Overview

Some medicines for conditions other than diabetes can raise your blood sugar level. This is a concern when you have diabetes. Make sure every doctor you see knows about all of the medicines natural health products you take. This means anything you take with or without a prescription.

Examples include:

• Thiazide diuretics.
• Corticosteroids.
• Birth control pills (oral contraceptives) and progesterone.
• Catecholamines.
• Decongestants, such as pseudoephedrine.
• The B vitamin niacin. The risk of high blood sugar from niacin lowers after you have taken it for a few months.
• Some antipsychotic medicines.