Prednisone causing diabetes

Hi Peggy, welcome! I'm sorry you have to be here though. I have diabetes because it runs in my family but I've had to be on steroids for various matters through the years and each time I was told my blood sugar would be very high during therapy. Doctors know this. In fact, when patients are on steroids long term, their doctors might even prescribe insulin to bring down their blood sugar (to avoid health problems caused by high blood sugar). In any case, what to do now?!

Talk to your doctors. If your dosage of steroids is reduced, fine, but your blood sugar still needs to be monitored and if it is that high (with an A1c of 7, for example) ask about insulin therapy or what they suggest. Having health complications from high blood sugar (aka diabetes) is not something you want. Diabetes medication in some form can be temporary. If you are not satisfied with the answers you get, please find an endocrinologist.

What you can do for yourself though is this: cut out heavy carbs in the food you eat every day, get more cardio exercise (if you aren't doing any) and start strength training, and lose weight if you need to. Actually by cutting down on the carbs and doing those kinds of exercise will help you lose weight. Cutting down on carbs will bring down blood sugar, particularly in those who are insulin resistant. Regardless of meds or anything else, these are things you can do for yourself.

There have been other members who've posted about steroid-induced diabetes. I hope some of them can post their experiences for you.

Here is a link to a site that explains more. There are lots of other sites around the web; this is just one of many:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317015.php

I wish I could help you more. Please continue posting!

I understand about your family and their health as my two siblings and I all have diabetes. Our mother and grandmother died from diabetes-related complications. I will tell you this, however, we know much more today than their generations and this is what I do. Since carbs raise our blood sugar very high, I am on a very very low carb eating plan. For me, this means I eat lots of veggies but no corn or potatoes, no rice, no bread, etc. I do eat lots of greens along with the bell peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, grated cabbage (the mix sold for cole slaw), Brussels sprouts, radishes along with low-salt olives and pickles, cheese and yogurt. I drink Almond Breeze Coconut Almond milk and put half and half in my coffee. If I eat a burger, I have it "on the plate with no bun" and I eat it with a fork and knife. There is now "riced cauliflower" available in the freezer section with other vegetables and it is a decent substitute for real grain rice and a filler in stuffed bell peppers.

I do not overload on meat at all. Some people think that "low carb" means high fat or high protein and as you see above, that's not how I eat. At dinner I'll eat a piece of chicken or a couple of slices of pork tenderloin and the rest of my veggies. We eat from scratch in our house so it's easy to stay with the plan for me. My husband eats 'real' rice and I eat my cauliflower rice and that's the only difference.

High blood sugar can cause glaucoma and other eye problems which, untreated, can lead to blindness, so make an appointment with an ophthalmologist. Your family history is enough to warrent this even if you don't have problem now. In any case everyone over a certain age (not sure about this, 40?) should have their eye pressure tested. An optometrist can measure this but an ophthalmologist can do this plus take pictures behind the eye and see if there is any damage to the retinas. You do not have to deal with blindness.

High blood sugar can also cause neuropathy, loss of feeling in the extremities, particularly the feet. Lots of other problems as well like the kidneys and heart. However, keeping your blood sugar as normal as possible with diet, exercise and meds (when necessary) can avoid these complications. And what we eat is completely within our own control.

Please read the link in my signature for more detailed info on blood sugar. Stay with us!

Oh, do I know what you mean about bread! I used to make bread years ago, different kinds of loaves but the French bread was what we liked best. Growing up we always had a loaf of Italian bread on the table at dinner. So, realizing what bread (and all food made with flour) did to my blood sugar was not only an eye-opener but practically the end of the world. My family is Italian! This was impossible for me. Except that it wasn't. Living in denial would kill me with complications of diabetes; I knew that. My mother had neuropathy and they had to amputate her leg because of gangrene. Then she had a heart attack and died after the operation at 72. She ate what she wanted and was not compliant, continued to smoke, too. I was diagnosed 13 years ago and have learned a lot, so here I am. I was able to control my blood sugar with just diet and exercise but it was hard to keep up the daily cardio with bursitis - but I still am very low carb.

Do I ever eat any bread? Yes, but rarely if we're out and the restaurant has artisan bread, not fluffy white rolls. It was hard in the beginning but now it's just routine for me.

Hope you can get things on track.