steroid induced diabetes | Arthritis Information

I just wanted to comment on your post. In 1999 I was given prednisone for a skin rash that I had all over my body in spots here and there. I was in the Cdn Military at the time and my Dr had a copy of all my medical documents where I listed that my sister is a type 1 Diabetic and that my parents are type 2. I was in good physical condition and had no past history of any heath issues. My Dr issued me a prescription for 60mg of prednisone daily and I administered this as directed. Within 3 weeks I had lost 40lbs and went back to him to state that I was having side effects with this prescription which were frequent urination, constant thirst and at times my vision would shut down to about 20ft and all else was blurred. He kept me on my medication and told me to finish the prednisone for my skin rash. I did as I was told and finished my prescription. At this time I had lost 30-40lbs and the Dr wanted to ensure that everything was ok so he sent me in for blood work. Later that day the lab that completed my blood work was trying to get in contact with me to make sure that I was ok because my blood sugar levels were at 457 and they were surprised that I was still functioning. Another Dr saw me and they diagnosed me as a Type II Diabetic. I carried on with treatment with diet, metformine & diabeta for prescriptions. All of this and it still did not cure the skin rash that I had which later turned out to be scabies. Anyways over the next three years I had allot of issued trying to gain my weight back and controlling my blood sugar levels. So I went a saw an endocrinologist who the reviewed my file and examined me and determined that I was misdiagnosed as a Type II diabetic and should have been diagnosed as a type I on insulin. So from my experience please ensure that they are diagnosing you correctly because complications of either types of diabetes can have long term effects.