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Insulin resistance

A

anglopol

Newbie
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Hi all,
Can any one advise me on that:
I tested my insulin resistance abroad and levels were 5 times higher than normal. Came back from holiday and told my GP but he prescribed glucose tolerance test instead of insulin resistance test. Results were normal however my blood sugar levels has allays been normal but my insulin resistance is high. I still put weight even on low carb diet. What shell I do ?...
 
Hello angopol

I am not a medical professional so I can't give you any specific advice except to say if you are unhappy with your doctor go back and talk to him or her some more. Maybe suggest to your gp that you should have a HbA1c blood test as this will tell you and your gp your blood sugar level average over the last 90-120 days. At the same time I would get tests done for cholesterol levels and get your blood pressure checked.

In my totally non professional opinion if you really have a high insulin resistance but managed to pass a GTT test then you should take that as a warning. A high insulin resistance combined with the ability to pass a GTT test implies to me that your body is still able to produce enough insulin to deal with what you eat but it is having to work increasingly hard to do so. I'm sure someone with more knowledge than me will correct that if they think that's wrong.

Without wishing to sound rude are you an overweight adult? What is your BMI? It should be between 18 and 25 to be in the normal weight range. 25 - 30 you are overweight, over 30 you would be diagnosed as obese. If you don't know how to calculate your BMI there are numerous sites on the internet that will do it if you just type in your height and current weight. The reason weight is important is that it is a major contributor to insulin resistance. The more overweight you are the more resistant you can become and losing weight will gradually reduce your resistance and thus your chance of progressing to full diabetes considerably. If this is the case then losing weight at this stage may well prevent the permanent and currently incurable damage that occurs in people who have full Type 2 diabetes.

Again without wishing to be rude if you are on a low carb diet and not losing weight then unless you have some underlying medical condition the honest answer is that you are doing it wrong or you are eating too much.

Before I was diagnosed I believed I was on a low carb diet but until you get full diabetes and a life threatening condition that forces you to take stock you have no real understanding of what "low" really means. At present I eat no more than about 50g of carbohydrate each day from ANY source. If I do I get unacceptable blood sugar readings that are dangerous.

When working out carbohydrate intake are you sure you are really adding it in from all sources? 50g of carbohydrate equates to around 3 slices of wholemeal brown bread OR about 75g of uncooked rice OR 75g of pasta OR around 3 small boiled potatoes not per MEAL but per DAY. These are TINY amounts compared to a non diabetics portion size. Simply putting milk in tea or coffee equates to around 5g of carbs in each cup so that is a tenth of my total intake each day. I would point out that in many diabetics eyes on this forum at 50g / day I eat a lot of carbohydrate! Every diabetic person is different and some can eat more carbs (but not that much more) to keep their blood sugar levels safe and some eat less.

Good luck and take care.
 
Agree with xyzzy, but as well as BMI, your waist measurement is pretty key. You can be almost normal weight range, but if a lot of that weight is around your middle, it can lead to insulin resistance and the issues xyzzy lists. A waist greater than 37 inches is apparently a risk of insulin resistance and subsequent diabetes.
 
Grazer said:
A waist greater than 37 inches is apparently a risk of insulin resistance and subsequent diabetes.
Click to expand...

Well you live a learn! Thanks Grazer another one to add to my list!
 
xyzzy said:
Grazer said:
A waist greater than 37 inches is apparently a risk of insulin resistance and subsequent diabetes.
Click to expand...

Well you live a learn! Thanks Grazer another one to add to my list!
Click to expand...
Recent figures for Europeans :women (80cm-31.5)in, Men ( 94cm- 37in) have an increased risk; and over 102cm for men and 88 cm for women a greatly increased risk. but different figures may apply to people from other ethnic groups
various figures and how to measure here
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/abhi/ ... easurement

Edit:correction (2nd time, I'll get in right this time)
 
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