Prednisone induced diabetes | Arthritis Information

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Hi All,

Don't know if I mentioned this in my Hello again post, but it seems as though I have pred-induced diabetes.  Have been feeling pretty crummy, and shaky (not talking RA stuff here, just other symptoms on the side), waking up sweating, bursting into what appears to be hot flash sweats out of no where. (Not even going into the whole thirst thing and bathroom thing.)   Anyway, had all my labs done a couple of weeks ago, and while we KNOW everything is skewed there (high WBC, low hemo, blah blah blah), my glucose was 125 fasting.
 
So, I saw my internist (not the rheumy, who, by the way, said my labs were all fine..I guess high sugars are acceptable to him??!!), and he is jumping all over it.  Gave me a glucose meter, the lancets, strips and everything, and has me checking my blood sugar 4 times per day.  Oh my God!!!!!!!!!!!  They are so high!  Today, when I woke up, it was 165!  Can you believe that?  From what I can read, once I get off the pred, the likelihood is that the sugars will go back to normal, UNLESS I was already predisposed to diabetes in the first place (runs on my mom's side), it may stick.   Meanwhile, I have gained, oh, I don't know, about 19 lbs in the last 2 1/2 months, making a whopping total of 50 pounds since last October.  Don't even ask about THOSE stretch marks.  I never weighed this much at 40 weeks pregnant, nor did I get the stretch marks, or gestational diabetes.
 
Meanwhile, all meds must remain the same, for now, but the internist wants me off the pred asap, but that's a long process, which I'm all for, as long as I can continue to function.(Function is a relative term, now isn't it?)  He wants me doing the South Beach diet because it he believes it is a great diet for diabetics.
 
SOOOO, has anyone encountered this?  Help, advice, anything, would be appreciated.
 
Thanks!
Lisa
Hiya! Can I ask what dose of Pred you are on and for how long? Im new to this whole RA scene  and am experiencing raised BP with my Pred. Was 165/104 tonight and Im on medication for my BP. Darnnit! I am due for bloods in 2 weeks, the first since I began this journey on all my meds and I sure will be interested in what comes back with blood sugars.
And Im starting to look very puffy in the face/neck. Especially in the morning. My GP ( regular Doctor) told me that on low dose Pred ( 10 mgs) I would not have that happen. Yeah right...pull the other one sweetie and tell me WHY I am up at 3am not sleeping, and feasting on chocolate and Salt and Vinegar crisps!!
 
Cheers, and hope all turns out OK for you/
 
Lyn  Diet, diet, diet.  I can't stress that enough.  Steroid induced diabetes is pretty common in long term users.  Why isn't your doctor starting to taper you?  If you start tapering and diet you may get it down.  My glucose was above normal when I was on Pred.  I was on 40mg. for over 3 years and just in the last year I've tapered off.  If you're on MXT and Humira and they're starting to work then this might be the ideal time to start the taper.  It's a long, hard process but so worth it to be off Pred.  All my labs have returned to normal.  I hope never to have to go back on it, but one never knows.   LindyI'm now "down" to 50 mg of Pred per day.  Each time they try to get me lower, I flare.  Now they have moved the Humira to weekly, along with the weekly methotrexate injections.  Add the lancets to the sharps box I own and I can start shaking out a good version of Jingle Bells for all the metal rolling around in there!
 
I started at either 5 or 10 mgs. of pred, and within a few weeks my face started to bloat.  Weight gain came fast and furious for me, as it always does.  Unfortunately, Lyn, that's just the type of metabolism I have, so I have always had to FIGHT to keep weight off. Even nursing my three kids, I was the one who gained and not lost the pregnancy weight!
 
My doc seems to think increasing pred is the way to deal with my flares for the short term, and then plays mixup with the others along the way, giving them a chance to work before changing dosages/types.  I think this is the last straw for the Humira if it doesn't work in the next couple of weeks, he will change it again.    Then I will be sitting on 3 or 4 dosages that I paid for and not using them. 
 
Too bad we are on different time zones, you could IM me when I, too, am up all night!
 
Bingethinker:  I'll let you know how that whole South Beach thing goes...it says somewhere in there that M & M's (peanut) have the same glycemic index number as low fat milk!
 
 
Lisa
Lin, I was typing as you were posting.  Diet is the only way to go, I'm sure.  That's why I'm following the internist's orders for South Beach.  Unfortunately for me, the only thing that has kept me sane over the last 10 months is cooking, baking, etc. for family and friends.  While I gave most away, I did snack here and there!  But, even so, I think this is a healthier alternative, and my kids,who have never tasted Turkey anything unless is was a full cooked bird, had thier first turkey bacon this morning and liked it!  Yeah!  They are going along for the whole non -refined sugar, whole grain  thing along with me, whether they know it or not.  My husband will do it just because he's supportive.  I just need to expand his palate a bit.
 
I'm obviously looking to get off pred, and let me tell you, once I do, it'll be a cold day in hell before I willingly submit to them again.  I'd have to be utterly bedridden.
 
Lisa
Hi Lisa, the slower the taper the more your body adjusts to the taper.  If you taper at 1/2mg or even 1 mg. every week then your body adjusts better than if you taper at the typical 5mg. taper.  It takes much longer but your body and RA do better.  Sometimes you have to wait thru the small flares and after a couple of days your ok.  That's the way I tapered and it took me almost a year.  I was so impatient, but I knew my body and I knew this was the best way for me to taper.  I also gained over 50 lbs.   I knew what I had to do but my mind was so crazed from the Pred. that I didn't care.  Am now in the process of losing and it's as slow as the Pred. taper.....sometimes, I don't think we can win.  LindyThanks!  I think when I see the RD next week I will ask him for a RX for 1 mg. pred pills.  I now am the proud owner of 5 mg and 10 mg. tablets.  Lucky me.  And you are right about getting thru the smaller flares.  Sometimes you just have to ride them out.  I never really bought into the whole "rain and arthritis" thing, but I'll tell you, for the last three or four bad storms that have come thru, including last Friday night, WOW, I buy it now.  I can so feel the difference, and see the swelling.  Last Friday I was up at the Lake with my girlfriends and all of the sudden siezed up, knees swollen, couldn't move.  Within 15 or 20 min a storm came off Lake Michigan like crazy.  Unfortunately, the storm left faster than then symptoms they gave me.  By Sunday, though, I was doing much better.
 
Lisa
Wow you ladies have been on some high doses for a long time! Yikes! I feel so lucky now to have been able to survive my taper over the course of 5 months without any major flares to stop me. I still have a ways to go- only allowed 1 mg drop every 2- 4 weeks. Lately I find every other drop I have trouble "adjusting" but I do ride it out. It seems strange it happens only every other but everything about RA is strange.
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