Preds and diabetes 2.

Had appt with diabetes nurse today. Good news bp ok but glucose levels 93 (11) After flare up 2 months ago I've reduced from 20mcg to 17mcg pred. Have agreed to see Endocrinologist but there's a long wait for appt. Tomorrow I'll start reducing carbs and hopefully this will help - don't want to start on insulin. Before pmr diagnosis I was able to control diabetes without metformin. Any advice welcome from you lovely, helpful people.

[jinasc]

pmr-gca-northeast.org.uk/as...

Read this article and it might just help you.

Let us know what you think when you have read it and you can download the whole shebang.

[Hidden in reply to jinasc]

Thank you jinasc. I do feel that my portion sizes of carbs has been too large - since increase in pred (always hungry)! Also need to organise time better, lack of sleep has disrupted my usual schedule as I am sleeping later once I do nod off. Ah well, tomorrow is another day, shall clear cupboards of 'naughty' foods and make a menu list /grocery delivery.

[jinasc in reply to Hidden]

I was told these two tips:

Use a 'ham' plate and not a dinner plate. It deceives your eyes. I can no longer face a dinner plate, it puts me off just looking at the amount on the plate. Odd I am.

Buy a cucumber and wrap it in foil and keep in the fridge, when you get that 'I must have something' cut one inch off cucumber and eat it. Sometimes I needed two pieces. The cucumber is full of minerals and vitamins and water. It works. In fact we published an article in a Newsletter about Cucumbers and what made me smile, was if you carried a few with you, you could cross a desert..............I did read 'dessert' the first time.............

Worth a try.

If in dire straits, one square of dark chocolate (highest cocoa solid possible) works wonders..............mind if anyone can eat two, please let me know.

PS: PMRpro co-wrote a booklet 'Living with PMR & GCA' it has pages of Tips and Tricks.

By the way, did you find the article useful?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to jinasc]

Er - I can easily eat 2 pieces of 75%. 85% and above is a different matter though!

[jinasc in reply to PMRpro]

I can also manage one and a half of the 75% anything else 1 and I have tried.

I tried after talking to you and publishing the article on how good chocolate can be for you, eaten sensibly.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to jinasc]

My favourite is chilli - that is 70 or 75% I think

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

Yes, chilli and chocolate - one of my favourites.

[Hidden in reply to jinasc]

Yes, thank you. Keep me reading tips, less time to eat!

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Not really apart from cutting carbs lots - and that includes fruit. And try to walk as much as you can - especially just after a meal.

There is a good reason - two really - why we bang on on the forum about cutting carbs when on pred. One is weight control and the other is reducing the risk of steroid-induced diabetes which is obviously an even bigger problem when you already have Type 2 diabetes.

Pred makes your liver release random spikes of glucose which triggers insulin production which, in turn, sends your blood sugar level plunging. It gets too low and you crave carbs to bring it back up. Hence the hunger with pred. If you are eating carbs within meals the same thing happens - and you want more. Insulin encourages the body to store excess sugar as fat - and the pred encourages it to lie in the usual places, around the face, on the back of the neck and around your middle. This is in addition to your already existing diabetes problem and over time can be enough on its own to represent Type 2 diabetes.

If you reduce carbs drastically the spikes of insulin and low BS's are reduced and you reduce the cause of the hunger pangs. Most people manage to lose weight relatively easily even while on pred. Every little bit adds up - even a bit more exercise makes a difference too.

[nevagivup in reply to PMRpro]

A friend of ours, a retired endocrinologist specialising in diabetes, told me to increase my carb intake, when my blood sugar was showing as pre-diabetic. Increase it!! I swallowed my retort, otherwise we'd no longer be friends. He brooks no argument.He follows the NHS dogma. As a trained nurse (from decades ago) I remember that diabetic patients who were warded because of their poor diabetes control were always put onto a very low carb diet and so I have always known that carbs convert to glucose, the last thing we need when our blood sugar is too high. Sometimes I feel that we PMR's on corticosteroids are very much on our own as far as getting the right advice, let alone treatment from some professionals.

[Hidden in reply to nevagivup]

Frightening info! I did wonder about accuracy of blood tests results. Does timing affect results drastically. For example, blood taken an hour after breakfast will surely be spiked higher than just before lunch. Also, now told not to 'starve' prior to test. Previous nurse said to allow 12 hr gap! Minefield!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to nevagivup]

Thank goodness he's now retired is all I can say!!!!

[nevagivup in reply to PMRpro]

:))

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

Yhank you pmrpro. Starting to do more walking , walk to bus stop then walk around town to shops. Learning to pace myself now. If too tired or achey then get a cab home. Not worth wearing myself out. Day one of reducing carbs, going well!

[HeronNS]

I was told when worried about my elevated blood sugar to eat protein at same time as carbs. Looked it up and research shows consuming carbs last, after protein, results in lower blood sugar.

[Hidden in reply to HeronNS]

Thanks \heronNS. Makes sense, fill up on protein, maybe eat less carbs? Didn't eat this much on 10mcg preds - I'll keep on slowly tapering.

[BonnyQuine in reply to Hidden]

A blood glucose meter might help. Checking after meals (~ 2 hours) you soon see which foods send your blood sugar levels up most.

W steroid-induced diabetes (on repaglinide, alogliptin and dapagliflozin - avoiding insulin) I basically avoid carbs almost entirely, but include a daily banana for the potassium. (Breakfast = plain Greek yoghurt w banana + blueberries.) Exercise (walking as much as I can manage) helps a lot.

[BonnyQuine in reply to BonnyQuine]

PS: I eat avocado as often as possible. It seems wonderfully effective!

[Hidden in reply to BonnyQuine]

thank you bonnyQuine. Usually have greek yoghurt, few frozen raspberries with small amount of cereal, sometime porridge, every morning. Maybe need to cut out cereal. Love avocado too, but only ocasionally. Might invest in blood glucose meter - do some detective work on different food myself. Thought I'd have easier life once I retired. Trials of pmr. At least I can do more than a year ago - helped by preds! My daughter has fibromyalgia, now uses crutch and wheelchair - also sensitive to medication. Wish she had preds to help her.

[BonnyQuine in reply to Hidden]

Really sorry about your daughter. I met a neighbour this afternoon, whose daughter has had a stroke at 40. Such bad luck! It's not all fun and games, is it. Maybe PMR-GCA is not so bad.

Cereal of any sort seems to send my blood sugars through the roof! Used to love porridge. Oh well.

Avocado is a good source of nutrients including healthy fats, and doesn't seem to send my BS up at all. But any sort of protein, including eggs and cheese, and most veg, esp greens, is fine. You get used to it.