Diabetes and planning your cancer treatment

Diabetes can cause long-term health problems, such as:

• damage to the heart and blood vessels (cardiovascular disease)
• nerve damage (neuropathy)
• kidney damage (nephropathy)
• damage to the blood vessels in the eye (retinopathy).

Some cancer treatments can also cause these problems, or make them worse in people who already have them. If you have diabetes, you will often need extra tests and investigations to check your health. These tests will make sure you are well enough to have cancer treatment.

During treatment, you may need to be monitored more closely than people who do not have diabetes. If the side effects from treatment become very severe, your cancer treatment may need to be adjusted or changed. Your cancer doctors will sometimes suggest a different type of cancer treatment.

Adjusting or changing your cancer treatment may affect how well it works. But not changing it may cause serious long-term health problems. Your cancer doctor will talk to you about the benefits and risks of your treatment. You will be involved in any decisions to change your treatment.

Diabetes UK has more information on the other health problems that diabetes can cause.

You may need to spend some time in hospital during or after your cancer treatment. This will depend on the type of cancer you have and the treatment that is planned. You may only have to stay in hospital for a few hours. But you may have to stay longer.

You will usually know when you are going into hospital. This means you can plan to make sure that you have everything you need to manage your diabetes.

Your blood sugar levels may be higher or lower than usual while you are in hospital. This can happen because you are being less active and eating different food. It can also be caused by the stress of being in hospital. Your blood sugar will be checked regularly. Your doctors may need to adjust your diabetes treatment. They will talk to you about this first.

All the ward staff should know that you have diabetes. You should tell them when you first meet. They should also know about your diabetes care. If you cannot give them this information, they can contact your local diabetes team. You may also find it helpful to talk about your care with the hospital’s diabetes team, if there is one.

Being in hospital and having cancer treatment can make it more difficult to manage your diabetes. If you need help to control your blood sugar, it is important to ask the team looking after you.

Diabetes equipment

When you go into hospital, you may want to take your own diabetes equipment. This could include your:

• blood testing kit
• insulin pen
• insulin pump, if you use one.

The hospital may not use the equipment you are used to. And they may not have all the equipment you need. Before you go in, you could talk to the staff about what they have and what you would like to bring.

The nurses will check your blood sugar using the hospital equipment. You can use your own blood testing kit too, if you prefer.

Diabetes medicines

If you are admitted to hospital overnight or longer, take your insulin or tablets with you. The hospital pharmacy should be able to give you the medicines you normally use. Or they may give you something similar. Not every ward or unit will have all the different drugs used to treat diabetes. This means it can sometimes take a while to get them.

You may only spend a few hours in hospital at a time. For example, this might be if you are having chemotherapy in a day unit. It is a good idea to take some food and your medicines with you. Try to keep to your normal routine as much as you can.