Can Chemo Cause High Blood Sugar

Overcoming Treatment-induced Diabetes

Good nutrition is key Betty Overfelt's oncologist back home in Missouri informed her that she had stage IV small-cell lung cancer. His prognosis was grim — "I think I can get you three months if you'll take treatment," he said. Jerry, her husband of 45 years, decided immediately to seek a second opinion, which led them to Cancer Treatment Centers of America© (CTCA). There, Jerry remembered, doctors told Betty that they couldn't promise a cure but thought they might be able to control the cancer. Subsequent blood tests at CTCA delivered unexpected news — Betty had developed treatment-induced diabetes, in a big way. "We had just visited the pulmonologist and were waiting at the scheduler's desk when my cell phone rang," Jerry recalled. It was Sue, [the pulmonologist's nurse], who said, "Don't move; stay right there." Sue came to their location and told them Betty needed an immediate infusion of insulin. Her initial lab screening indicated a blood sugar of 863. Normal range is from 80 to 110, with above 500 signaling a critical situation. The diagnosis for diabetes was confusing because Betty never had diabetes, nor did it run in her family. The Overfelts were not alone — 8 to 18 percent of all cancer patients also have diabetes, according to CTCA. Type 1 diabetes is linked to cervical cancer and stomach cancer, and type 2 diabetes is linked to breast, endometrial, pancreatic, liver, kidney and colon cancers. Treatmentinduced diabetes can be triggered by chemotherapy and steroid use. "It is very overwhelming to a patient to be diagnosed with cancer, and then be told that they have diabetes as well," said Andrea Reser, RD, LD, nutrition supervisor/diabetes program coordinator at CTCA. "People need to know how to regulate their blood sugar while on a cancer-fighting d Continue reading >>

My Life With Cancer & Diabetes

We're sorry, an error occurred. We are unable to collect your feedback at this time. However, your feedback is important to us. Please try again later. This upcoming Sunday is National Cancer Survivors Day , a worldwide observance the first Sunday in June, dedicated to "showing the world that life after a cancer diagnosis can be meaningful and productive." We almost hate to mention it, but there is some question about a possible link between cancer and diabetes and there are many people out there dealing with both. There's no real proof that one causes the other, yet there are a lot of studies linking the two . Results suggest that anywhere from 8 to 18% of people with cancer also have diabetes. One recent study published in Diabetes Care showed that 16 out of every 100 men with diabetes and 17 out of every 100 women with diabetes said they had cancer, compared to just 7 out of 100 men and 10 out of 100 women without diabetes. So maybe there is some connection...? We're not pointing this out to scare anybody, but rather to pay homage to the folks who are dealing with both illnesses. Despite the stats cited, there's hardly any available literature on treating this combination. One of the few things we found was a 2006 Diabetes Spectrum article by Helen Psarakis, a diabetes nurse practitioner at Yale New Haven Hospital. She states that cancer patients who are on glucocorticoids a steroid used in short term, high-dose chemo treatments often suffer with high blood sugar. In fact, patients at risk for diabetes who begin taking glucocorticoids during cancer treatment are often quickly diagnosed with diabetes too. Insulin is recommended to treat steroid-induced blood sugar, as patients "may require two to three times their usual dose(s) of insulin." Woah. Helen points out a f Continue reading >>

Hyperglycemia (high Blood Sugar)

What Is Hyperglycemia? Hyperglycemia may be described as an excess of sugar (glucose) in the blood. Your endocrine system regulates the amount of sugar that is stored and used for energy. It is important in brain cell function, and energy levels. Since the sugar that you consume in your diet is either used or stored, certain conditions and disorders may cause you to have difficulty processing and storing blood glucose, resulting in hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. One hormone that is important to the normal storing and processing of sugar is insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is made in the pancreas that is responsible for maintaining "normal" blood sugar levels. If you have a problem with your pancreas, then you may have increased blood sugar levels. Normal blood Glucose (sugar) levels are 60-110 mg/dL. Normal values may vary from laboratory to laboratory. Levels higher than these might indicate hyperglycemia. Causes of Hyperglycemia: Diabetes. About 90% of people with diabetes, have diabetes of adult onset (Diabetes type 2). You are more at risk for developing diabetes if you are older, extremely overweight (obese), if you have a family history of diabetes (parents, siblings), and if you are of African-American, Hispanic American, or Native-American heritage. People who have diabetes have an underproduction of the hormone, insulin, which lowers your blood sugar levels. If you have diabetes, you will have problems with elevated blood sugar levels. If you develop diabetes type 2, and you are an adult, your healthcare provider may prescribe medications in a pill form, which allow your body to process insulin that is needed for maintaining "normal" blood glucose levels. It is likely that your pancreas is producing enough insulin, but your body is resistant to the insulin, a Continue reading >>

