diabetes

always

Okay now we have added diabetes onset by chemo to my list...any help here. Anyone had this and it be temporary?

I get to do bloodsugar test every morning add a generic glucofage to my daily list of growing meds. My chemo today was a 7 hour stint at the clinic. They had to give me insulin before we could even go forward. Blood sugar was 246 on Monday when I had by routine blood work. Non fasting. This was high and then today it was the 316. After chemo and no food for 7 hours my bloodsugar was 178.

Seriously what is next?

I don't want to complain...this too shall pass and I will be fine. I am trying not to grow weary in the good fight...but there are days!

Anyone else with advise? Thanks in advance

becky

susie09

Hi Becky
I wish I could give you some advice or just say something to make you feel better. Just know that I am so sorry that you have to go thru this and that it is becoming overwhelming. Just come here and vent and post and hopefully that will help some. I wish I could be more help. I pray that you will feel better soon.

Someone on here said and I saw it again today: " I have cancer but cancer does not have me!" I really like that sentence!

♠♣ Christmas Susie ♠♣

always

susie09 said:

Hi Becky
I wish I could give you some advice or just say something to make you feel better. Just know that I am so sorry that you have to go thru this and that it is becoming overwhelming. Just come here and vent and post and hopefully that will help some. I wish I could be more help. I pray that you will feel better soon.

Someone on here said and I saw it again today: " I have cancer but cancer does not have me!" I really like that sentence!

♠♣ Christmas Susie ♠♣

thanks
I am hanging in there thanks.

natly15

Becky this is not a cake
Becky this is not a cake walk. Chemo is tough on us fighting the beast we are fighting. I agree there are days. My nausea is just starting to kick in. Got neulasta today.

Some days I cant believe this has happened to me. You go ahead and complain all you want. i have no advice on diabetes, but will tell you what I'm trying to tell myself:

Take it a day a time, a pill at a time, a side effect at a time, and dont project bad outcomes. Be prepared of course, plan to handle what we know we need to do, like having soup on hand, crackers, stool softeners, jello, and after that just stay in the moment and trust in something greater than ourselves, that would be God to me. This is a tough walk, and obviously we are tough walkers.

please keep your chin up and dont discourage but rant and rave all you want.

always

natly15 said:

Becky this is not a cake
Becky this is not a cake walk. Chemo is tough on us fighting the beast we are fighting. I agree there are days. My nausea is just starting to kick in. Got neulasta today.

Some days I cant believe this has happened to me. You go ahead and complain all you want. i have no advice on diabetes, but will tell you what I'm trying to tell myself:

Take it a day a time, a pill at a time, a side effect at a time, and dont project bad outcomes. Be prepared of course, plan to handle what we know we need to do, like having soup on hand, crackers, stool softeners, jello, and after that just stay in the moment and trust in something greater than ourselves, that would be God to me. This is a tough walk, and obviously we are tough walkers.

please keep your chin up and dont discourage but rant and rave all you want.

Thanks Natly
I get the Neulasta shot tomorrow. I know I will get throught this. It just is irritating when you think you have a plan and the course keeps changing. I am tough though so I will keep on keeping on. My prayers are with you. I know God is answering them for us both.
always becky

blazytracy

Wow
Hi Becky,

Those are quite high blood sugars! I have had a kidney/pancreas transplant in 2005 due to having Diabetes for 30 years so I am always watching my blood sugar...Last time I had chemo, my blood sugar checked at 127 which is high for me because it normally runs in the 90's.
I am really curious as to what your Dr's say though.

How many chemos have you had? What is glucofage? I have never heard of that before. Does your sugar run high every day? How often do you have to take insulin?

I hope this is only chemo-related and you can get over this after chemo. I guess I can't give you too much advice but I know where you are coming from..not fun! Please keep us informed.

Hang in there, any questons about Diabetes, please ask me...

Tracy

Jeanne D

natly15 said:

Becky this is not a cake
Becky this is not a cake walk. Chemo is tough on us fighting the beast we are fighting. I agree there are days. My nausea is just starting to kick in. Got neulasta today.

Some days I cant believe this has happened to me. You go ahead and complain all you want. i have no advice on diabetes, but will tell you what I'm trying to tell myself:

Take it a day a time, a pill at a time, a side effect at a time, and dont project bad outcomes. Be prepared of course, plan to handle what we know we need to do, like having soup on hand, crackers, stool softeners, jello, and after that just stay in the moment and trust in something greater than ourselves, that would be God to me. This is a tough walk, and obviously we are tough walkers.

please keep your chin up and dont discourage but rant and rave all you want.

