Catching Insulin Resistance before it becomes Elevated Blood Glucose

Cocosilk

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818
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Treatment type
Insulin
How frustrating that, if this is true, so many of us could have avoided letting things go so far before being diagnosed...
 
D

Deleted Account

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Only with type 2.
Not a lot to be done to avoid type 1 and I confess I am rather ignorant about other types. Apologies to people with LADA, MODY, RH, Gestational diabetes, etc.
 

Guzzler

Master
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10,577
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Diet only
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Poor grammar, bullying and drunks.
Ben Bikman is one of the best. There is no easy, cheap, quick way to measure Insulin Resistance, if there were it would go a long way in warning people that they should address their diet in terms of risk. There are no symptoms of early IR, whereas raised bg levels are the first signs of problems (with or without symptoms) but can be the last to manifest.

It must be said here that IR is normal in certain circumstances and that there people who show low level IR but do not go on to develope Pre Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes. Another test that I feel would be of benefit is one that could show early signs of hyperinsulinaemia. Hyperinsulinaemia and IR is sort of a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' question.

If you are interested, Catherine Croft has a few interesting presentations on IR on YouTube.
 

Cocosilk

Well-Known Member
Messages
818
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Treatment type
Insulin
And here's an interesting one about cholesterol
 

Cocosilk

Well-Known Member
Messages
818
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Treatment type
Insulin
Ben Bikman is one of the best. There is no easy, cheap, quick way to measure Insulin Resistance, if there were it would go a long way in warning people that they should address their diet in terms of risk. There are no symptoms of early IR, whereas raised bg levels are the first signs of problems (with or without symptoms) but can be the last to manifest.

It must be said here that IR is normal in certain circumstances and that there people who show low level IR but do not go on to develope Pre Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes. Another test that I feel would be of benefit is one that could show early signs of hyperinsulinaemia. Hyperinsulinaemia and IR is sort of a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' question.

If you are interested, Catherine Croft has a few interesting presentations on IR on YouTube.


I actually just watched this video of hers a few hours ago too
Which is what lead me to these next two that I have posted. The Diet Doctor ones are good too.
 

Cocosilk

Well-Known Member
Messages
818
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Treatment type
Insulin
Only with type 2.
Not a lot to be done to avoid type 1 and I confess I am rather ignorant about other types. Apologies to people with LADA, MODY, RH, Gestational diabetes, etc.

Yes, type 2 is different from the others. I'm still wondering how taking insulin is going to benefit my fasting levels with Gestational Diabetes and whether eating low carb during pregnancy is a good idea, or whether eating more carbs and taking more insulin is the right way to solve the problem of insulin resistance / glucose intolerance of pregnancy...
 

Guzzler

Master
Messages
10,577
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Diet only
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Poor grammar, bullying and drunks.
I actually just watched this video of hers a few hours ago too
Which is what lead me to these next two that I have posted. The Diet Doctor ones are good too.

A sterling presentation!

You look as though you are on a mission to learn everything you can, well done.
 

Guzzler

Master
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10,577
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Type 2
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Diet only
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Poor grammar, bullying and drunks.
Havn't there been cases of people with T1 developing IR, I thought this is where the term 'Double Diabetes' came from and although I know that IR in T1 is technically not a thing it has been raised as an issue on the forum before.

Edit to ask.
Or is it Brittle Diabetes that I am thinking of?
 
M

Member496333

Guest
Only with type 2.

The topic is discussing insulin resistance. Respectfully, it should go without saying that it’s not relevant to preventing type 1. I sometimes get the impression T1 vs. T2 is some kind of competition on here among some ;)

Anyway, as has since been said, T1 diabetics can also become resistant to [exogenous] insulin.
 
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D

Deleted Account

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@Jim Lahey there is (and never should be) any competitive element.
Some time ago, I posted a soap box thread about us all being different.
My comments about other types of diabetes are my reminders of this.
I apologise for being clumsy in my reminders sometimes.
But I still believe it is important to consider both the target audience and the complete forum audience when posting.

I apologise to @Cocosilk for any thread de-railing. I will continue to read and learn but not comment further on insulin resistance.
 

zand

Master
Messages
10,784
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@Cocosilk thank you for posting this. I am so angry that GPs don't test insulin levels or IR when they are faced with an obese patient. I believe I was insulin resistant for 20 or so years before diagnosis. All that wasted time, all that damage to my body, I only needed to be told it was IR and I would have gone away and reaearched it and helped myself to heal.
 

zand

Master
Messages
10,784
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
And yes T1s can become IR too. That's why when a T1 says they are worried that they have put on too much weight we T2s advise that they reduce carbs so that they don't need to use so much insulin.
 

ziggy_w

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,019
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@Cocosilk -- Thanks for starting this thread. Fascinating discussion.