Chemo Is Raising Blood Sugar Level

Chemo seems to dramatically raise my mom's blood sugar level. Example: right before the chemo her blood sugar level was 70, and right after the chemo, it had shot up to 130! Is this a common phenomenon? This is frustrating, because we've been trying to keep her blood sugar level low, as there is a theory that cancer cells primarily feed on glucose (sugar). My mom is not diabetic, but I can imagine for diabetics who are also undergoing chemotherapy, this must be very challenging. They gave my husband a prescription for pills- he took one the day before chemo, one the day of and then the 2 days after. They actually caused more side effects for him that the chemo (ansomnia, constipation, bad moods!) He did folfox -not sure if they also prescribe it with Folfiri. I checked. She is not taking decadron. Neither are the chemo drugs (Avastin, Irinotecan, 5-FU) being diluted with solutions containing sugar (instead, they are being diluted withsodium chloride and water). Perhaps the drugs themselves are having an effect. I guess, we will just need to ask her oncologist about it. I seem to remember that saline with dextrose is used with oxaliplatin, but it could be one of the steroids. Whatever it is, I've not used it in a long time. If that's the case, it could be the reason for the rise in blood sugar. Traci culprit is caught. indeed, she has been taking steroid called dexamethasone! and i also found a scientific study which investigates dexamethasone's effect on blood sugar level and which finds that it significantly elevates glucose, even in nondiabetic patients. now the question is, whether there is a way out without taking dexamethasone, because it is supposed reduce the side effects of chemo. any suggestions about nonsteroid drugs that alleviate chemo sideeffects (especial Continue reading >>

Diabetes And Chemotherapy

If you have diabetes, your blood sugar may need closer monitoring while you are having treatment. Chemotherapy can make you feel sick or be sick. You might not want to eat and this can be a problem. If you can't eat, your blood sugar could drop too low causing: faintness sweating coma This is called a hypoglycaemic attack. You and your doctor might need to plan chemotherapy a bit more carefully than would be necessary if you weren’t diabetic. Some chemotherapy combinations include steroids and these might upset your sugar balance. It might be a good idea for you and your cancer doctor to talk to your diabetes specialist. Types of diabetes There are 2 different types of diabetes. How you manage it depends on the type you have: type 1 – you need to have regular insulin injections or an insulin pump type 2 – you may be able to control it with either diet or with a combination of diet and tablets. There are some people with type 2 diabetes who also need to have insulin injections Type 1 diabetes If you are dependent on insulin, your doctor may suggest that you have the first course of chemotherapy in hospital so that the nurses can keep an eye on you. Then, if you need sugar quickly, you can have it through a drip rather than by mouth. It's possible for you to have insulin and a sugar solution (dextrose) given together through a drip in hospital. The insulin dose is based on hourly or 2 hourly blood sugar tests. But most people don't need this. If you are unable to eat your normal diet when you are at home, you may find you need to check your blood sugar a bit more often than you usually would. Type 2 diabetes If you control your diabetes with diet or tablets it should be possible to manage it during chemotherapy without too many problems. Discuss the options with you Continue reading >>

How Does Having Diabetes Affect My Cancer Treatment?

More than 25 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among people 65 and older, nearly 27 percent have diabetes. The vast majority of diabetes cases are type 2 diabetes, which is associated largely with older age and being overweight as well as family history. Older age and obesity also are risk factors for developing cancer, which means that people with type 2 diabetes are diagnosed with cancer more often than those in the general population. Having diabetes can complicate cancer treatment due to a number of factors. At the same time, some treatments for cancer, including certain newer targeted therapy drugs, can spur the development of diabetes, especially in patients who already had a propensity toward developing the disease, although this effect is usually reversible. Azeez Farooki is a Memorial Sloan Kettering endocrinologist who specializes in treating cancer patients who also have diabetes. We spoke with Dr. Farooki about what special considerations are taken into account when treating this group of patients. A Disease of Blood Sugar “Diabetes is a disease in which a person has increased levels of glucose, or sugar, in the blood,” Dr. Farooki explains. “It can occur because the pancreas does not produce enough insulin — the hormone that allows glucose to be absorbed — or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced. Cells should normally take in sugar from the blood; if they don’t, then high blood sugar or ‘hyperglycemia’ results.” The majority of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight, which often causes the body to become resistant to the effects of insulin. Type 2 disease may be treated with insulin injections, other hormonal inject Continue reading >>

