diabetes, steroids, and Byetta
I have been trying to get my blood glucose down and keep it down and had
been doing fairly well. I take Metformin (1000 mg twice a day) and Byetta (2
shots of 10 mcg a day). This morning my fasting blood glucose was 103.
However, this morning I started on a Medpak of prednisone given to me by my
doctor
to clear congestion out of my lungs and to bring my voice back after fighting
a virus for nearly 2 months and not coming out on top. The doctor said the
steroids would raise my blood sugar and that we’d just have to tolerate
increased blood sugar for awhile until I am done with the steroids. Has anyone
had experience with having diabetes and taking steroids? Or with taking
steroids while on Byetta? I was wondering how much I can expect my blood sugar
to
go up and if there is any way to avoid the increase, like eating less carbs?
I was also wondering if Byetta will lower blood sugar caused by steroids?
Any information would be helpful to me. Thanks! Janet
October 31st, 2004 at 9:32 pm
Janet,
Steriods is what got me on BG medication. Up until my run-in with steriods I
was able to be controlled by diet and exercise. I won’t use them now unless I
have no other choices. However, sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, yanno.
Only you know how critical they are to your recovery. I have a friend - a nurse
practitioner - who takes massive amounts of steroids due to lyme disease
treatment and she has horrific BG control problems from them even taking a
number of diabetes medications. The question for her is - do ya die of lymes
complications for diabetes complications? She’s hoping for a cure from the
lymes and doing the best she can in the meantime.
I have never used steriods while taking byetta so I don’t know would happen. It
may vary depending on how much the steriod dose is and how resistant your system
is to the BG raising side effect of steroids.
Good fortune to you!
Marsha
November 1st, 2004 at 2:30 am
Janet, I was diagnosed with diabetes after stress-induced asthma and
prednisone treatment. Well, I had to breathe, but it triggered the
diabetes. This was over 10 years ago, so I have no experience with the
byetta.
November 2nd, 2004 at 3:26 am
Steroids AIN’T fun. My wife got stuck in the hospital for a week shot up
with Toradol and spent time on Prednisone and gained some poundage she can’t
seem to shake.
Carl Eugene Moore
_____
However, this morning I started on a Medpak of prednisone given to me by my
doctor
to clear congestion out of my lungs and to bring my voice back after
November 2nd, 2004 at 1:50 pm
Janet, When I went on steroids after Brain Surgery the increase was
significant. For me at least 100 or more pts. However, that was before Byetta so
I
don’t have any information of what effect Byetta has on steroids. I do think
November 3rd, 2004 at 4:09 pm
steroids will most definilty raise your blood sugars.
if you have insulin my suggestion is to cover yourself
with that until you are done. you can expect it to
take a couple of weeks or more to get y our sugars
back down after you finish your steroids. i don’t
have any experience with the byetta and steroids
November 4th, 2004 at 11:02 am
Hi Janet,
Several years ago I was put on Prednisone and hospitalized for a few
days due to pericarditis and other problems which eventually were
diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis disease. I believe the initial dose
was 60 or 70 milligrams, which was gradually reduced over time as a
substitute medication was tried which one could stay on longer and
with less possible side effects. Anyway, I had to start taking
insulin on a sliding scale to try and offset the greatly increased BG
readings I experienced on the Prednisone, as my doctor predicted.
FYI, once you start taking Prednisone you can’t just stop taking it,
but very gradually have to decrease it over a period of many, months,
otherwise there can be some severe reactions, maybe even possible
death, though I don’t recall for sure now, it’s been many years back.
I recall reading on some website at the time a recommended schedule
for reducing the Prednisone which was something like 14 pages long,
IIRC. The bottom line in my case is that I was on Prednisone for
something like 13 months before tapering off was complete, and on
insulin for about two years before I could go back to just meds alone.
My rheumatologist said he had never heard of anyone coming off of
insulin once they had started taking it.
As you may or may not know, you cannot stay on Prednisone long term as
it can(will?) cause bone deterioration and blindness. Luckily, I
never had the weight gain problem while on it.
I don’t tell you these things to scare you, just passing along what I
had learned and experienced. Poke around on the web and see what
other info you can discover that will help you.
Hope this is helpful.
Paul Kossart, Type-2
Metformin, Glyburide & [Now] Byetta
““““
>I have been trying to get my blood glucose down and keep it down and
had
>been doing fairly well. I take Metformin (1000 mg twice a day) and
Byetta (2
>shots of 10 mcg a day). This morning my fasting blood glucose was
103.
>However, this morning I started on a Medpak of prednisone given to me
by my doctor
>to clear congestion out of my lungs and to bring my voice back after
fighting
>a virus for nearly 2 months and not coming out on top. The doctor
said the
>steroids would raise my blood sugar and that we’d just have to tolerate
>increased blood sugar for awhile until I am done with the steroids.
Has anyone
>had experience with having diabetes and taking steroids? Or with
taking
>steroids while on Byetta? I was wondering how much I can expect my
blood sugar to
>go up and if there is any way to avoid the increase, like eating
less carbs?
>I was also wondering if Byetta will lower blood sugar caused by
steroids?
