I had to get a corticosteroid to heal some inflammation. Things like methylprednisolone and prednisone are examples of this type of steroid.
If you have ever used them before, they are notorious for causing BG spikes.
The doctor (not an endo) said he would not normally prescribe them to diabetics. I assured him I could handle it, I had to justify that I knew what I was doing, that I test a lot, blah, blah. He finally agreed.
Nice that he finally gave in and prescribed it. Anyway, I took it as a challenge.
The first day I saw a huge spike, so I made some adjustments and got it figured out. I amped up the basal insulin, the dosing right after the pills, and the dosing for food.
I wanted to throw down a nice flatline because the doctor was so worried.
Where’s the spike now, doc?
If you ever have to take these type of steroids, there is definitely a spike. You just gotta hit it hard with insulin! But I hate the idea of being told something would be too difficult for a diabetic. Fighting words!
BTW, I have to take insulin just for the steroid pill even if there is no food! Kinda crazy, but it works.
Fascinating. Although, with you my friend, the flatline is unsurprising.
This is one of those things that makes me think how there are so many related elements to good BG control, that there’s no wonder diabetes feels out of control sometimes.
This is tremendous! And another one of your posts that gives me hope for the various “what if” scenarios down the road (Auto-immune clusters in my family, and sometimes when I don’t have enough to worry about, I’ll think, “yeah, but I could not handle oral steroids.”) Thank you for posting this!
Had to go to the hospital for relief from asthma yesterday. They gave me a breathing treatment ( steroids) and a large dose of steroid pills. It did a number on my blood sugar but I kept hitting it hard and controlling it. Problem is I went to bed.
I must be the only who’s had a steroid shot (no oral steroids) and had it have zero impact on my BG. Though I do wonder about the topical steroid medications I take every day, but have found mixed messages about whether it does or does not affect BG, and have no real way of testing it out.
