With chemotherapy most patients will get steroids to take for a number of days after each session. These steroids aid the drugs you are given to kill the cancerous tumours and bad cells. The steroids often have a side effect that you should be aware of. These steroids stop the pancreas from functioning properly, this organ is responsible for producing natural insulin in the body.               

Insulin is a very important natural protein which is essential to help get energy into your muscles and organs. Insulin is like a key to a door, it attaches itself to sugar/fats which is released into the blood stream by the body after it has processed any food you have eaten, including fats and carbohydrates. If there is a lack of insulin or none, then the sugar/fats cannot get into the system and feed the body. What happens then is that the body`s natural immune system rejects the sugar/fats into the urine, and it leaves the body as ketones, which smell like pear-drops. The smell of pear-drops can be in the urine and also on the breathe. The sugar/fats are in the body travelling around the system before they are rejected, and cause a high blood sugar level which is what diabeties is. So basically, these steroids can cause diabeties.

The Diabeties can occur in anyone, even people who are not normally diabetic. The signs are numerous, but the ones to look out for are: a raging thirst (I was drinking up to fifteen litres of fluid a day), swollen throat, tiredness and blurred vision. If you suffer any of these side effects, consult your doctor straight away. Diabeties effects the body in two ways, too much sugar makes you hyper and too little makes you hypo. A normal blood sugar level would be between 4 and 8 on the chart. When my diabeties was diagnosed, after the chemo had finished, it was 24, Ketones are produced when the level reaches 17. Alcohol makes the blood sugar level drop, so watch the intake of alcohol. It does this because the liver produces sugar to energize the body, when you drink alcohol the liver takes 1 hour to get rid of each unit (one unit is a 25ml measure of spirits, half a pint of beer or a small glass of wine). While the liver is ejecting the alcohol it stops producing the sugar, often leaving a deficit of sugar in the system.

When the body doesn`t produce sufficient insulin, it can induce a change of behaviour to the patient, and this often manifests itself as a bad temper or irratic behaviour, so watch for this as well. Once the doctor is aware of of diabeties then they can prescribe either tablets to induce the pancreas to work better, or injectable insulin while the problem continues. The injections are given a number of times each day into fatty tissue on the legs or into the stomach. Don`t fret too much, the needles are micro thin, and if you pinch a bit of flesh and drop the small needle into the tissue, I can assure you it will be quite painless, and easy to do. The insulin comes in a device like a pen, you twist the top to set an amount of units of insulin, then you drop the needle into the tissue and press the top, this automatically injects a pre-set amount of the drug into the body in a painless fashion.

After you have finished your chemotherapy treatment your body should be able to start producing insulin again, and with a controlled and healthy diet the diabeties often disappears, though in a few cases once it is started off it may continue. You may have to take insulin for life, this is a small price to pay for getting rid of cancer. In my case, I didn`t know I had any diabeties all through my chemo treatment and suffered the side effects with impunity. When I was finally diagnosed with diabeties I had to inject twice a day for months, but I changed my dietery habits and eventually weaned myself off the insulin and got my pancreas working again, after 4 months I was down from 17 units 2 times a day to 5 units and now take glicazide tablets which make the pancreas work harder. However, after 2 years of this my panceas stopped making insulin, so now I take metformin tablets and inject 34 units twice a day. 

Don`t be afraid to ask your doctor or the clinic about diabeties, and don`t let the thought of injecting yourself put you off, it really is painless and believe me it is better not to suffer the side effects as I and my family did.