>Any information would be helpful to me. Thanks! Janet
November 4th, 2004 at 5:57 pm
while all of this is true, you were given the medrol dosepak. that is a 7 day
course that is tapered off over the 7 days and is perfectly safe to do that.the
dosepak is meant for very short courses. different from the long term steroid
use. it will raise your blood sugar though and you are right to be concerned.
but it is only for a week
Several years ago I was put on Prednisone and hospitalized for a few
days due to pericarditis and other problems which eventually were
diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis disease. I believe the initial dose
was 60 or 70 milligrams, which was gradually reduced over time as a
substitute medication was tried which one could stay on longer and
with less possible side effects. Anyway, I had to start taking
insulin on a sliding scale to try and offset the greatly increased BG
readings I experienced on the Prednisone, as my doctor predicted.
FYI, once you start taking Prednisone you can’t just stop taking it,
but very gradually have to decrease it over a period of many, months,
otherwise there can be some severe reactions, maybe even possible
death, though I don’t recall for sure now, it’s been many years back.
I recall reading on some website at the time a recommended schedule
for reducing the Prednisone which was something like 14 pages long,
IIRC. The bottom line in my case is that I was on Prednisone for
something like 13 months before tapering off was complete, and on
insulin for about two years before I could go back to just meds alone.
My rheumatologist said he had never heard of anyone coming off of
insulin once they had started taking it.
As you may or may not know, you cannot stay on Prednisone long term as
it can(will?) cause bone deterioration and blindness. Luckily, I
never had the weight gain problem while on it.
I don’t tell you these things to scare you, just passing along what I
had learned and experienced. Poke around on the web and see what
other info you can discover that will help you.
Hope this is helpful.
Paul Kossart, Type-2
Metformin, Glyburide & [Now] Byetta
““““
>I have been trying to get my blood glucose down and keep it down and
had
>been doing fairly well. I take Metformin (1000 mg twice a day) and
Byetta (2
>shots of 10 mcg a day). This morning my fasting blood glucose was
103.
>However, this morning I started on a Medpak of prednisone given to me
by my doctor
>to clear congestion out of my lungs and to bring my voice back after
fighting
>a virus for nearly 2 months and not coming out on top. The doctor
said the
>steroids would raise my blood sugar and that we’d just have to tolerate
>increased blood sugar for awhile until I am done with the steroids.
Has anyone
>had experience with having diabetes and taking steroids? Or with
taking
>steroids while on Byetta? I was wondering how much I can expect my
blood sugar to
>go up and if there is any way to avoid the increase, like eating
less carbs?
>I was also wondering if Byetta will lower blood sugar caused by
steroids?
>Any information would be helpful to me. Thanks! Janet
November 5th, 2004 at 3:15 am
I do think
everyone is different and it also depends on how much the dose of steroids
is and
how long you have to take them
********************************************************
I only have to take the steroids for 6 days. There are 21 tablets in all
and they are 4 mg each. Yesterday morning before I started the steroids my
fasting blood glucose was 103. I took 6 steroid pills yesterday. This morning
my fasting blood glucose was 133, an increase of 30 points. But I only have
to take 5 pills today and then they are tapered down to only one on the 6th
day. So, hopefully they won’t raise my blood glucose too much. I was hoping
to get a lower number on my next A1c test so I hope the steroids won’t make
the number higher. Janet
November 6th, 2004 at 11:59 am
At 06:17 AM 6/13/2006, you wrote:
>while all of this is true, you were given the medrol dosepak. that is a 7 day
course that is tapered off over the 7 days and is perfectly safe to do that.the
dosepak is meant for very short courses. different from the long term steroid
use. it will raise your blood sugar though and you are right to be concerned.
but it is only for a week
““““
No, not seven days. As my original post stated, 13 months . . .
November 7th, 2004 at 11:19 pm
i was responding to jan-lynn when she said she was
given a dosepack
November 8th, 2004 at 6:12 pm
Prednisone is what pushed me over the diabetic edge. My doctor had been
watching my blood sugars for a few years and my AIC was 5.6 at last
check. He told me to lose some weight and prescribed Byetta for me to
help me do so. In the meantime, I came up with a pinched nerve (C-7)
and my doc put me on the Medrol dose pack. That didn’t help so I was
referred to an orthopedic doctor. That doc put me on 20 mg Prednisone,
twice daily, for 10 days. On the 8th day my eyesight was blurry and I
called him and he said to stop taking it.
I was then referred to a pain specialist who was supposed to do an
injection in my neck for the pain. I went to outpatient surgery, got
the IV and they did a blood sugar and it was 353!! He said he could not
give me the shot since it was that high and that I needed to talk to my
doc. I was stunned as I had NEVER had a blood sugar over about 115 or
so until the Medrol Pack and Predisone.
That’s my story. So now I have lost 15 lbs and am on Byetta and
watching what I eat. I have not had a reading over 144 in well over 2
weeks so maybe those cells that were affected by the Steroids are dying
off? One can only hope…
November 8th, 2004 at 9:32 pm
i was responding to jan-lynn when she said she was
given a dosepack
I am on day 3 of the Medpak and my fasting blood sugar this morning was only
108 thanks to Byetta. The dose is rapidly tapering down and only 3 days to
go on the prednisone, so my blood sugar should be back to normal when I go
off it. I don’t think the short course of steroids did any real harm to my
blood sugars. And it sure did help in clearing the gunk out of my lungs.
Janet
November 11th, 2004 at 4:42 am
very glad to hear that. keep a close watch on it
though, it could still sneak up on you. hopefully
though byetta will keep it at bay. i am very sensitive
to predinisone. they were using it in an ultrasonic
treatment to my shoulder and it shot my BG way up.