Hi Becky ♥
I am so sorry that this is happening to you. It just isn't fair, is it. I wish I could wave a magic wand and take all of your pain, fears and depression away, but, I can't. But, what I can do is to echo what the others say about just taking this one day at a time and never giving up.

Love, Jeanne ♥

DebbyM

natly15 said:

Becky this is not a cake
Becky this is not a cake walk. Chemo is tough on us fighting the beast we are fighting. I agree there are days. My nausea is just starting to kick in. Got neulasta today.

Some days I cant believe this has happened to me. You go ahead and complain all you want. i have no advice on diabetes, but will tell you what I'm trying to tell myself:

Take it a day a time, a pill at a time, a side effect at a time, and dont project bad outcomes. Be prepared of course, plan to handle what we know we need to do, like having soup on hand, crackers, stool softeners, jello, and after that just stay in the moment and trust in something greater than ourselves, that would be God to me. This is a tough walk, and obviously we are tough walkers.

please keep your chin up and dont discourage but rant and rave all you want.

((( Becky )))
Sending you a hug today as I think you need it!

Debby

DianeBC

blazytracy said:

Wow
Hi Becky,

Those are quite high blood sugars! I have had a kidney/pancreas transplant in 2005 due to having Diabetes for 30 years so I am always watching my blood sugar...Last time I had chemo, my blood sugar checked at 127 which is high for me because it normally runs in the 90's.
I am really curious as to what your Dr's say though.

How many chemos have you had? What is glucofage? I have never heard of that before. Does your sugar run high every day? How often do you have to take insulin?

I hope this is only chemo-related and you can get over this after chemo. I guess I can't give you too much advice but I know where you are coming from..not fun! Please keep us informed.

Hang in there, any questons about Diabetes, please ask me...

Tracy

Temporary maybe?
What does your oncologist say about the diabetes Becky? I would think it might be temporary, but, he would be the expert. So, once you would finish chemo, hopefully, you would be done with the diabetes.

Hugs, Diane ♥

sausageroll

DianeBC said:

Temporary maybe?
What does your oncologist say about the diabetes Becky? I would think it might be temporary, but, he would be the expert. So, once you would finish chemo, hopefully, you would be done with the diabetes.

Hugs, Diane ♥

Becky
Hi Becky,
I was diagnosed with diabetes just a few weeks before my breast cancer diagnosis..so it was not caused by chemo. However,I had chemo,surgery and radiation and now have infusions of Avastin and Zometa until February....your diabetes will probably be very difficult to take care of during both chemo and radiation. Mine spikes for about 10 days in the month...you might need new medications while on chemo. Do you have a diabetic doctor?
One thing to watch for..I have heard other diabetic patients say this too...after a very high spike, I have had a few very frightening episodes of hypoglaecemia...since you have just been diagnosed, you might now recognise the warning signs...so chat with your doctor.
It will all be over soon and then even if you still have diabetes..it will be so much easier to handle. Good luck.

fauxma

blazytracy said:

Wow
Hi Becky,

Those are quite high blood sugars! I have had a kidney/pancreas transplant in 2005 due to having Diabetes for 30 years so I am always watching my blood sugar...Last time I had chemo, my blood sugar checked at 127 which is high for me because it normally runs in the 90's.
I am really curious as to what your Dr's say though.

How many chemos have you had? What is glucofage? I have never heard of that before. Does your sugar run high every day? How often do you have to take insulin?

I hope this is only chemo-related and you can get over this after chemo. I guess I can't give you too much advice but I know where you are coming from..not fun! Please keep us informed.

Hang in there, any questons about Diabetes, please ask me...

Tracy

Tracy
I am a diabetic and
Tracy
I am a diabetic and glucophage/metformin is an oral medication that can be used alone or with glipizide to lower blood sugars. I am hoping that Becky's is also just related to the chemo. Maybe it is like gestational diabetes and will clear up after treatment is completed. It is scary enough to have cancer and all it's treatments and then to add diabetes and high spikes should not be in the cards. There have been times when I have had surgery that they have used insulin to control the wide ups and downs that can occur but have so far avoided it in a regular basis. My sugars have increased since I started arimidex but this is not a side effect just a coincidence.
Becky, my prayers and good thoughts are that this will resolve when you complete treatment. So sorry you are dealing with this in addition to the cancer, chemo and all the other stuff.
Stef

Sunrae

fauxma said:

Tracy
I am a diabetic and
Tracy
I am a diabetic and glucophage/metformin is an oral medication that can be used alone or with glipizide to lower blood sugars. I am hoping that Becky's is also just related to the chemo. Maybe it is like gestational diabetes and will clear up after treatment is completed. It is scary enough to have cancer and all it's treatments and then to add diabetes and high spikes should not be in the cards. There have been times when I have had surgery that they have used insulin to control the wide ups and downs that can occur but have so far avoided it in a regular basis. My sugars have increased since I started arimidex but this is not a side effect just a coincidence.
Becky, my prayers and good thoughts are that this will resolve when you complete treatment. So sorry you are dealing with this in addition to the cancer, chemo and all the other stuff.
Stef

Becky, I've had diabetes
Becky, I've had diabetes type 2 for the past 15 years and have been on oral medications as Stef described above. Last year i had to start giving myself insulin injections because I could no longer control the blood sugar levels. Your levels are high and should be monitored closely. Anytime our bodies are stressed the blood sugars will go up. Recently I was put on Prednisone for an asthma problem and my blood sugars went over 400 and I had to increase my insulin. I'm still fighting the higher blood sugar levels. I'm concerned that when I have surgery my levels will spike again and I'll have to struggle with that as well as healing from surgery. You need to talk to your drs about this and keep close watch on it. Hoping and praying that this condition will go away on its own.

always

Sunrae said:

Becky, I've had diabetes
Becky, I've had diabetes type 2 for the past 15 years and have been on oral medications as Stef described above. Last year i had to start giving myself insulin injections because I could no longer control the blood sugar levels. Your levels are high and should be monitored closely. Anytime our bodies are stressed the blood sugars will go up. Recently I was put on Prednisone for an asthma problem and my blood sugars went over 400 and I had to increase my insulin. I'm still fighting the higher blood sugar levels. I'm concerned that when I have surgery my levels will spike again and I'll have to struggle with that as well as healing from surgery. You need to talk to your drs about this and keep close watch on it. Hoping and praying that this condition will go away on its own.

thanks
Thanks for all of the good advise and support. The oncologist sent me to and internal medicine dr. for the diabetes directly after my chemo on yesterday. Today when I went for my nuelasta shot the chemo staff wanted to know what he had told me. It wasn't much. He just told me to check my blood sugar every morning and take the beginning script that I was given by the chemo staff, but if I remained high to call and he would up the dosage. I was in such a whirlwind I really didn't think to ask his defination of high. Both of my favorite chemo nurses where very helpful today. They don't want me to only check in the morning. They want me to check 3 times a day. They are concerned about the range in my spikes. So I am a bit confused as I am following multiple instructions...but I am going for the most amount of testing and monitoring while we try to sort out patterns etc. I will try to see if I can keep track of how I am feeling...but there is so much poision in my system I can not sort what is what. Also I know the basics of what to eat..and I actually eat well, but not necessarily in regular intervals. So this is just one more little learning journey.

becky

jnl

always said:

thanks
Thanks for all of the good advise and support. The oncologist sent me to and internal medicine dr. for the diabetes directly after my chemo on yesterday. Today when I went for my nuelasta shot the chemo staff wanted to know what he had told me. It wasn't much. He just told me to check my blood sugar every morning and take the beginning script that I was given by the chemo staff, but if I remained high to call and he would up the dosage. I was in such a whirlwind I really didn't think to ask his defination of high. Both of my favorite chemo nurses where very helpful today. They don't want me to only check in the morning. They want me to check 3 times a day. They are concerned about the range in my spikes. So I am a bit confused as I am following multiple instructions...but I am going for the most amount of testing and monitoring while we try to sort out patterns etc. I will try to see if I can keep track of how I am feeling...but there is so much poision in my system I can not sort what is what. Also I know the basics of what to eat..and I actually eat well, but not necessarily in regular intervals. So this is just one more little learning journey.

becky

I agree Becky, test yourself
I agree Becky, test yourself the 3 times a day like the nurses said so that if something happens, you can catch it right away. And, you do have to watch what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat in order to get yourself balanced. Are you taking insulin shots?

Leeza

always

jnl said:

I agree Becky, test yourself
I agree Becky, test yourself the 3 times a day like the nurses said so that if something happens, you can catch it right away. And, you do have to watch what you eat, how much you eat and when you eat in order to get yourself balanced. Are you taking insulin shots?

Leeza

no insulin
They gave me an insulin shot to get me ready for chemo. But now I am on to oral meds instead. Hopefully that will get this under control and I won't need the insulin.

BlownAway60

always said:

no insulin
They gave me an insulin shot to get me ready for chemo. But now I am on to oral meds instead. Hopefully that will get this under control and I won't need the insulin.

