Psoriatic Arthritis and Blood Sugar Questions

I want to preface this article with the fact that I do NOT have diagnosed diabetes of any kind (Type 1, 2, or 1.5). If you have diagnosed diabetes or if you are working with an endocrinologist of course follow their direction and expertise on the matter.

There are many sides to psoriatic arthritis. If you’ve had it for any length of time, you know that the reach of PsA is far beyond skin issues and swollen joints. When a new health concern arrives on the scene, it is difficult to know if it is related to PsA or if it is a whole other surprise party waiting to happen.

New concerns

I stumbled across my blood sugar issues rather unexpectedly during routine blood work taken for my infusion medication. My blood sugar reading came back abnormally low. Which honestly, I thought was rather strange since I had clearly remembered eating a cream filled donut (yikes!) that morning. I wrote it off as lab error, that is, until it happened again several months later.

Honestly, high blood sugar wouldn’t have been that big of a surprise. I’ve researched psoriatic arthritis, and its growing list of comorbidities, enough to know that the development of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes was fairly likely the culprit.

In search of answers

Even though my doctor didn’t seem particularly concerned, I was. After all, other doctor’s didn’t seem to be too concerned about my “aches and pains” in the past and here I sit with psoriatic and rheumatoid arthritis. Needless to say, I learned my lesson. I’ve learned to always be proactive when it comes to my health. So, I purchased a low cost blood sugar monitor and made an appointment with my endocrinologist.

Left with more questions

After tracking my numbers for several weeks, it became clear to me that my blood sugar reading made NO sense. I ate like I normally do, which I would consider “average.” I’ve never really been a soda drinker and I had already (for the most part) cut out sweets for the time being. Yet, I would randomly experience “spikes” in my blood sugar even though I didn’t eat anything that would warrant an increase. I was (and still am) routinely high in the morning then swing low after breakfast.

I’m a sucker for a good symptom tracker

I am very much a “concrete” thinker. I like charts, graphs, and clear logical pieces of information. When I looked at the information I gathered, my PsA symptom trackers and the patterns of my blood sugar levels, I came to one clear conclusion. The timing of my flares clearly overlapped with increased blood sugar levels, despite what I was eating.

My endo ran a few tests, including a 3 hour glucose tolerance test, which I passed with flying colors. I’m pretty sure he either thought I was totally nuts or simply didn’t want to bother with me as I was clearly not a “typical” diabetes patient. I’m not sure which. Either way, I certainly didn’t fit in the typical “diabetes” mold. Yet at the same time, I was experiencing (and continue to experience)  blood sugar levels over 300 but at the same time, had an A1C of 4.8.

Reasons to talk about PsA and blood sugar questions

Now, I know this isn’t healthy. Bad things happen to your body when your blood sugar is high for any length of time. Yet, no one seems to be able to make any sense of it. Given how complicated psoriatic arthritis is and it’s far-reaching health implications, I know in my heart that they must be linked. And yet I have been unable to find any solid information about it delving into the depths of Dr. Google.

The closest thing I got to any sort of medical professional coming close to validating my thoughts and understanding what I was trying to discuss with them (and not looking at me like I’d completely lost my mind) was actually my nurse practitioner. Which coincidentally made sense as she lives with RA.

After bouncing around the idea for a while, it seemed entirely possible that given the state of inflammation found within the body during a flare, it was entirely possible that blood sugar could also be impacted. After all, when a person with traditional diabetes (type 1 or type 2) gets sick, they tend to experience a spike in blood sugar as well. Now to be clear, there is NO research (that I can find anyway) to concretely back up my theories. Everything that I am sharing with you is my personal experience trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together pretty much by myself.

And still more questions

I have no idea whether this is some early prediabetes state that I’ve found myself in. Or even if, given that there is such a thing as adult onset type 1, I’ve stumbled across yet another autoimmune condition to add to my collection. All I know is that there needs to be more research, across the board, and that will never start unless we start to ask ourselves some of these important questions. Sure, I may be in the minority, or even totally alone with my experience of psoriatic arthritis and blood sugar but I have a feeling that I’m not.

Important things to also consider

Some medications (such as steroids) can cause an increase in blood sugar. If you are concerned about your blood sugar, keep this in mind. In addition, if you’ve done any research at all about the comorbidities associated with psoriatic arthritis, you know that obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome are in the top 5. Those make perfect sense to me. Medications we take, and the simple nature of the disease makes it difficult to exercise which leads to the obvious obesity and subsequent diabetes and metabolic syndrome. This I understand. This makes sense to me.

Yet here I sit with spikes in my blood sugar seemingly unrelated to anything that I’ve eaten. But also with a nearly perfect A1C level. Can you understand my concerns?

A few takeaways I’d like to stress….

• Obviously, if you experience high blood sugar or have concerns about your blood sugar, please speak with your doctor. Especially if you also have related comorbidities like obesity or high blood pressure.
• If you are in this boat with me, please reach out and let me know what you are experiencing. It is my hope that if I’m not the only one experiencing unexplained blood sugar issues that together, we can help to further our understanding of this aspect of life with PsA.