Insulin Resistance

You don't often measure insulin resistance directly - at least not as part of treatment - it is just a phenomena that is known to occur and which can be used to explain various aspects of diabetes. It is measured by researchers when they are working out the mechanisms, or testing new drugs. The usual way that it is measured is a procedure called a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp. This involves continual infusion of insulin into a vein for several hours - and another infusion of glucose to counteract that. Blood glucose levels are measured continuously, and the glucose infusion is varied to keep them constant. The amount that this has to be varied allows the resistance to a given dose of insulin to be calculated. The only way that you would ever have this done to you is if you volunteer to participate in a research programme. The rest of the time when medics talk about insulin resistance it is essentially a highly educated guess - based upon what is known to happen in a particular set of circumstances.

Hello Louise,

The measurement of fasting serum insulin levels will normally provide good
evidence of insulin resistance.

Put simply, insulin resistance means normal amounts of insulin are inadequate
to produce a normal response from your body's cells.

Regards,
timo.

:arrow: Insulin Therapy and Algorithms for Treating Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Hi TROUBR,
I'm afraid, as you'll see in the link above, there's not really such a thing as a "normal dose" for
a type 1. Initial daily insulin doses are usually calculated using body weigh, but a host of other
factors usually affect the final dosage that's required.

Regards,
timo.

Fasting insulin levels can certainly provide evidence for insulin resistance, but they don't prove it or measure it. The results can be really difficult to interpret because many things have an affect upon this (including age and gender) and since you are dealing with very tiny amounts (we are talking picomols rather than millimols or micromols) different lab techniques produce very different results. As a very rough guideline levels above 60 pmol/l are generally considered to be reasonable evidence of insulin resistance. As for what is normal for a T1 - I am afraid there a so many factors to consider that you really would have to talk to an endocrinologist to get much beyond this sort of broad brush interpretation.

Reckon we've both spent too long on wikipedia DG :wink:

That, and also my trusty Holt & Hanley Endocrinology and Diabetes. A great book if you want to read what your doctor has probably read!