My dad has been taking abiraterone since july 2018 4 tablets in the morning before breakfast and prednisone 10 mg once daily after breakfast.Due to high blood sugar levels he was advised to take insulin 12 units in morning and 9 unites at night (since june 2019).Today,he checked his blood sugar randomly in the evening 3 hrs after last meal and was shocked to find that his blood sugar was 533mg/dl.What should be done as of now and is there any substitute for prednisone that does not increase blood sugar to this extent.He is also on medication for blood pressure,tablets for blood sugar.He is 67 and is currently asymptomatic.
He has also been treated with lu psma 1st cycle in feb 2020.
Please help.This is urgent.
Written by
Vsahay
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INcrease in blood sugar and worsening of Diabetes is a frequent side effect of Abiraterone.
Not only that, Abiraterone increases blood pressure too.
There is no better alternative to prednisolone as all steroids cause the same side effects.
If it was me..I would strongly consider switching to some other drug from Abiraterone. Sometimes, cure is worse than disease. Risk of complications from uncontrolled diabetes and High BP can be really bad.
As for BS 533..its not good. You can start with reducing dietary sugar even further and your doctor might increase Insulin dose to get blood sugar lower. Consider discussing with Oncologist how to get out of Abiraterone and be on something different.
And if you are from India, you probably already know that Bitterguard (Karela) and Cinnamon (Dalchini) both lower blood sugar. These foods have natural form of Insulin
as proven in research done at Post Graduate medical Institute , India.
King of all interventions for reducing blood sugar is weight loss. Aim for BMI of 22 ideally and sugar drops significantly.
Yes It is. Some people take 250 mg Abiraterone a day with a cup full of Yogurt (curd).
Research has concluded that if Abiraterone is taken with full fat breakfast , its absortion goes up by a factor of four or six. Therefore, 250 mg works like 1000 mg-to 1500mg empty stomach.
I have been on Z/AA for 26 months. I can attest that my BP has gone up from an average of 120 /80 to 150/80 despite taking BP medicine. Upping dosage from an average of 10mg -> 20m and a few weeks ago to 40mg has not helped. Glucose has also risen to borderline from An average of 90-100 to 130-140 even with regular exercise and other activities.
I am not giving advice, only saying what I might attempt for myself: an extremely low carb (ketogenic?) diet. What is the nature of your father's meals? Typical diets are high-carb.
Forgetting about PC for a moment, metabolic disorders like type-2 diabetes are chronic and progressive, and quite often controllable or even reversible with diet and exercise. An extreme form of diet is the near-removal of net (non-fiber) carbs, limited amounts of protein, and large amounts of green veggies and plant-based fats (olive, avocado, coconut, etc.).
[Less extreme would be to greatly reduce simple carbs like sweets, snack-foods, desserts, breads, potatoes, rice, alcohol, tropical (high-glycemic) fruits, and other starches and sugars.]
The keto diet becomes even more controversial with PC in the mix. But is well known that hormonal treatments like ADT can have adverse metabolic consequences. Metformin, if not already used, would seem like a good addition as well. (Perhaps these are the tablets you mentioned?)
Is your father overweight with a fairly high BMI, or can he afford to shed some pounds? Does he work out at all? There my be medical interventions also required, but lifestyle changes may be essential.
I shall definitely make changes in his diet.He is not really overweight but shedding a few pounds would be a good idea😅.As you said lifestyle changes are mandatory.Thanks for the help😊
Hi Vsahay, Im Type 2 diabetic with stg 4 PC, am also on Abiraterone , metformin and prednisone,
Started a keto diet in Jan with excellent results , diabetes is well under control and an A1c of 6 %, my oncologist also supports the Keto diet as it restricts carbs (sugar) to very low levels. You should look into it.
Very serious. DKA, diabetic keto acidosis is not good. It’s just about killed me a couple of times. Kicked in by prostate cancer and Lupron made it really bad. Took two hours once in emergency hooked up to a drip to get it low enough to read at 751. I was delirious from that one. I basically can eat zero carbs or sugars. I was using a Dexcom 6 continuous glucose monitor but the thing wasn’t that great as far as actually working. Looking to get the one they stick just under the skin that works for 90 days. Please if it hasn’t gone down go to the emergency room. Once you cross over into DKA it’s tough.
Thankfully,today my dad's blood sugar was 354 down from 533 yesterday.Had given him a tea of gurmar(herbal supplement) and most probably it has helped.
That is still too high you are an insulin the blood sugar should be down I am a diabetic please go in and have it checked Something is keeping the blood sugar up and T is not going to get it down 200 is still too high don’t mess around with your life or should I say your fathers
Please go to The emergency room that is way too high it is possible to have a stroke do not hesitate to get in there and get it taken care of you’re taking insulin and your blood sugar is still high something is wrong
I was getting aggravated and the oncologist pharmacist specialist took my prednisone down from 5mg to 2.5 and months late asked if I should go back up to 5 mg they said no
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