Just found this article about research of a drug to reduce the effects of steroids. This maybe the answer to our worry about the horrible side effects of Pred.
Haven’t been on this site for a while as hubby is ill and will be undergoing a significant operation in late April. Prior to this, we are going on a cruise to New Zealand in 10 days, but that is now subject to the Coronavirus outbreak.
We, as people with compromised immune systems, need to be especially vigilant to reduce exposure.
That's interesting - and here is another slightly more detailed link to this research which is however only on 50 people without diabetes - so is this conclusive 'enough' ?
This is exciting! I wonder how long it would take to be included in clinical practice though?
This has been circulating for a while for me. Every month on the diabetes UK website metformin is said to be good for various tangential conditions. I have been on maximum dose of metformin for almost 20years. Once on steroids I had to go on insulin on top of metformin. It may be top notch research with reliable findings and I hope it is.... But metformin has not really helped control symptoms of pmr or side effects of pred that I would consider serious when standing beside non metformin/diabetes pmrers. . I hope it works for other conditions as. My view is skewed as I already needed it. 😜🤔
Not exactly a massive study - and there are probably quite a few patients who don't have problems with or without metformin. I don't. It shouldn't be a massive job to use medical records to identify whether patients on metformin do better than average though.
I requested a prescription of metformin from my doctor once I was put on 60mg of prednisone for GCA. I'm not diabetic, and hope not to become any more insulin resistant, but that much prednisone raises my blood glucose levels to what I would normally consider my maximum before I even take a single bite of food. Although I'm using the metformin to help with blood sugar control, I'm encouraged by the prospect that it could also help mitigate bone loss and other steroid side effects.
A friend who has recently had cancer treatment for prostrate was also put on metformin as part of a trial. Don’t know why or what the trial will show but obviously some physicians are trying to think outside the box with this.
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