A question for diabetic type IIers. Did you know that a cortisone

[lonestarnot]

shot to a joint will cause a rise in sugar levels? The Moms has it and it happened to her. It's starting to go back down now, but stange the doc would consider the effect and take measures to counteract the rise.

[CountAllVotes]

1. it will also cause you to become diabetic

I had an uncle that was taking prednisone every day for many years and he was a diabetic by the time he died.

In fact, any sort of STEROIDS should be avoided by people w/diabetes.

[N4457S]

5. Yes...

...and the fact that he didn't know cortisone would dork her blood sugar creates doubts in my mind about his competency.

I'd find another physician.

[lonestarnot]

11. Well she was having terrible arthie pain in her knee for a few months now. She felt she had to

do something or end up wheelchaired.

[HughMoran]

26. A single shot of cortisone will give you diabetes?

I'm sorry, but that's the way I read it - I'm about to get a cortisone shot since my elbow is rather useless due to arthritis - I am pretty sure I won't be a diabetic afterwards.

[CountAllVotes]

32. I rather doubt it if only once

but then again, I am not a doctor nor a physician.

I just saw what happened to my late uncle. He was never a diabetic and then began the prednisone for many years. He then developed diabetes as a side effect from all of the years of taking this drug. He dropped dead from a heart attack yet he was fairly active/physically fit, etc.

His diet really did suck though.

My own physician said diabetes + prednisone = death.

[HughMoran]

39. phew

I am keeping up a pretty good diet since finding out that I probably have diverticulitis, so I hope I can keep kicking without another heath issue - at least for another 20 years or so :)

[pitohui]

37. supposedly it has happened from just one dose but i think it's highly unlikely

you cannot just sit by and let your elbow be "rather useless" forever because of this risk, at some point you have to take a chance on improving your life

[HughMoran]

38. Thanks

I hate that it's come to this point, but I need to make a choice. This is kind of nerve-wracking since both of my parents are on the edge of "old age diabetes".

[Lerkfish]

2. yep, I had a cortisone epidural into my spine and nearly bottomed out

right after. Although for me, it caused a DROP in blood sugar. I almost didn't get to a juicepack in time.

[lonestarnot]

3. Strange. Yours dropped; her's rose.

[Lerkfish]

7. yeah, not sure why.

all I know is I almost passed out until got some fruit juice pack in me.

[lonestarnot]

10. Glad you are ok.

:hug:

[Lerkfish]

12. thanks! luckily my wife was driving.

she drove like a maniac to get me home to the juice packs.

[lonestarnot]

14. Thank God for wives egh?

[Lerkfish]

16. yup! mine is the absolute best ever.

(no offense to other wives)

[pitohui]

35. yeah, diabetes is a problem with insulin response

sometimes your blood sugar is too low and you go into a diabetic coma and are at risk to die, sometimes your blood sugar is too high and your organs/eyes/kidneys are damaged but you're not like killed immediately

it's a bad feedback type disease, and bad feedback can swing in both directions

nothing strange about it at all if you think about it

[MonkeyFunk]

33. eek!

I had a spine epidural yesterday, and another scheduled for thursday.

I'll ask the doc about blood sugar.

[murphymom]

4. Type 1 here

A few years ago my doc gave me a course of prednisone for a bad outbreak of excema and it spiked my blood sugar up to 500. I'm guessing that individual reactions must vary quite a bit, because my doctor didn't really warn me about it, except to say it might raise my blood sugar "a little bit". Since then I've been leery of any of the cortisone family of drugs, unless they are used externally, like in a cream or ointment.

[lonestarnot]

15. She will be too now.

[Warpy]

6. A small spike won't hurt her

and insulin dependent diabetics usually have a sliding scale for regular insulin coverage that will work during the spike.

Since the rise in serum glucose levels varies widely from person to person, likely the doc didn't bother trying to control it ahead of time. Hospitalized diet and oral medication controlled diabetics are different and can have their glucose levels lowered along with close observation to make sure they're not getting shocky.

Cortisone isn't the only thing that will raise glucose levels. Injury and illness will also do it.

[lonestarnot]

9. She doesn't take insuline, just some pills. I've been calling her all

day to see how it's going and slowly going down. If it's going down, could she still get "shocky?"

[Warpy]

19. Not unless she's fasting or she's taken extra pills

both of which are a very bad idea. If she's on her usual diet and her regular medication, she should be fine.