10 Nutrition Tips For Managing Cancer And Diabetes

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and of the more than 13 million Americans who have or have had cancer, eight to 18 percent also have diabetes. It’s an eye-opening statistic and a reminder about why it’s important to be proactive about our overall health and well-being during and after cancer treatment. “Because of the huge link between insulin resistance and cancer, it is critically important for people who have diabetes to manage their blood glucose during cancer treatment,” adds Brooke McIntyre, a clinical oncology dietitian and diabetes program coordinator at CTCA in Tulsa. McIntyre recommends the following tips to help manage cancer and diabetes: Never eat a “naked” carbohydrate. Funny statement, but people remember it! Rather than eating only an apple, eat a handful of nuts or one to two tablespoons of nut butter too. This helps decrease the rise in blood sugar and makes you feel more satisfied. Eat fewer carbohydrates. Decreasing carbohydrate intake not only lowers blood sugar, but can also help lower blood pressure. Eat more veggies, fruits and whole grains. Eating cancer-fighting foods high in fiber can help regulate blood sugar. Foods to add to your diet include: Asian pears, raspberries, blackberries, bananas, blueberries, beans, broccoli, spinach, lentils, peas, corn, flax seeds and whole-grain breads or crackers. Exercise regularly. The American Institute for Cancer Research and the American Diabetes Association recommend 30 minutes of physical activity five days a week to lower risk of cancer recurrence. Add healthy fats to your diet. Say “no” to doughnuts and fried chicken and “hello” to healthy fats such as avocado, salmon and walnuts. Good fats contain antioxidants, help you maintain a steady blood sugar level and feel Continue reading >>

What Is The Relationship Between Breast Cancer And Diabetes?

What is the relationship between breast cancer and diabetes? Survivors of breast cancer, who are post-menopausal, have a higher chance of developing diabetes. Scientists are becoming increasingly aware of an association between diabetes and cancer. In this article, we discuss the link. A study, published in Diabetologia, is the largest to observe the link between surviving breast cancer and eventually developing diabetes; it also showed that whether the patient went on to develop diabetes was closely associated with having undergone chemotherapy . The opposite interaction has also been observed: females with diabetes have a 20 percent chance of developing postmenopausal breast cancer. A study from last year demonstrated that people with diabetes over the age of 60 are more likely to develop breast cancer, compared with their counterparts without diabetes. Fast facts on breast cancer and diabetes: It has been observed that having diabetes increases the likelihood of breast cancer, and that having breast cancer increases the likelihood of developing diabetes. Lifestyle changes can help reduce risk long-term. How has the connection between breast cancer and diabetes been established? There has been increased study into the correlation of breast cancer and diabetes. The connection has been made as a result of improvements in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. As more women survive breast cancer, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the long-term outcomes for survivors as they grow older. However, few studies have tried to determine what the risk of developing diabetes is for a breast cancer survivor. The study in Diabetalogia is an example of the new research that has established the connection between breast cancer and diabetes more firmly. The team, Continue reading >>

Acute Hyperglycemia Associated With Anti-cancer Medication

Acute Hyperglycemia Associated with Anti-Cancer Medication Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Thyroid Cancer, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea. Corresponding author: Eun Kyung Lee. Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Thyroid Cancer, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10408, Korea. Tel: +82-31-920-1743, Fax: +82-31-920-2798, rk.er.ccn@lofretaw Received 2017 Jan 16; Revised 2017 Feb 1; Accepted 2017 Feb 16. Copyright 2017 Korean Endocrine Society This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License ( ) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Hyperglycemia during chemotherapy occurs in approximately 10% to 30% of patients. Glucocorticoids and L-asparaginase are well known to cause acute hyperglycemia during chemotherapy. Long-term hyperglycemia is also frequently observed, especially in patients with hematologic malignancies treated with L-asparaginase-based regimens and total body irradiation. Glucocorticoid-induced hyperglycemia often develops because of increased insulin resistance, diminished insulin secretion, and exaggerated hepatic glucose output. Screening strategies for this condition include random glucose testing, hemoglobin A1c testing, oral glucose loading, and fasting plasma glucose screens. The management of hyperglycemia starts with insulin or sulfonylurea, depending on the type, dose, and delivery of the glucocorticoid formulation. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors are associated with a high incidence of hyperglycemia, ranging from 13% to 50%. Immunotherapy, such as anti-programmed death 1 (PD-1) antibody treatment, induces hyperglycem Continue reading >>

