Steroids Increase Blood Sugar

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Steroids increase blood sugar. Avoiding concentrated carbohydrates will help decrease the side effects of steroid medications. This condition is called hyperglycemia or steroid induced diabetes. Its used to treat all kinds of different ailments ranging from arthritis to allergic reactions to lupus. These hormones decrease the effectiveness of insulin and make your liver dump more glucose into your bloodstream.

People taking steroids may notice the following symptoms of diabetes. Increases in blood glucose are common among people taking prednisone and other steroids. Prednisone is a commonly prescribed corticosteroid steroid for short. Steroid medications can decrease the bodys ability to use its blood sugar for energy.

The use of steroids glucocorticoids can cause significantly high blood sugar levels. Some people can have blood sugars as high as 400 mgdl to 500 mgdl while taking steroids. In the hospital setting there is evidence that more than half of the patients receiving high dose steroids develop hyperglycemia with an incidence of 86 of at least one episode of hyperglycemia and 48 of patients presenting a mean blood glucose 140 mgdl. As you can expect higher blood glucose levels during steroid therapy keep your consumption of carbohydrates especially simple carbs and sugary food low since these foods tend to cause blood glucose spikes.

While steroids can help reduce inflammation and reduce pain they can also significantly increase blood glucose levels in people with diabetes as well as individuals with impaired glucose tolerance or pre diabetes. This can cause increased blood sugar glucose. These drugs have also been called glucocorticoids because of their effects on glucose metabolism.