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Low insulin/pancreatic cancer???

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blessedmom949902

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I’m in the US and had some routine bloodwork done recently. My A1C is normal, fasting glucose was normal...but my “total insulin” was low. 0.8 on a scale of above 3 being normal. The nurse practitioner who ordered the tests for me now wants me to be screened for pancreatic cancer. ??!!??!! I am panicking and in tears. Hoping someone here can reassure me that it is likely not cancer, until I get the test results (hope to have the test done this week). :(
 
blessedmom949902 said:
I’m in the US and had some routine bloodwork done recently. My A1C is normal, fasting glucose was normal...but my “total insulin” was low. 0.8 on a scale of above 3 being normal. The nurse practitioner who ordered the tests for me now wants me to be screened for pancreatic cancer. ??!!??!! I am panicking and in tears. Hoping someone here can reassure me that it is likely not cancer, until I get the test results (hope to have the test done this week). :(
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Hi there. Us lot can only guess why you might have low insulin levels. Pancreatic cancer is rare but have you considered the following instead:
1) you are eating high fat, low carb and therefore your blood insulin levels are low because they don't need to be high
2) You are type 2 with high insulin resistance and your beta cells that make your insulin have an impaired response due to pancreatic fat and liver fat which surrounds them.

Remember that having low insulin levels because of 1) is perfectly normal and will lead to a longer life. If its 2) you can do something about that by losing fat from these organs. The work of Dr Jason Fung (The Diabetes Code), Diet Doctor site (now beating Oprah Winfrey's apparently!) or the work of Prof Roy Taylor who has reversed type 2 diabetics by stripping the fat away from their pancreases via a 12 week very low cal diet may be of interest.

Wishing you best of luck with your health.
 
I'm in the US too. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

Curious as to what your fasting glucose was - (anything over 86 mg/dL isn't optimal) - and if you have a glucose meter. It would be good to know what you ate, and what your glucose level is pre-meal and 1 hour post meal. It would also be helpful to know what you're generally eating throughout the day, how often you eat, also if your using multi-day fasts, restricted eating, or using intermittent fasting.

When you had the fasting insulin level taken, when did you last eat before the test? In other words, how long did you fast prior to the test?

You can buy a ReliOn Prime glucose meter kit, a lancing device, and 50 strips for $25 at Walmart.

Hoping this is an indication of something other than cancer. But if it is pancreatic cancer, there's a protocol that Nicholas Gonzalez, MD in New York City developed decades ago that's still in use today. He died suddenly a few years ago, a heart issue, but his partner is still practicing and treating patients with the protocol.
 
I agree that diet can have a bearing on insulin levels. "normal" will be based on the average person. If a person consumes foods that raise insulin levels (carbs are the main culprits,) in large quantities they will tend to have higher circulating insulin. This is how the majority of people eat. Conversely, a person that eats hardly any carbs but eats plenty of fats is likely to have much lower circulating insulin. Low circulating insulin is also a sign there is no insulin resistance present.

I am afraid I have no idea what your 0.8 actually means and can't help. Insulin levels are never routinely tested in the UK under the NHS.. If we want it tested we have to go private and pay for it, so like me, very few are familiar with insulin levels.
 
blessedmom949902 said:
The nurse practitioner who ordered the tests for me now wants me to be screened for pancreatic cancer. ??!!??!! I am panicking and in tears.
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Don't panic or cry over something you don't even know you have. That's like being scared you'll be run over by a bus when you aren't even near the road. I survived pancreatic cancer 12 years ago.
 
@blessedmom949902 you've been in my thoughts all day. You must be feeling very anxious. I certainly would feel that way too, but people react differently. There's no right or wrong way to react. Do let us know how you're doing when you're able.
 
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