prednisone Options

[Suzan]

Today I am beginning a six day prednisone treatment. It was given to me by my family practice doctor who told me that it would increase my 'sugars' but that I shouldn't worry about it. Like not worrying is going to happen. I was given the pump because I am so careful. Anyway, I wanted to look up some info in my "Pumping Insulin" about maybe increasing my basal durning this time. I had the book in my original Animas Ping box for 1 1/2 years on the shelf underneath the coffee table. But awhile back, I moved the box to an, as of now, unknown location. How have others dealt with increasedd BGs because of prednisone?

Suzan

[Linda B]

Everyone is different, there is no 'rule of thumb' for this. You need to increase your basal until you find you are achieving a low enough BG before your next meal. You will probably need to increase both food and correction boluses.

It's a trial and error thing, and then as the prednisone dose decreases, you will need to decrease your extra insulin. The worst part is when the BG returns to normal unexpectedly and you wind up with a serious low.

I used TWICE as much insulin as normal when on Prednisone. I had to increase my basal to 200% AND double most of my boluses.

It is probably smart to be willing to 'run high' for the week, but you will still need to increase your insulin. Be careful and test often!

Linda B.

[Arlene S.]

Today I am beginning a six day prednisone treatment. It was given to me by my family practice doctor who told me that it would increase my 'sugars' but that I shouldn't worry about it. Like not worrying is going to happen. I was given the pump because I am so careful. Anyway, I wanted to look up some info in my "Pumping Insulin" about maybe increasing my basal durning this time. I had the book in my original Animas Ping box for 1 1/2 years on the shelf underneath the coffee table. But awhile back, I moved the box to an, as of now, unknown location. How have others dealt with increasedd BGs because of prednisone?

Suzan

When I had the shot in my finger I had a rough time controlling my BG levels. I continuously took large correction boluses and I probably increased my basals too. But recently I had cataract surgery and was on steroid eye drops for about 9 weeks and it wasn't as bad as the shot but I did run high.

As Linda said, it's trial and error..

[Nell-wnc]

My endo told me what to do when I was on Prednisone. As noted previously, each person is different so you should call your endo for advice.
I think I was told to double my basal and to take more insulin to bring down highs than the bolus wizard recommended. I did not double my basal, just upped it some. But do not follow the same schedule others follow--find our own.
So may factors to consider: your weight, your body response to prednisone, etc. Some don't respond with higher BGs. I did.

This post has been edited by Nell-wnc: May 20 2011, 12:58 AM

[Suzan]

Thanks for the replies. I did try to contact my CDE but got no response. She won't be in the office tomorrow so I am on my own. I am afraid of insulin, real lows leave me 'wiped out', so yesterday I put my basal up 40%. Today when it was going over 200, I took it up 50%. It still kept climbing so I waited two hours and then gave a correction bolus. When I went out to dinner, I gave a combo bolus, and then took some more because of eating more than the calculated carbs. Once in the car, I noticed my BG was dropping significantly, checked my status and saw that I had 8 plus units of insulin, got scared and cancelled the rest of the combo bolus. Now it is three hours later, time to go to bed and it is skyrocketing toward 300 again. It is time to go to bed and am afraid to take much insulin. But the eye doc told me that BG levels over 300 can damage something in the eyes.
At least tomorrow I will decrease the dose and I guess I will take another correction bolus, set the basal up 40 % and keep Dexie close by. My CGM sure has been active.

Suzan