High blood sugar

[Marigold3]

The really good news is I have had no typical PMR pain for the last few months so I hope I am in remission. I am now on 1mg prednisolone and was tapering with difficulty until I stared the DSNS, (thanks to this web site), going down in 0.5 mg. I have had the odd unilateral pain in my ribs and my hips and acute tiredness at times but thankfully they disappear. I have avoided the temptation to increase the pred. I am now trying to reduce the weird fat distribution particularly my abdomen and have started a no carb diet. However I tested my blood sugar, (my husband has the kit), it is 10.3. I haven't seen my GP about this as I don't want more drugs. Has any one experienced this and has it returned to normal once pred was stopped? Unfortunately the GP, who I have never seen, but spoke to last March, appears to have limited experience with PMR. I am so thankful for this sites information and particularly the brilliant webinars.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Apparently my BS was raised a bit at the last blood test a few weeks ago - but my Hba1c is perfectly normal! Your GP should have been keeping an eye on the Hba1c which shows the trend of your average BS levels over the last 3 months, I assume you did take the sample when fasting?

Pred does tend to raise the BS levels and that is part of the reason we recommend cutting carbs. Pred triggers the liver to release random spikes of glucose from the body stores in liver and muscle - if your sample was taken soon after one of those it can give a false impression. You can't control them but you can control other sources of carbs in the diet which helps overall. It is possibly worth asking your GP to check that because now you are on a low carb diet it should help.

I do appreciate that you don't want more medication but raised blood sugars that persist do do damage to the body - and that was a pre-diabetes level so needs looking at.

[Marigold3 in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you for your replies. The blood test was taken before breakfast 3 times in the last 3 weeks. My last blood test in June, (at my request as I had an appointment with a rheumatologist), shows no HbA1c result. My first blood test in November2019 showed normal HbA1c. I will ask for another blood test.

[Koalajane]

I think you need to not worry about one test,When did you test and how long since you had eaten?

What had you eaten or drunk before testing?

All these are important. I test before my evening meal knowing it is at least 4 hours since I last ate and long enough for the prednisolone to not show up.

I am a type 2 diabetic, now in remission, by changing my diet to a low carb, high fat diet. I do not take any medication for this. I might add on diagnosis my test showed up as 19 and it took me under 6 months to get into remission. Good luck but do not panic

[piglette]

Hba1C is probably better as an overall check although you could do a daily check over a period of time. Your GP should offer it to you every so often. Do you know what your last Hba1C result actually was? It is worth finding out as it is quite a large range for normal and you could be near the pre diabetic reading or miles away from it.

[Olympian]

Hi Marigold I am still tapering slowly and have had no issues. Currently on 6 about to go down to 5. I have just had blood test results back and everything so far positive. I have been monitoring my diet throughout and have managed to keep my weight under control so far. Good luck as you move forward.