Prostate Cancer and High Blood Sugar

QUESTION: my husband is a type II diabetic who also has metatastic prostate cancer at stage IV.

This last week his blood sugars have been quite a bit higher, since a fall on the ice outside. My question is two-fold:

1. Could the fall affected his blood sugars?
2. Could the cancer which in lymph nodes and liver, be spreading and causing increased blood sugars?

Thank you in advance for your kind attention to my question.


ANSWER: Hi there,

It is absolutely normal to be worried for someone close to you. In addition, I have to inform you that the stress, no matter what it is causing it, can lead to high blood glucose level, but the liver cancer can’t cause such thing.

Regarding the stress, you have to know that it leads to the production of stress hormones, like adrenalin and noradrenalin, which are elevating the blood glucose concentration in the organism.

Yes, the fall and eventual trauma is considered as a stress from the organism. Because of this, falling on the ice can cause high blood glucose level for day or two.

However, I have to remind you other thing. Getting to know that one has liver cancer is a great stress. In some cases, such stress can lead to diabetes development.

So, you don’t have to exclude the option that someone can develop diabetes, because of this terrible diagnose. Hence, a lot of tests have to be estimated in purpose to confirm or exclude diabetes.

Something else which is really important is that the glucose test has to be executed, when the patient is fasting, and you haven’t mentioned such thing. If a patient has already eating something, during the last 6-8 hours, the blood glucose can be higher than normal.

Other thing, which you have to keep in mind, is that high-carb meal at dinner will cause high blood glucose level in the other morning. So, those things are possible explanations of the elevated blood glucose level.

The reason why the liver cancer can’t cause elevated blood glucose level is hidden in the insulin metabolism.

So, as you probably know the human body produces insulin, which lowers your blood glucose level and keeps them under control. This insulin is active for about 5-10 minutes and after this period it is inactivated in the liver.

However, you have to know that the liver cancer impairs the normal function of the liver, which means that the liver is not able to inactive the insulin’s molecule.

Because of this, the insulin, which reduces the blood glucose level, is active for more than 10 minutes, which leads to even lower than normal blood glucose level. Therefore, the liver cancer leads to low blood glucose level and not high.

Your doctor, I suppose, has already told you that if someone with prostate cancer has metastasis in the lymph nodules, you must be prepared for the worst.

I’m not telling you that this will happen, but a lot of efforts are required in purpose to handle with this condition, including to be very strong.

I hope that everything is going to be ok and the elevated in the blood glucose level was just a spike and nothing else.

Hope it helped!

Dr.Alba