The early symptoms of low blood sugar (if she doesn't know them) are pallor, tremors and/or hunger, followed by confusion. If she feels like that, she needs to eat a protein and complex carbohydrate snack. Peanut butter on crackers was the favorite in the hospital, washed down by a glass of milk.

[rexcat]

8. Even though the cortisone is injected locally...

you will see systemic affects with steroids, including cortisone, and her glucose is going to go up. If your mom is just on oral meds it would also be more difficult to treat a transient rise in her glucose secondary to the cortisone injection. If she were on sliding scale insulin along with the oral meds it would be easier to control her glucose. There is not much that can be done if she is on oral meds. Adjusting the oral meds can be tricky and you don't want her to have a hypoglycemic reaction down the line so my it is safer not to adjust the oral meds if the rise in glucose is expected to be of short duration.

[lonestarnot]

18. Makes sense now that the lovely experience is apparently over.

Sugar back down to 120 now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. Also consider doing something physical to move

I had to take prednisone due to asthma early in the year... it jumped... I walked

I understand why she could not walk, but consider getting a table top exercise machine. That little thing will help

Me, I get actual physical effects... I get incredibly tired, so those two weeks were fun... NOT

[lonestarnot]

31. I bought her one of those little bikes you can ride from any chair that

doesn't put pressure on your knees. I'll have to remind her to use it. Thanks nadinbrzezinski.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. You welcome and if she does this on a regular basis

it will also help to control her blood sugars

Exercise is a critical element of a diabetic self care

And yes, dad is diabetic and when it comes to exercise (beyond therapy) he is stubborn

[Horse with no Name]

13. I'm not a diabetic

However, when I was in the hospital recently, I was getting high doses of solumedrol and my blood sugar rose very high.
They were giving me insulin to bring it down--it is now back to normal.

[lonestarnot]

17. solumedrol? Sorry I don't know what that is.

:shrug:

[N4457S]

20. Here...

http://www.drugs.com/mtm/solu-medrol.html

[lonestarnot]

23. Thanks.

[Horse with no Name]

21. It is a steroid

like cortisone.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Yes, and if you are given cortisone for a bad asthma attack it will also

throw your sugars out of whack.

When they gave me the zone, they warned me of it

Other effects

Weight Gain

and thirst...

The latter can be a distraction from the high blood sugars that will do that too

Giving cortisone is a balance between the temporary effect of hi blood sugar and quite possibly the life saving effects of the cortisone

[libodem]

24. hmmmm

I wasn't clearly aware of that. Even one of my Dr's was surprised that my kidney function and blood sugars changed. My sugar is stable and normal. After steroid injections my sugar jumped to a high normal and I had to pee frequently.

[Clear Blue Sky]

25. Doesn't happen to everyone.

Side effects with any treatment. Have to weigh risks and benefits. Less chance of this with a shot into the joint than taking cortisone pills I presume.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. With diabetics you assume that will happen

anything, even the wind blowing by, can change that delicate balance

Hell, a diabetic gets a cold, not even a bad one, just the sniffles, and that blood sugar can get out of whack... hell a dental cleaning can do it to

My doc told me, granted I knew it, but he told me... and any doctor who gives any steroid to a diabetic should tell patient, family members and have an action plan. Usually if sugar goes above a certain threshold that is when you go... DOC!

i should add why... if it goes above a certain point insulin, even short term, might be in order

[meow2u3]

29. I had to have IV cortisone while I was in the hospital last summer

...with a life-threatening asthma attack brought about by allergies. The cortisone caused my sugar levels to jump up to almost 400!! and my usual level is in the 140's fasting and the 180's after meals.

It was a matter of choosing between my blood sugar spiking--up to over 300--and being able to freakin' live. I was given insulin shots during my stay, and those shots brought my sugar down to about 250!

[MiniMe]

30. Same thing happened to me about a year ago, but it was bronchitis not asthma

They were pumping me full of IV steroids. They started giving me insulin but it wasn't dropping my BS. The nurse tells me that my blood sugar is awfully high. I told her "what do you expect? They are pumping me full of IV steroids". If its a choice between being able to breathe and raising your blood sugar, they will treat the breathing first, then go after the blood sugar.

[pitohui]

34. we're aware of it but sometimes there's nothing to be done

yes, as my husband is metabolic syndrome, he is well aware of the spike caused in sugar levels and how it can even potentially change your status to full blown diabetic but for some conditions a steroid is the only realistic option

what do you do then?

in an emergency situation my husband opted for the lowest possible does of the steroid and it still took weeks for his glucose levels to get back to normal

but what do you do? an emergency is an emergency by defintion