Are there any medications prescribed for other conditions that can improve or worsen my diabetes?

Are there any medications prescribed for other conditions that can improve or worsen my diabetes?

Yes, there are a number of medications used to treat other conditions that can affect your blood sugar control. Most of these effects are small, but can be quite dramatic, such as the effect of certain types of steroid medications. Examples of various drugs and how they can affect your blood sugar are shown in Table 5.

Table 5 Examples of Medications in Common Use That Can Affect Blood Sugar

Medication	Usual Use	Effect on Sugar	Amount of Effect
Antiretroviral drugs (some)	HIV/AIDS	↑	++
Antidepressants (some)	Depression	↑	++ to +++
Carvedilol	Blood pressure	↓ or ↑	+
Estrogen	BCP, menopause	↑	+ to ++
Etanercept	RA, SLE, psoriasis	↓	++
Losartan	Blood pressure	↓	+
Niacin	Cholesterol	↑	+ to ++
Octreotide	Various	↑ or ↓	+
Pentamidine	Infection	↓ but later ↑	+ to ++
Pentoxifylline	Arterial disease	↓	+
Pseudoephedrine	Colds & allergies	↑	+
Ramipril	Blood pressure	↓	+
Steroids	Inflammation	↑	+++
Thiazides	Blood pressure	↑	+

Abbreviations: HIV: human immunodeficiency virus; AIDS: acquired immune deficiency syndrome; BCP: birth control pill; RA: rheumatoid arthritis; SLE: sytemic lupus erythematosus.