How Diabetes Impacts Cancer Care: Careful Management Of Blood Sugar Can Help

How Diabetes Impacts Cancer Care: Careful Management of Blood Sugar Can Help Error, please verify that all required fields are entered. I thought you would be interested in this information on Lehigh Valley Health Network's Website:* Denotes a required field. Call 888-402-LVHN (5846) Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. If you have a minor illness, you can walk into an ExpressCare or schedule a video visit. For allergies, ear infections, cold and flu symptoms, rash and sprains. How Diabetes Impacts Cancer Care: Careful Management of Blood Sugar Can Help Support from his wife helped Glenn Miller during cancer treatment. As a person with type 2 diabetes , Glenn Miller has long known the importance of keeping his blood sugar under control. But he never suspected how doubly important it is during cancer treatment until he needed chemotherapy last November. Miller, 76, of Parkerford, Chester County, learned he had colon cancer in 2011, then learned he also had lung and thyroid cancer . Each time, doctors removed a section of the affected organ surgically, and Miller didnt need any follow-up treatment. But when Millers lung cancer returned last October, his Lehigh Valley Health Network hematologist-medical oncologist, Eliot Friedman, MD , recommended chemotherapy, along with radiation treatments under the direction of radiation oncologist Charles Andrews, MD . To keep his diabetes under control during treatment, Miller partnered with other health network experts endocrinologist Donald Barilla, MD, and diabetes educator Cara Habeck, RN, from the Helwig Health and Diabetes Center . Eliot Friedman, MD , hematology-oncology; Charles Andrews , MD, radiation oncology; Donald Barilla, MD, endocrinology They are two separate conditions, but diabetes and cancer are linked. For example, dia Continue reading >>

How To Balance Diabetes And Cancer Treatment

How to Balance Diabetes and Cancer Treatment Managing your type 2 diabetes during cancer treatment can be challenging but it can be done. Being treated for cancer when you have type 2 diabetes requires working with a multidisciplinary team of caregivers. Type 2 diabetes can raise your risk for several types of cancer, and it can also affect your cancer treatment if you are diagnosed with cancer. The critical issue is to treat the cancer with whatever works best for the patient and not to avoid any treatment just because of the diabetes, says Derek LeRoith, MD , director of research in the division of endocrinology, diabetes and bone disease at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. It is vital, though, to take the diabetes into consideration as part of the treatment, says Marilou Terpenning, MD , a physician at Santa Monica Hematology-Oncology Consultants in Santa Monica, California. And that means assembling a multidisciplinary team of caregivers that may include an endocrinologist , internist, surgeon, medical oncologist , and radiation therapist, and a dietitian for nutritional education and counseling,Dr. Terpenning says. Treatment for cancer can affect glucose metabolism and affect the need for monitoring blood sugar and adjustment of medications, she says. The cancer treatment team needs to prepare the joint cancer treatment plan and work with the endocrinologist or internist overseeing diabetes management. The good news is that experts can generally predict how certain treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy will affect diabetes management and advise accordingly, Terpenning says. Many people with diabetes have a form of nerve damage known as diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy can cause tingling, burning, pain, or num Continue reading >>

High Sugar While On Chemo - Advice Needed

Diabetes Forum The Global Diabetes Community Find support, ask questions and share your experiences. Join the community High sugar while on Chemo - advice needed I have Asbestosis and have just started some more chemotheropy after the last time 2.5 years ago. I have had a lower strengh chemo this time so do not need steroids which I know pushed my levels up very high last time. 3 weeks ago I started my new chemo course and the day after I nearly fainted at about 2 pm, my partner said I was shaking and nerly passed out. i was fine in 30 mis after a frit drink and a sandwich. When I go home I did a reading and I was 11.8. I though this was due to the food as I though I had had a low as I had breakfast cereal at 8 am taken a 850 mg metformin, then had dirrheea at about 11 am while outshopping and nothing else to eat as shipped lunch and carried on shopping, it was the wifes birthday! A few days befor this I had my 3 month Fasting blood test and was 8.2. I was on Metformin 3 x500 and have been for about 4 years. I keep usually below 8 which my doctor has been OK with. The last few months I have had fuid around the hard and even walking up stairs had me puffing. So hence the new chemo regime to get rid of it and swat the cancer again. I could breath better a few days after my first session. However just before the cheomo my new Doctor just upped me to 3 x 850 a day, which I thougjh was a little drastic as I wasnt walking the dog or doing much physical work for a few months, and after the chemo I know I would get my sugar below 8 again... I have just been taking 2 x 850 and my levels have been from 7 to 8 in the morning and previously without with out exercise had been aroud 10. I had my next chemo the second of 5 yesterrday, had my normal fruit cereal for breakfast and was Continue reading >>

