Steroids causing diabetes??

[Nick the Dick]

My buddy just had his bloodwork done and his blood glucose came in at 102. The doctor asked if he was taking steroids. He said no but he was planning on starting a cycle soon. She told him not to because it will raise his blood sugar and give him diabetes within months. He is 36 years old and relatively healthy otherwise. I have been in the game for years and read and researched as much as most people on here, and I have never heard of any correlation between steroids and diabetes. Anyone have any info that I may not have come across?

 

[BigJohn]

My buddy just had his bloodwork done and his blood glucose came in at 102. The doctor asked if he was taking steroids. He said no but he was planning on starting a cycle soon. She told him not to because it will raise his blood sugar and give him diabetes within months. He is 36 years old and relatively healthy otherwise. I have been in the game for years and read and researched as much as most people on here, and I have never heard of any correlation between steroids and diabetes. Anyone have any info that I may not have come across?

Your buddy needs to find a new doc. There is no evidence steroids cause diabetes.

Based on personal experience (I have diabetes), steroids REDUCE the severity of diabetes. This applies if you have diabetes and low testosterone. If your natural levels are normal, I don't think adding more will help much with reducing blood sugar levels. There is clinical evidence of low testosterone and diabetes existing simultaneously. Most docs don't know this and don't look for it. They're only concerned about lowering your blood sugar levels.

I'd say situations like this prove how little doctors actually know about the human body.

 

[thebrick]

that's really weird the doc would just out and ask him that question unless your friend is obviously built. Sounds like some misinformation from the doc to me. Get another opinion. There would be A TON of diabetes out here if that were true.

 

[mrcat]

I have type 2, but it's in no way connected to steroids. The doctor was probably just making it up hoping to scare him. I doubt she really believes it herself.

 

[Tom]

Diabetes

Steroids do cause diabetes...CORTICOSTEROIDS!!!!!!! like prednisone. So once again a misinformed ignorant doctor rears her ugly head and spreads this misinformation to the gullible general population and yet another myth about the type of steroids we use becomes " fact" WTF!!!!!! will this ever end???

 

[Nick the Dick]

Thanks so much for the replies guys. I was under the impression that glucose levels don't even enter the diabetic range until 127 and up anyways, but I wanted to see if I was missing some information. I had the same reaction that she was trying to scare him into not taking steroids. Extremely unprofessional tactic in my opinion.

 

[success]

70-10

70-110 is the normal range...sounds like 102 is good to me

 

[KillerStack]

I think steroids can cause some degree of insulin resistance. It depends on the dose and type of steroid. For example, on medline there is one abstract on dianabol causing resistance. Deca was shown to improve glucose disposal.

A friend of mine is a type 1 diabetic and his insulin requirements went up on a test cycle. So yes, I think they can mess with blood sugar levels in some cases.

Drug Saf. 1990 Nov-Dec;5(6):458-76.
Recent developments in the toxicology of anabolic steroids.Graham S, Kennedy M.
Concord Repatriation Hospital, NSW, Australia.

Anabolic steroids are extensively abused as ergogenic aids by athletes (and others). A number of features of anabolic steroid use and toxicology have been recently reviewed in the Journal, and a large body of data has accumulated concerning their toxic nature. The lipoprotein profile induced by anabolic steroids carries a markedly adverse cardiovascular risk. Glucose metabolism is significantly altered and includes peripheral insulin resistance, hyperinsulinaemia and attenuated responses to glucagon. Hypertension has been noted. Psychiatric and psychological alterations are major toxicities of anabolic steroids, and probably constitute the major mechanism of their action. Hepatic neoplasia occurs in the setting of abuse of this class of drugs, and may be related to their use, although there is no convincing evidence that other malignancies are induced in athletes who abuse them. Gross disturbance of reproductive function occurs in both sexes: hypogonadal states are common and prolonged. The anabolic steroids are toxic drugs with both long and short term effects. Their abuse by athletes is to be decried, particularly in view of the frequent and prolonged use by the young.

I know I get hypo easier when on steroids and this would be in line with the bolded part of hyperinsulinemia.

Clin Sci (Lond). 1986 Dec;71(6):665-73. Links
Insulin action and dynamics modelled in patients taking the anabolic steroid methandienone (Dianabol).Godsland IF, Shennan NM, Wynn V.
Plasma glucose and insulin concentrations were measured during oral (OGTT) and intravenous (IVGTT) glucose tolerance tests in nine patients off- and on-treatment with the anabolic steroid, methandienone (Dianabol). On-treatment, the tolerance tests showed a markedly increased insulin response accompanied by impairment of glucose tolerance, characteristics normally attributed to insulin resistance. However, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and insulin (FPI) concentrations were significantly reduced, whereas the pattern normally associated with insulin resistance is for both to be raised. IVGTT glucose and insulin profiles were analysed using an algorithm derived from the minimal models of glucose and insulin dynamics originally proposed by R. Bergman and co-workers. Measures for the following parameters were thus obtained: Si, the sensitivity of glucose disposal to insulin; Sg, net insulin independent glucose disposal; phi 1, the integral concentration of insulin delivered during the first phase of insulin secretion relative to the initial increase in glucose concentration above a model-derived threshold; phi 2, the sensitivity of the rate of rise of insulin concentration in the second phase of insulin secretion to the concentration of glucose above a model-derived threshold; kappa, the fractional clearance rate of insulin; and tau 1/2, the insulin half-life. S1 was significantly reduced on treatment by a factor of 4. Sg, phi 1, phi 2 and tau 1/2 were all significantly increased, and kappa was significantly reduced. The increases in Sg and phi 1 both showed significant correlations with the increase in weight on-treatment. The reduction in FPG and FPI can be explained by the combined effects of the increase in Sg and Dianabol-induced resistance to glucagon.

J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1987 May;64(5):960-3.
Insulin resistance and diminished glucose tolerance in powerlifters ingesting anabolic steroids.Cohen JC, Hickman R.

To examine the effects of anabolic steroid use on glucose homeostasis, we determined oral glucose tolerance and serum insulin response to glucose in 15 male powerlifters, 6 obese men, and 10 sedentary nonobese men. Eight of the powerlifters had self-administered large doses (200 mg/day) of anabolic steroids for periods of up to 7 yr, whereas 7 had never used anabolic steroids. Powerlifters who ingested anabolic steroids had diminished glucose tolerance compared to the nonsteroid-using group, despite having substantially higher postglucose serum insulin concentrations. Postglucose insulin responses were also higher in steroid users than in the sedentary nonobese and sedentary obese reference groups. These results indicate that powerlifters who ingest anabolic steroids have diminished glucose tolerance, which is likely to be secondary to insulin resistance.