I agree with @zand. For many of us, insulin resistance probably precedes the diagnosis of diabetes by many years if not decades.

Personally, judging from my then round bellie, I was probably insulin resistant for at least 15 years before diagnosis -- but not any of the HCPs I've seen during this time ever remarked on this or did any furher testing.

Possibly, considerably elevated trigs might be a sign of increasing insulin resistance (in addition to the tendency to belly fat). Ted Naiman (a low carb doc based in Seatle) suggests that the triglyceride-glucose index could be used to estimate insulin resistance in lieu of measuring insulin itself. Here is a link if anyone is interested https://burnfatnotsugar.com/TyGIndexCalculator.html

So, even if our blood sugars are still normal, but our trigs go up, this might indicate worsening insulin resistance.
 

NicoleC1971

BANNED
Messages
3,451
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Ben Bikman is one of the best. There is no easy, cheap, quick way to measure Insulin Resistance, if there were it would go a long way in warning people that they should address their diet in terms of risk. There are no symptoms of early IR, whereas raised bg levels are the first signs of problems (with or without symptoms) but can be the last to manifest.

It must be said here that IR is normal in certain circumstances and that there people who show low level IR but do not go on to develope Pre Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes. Another test that I feel would be of benefit is one that could show early signs of hyperinsulinaemia. Hyperinsulinaemia and IR is sort of a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' question.

If you are interested, Catherine Croft has a few interesting presentations on IR on YouTube.
Agreed and it should also be noted that there doesn't seem to be an easy way to measure hyperinsulinaemia which is the precursor to he resistance itself.​
 
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Mr_Pot

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,573
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@Cocosilk thank you for posting this. I am so angry that GPs don't test insulin levels or IR when they are faced with an obese patient. I believe I was insulin resistant for 20 or so years before diagnosis. All that wasted time, all that damage to my body, I only needed to be told it was IR and I would have gone away and reaearched it and helped myself to heal.
If someone is obese aren't they bound to have insulin resistance to some extent? What would be the point in testing?
 

Guzzler

Master
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Type 2
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If someone is obese aren't they bound to have insulin resistance to some extent? What would be the point in testing?

To get to a diagnosis as early as possible. FYI and some with PreD or T2 do not see any weight gain as a symptom before diagnosis.
 

zand

Master
Messages
10,784
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
If someone is obese aren't they bound to have insulin resistance to some extent? What would be the point in testing?
Well it would have been good to know! I went to my GP to ask for help to lose weight. I was given 2 diets to try neither of which worked. I was constantly nagged by all my HCPs to lose weight. If only they had told me what was wrong I would have started low carbing immediately. The patient can't know they are insulin resistant if they have never heard of it.

And no I don't believe every obese person has IR. Those who have never tried to lose weight and don't have most of their weight round the middle probably aren't IR. Those who lose weight simply by using CICO probably don't have a great deal of IR

Just my own thoughts.
 

Mr_Pot

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,573
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Well it would have been good to know! I went to my GP to ask for help to lose weight. I was given 2 diets to try neither of which worked. I was constantly nagged by all my HCPs to lose weight. If only they had told me what was wrong I would have started low carbing immediately. The patient can't know they are insulin resistant if they have never heard of it.

And no I don't believe every obese person has IR. Those who have never tried to lose weight and don't have most of their weight round the middle probably aren't IR. Those who lose weight simply by using CICO probably don't have a great deal of IR

Just my own thoughts.
The problem is not that they don't test for IR, the problem is that they don't recommend low carb diets.
 

Guzzler

Master
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10,577
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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The longer one goes undiagnosed then surely the longer time for the 'rot to set in'? So if one is diagnosed very early (by whatever test) then the more time there is to try to reverse or at least stall complications.
A recent podcast I heard had a guest posit on the growing number of children in the U.S being diagnosed with T2 and he was saying that this signalled difficulties wrt the length of time one has to live with the condition and manage it carefully.
 

Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,849
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I am sure that I have been heading towards diabetes since my early 20s, but it was never even considered as a possibility despite a premature death - my father's mother, from uncontrolled type two.
Obesity - that is all about being lazy and glutenous, of course, being bone weary - more exercise needed, obviously.
That I felt better doing low carb/Atkins - all in the mind, stop it at once!! Even if it is working it is wrong!!