Hyperglycemia, A Neglected Factor During Cancer Progression

Copyright © 2014 Wanxing Duan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Recent evidence from large cohort studies suggests that there exists a higher cancer incidence in people with type 2 diabetes (DM2). However, to date, the potential reasons for this association remain unclear. Hyperglycemia, the most important feature of diabetes, may be responsible for the excess glucose supply for these glucose-hungry cells, and it contributes to apoptosis resistance, oncogenesis, and tumor cell resistance to chemotherapy. Considering associations between diabetes and malignancies, the effect of hyperglycemia on cancer progression in cancer patients with abnormal blood glucose should not be neglected. In this paper, we describe the role that hyperglycemia plays in cancer progression and treatment and illustrate that hyperglycemia may contribute to a more malignant phenotype of cancer cells and lead to drug resistance. Therefore, controlling hyperglycemia may have important therapeutic implications in cancer patients. 1. Introduction Hyperglycemia, or high blood glucose, is a condition in which an excessive amount of glucose circulates in the blood which develops when the body has too little insulin or when the body cannot use insulin properly. A number of medical conditions can cause hyperglycemia, including diabetes mellitus (DM) [1], obesity [2], pancreatitis [3], chronic stress [4], and cancer. Interestingly, the existing epidemiological evidence indicated that all of these hyperglycemia-related conditions are likely to be associated with tumorigenesis or tumor progression [5–7]. Nowadays, Continue reading >>

A Balancing Act

Diabetes increases cancer risk, and a dual diagnosis of cancer and diabetes complicates treatment and prognosis. Photo by Bet_Noire / iStock / Thinkstock Lee Greer, a 54-year-old father of four and IT specialist in Houston, doggedly tried to make the best of his situation when he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2010. He consulted with experts, changed his diet and got a trainer at the gym. In 2012, with his diabetes under control, Greer got more unwelcome news. He learned he had stage III Hodgkin lymphoma, an immune system cancer, within a few days of his 53rd birthday. First-line treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma typically includes combination chemotherapy, which can be hard for anyone to endure. “At the time, I didn’t know anything about chemo except that I didn’t want anything to do with it,” he recalls. For people who have diabetes, like Greer, cancer treatment can be a tricky balancing act of managing the diabetes while treating the cancer. Both diseases affect the body’s metabolism, which is how cells turn food into fuel. And they affect many of the same biological processes. That means diabetes medications can alter or even enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatment. Meanwhile, cancer treatments can exacerbate the blood sugar problems that characterize diabetes. The diabetes-cancer link is becoming a growing public health concern. In one small study, published in 2002 in the Journal of Surgical Research, between 8 and 18 percent of cancer patients had diabetes at the time of diagnosis. Epidemiological studies show a solid link between diabetes and cancer. A person with Type 2 diabetes faces at least twice the risk for being diagnosed with liver, pancreatic or endometrial cancer as people without Type 2 diabetes, according to an extensive a Continue reading >>

How Chemotherapy Can Affect Your Diabetes

If you're struggling to find what you need, call our Support line on 0808 808 0000 (Monday to Friday, 9am-8pm) How chemotherapy can affect your diabetes How chemotherapy can affect your diabetes Need to talk? Call us free* 0808 808 00 00 Monday to Friday, 9am-8pm Chemotherapy is often used to treat cancer. When you have chemotherapy treatment, your blood sugar level may go too high or drop too low. This can happen because of the side effects of treatment. Side effects may include sickness, diarrhoea and loss of appetite. Some chemotherapy drugs can also affect your blood sugar level. Your cancer doctor can let you know if the drugs you are taking are likely to affect you. Some chemotherapy drugs can damage the nerves in your body. This can cause pain and changes in sensation. These effects can be worse if you already have nerve damage caused by diabetes. You will need to monitor your blood sugar more often during chemotherapy treatment. You may have to adjust the way you manage your diabetes. Your diabetes team can give you advice. It is important to let your doctors know how well you are managing to control your blood sugar level when you are having chemotherapy. They may be able to change the drug you are taking. Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. Cytotoxic means toxic to cells. Cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs disrupt the way cancer cells grow and divide, but they also affect normal cells. These healthy cells can usually repair damage caused by chemotherapy but cancer cells cant and eventually die. Chemotherapy is often used to treat cancer. It is sometimes used on its own, but is commonly used in combination with other cancer treatments. This video provides a brief overview of chemotherapy treatment, how it can be given, how it wor Continue reading >>