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- 14,298
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Why? I have that test when I have my other blood tests, although not every time.
Is that fasting insulin or fasting blood glucose, @Bluetit1802
Why? I have that test when I have my other blood tests, although not every time.
Is that fasting insulin or fasting blood glucose, @Bluetit1802
You're right. In my area anyway GPs aren't allowed to order certain blood tests, these can only be ordered by, usually, consultants and covers most of the expensive and specialist blood tests. Even for inpatients the same applies. I remember having to do insulin tests on certain patients, the insulin tests and bottles had to be ordered up in advance of the test being needed and the request forms had to be signed by the consultant rather than the junior drs. Can't remember the precise condition it was for but I do remember the patient having to fast for 72 hours and have their blood glucose checked really often. Not really surprised GPs aren't able to order it!I believe that this is true!
Only those whose specialty is high enough to have a specific test done can only order certain tests, which is quite expensive and done in laboratories.
I do know that GPs don't have the necessary authority to authorise insulin tests.
Actually although we may be given a eGFR value with our blood results, it is usually an estimated calculation done by the lab and is usually not very accurate. It is a rough and ready indicator.Neither I was replying to @lindisfel 's comment about the liver function eGFR test.
Neither I was replying to @lindisfel 's comment about the liver function eGFR test.
I wonder what exactly the GP is trying to achieve stimulating more insulin in someone who may well already have more than enough insulin production thru insulin resistance.
We can have private fasting insulin tests for £39, and insulin resistance tests for £49 with Medichecks.
But without having the test we will never know that..Fasting insulin level should have good
correlation to fasting blood glucose level i think.
Not necessarily. BGL levels can be dropped by (1) retricting intake by diet, (2) blocking absorbtion, (3) using up by burning energy, (4) moving out of blood into cell storage.Fasting insulin level should have good
correlation to fasting blood glucose level i think.
Ah. Apologies. Those are routinely run for me, with each panel, too.
Actually although we may be given a eGFR value with our blood results, it is usually an estimated calculation done by the lab and is usually not very accurate. It is a rough and ready indicator.
Thanks for the info, I've had three c-pep tests and three insulin resistance tests done at Genova Labs. I go to the one in London not far from Marylebone Station. By the time I've paid train fare, taxi and the cost of the blood test (that alone more expensive than Medichecks), it's not cheap.
I know I had a thread on this ages ago but thought I'd update you all.
At the end of Dr Trudi Deakins' presentation on Sunday at the PHC (and as she had been another person to mention hyperinsulinaemia) I asked a question as to whether any HCP's in the audience had ever managed to get a fasting insulin test done via the NHS.
There were probably over 50 GP's in the room and not a single one had ever got the test done through the NHS. Dr David Unwin said that he had been told that it wasn't available. Dr Campbell Murdoch said he had got one for a patient but privately and various other people reported doing the same with various price differences.
So it looks like we have to get them done ourselves if we want to know for sure what our insulin levels are.
I have no idea how to try to get this issue raised with NICE or whoever controls the available tests but it would seem to me to be a hugely important piece of information.
The only problem with Medichecks is you need a full vial of blood (not a finger prick) so you have to find a nurse willing to do this for you. They do send you all the equipment you need.
One time I had the blood drawn at a local private hospital (cost £25.00 on top of the test). The second time I made sure that I had the test vial when I went in for an HbA1c so asked the phlebotomist to fill the medichecks one as well as the NHS one which she was fine with.. although I had just spent five minutes bemoaning the fact that I couldn't get it done on the NHS while she was digging around in my arm for a vein (I'm quite a non bleeder).As I understand it, they send the vials, but not the needle/cannula. I can't recall which provider @bulkbiker used when he had his done. Maybe he can clarify.
Not necessarily. BGL levels can be dropped by (1) retricting intake by diet, (2) blocking absorbtion, (3) using up by burning energy, (4) moving out of blood into cell storage.
Insulin is only really required by (3) and (4) but an insulin response is triggered by (1) and (2) and these cause the increase in insulin levels, but in T2D then insulin resistance can negate the effects of (3) and (4) so low fasting bgl does not always equate to low insulin levels.
I note that during some of the better in vivo studies, they use something called an insulin clamp to measure insulin levels, but this is a lab only technique that is expensive to do.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/382871
But without having the test we will never know that..
One time I had the blood drawn at a local private hospital (cost £25.00 on top of the test). The second time I made sure that I had the test vial when I went in for an HbA1c so asked the phlebotomist to fill the medichecks one as well as the NHS one which she was fine with.. although I had just spent five minutes bemoaning the fact that I couldn't get it done on the NHS while she was digging around in my arm for a vein (I'm quite a non bleeder).