Prednisone, Diabetes, Flare

[Masha]

The bad news is that Prednisone caused me to get diabetes. When I saw my endocrinologist my number was 7.8. Not enough to warrant insulin, however requiring some medication. He put me on a very old but proven drug, Metformin. After three months my number decreased to 7. The drug however, gave me a problem with diarrhea. So he just switched me to Tradjenta. I self test daily and those numbers have dropped considerably. This is good.
I know that a reduction in Prednisone will eliminate the diabetes. I was able to drop to 10 mg easily. Per Pete’s advice, slow going after that. It took me a month of Sundays to get to 9. I made it to 8 3/4 without sinus or dental issues. Then WOW, a week ago I woke up and could barely move my legs. Remembering Alysia talking to Richard that his horrible leg pain may be due to a change in Prednisone, I increased mine back to 10. Then, BINGO, like magic the leg pain subsided. I can get back to 9, but I feel stuck there:confused1:
So now you are hearing, me do something I don’t often do, complain. Vdub once said this disease makes planning difficult. How true.
But back to a little positive thinking, the first thing I thought of with that leg pain was ‘thank God I don’t have to go to the office.’ Retirement is wonderful.
The only thing on my agenda was to do some Nuno felting, which, by the way was invented by an Australian woman in 1992. It is great mental and physical therapy. I limit my art supplies to no toxins since Wegeners diagnosis, Nuno felting is about as safe as you can get, just soap and water.
Anyone else out there in the diabetes/prednisone fight?
Masha

[gilders]

Hi Masha,
Sorry to hear about your steroid-induced diabetes. The good news is that the diabetes is likely to go away when pred is reduced, the bad news is that you can't cope on lower doses of pred. I found an article that may be of use to you - http://www.pemphigus.org/steroid-induced-diabetes-2/

As you know, kidneys are always on my mind and diabetes does damage small blood vessels and is one of the more common reasons for kidney failure. I'm glad to hear that you have a drug (Tradjenta) that seems to be working well and protecting you and your kidneys.

[vdub]

It's been 8 years for me now and I'm still fighting that battle, Masha. I got of pred about 2 years ago, but I'm going to be on hydrocortisone for the duration. I've been able to keep my A1c at 6.1 with the help of Metformin, but its a constant battle. It would help if I lost some weight, but that's going to happen. Nearly half of the drugs I take say a side effect is going to be weight gain, so I won't beat my head against the wall fighting the inevitable. Hang in there! I hope things get better.

[Alysia]

Tagging drz who is an expert for diabetes and also because I miss him :love:

[drz]

Tagging @drz (https://www.wegeners-granulomatosis.com/forum/member.php?u=939) who is an expert for diabetes and also because I miss him :love:

I am on a pred booster for GPA flare symptoms now and just finished the first week of 3x my normal 5 mg maintenance dosage for prednisone. I was amazed at how fast it sem to relieve my flare symptoms and the increased energy I got over night once it knocked down the fatigue, headaches, joint pain, sinus problems, post nasal drip, coughing etc. I saw my endo yesterday and my A1 C had even dropped .5 from last time which is good considering the flare but I need to wait till pred is tapered down to normal 5 mg before tweaking my insulin further. i think I can get another .5 drop in my A1C.

I like the new Dexcom G6 CGM although the software for it doesn't work on my main computer. And one day both my CGM Sensor and Omni POd controller both failed a few hours apart. So I had really high Blood Glucose levels that day. I think i am back to my "normal" levels of fatigue and pain and hope that will last after I taper back to my normal maintenance dosage. (175 AZA and 5 mg Pred.)

None of my labs showed anything this time which is unusual for me as they have in the past usually tracked my GPA activity fairly well. Fortunately though no new kidney symptoms or lung problems were detected as my maintenance meds probably kept the flare from getting worse.

The weight gain is an on going problem as pred causes weight gain and fat build up where ever it is injected. Other meds also contribute to weight gain so a 1% gain a year is about the best i can do. They did take me off one of my blood pressure meds so they are up 10% but my doctors now think that is best for me as they now think that low normal is worse than high normal for me.

[kelly]

hi Masha i have had this Wegener's since 2008 was in remission from Jan 2016 to may 2018 had a flair in May of 2018 went back on pred.and mtx in Feb of this year the mtx quit working
so i received 2 treatments of Rtx and still took 25 pred daily at the end of March we had a co worker come to work sick because i had no immune system i also got sick was rushed to the hospital i was in critical condition had tho get a chest tube in to drain all the puss in the lungs they put me on 300ml of pred daily i also developed type 2 diabetes and had to do insulin 4 times a day. i was in the hospital for 11 days when i was released i was on 25 pred a day i and every 2 weeks we decreased the pred. i am happy to feel you that when i went to to 10 mg of pred daily and no longer have to take any insulin and i am now off the pred as well it will be a month on Wednesday since i have had to do insulin yea i still check my glucose one a day the numbers have been awesome

[kelly]

yes i also got type 2 diabetes from high doses of prednisone in march i have been of and on prednisone since 2008 in March i was in the hospital with a lung infection for 11 days with high doses of pred. i had to take insulation injections 4 times a day when my prednisone was reduced to 10mg a day my diabetes became under control its been 7 months no insulin yea i still check my glucose 2-3 times a week all has been awesome hope you get the same results

[MorneCoetzee]

Thank you so much for this info I have been on a high dose of Prednisone 150mg a day and suddenly I have this great thirst and continously running to the bathroom and losing weight for no reason.
Also been on of since 2016 hoped it will be undercontroll , but will get my glucose tested seeing my Dr on Wednesday

Was wondering if this was normal

[drz]

Thank you so much for this info I have been on a high dose of Prednisone 150mg a day and suddenly I have this great thirst and continously running to the bathroom and losing weight for no reason.
Also been on of since 2016 hoped it will be undercontroll , but will get my glucose tested seeing my Dr on Wednesday

Was wondering if this was normal

Have you tried monitoring your Blood Glucose levels at home with a blood glucose testing kit?
High levels of pred really increase your BG levels.

[Pete]

Came across this bulletin from Cleveland Clinic:

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/8-prednisone-side-effects-how-to-minimize-them/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=cc+posts

[kelly]

thanks for the info