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Does taking insulin contribute to insulin resistance?

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damian5000

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I've googled the heck out of this and can turn up little with true relevance.

Does taking insulin contribute to insulin resistance, thereby making the problem even worse?
 
From your googling, what is your understanding of insulin resistance?
 
I believe that insulin resistance is caused by a higher than normal level of insulin over a period of time.
That being the case, if you are T2, then taking additional insulin would seem counter-productive.
If you are T1, you are relying on external insulin. I am reluctant to comment as I am T2 myself, but I would have thought it prudent to keep insulin as low as possible consistent with avoiding hypos, to avoid a double whammy.
 
BrianTheElder said:
I believe that insulin resistance is caused by a higher than normal level of insulin over a period of time.
That being the case, if you are T2, then taking additional insulin would seem counter-productive.
If you are T1, you are relying on external insulin. I am reluctant to comment as I am T2 myself, but I would have thought it prudent to keep insulin as low as possible consistent with avoiding hypos, to avoid a double whammy.
Click to expand...

No need to hypo when taking more insulin as long as you are eating the carbs for it.
 
Hi @damian5000 ,

Welcome to the forum.

When were you diagnosed?

What meds are you currently prescribed?
 
Thank you for the welcome and replies.

I'm pre-diabetic T2. Never had a 125, but maybe was diabetic; I was on 750 metformin with FBS of 113. At that point (about a month ago) I began exercising hugely and doubled metformin to 1500. A few days ago my FBS 84.

So, would taking Humalin-R once in a while, for example, once every day, or once every couple days, as bolus dose, likely to increase my insulin resistance?
 
damian5000 said:
Thank you for the welcome and replies.

I'm pre-diabetic T2. Never had a 125, but maybe was diabetic; I was on 750 metformin with FBS of 113. At that point (about a month ago) I began exercising hugely and doubled metformin to 1500. A few days ago my FBS 84.

So, would taking Humalin-R once in a while, for example, once every day, or once every couple days, as bolus dose, likely to increase my insulin resistance?
Click to expand...
Not sure I really understand the question .. you have prediabetes and are taking metformin (in my opinion unnecessarily) and now you want to take insulin too? Why?
You can keep you blood sugar controlled by diet alone and with your FBS of 84 (4.66 mmol/l) you have perfectly normal blood sugar numbers.. seems a bit odd you would want to risk a hypo for no benefit.
 
What comes first? Insulin resistance, which is caused by high circulating insulin, which is caused by eating too many carbs for your body to cope with. These can be present for many years - decades - before blood glucose levels become a problem. Too much insulin causes a lot of problems, from high inflammation to increased insulin resistance, to weight gain, to worsening T2. If your body produces enough insulin, adding more will be counter-productive.
 
Recently a friend T2 on insulin had an appointment with her diabetes consultant who took her off insulin and the reason he gave was that as a T2 the last thing she needed was more insulin in her system.
 
A gross exaggeration, but T2 can come from two causes:
  1. Insulin Resistance where your pancreas is going full belt
  2. Loss of insulin production as your pancreas starts to burn out (possibly with lower Insulin Resistance)
So you can guess that for (1) more insulin is probably counter productive but for (2) if your pancreas is failing then insulin may help things along.

I still fail to understand why a test for insulin production and resistance isn't done on first diagnosis. These days there are radically different ways to treat IR and a failing pancreas.
 
No idea what happened to my account, but can't login and it says my account doesn't exist when I try to resend password, so here I am.

@Bluetit1802 Well this is what I'm asking, does more insulin increase insulin resistance? You say it does, however, I've seen no research/studies at all that proves this. In fact, the one study I did find, says that it's likely due to hormones released from fat around the abdomen, which sends signals to the body to become insulin resistant. There's literally no research I can find that correlates insulin to causing insulin resistance.

@LittleGreyCat For (1), are you inferring that the insulin resistance is due to large amounts of circulating insulin?

Can anyone lead me to a study or some sort of proof or correlating research that shows insulin causes insulin resistance? It's not that I don't believe it... It's that there's zero I can find that shows this. As I said, the only thing I can find is research that shows it's not insulin at all, but likely hormones from belly fat.

