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Preds and Diabetes type 2

Posted , 6 users are following.

philoso4
philoso4

Does taking preds mask or confuse a diagnosis of diabetes type 2?

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Lizfor
    Lizfor philoso4

    Posted

    Good morning. About 3 weeks after starting on 60 mg prednisolone I was diagnosed with steroid induced hyperglycemia. The hope is that as the sreroids decrease it will resolve, but it may not.
    • Anhaga
      Anhaga Lizfor

      Posted

      My blood sugar went up rapidly and alarmingly when I started pred but I immediately stopped eating almost all carbs, particularly wheat, and the spike, which was near the point they'd call diabetes, dropped rapidly.  My level has been considered low normal for about six months now, although admittedly my pred dose has also become lower.  I still avoid many of the carbs which used to be a part of my life: no more breakfast cereal, for example, nor sandwiches for lunch, and sadly none of the easy to make suppers based on pasta.  

  • EileenH
    EileenH philoso4

    Posted

    Taking pred MAY lead to raised blood sugar levels - not usually consistently but often spiking with no relationship to having eaten. This is because pred changes the way your body processes carbs and how the liver releases glucose into the blood stream. Diabetes is a state - it will be there whether you are on pred or not although the pred may contribute to it or be the cause of it.

    It doesn't mask a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes as such - it is just a label really. Your body is not using the insulin available to it properly or there may not be enough insulin so the blood sugar levels are not managed they way they should be. Type 1 diabetes is a different matter altogether - the cells in the pancreas producing insulin are destroyed by autoimmune processes so there is no insulin being produced to do the job. there is a big difference. Type 1 diabetes is irreversible, Type 2 is not, changes in lifestyle (diet and exercise. weight loss if appropriate) can often bring bodily function back to normal especially if caught in the early pre-diabetes stage.

    One of the things any doctor should be doing when you are on pred is checking your blood sugar levels - though single BS readings aren't particularly helpful and the Hba1c measure is more useful. It is a reflection of the average BS levels over the previous 3 months or so. As long as that remains within certain limits you are either not diabetic or pre-diabetic, a warning to change something, if it rises too high then a more robust approach may be needed, using medication for example. That is no different whether you are on pred or not.

  • amkoffee
    amkoffee philoso4

    Posted

    I wad diagnosised with prediabetes 4 months after I started prednisone. They did an a1c test to determine that.
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