oh my, never never never stop prednizone in the middle. Our bodies produce steroids but with the extra doses that we take the body stops producing it …if we don’t taper off the pred. to trigger the body to start producing it again, the result can be very very serious. that is why they taper it off. When I started with diabetes I was in the hospital for mrsa in my lungs…that is the super infection that is resistant to most antibiotics…I was on iv pred, levaquin, another antibiotic that I can’t remember and the solumedrol shots…suddenly I was diabetic…but I am an alive diabetic, they think the combo damaged my pancreas cuz I never had a history of diabetes before then. There were about 13 patients with mrsa on that ward…I think 5 of us walked out…I was one of them…so although I HATE having diabetes, I am alive and I am still learning how to keep sugars down and sooo grateful to be around my family…
I don’t think you did too bad just dropping the last 10 mg, but never stop mid-stream in a prednizone treatment.
I am on my 3rd round of pred since July…I take 4 units per hr plus 20-25 units with meals. sometimes more. I just checked my averages…believe it or not, I am excited to see a 30 day average of 161 bs. before I started to adjust my insulin, my 30 day was more like 300+. Both the dr and the diabetic specialist say to just keep taking whatever insulin I need…prednizone does have its side effects, but it’s worth it to me to stay alive. Interesting that you say that biking exacerbates high bg’s…cuz pred gives you lots of nervous energy too…hard to sit still when you are on the higher doses. It also makes you very cranky. 
have a great day.
Oh, my, I meant nothing by it except that I sure said that wrong & I apologize. What I meant was that pneumonia usually responds to antibiotics that don’t have the long term effects. I surely did not mean to imply that it was nothing. but pneumonia that is a mrsa…that is the really bad one. It is a staff infection that is resistant to most antibiotics and very hard to get rid of. It means 10 days in the hospital (by today’s standards of the revolving door) on very very strong antibiotic iv. It is very very prevailant in nursing homes and hospitals. that is the reason they have those alcohol hand washer dispensers …please folks, use them going in and leaving rooms…and dont touch the walls or those hand rails along the walls. Did you know THE most infectious thing in a patient’s room is the tv remote control and the bed control? I got diabetes from the mrsa because of the drugs I had to take. Little did I know all I had to do was use those stupid alcohol dispensers coming and going …but on the bright side, I am alive, dealing with the diabetes and the prednizone. I am truly sorry if I offended you, I did not intend to.
I wasn’t offended, just did not quite understand what she meant by 'fortunate". I am glad it was not mrsa or something worse. My lungs are not 100% now, but I’m improving.
Hello Erin:
No. I’ve had severe RA for about 26 years. So most of my joints have deterioration. My left knee got Really Bad while I was on Enbrel, for some reason. It just wasn’t working. Otherwise, there was no injury to my knee from other sources.
Diabetics are more prone to infections including kidney infection. Plus RA Patients using Orencia, Enbrel, Humira, etc., are more susceptible to infections since these drugs suppress our immune system.
As far as I can remember, the only drugs for my RA that mess up my sugars are the steroids and Orencia.
I’m used to the Big names. Along with the Indomethacin(works pretty Good)., Methotrexate., Prednisone., Cortisone(works pretty Good this time) and Orencia, I’ve also been on(not in order) Entrophen 10(before dxd), Advil, Tylenol 3, Naproxen, Plaquenil, Arthrotec, Arava, Celebrex, Azathioprine(worked pretty Good), Myochrysine(worked pretty Good), Humira, Vioxx(worked Good for 2.5 years ''til they pulled it), There’s probably a couple missing but ya, I hate taking drugs too. Some of these are not nice to the stomach, brain, eyes, and other organs including the kidneys and other systems.
RA comes in mild, moderate and severe. Here’s a link if you are interested:
(I just click on close, if the pop-up asking for an email address shows.)
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/rheumatoid_arthritis/article_em.htm
There ya go, I just found out both of my Endos were right. My 3rd Endo dxd. me with Hypothyroidism and gave me a prescription. My 5th Endo says I don’t have it. So a Person( like me) can be dxd. with Hypothyroidism, take the drugs and it can then correct itself. Cool! I hope that it stays corrected.
Taken from: Viewer Comments. from the above site.
“I was diagnosed with RA and Hypo-thyroid initially. After taking “Thyroxin” for about 4 weeks, I began taking “Hydroxychloroquine” and “Naproxen”. My thyroid corrected and I stopped taking Thyroxin”.
That’s the first time that I heard another Patient say that.
Ya, many Diabetics have the Trigger Fingers. I’m so Glad that it can be corrected also and you were able to recover from it. Both the condition and the procedure does sound painful though.
LOL Erin. 
I apologize for the length of this post. You may understand though why I would much prefer a Cure for RA than Diabetes. At least the Cortisone is working for now anyways.
If you need to go on prednisone then you will need to increase insulin. Everyone is different. In my case, I bumped up the the dose about 50%. Don’t know why Pred has this effect on nearly all diabetes. Maybe it increases ones insulin resistance so that in addition to having type 1 the Pred gives you a case of type2 as well.
Hi guys, Yes Prednisalone is an extremly effective drug for chest viruses as it calms down all the cells and prevents them from closing. Unfortunately it also suppresses Insulin action as a result meaning you would probably need 100% increase in your basal Insulin while you take the drug. As the dose is scaled down then you would scale down your Insulin requirements! I know how much of a shock it is when you take a drug that is very good at addressing the imediate issue but then creates another, but hope fully your educator /Endocrinologist would have given you a titration scale to help you through. Yes the healing process is dependent on your BGL’s being controlled… Unfortunately Prednisalone is the best attack for lung infections because this will prevent cardiac stress and help with the oxygen exchange, the question should be is there a good regime for Diabetics regarding insulin dosing when prescribed the drug! By the way Glad to hear you are well again.
i was just on Pred. a few weeks ago and the first thing my doctor said was that my blood sugars would be crazy.
i dont understand why they still gave it to me.
when i went for a follow up with my regular doctor she tried putting me on it again even though she knew how my BGs were. i had to beg her not to.