I am also a Diabetic
I am also a Diabetic on oral medication and I know if they are giving you steriods that the steriods will also effect your sugar levels. Mine return to normal within a day or two after stopping the steriods. So I have about 4 days when my sugar is elevated. Highest it has gotten is 207. Normally fasting in the a.m. is in the 90s. On the steriods fasting a.m. has benn 130 to 153. My GP says that for being on Chemo and taking the steriods that my levels are good even though elevated.

Your nurses are right about checking your sugar more frequently. I check mine at least twice a day.

Donna

Angie2U

always said:

no insulin
They gave me an insulin shot to get me ready for chemo. But now I am on to oral meds instead. Hopefully that will get this under control and I won't need the insulin.

I hate to read that you are
I hate to read that you are having this now Becky. If it is because of your treatment, then I bet once you are done with chemo, it will go away. I will certainly pray for that for you. Check your blood 3 times a day. I hope the oral meds work for you. Good luck!

Angie

always

Angie2U said:

I hate to read that you are
I hate to read that you are having this now Becky. If it is because of your treatment, then I bet once you are done with chemo, it will go away. I will certainly pray for that for you. Check your blood 3 times a day. I hope the oral meds work for you. Good luck!

Angie

Thanks to you all
Thanks for sticking with me on this. It is such a small thing, but it seems crazy that I am fighting in the midst of a fight. My blood sugar is still way to high. 360 last night at bedtime, 323 during the night. I had to check it wanted to know it was at least trying to go down and this morning prior to eating it was 262. I need to eat, but am afraid it will go up more. I am going to call doc as soom as they get in. I will eat fiber cereal no sugar.

always

sausageroll

always said:

Thanks to you all
Thanks for sticking with me on this. It is such a small thing, but it seems crazy that I am fighting in the midst of a fight. My blood sugar is still way to high. 360 last night at bedtime, 323 during the night. I had to check it wanted to know it was at least trying to go down and this morning prior to eating it was 262. I need to eat, but am afraid it will go up more. I am going to call doc as soom as they get in. I will eat fiber cereal no sugar.

always

Do call
Those are high and the numbers may have nothing to do with what you eat at all.
I was only on Metformin at the start and they added Glipizide soon after. I now take long lasting insulin in the morning and have fast acting on hand for when it spikes. People seem often to think insulin is something you don't want...but I have found it to be a godsend because you can easily increase or decrease it as needed. Your doctors should give you a range for morning test,after a meal and bedtime. rememeber that you want to keep your average numbers down to prevent damage to your body. I know it stinks to be dealing with this, but it will pass. Keep in touch.

fauxma

sausageroll said:

Do call
Those are high and the numbers may have nothing to do with what you eat at all.
I was only on Metformin at the start and they added Glipizide soon after. I now take long lasting insulin in the morning and have fast acting on hand for when it spikes. People seem often to think insulin is something you don't want...but I have found it to be a godsend because you can easily increase or decrease it as needed. Your doctors should give you a range for morning test,after a meal and bedtime. rememeber that you want to keep your average numbers down to prevent damage to your body. I know it stinks to be dealing with this, but it will pass. Keep in touch.

Sausageroll,
You have given
Sausageroll,

You have given Always good advise. And you advise helped me as well. I take Metformin and glipizide and for the past 3 months my numbers will not stay in the "normal" ranges. My doctor and I talked about insulin and I am so hesitate but your post has made me feel better about the possibility of going there. I don't care about needles (shots don't bother me), but I was concerned about too much, too little, overdosing and it seems that it is very controllable and relatively safe. So thank you for this post.
Stef

sausageroll

fauxma said:

Sausageroll,
You have given
Sausageroll,

You have given Always good advise. And you advise helped me as well. I take Metformin and glipizide and for the past 3 months my numbers will not stay in the "normal" ranges. My doctor and I talked about insulin and I am so hesitate but your post has made me feel better about the possibility of going there. I don't care about needles (shots don't bother me), but I was concerned about too much, too little, overdosing and it seems that it is very controllable and relatively safe. So thank you for this post.
Stef

I'm glad
Stef, I think you might find that the insulin gives more control, especially while your body is stressed. Once I had taken Metformin and Glipizide, there was not much more I could do...but take another tablet. With the Insulin, the doctor gave me a sliding scale of how many units to take depending on my numbers. Then when I had a really high spike, I would take a few units of instant insulin(Novolog) I think when all this is over, I may be able to get off the insulin all together, but at least it has given me some control right now. I hope you get some relief.