  We have some helpful members who can give information about insulin and prednisone.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply