Diabetes and stem cell transplants
A stem cell transplant can cause severe side effects. This can affect diabetes by causing your blood sugar to go up or down.
A transplant of stem cells involves having high doses of chemotherapy and sometimes radiotherapy. It will often include treatment with steroids.
High-dose treatment can cause severe side effects. These depend on the type of treatment you have.
Your blood sugar level may go up or down because of the side effects of chemotherapy. And it may rise if you are taking steroids.
You may need help managing your diabetes while you are recovering from high-dose treatment. You will need to check your blood sugar more often. And you will probably need to start taking medicines or change the medicines you take. Your cancer doctor or specialist nurse will give you more information.
This information was produced in partnership with Diabetes UK.
Our cancer information meets the PIF TICK quality mark.
This means it is easy to use, up-to-date and based on the latest evidence. Learn more about how we produce our information.
How we can help