I also have another question, does external insulin reduce the amount of internal insulin produced? Example, I eat 50g of carbs, will my pancreas still produce the same amount of insulin whether or not I take insulin?
 
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damian6000 said:
@Bluetit1802 Well this is what I'm asking, does more insulin increase insulin resistance? You say it does, however, I've seen no research/studies at all that proves this. In fact, the one study I did find, says that it's likely due to hormones released from fat around the abdomen, which sends signals to the body to become insulin resistant. There's literally no research I can find that correlates insulin to causing insulin resistance.
Click to expand...

But ask yourself how that fat round the abdomen got there? Insulin is a fat carrying hormone. Perhaps look for studies on how too much insulin finds, carries, and deposits fat.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
But ask yourself how that fat round the abdomen got there? Insulin is a fat carrying hormone. Perhaps look for studies on how too much insulin finds, carries, and deposits fat.
Click to expand...
Are you just guessing here (that insulin contributes significantly to build up of belly fat)? Fat comes from eating too much and not exercising... Perhaps insulin does contribute to build up, but the majority certainly comes from eating too much and not exercising.

So again, we're back to "please link me to research which shows that circulating insulin causes insulin resistance...". Your belief must come from somewhere... And, again, it's not that I don't believe, it's that there's simply no research that shows it that I can find.
 
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You're talking in circles. What I'm looking for is proof that insulin itself causes insulin resistance. At this point I'm quite fit and slim, so while it's possible that insulin contributes some to belly fat, I'm looking for research that shows insulin itself causes the body to become more insulin resistant... Can you provide some links or research that shows it? Your belief must come from somewhere...
 
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Based on a very limited set of studies, and he knows how to talk (from the beginning I could tell he was trying to sell something, and there it was). It's bizarre there's nothing more than this.

I do 100% agree it makes sense. I like some sort of proof or strong correlation. And, at least one of the studies from your link, do indeed infer it. I'll look closer. Thank you for that link.

Does taking insulin make things easier on the pancreas at all. For example, if I eat carbs, will taking insulin assist the pancreas? Or will the pancreas release the same amount regardless?
 
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As I understand it, your own, natural insulin is secreted in tiny bursts, carefully calculated to keep your blood sugar at a perfect level. Somehow I doubt if your body, on getting an injection of insulin, will say, "oh goody, I can doze off for a while". It's more likely that you will simply have too much circulating insulin. This will cause weight gain, low blood sugars and insulin resistance as the body's mechanism for protecting itself.
I am always in awe of the T1 diabetics who manage to maintain near normal blood sugar levels. They are constantly having to balance and calculate, taking into account exercise, activity, temperature, illnesses, stress, never mind what they have eaten. To put yourself in a position of having to calculate and compensate for injected insulin and take on board the legal requirements (driving), would seem to me to be madness, if you can avoid it. If you have beta cells that work, but feel you should give them a rest, simply cut right down on your carb intake.
Sally
 
sally and james said:
As I understand it, your own, natural insulin is secreted in tiny bursts, carefully calculated to keep your blood sugar at a perfect level. Somehow I doubt if your body, on getting an injection of insulin, will say, "oh goody, I can doze off for a while". It's more likely that you will simply have too much circulating insulin. This will cause weight gain, low blood sugars and insulin resistance as the body's mechanism for protecting itself.
I am always in awe of the T1 diabetics who manage to maintain near normal blood sugar levels. They are constantly having to balance and calculate, taking into account exercise, activity, temperature, illnesses, stress, never mind what they have eaten. To put yourself in a position of having to calculate and compensate for injected insulin and take on board the legal requirements (driving), would seem to me to be madness, if you can avoid it. If you have beta cells that work, but feel you should give them a rest, simply cut right down on your carb intake.
Sally
Click to expand...

Well said.

Apart from anything else, high insulin levels cause untold problems to other parts of the body. It is thought to be inflammatory, damaging blood vessels, and may even be a cause of diabetic complications in equal culpability with high glucose levels.
 
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