Am I diabetic or are my readings due to Seroquel?

Question

Hello doctor,

My A1c is 5.4 % and my fasting glucose is 107 mg/dL and I was taking 800 mg of Seroquel which is a medication for paranoid schizophrenia and is known for causing diabetes and high blood sugar and five minutes after taking a 400 mg pill, one day my sugar went over 200 and the next day five minutes after taking a 400 mg pill, my sugar went up to 495 mg/dL. So, I stopped the Seroquel. According to my A1c, I am a nondiabetic, according to my fasting glucose, I am a pre-diabetic, and according to those two high blood sugar readings, I am a serious diabetic. Those are three different diagnoses. But those two high readings could have just been because of the Seroquel because I have never had high readings like that other than when I was taking the Seroquel and I was taking a high dose. A lot of people only take 100 to 200 mg, but I was taking 800 mg. So, do you think I am a diabetic or do you think it was just the Seroquel that caused the two high readings?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Quetiapine (Seroquel) in such high doses may produce hyperglycemia. So, the first possibility is drug-induced hyperglycemia. So, try to reduce the dosage after consulting your doctor. You have to monitor your blood sugar regularly when you are taking these type of drugs. The second possibility is new-onset diabetes and a wrong HbA1c lab report. So you have to check your FBS (fasting blood sugar) and PPBS (postprandial blood sugar) with HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin) again after few days. So, if FBS is less than 100, PPBS is less than 140 mg/dl, and HbA1c is less than 5.7 %, you are not diabetic. If FBS is between 100 to 125 mg/dl, PPBS is at 140 to 200 mg/dl, and HbA1c is at 15.7 to 6.4 %, you are prediabetic. Anyway check your blood sugar regularly and try to reduce weight. Do adequate exercise.