Diabetes and Lupus

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Dear Lupies,
I need some advice for a friends sister at work. She was diagnosed with Lupus in January and has diabetes and anemia. She's been on prednisone for several months and it is running her blood sugar up. They are trying to reduce her prednisone. She know nothing except what the doctor has told her. Anyone else out there have lupus and diabetes and can give us some advice. She's taking plaquinil but hasn't noticed that it has helped her fatigue or rash. Would the anemia be something separate or can lupus cause anemia too.
I told her about this site but not sure she can navigate her way here. I couldn't figure out how to tell her to register.
Thanks, Joyce

[Lily]

Hi Joyce,

It would depend on what type of anemia she had, there are many different types. One that is an autoimmune origin is hemolytic anemia, some with Lupus get that. But you can have iron deficiency anemia, the anemia of chronic disease etc. etc. I have a slightly low red cell count (as part of my Lupus) but as my Lupus has had more meds thrown at it, that seems to have improved,and it's only figures on paper in my case, it was never that low and it didnt seem to worry me. I think her docs need to clarify what sort of anemia she has and why. There's a lot of past posts on the subject on the site.

The diabetes is something we've also discussed in the past. I'm assuming she had this before the Lupus diagnosis? It's something I dont know much about, but someone else may come along who does.


If she hasnt been on Plaquenil for very long then it may take some time before she does see the benefits, I started seeing some after 3 months but in all honesty it really took about 9 before I could honestly say it was helping me a fair bit.

If she can get herself to the main site then she should be able to register from there for access to the message boards and chat. It's been so long since I did it I've forgotten but that makes sense :D Or perhaps she just has to try and post here rather than read and it will prompt her to register? :wacko: Sorry brain foggy day today!

love
Lily

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Thanks for answering Lily. I'm going to pass along this info and then hope she will come on the site and do some reading. Maybe someone else will come along and give us more information. I realized that I wasn't seeing place to register because my computer automatically logs me in as music. DUH!!! Brain Fog to blame again. Joyce

[Anisah]

Hi Joyce,

I'm not sure I can offer more than what Lily already has, but I do have Lupus, severe anemia and type II diabetes.

If this person has Lupus then it is most likely that her anemia is related to it (anemia is very common in Lupies) but also possible its simply from heavy periods or something. I'm wondering if the reason she is on prednisone is because she has Hemolytic Anemia - which is definitely Lupus related, and a serious form of anemia? As Lily explained, the type of anemia would make all of the difference.

My diabetes was well controlled with diet and Metformin but once I started needing more prednisone my sugars went silly. I am injecting insulin twice daily right now but when I'm off of the prednisone my sugars return to manageable levels and I don't need the insulin. Your friend should find that her sugars will return to what they were before once she is off of the prednisone.

I personally really like Plaquenil and I have found it helps best with my skin manifestations, fatigue and hair loss. It also helped a lot with my joint problems. Perhaps your friend has not been on it long enough to notice a difference? Its also possible that she needs a stronger med or an increased dose to control her disease activity. This she needs to talk to her doctor about.

take care,
Anisah
:flowers:

[Lily]

:doh: If brains were dynamite I wouldnt have enough to blow my eyebrows off right now :wacko:

Top left hand page of her screen it will say "log in" or "register" :lol:

love
Lily

[dumplie]

Hi Joyce,

I am brand new to this site but felt I had to reply to you immediately.

I am an insulin dependant diabetic (Type I) and have been since the age of 5 - which is 33 years now. 8 years ago I was diagnosed with SLE and the first thing my rheumy told me was that the best treatment for this type of lupus was steroids but he refused to give them to me as he told me that they would harm my diabetic control.

Recently I have also been diagnosed with osteo arthiritis (?) osteo perosis (?) and PMR (please excuse my spelling). As I could not get in to see my rheumy, my GP took it upon himself to issue me with Prednisolone (10mg) and almost immediately I noticed that I was having to inject far more than usual. My daily intake of insulin has almost doubled but my pains have decreased. I am also on Plaquenil and have not found it to be of any use. My rheumy keeps telling me that the lupus will fall into remission but my symptoms and blood results have shown that this is not the case. I also find that the anti-inflammatories and pain killers are not very helpful.

All I can tell you is that steroids are not recommeded for Type I diabetes as they cause too many problems witht the diabetic control. My rheumy is totally against them but I am sure that others would issue them.

If you have any further concerns, post a messages or reply to me direct and I will try to help as much as possible........Janine

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Thanks Janine for the information. I think you are absolutely right about the steroids. I'm going to pass this info along to my friend. joyce