Prednisone induced Diabetes

I have been on a heavy does of Pred for the last couple of months (August 20), which had given me no relief from my flare after a month. I didn't see relief until over a month when I supplemented the Pred with nicotine.

Unlike other times I've taken Pred, this time I didn't have the Pred munchies, and have been having rapid and sustained weight loss. I've lost about 30 pounds in two or three months (215 to 185), and have been very concerned.

I had a GI appointment last week, and was dismayed to find that my GI was completely ignorant of my condition despite having kept him up to date via email, but that he had no explanation for the weight loss. I had been on a 60 mg/day dose of Pred, UNSUPERVISED for 2 1/2 months!

I went to my PCP, and expressed my concerns, and she told be about Prednisone induced diabetes, and that it could cause weight loss. That made a whole lot of sense to me, and would explain the huge amounts of water I've been drinking of late. Also it feels intuitively right. I have lab tests scheduled for tomorrow morning, and I'm confident that they will prove my PCP to be right. Besides, it sure beats some of the alternative explanations (cancer ).

I have another GI appointment next Wednesday, during which time I've determined that I'm going to fire him and get a new one. I asked my PCP, for recommendations, and she said that of the six on the hospital staff, she would recommend any of the other five. Go figger, I had to get the incompetent one.

My PCP says that if it is diabetes, it will resolve when I've weaned from the Pred, but when I read the articles about it on the web, they say it usually does, but not always. I'm normally a pretty optimistic guy, but this has me scared! I have accepted that I have to live with UC, but diabetes too?

Hey Wodin


That is kinda scary.. I HATE Prednisone..... Evil drug, but neccessary sometimes.. I myself am weaning off Pred since being on it since last June.. ARGH... Remicade was the only thing that got me into a pretty decent remission.. My max was 50mg.. I can't imagine what 60mg would have felt like! I couldn't sit still for weeks!!!



I am hoping your tests answer all your questions and if it IS diabetes, at least the odds are in your favor that it will resolve upon your finally getting off Pred for good.



Also, based on your post, a change in GI's is in order.. Good luck and let us know how things go :)

Try not to freak out- the last course of pred I took I developed steroid induced diabetes too, in a big way! My PCP had me check my sugars 2x day & keep track of the #'s, then we would go over them every month or so. He did mention insulin IF the diabetes didn't resolve on it's own. I had been on 60mgs pred/day when the diabetes developed, for about the same time as you, a few months. I had just started Remicade, in an attempt to get off the steroids. Finally I was able to get off pred for good, & haven't had to take it since (Well, I just did a week long mini course a few weeks ago). The diabetes totally resolved itself, & my sugars have been fine ever since. Apparently it's pretty common, steroid induced diabetes. And it does go away once you'r off the 'roids. The only catch my PCP brought up was that people who develop steroid induced diabetes may be more prone to Type II diabetes in the future, so we check my sugars every visit I have with my PCP. They have a blood test that checks your sugar levels over the past 3 months or so, that's the one we do. So far, so good.

Thanks Jeannie, I'm optimistic that it will resolve once I've weand from the Prednizone. I started tapering last week (60 mg/day to 40), and yesterday was a pretty good day in terms of my diabetes symptomes. I just returned from getting blood drawn, so I'll be able to see the results on line in an hour or so.   <--------------- edit ---------------->   The results are in, Blood Glucose 332!       I've defiantly got it. I have a call in to my PCP now, and am anxiously awaiting her return!   Post Edited (wodin) : 11/19/2009 2:15:52 PM (GMT-7)

My blood sugar rose significantly when I was on 60mg of PRed (and I was peeing a lot, drinking a lot, etc.). My doctor had me wean down to 20mg as quickly as we could and then tested again, and my blood sugar was normal again