Curious about cancer/diabetes connection

[Guest guest]

Kathleen,

Cancer " feeds " on sugar so it would be a likely connection that the development

of cancer could be related to uncontrolled sugar levels in the body (the cancer

cells get more food). Could be you had high sugar which allowed the cancer

cells to grow and were diagnosed with diabetes after the fact?

Sandy

Curious about cancer/diabetes connection

I discovered through a local cancer group that a lot of cancer patients

end up also having diabetes. Has anyone got some insight on this? I'm

curious, because my doctor thinks that cancer caused my diabetes to

show up sooner than it would have otherwise.

Kathleen

[Guest guest]

Or conversely (and this is speculation), some of the medications used for cancer

could force

development of diabetes. For instance steroids are well known to create

diabetes, and if they are

used for cancer treatment that would explain it. There may be other cancer

treting medications

that do the same thing, particularly if using chemotherapy, since those drugs

are so drastic.

Ted Quick

--- Sandy skemp4@...> wrote:

> Kathleen,

>

> Cancer " feeds " on sugar so it would be a likely connection that the

development of cancer could

> be related to uncontrolled sugar levels in the body (the cancer cells get more

food). Could be

> you had high sugar which allowed the cancer cells to grow and were diagnosed

with diabetes after

> the fact?

>

> Sandy

> Curious about cancer/diabetes connection

>

>

> I discovered through a local cancer group that a lot of cancer patients

> end up also having diabetes. Has anyone got some insight on this? I'm

> curious, because my doctor thinks that cancer caused my diabetes to

> show up sooner than it would have otherwise.

> Kathleen

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Personally and without any scientific basis for my statement, I believe

that diabetes in cancer patients may be *caused* by their treatments for

cancer.

Nora

At 03:27 AM 1/9/06 +0000, you wrote:

>I discovered through a local cancer group that a lot of cancer patients

>end up also having diabetes. Has anyone got some insight on this? I'm

>curious, because my doctor thinks that cancer caused my diabetes to

>show up sooner than it would have otherwise.

>Kathleen

[Guest guest]

That is certainly a distinct possibility!

Sandy

Re: Curious about cancer/diabetes connection

Personally and without any scientific basis for my statement, I believe

that diabetes in cancer patients may be *caused* by their treatments for

cancer.

Nora

[Guest guest]

> I discovered through a local cancer group that a lot of cancer patients

end up also having diabetes. Has anyone got some insight on this? I'm

curious, because my doctor thinks that cancer caused my diabetes to

show up sooner than it would have otherwise.<

Kathleen, I'm also a cancer survivor - 40 years. I think your group is right in

the assumption that the chemotherapy may have caused your diabetes to show up

sooner than if you had not had cancer, but as for causing diabetes, I agree with

others who say we must have the gene for t2.

in OH

grammyDx2@...

t2 dx 8/03

WOE. Lantus. Novolog

Last HbA1c 5.5

=====

1965 TT P/F thyca, no RAI, HPTH

1982 Regrowth to neck & 3 areas of chest, RAI 176 mCi

2001 Last clean scan PTL~!

[Guest guest]

At 07:25 AM 1/9/2006, you wrote:

>Personally and without any scientific basis for my statement, I believe

>that diabetes in cancer patients may be *caused* by their treatments for

>cancer.

>

>Nora

My Mom is currently undergoing chemo. She was already diabetic, but

each time she gets chemo, her BGs go way up for a few days. She is on

oral meds. I have been trying to persuade her to ask her doc to

prescribe insulin so that those 'chemo highs' can be more easily managed.

Rick

[Guest guest]

Sandy,

I knew from my family background that I was high risk for getting

diabetes at some point, so I requested on an annual basis a check of my

blood sugar. Everything looked normal even 6 or 7 months before they

found the tumor. During the time of surgery and afterwards, my sugar

was up in the 250-350 range. They kept giving me insulin in the

hospital and I kept telling them that I'm not a diabetic (I wasn't

diagnosed at that point).

Kathleen

>

> Kathleen,

>

> Cancer " feeds " on sugar so it would be a likely connection that the

development of cancer could be related to uncontrolled sugar levels in

the body (the cancer cells get more food). Could be you had high sugar

which allowed the cancer cells to grow and were diagnosed with diabetes

after the fact?

>

> Sandy

[Guest guest]

My treatment was major abdominal surgery and steroids. No chemo and no

radiation.

Kathleen

>

> Personally and without any scientific basis for my statement, I

believe

> that diabetes in cancer patients may be *caused* by their treatments

for

> cancer.

>

> Nora

>

[Guest guest]

What kind of surgery did you have Kathleen? My husband had what they call

Diabetes Insipidus after surgery to remove a pituitary tumor. Here is an

excerpt from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/diabetes-insipidus/AN00126

" DI [Diabetes Insipidus] has two causes. The most common cause is a

deficiency of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH, also called vasopressin). Doctors

refer to this as central DI. ADH is made in a part of the brain called the

hypothalamus and stored in the pituitary gland. Most people develop central

DI from a disease or injury involving the hypothalamus or pituitary gland. "

Insulin shots are used short-term in the hospital. My husband then used

vasopressin through nasal spray delivery for about a year afterwards. The

condition cleared as the brain healed.

Your diabetes in the hospital may have been unrelated to the diabetes you

have now.

Nora

At 05:30 PM 1/9/06 +0000, Kathleen wrote:

>Sandy,

>I knew from my family background that I was high risk for getting

>diabetes at some point, so I requested on an annual basis a check of my

>blood sugar. Everything looked normal even 6 or 7 months before they

>found the tumor. During the time of surgery and afterwards, my sugar

>was up in the 250-350 range. They kept giving me insulin in the

>hospital and I kept telling them that I'm not a diabetic (I wasn't

>diagnosed at that point).

>Kathleen

>

>

> >

> > Kathleen,

> >

> > Cancer " feeds " on sugar so it would be a likely connection that the

>development of cancer could be related to uncontrolled sugar levels in

>the body (the cancer cells get more food). Could be you had high sugar

>which allowed the cancer cells to grow and were diagnosed with diabetes

>after the fact?

> >

> > Sandy

[Guest guest]

Original Message:

Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 03:27:42 -0000

Subject: Curious about cancer/diabetes connection

I discovered through a local cancer group that a lot of cancer patients

end up also having diabetes. Has anyone got some insight on this? I'm

curious, because my doctor thinks that cancer caused my diabetes to

show up sooner than it would have otherwise.

Kathleen

------------------------------------

We tend to blame our primary " disease " for everything that happens to us; my

husband feels that his battle with Prostate Cancer and the drugs he has had to

take over the past 8 years contributed to both his stroke, and need for cardiac

by-pass surgery. However, his family history includes heart disease, so who can

say what the real causation factors are.

Now he is procrastinating re: ordered fasting BS tests. " If it is positive, It

will mean I have 3 major diseases - all Life threatening " Talk about negative

one-upmanship

Today however, we learned that his PSA has doubled over past month - not GOOD!

CJ