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Oxytocin and diabetes

Antje77

Guru
Retired Moderator
Long and technical article on the effect of oxytocin on BG and weight.
I used the forum search bar on oxytocin, and it's hardly ever mentioned on the forum, but it looks like there are some interesting links:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7888317/

My non diabetic friend came up with this article after I discussed my mysterious hypos when spending the night with my friend, and now I'm thinking she may have found the cause.
 
Fascinating, from the article

More recently, small scale studies demonstrated that intranasal administration of oxytocin was associated with significant weight loss as well as improvements in insulin sensitivity and pancreatic β‐cell responsivity in human subjects.

And when they say "small scale" they are talking very small scale, eg 10 or 20. Lots of murine (mouse) studies but I personally think the jury is still out. It would be very interesting to read the results of future larger scale studies.
 
Personally, I'm wondering about my (mild but unplanned) weightloss in combination with my depression lifting. And now those hypos every time I spend the night sharing a snug bed with a friend.
Could be lots of factors, but it could also be that this oxytocin is playing a role, I've never looked into it before, and neither has anyone on the forum so far.
 
I've long believed we only know a fraction of the complex puzzle that is the human body.
That oxytocin may play a part in metabolism wouldn't surprise me at all. Like I'd like to know more about ghrelin and leptin too... and then of course there the interactions between them all, and insulin and glucose and it all gets very complicated.
And we know stress affects our bodies so why shouldn't happiness as well. Even better if eventually there can be a happiness drug
 
I think you may really be on to something major with the oxytocin. For instance, when it was fashionable to be really thin, no, thinner than that, several of my friends would lose weight when in love. And it wasn't a simple case of being too happy to eat - or getting more exercise! Being happy seems to affect weight, and certainly being unhappy does. Easy for people to think others are just eating less or more, but that's the same mindset that reckons we give ourselves T2 by being fat.
Lots of us have major trauma in life that goes on and on, and our weight spirals and adds another level of misery, but our primitive bodies think it's a good survival mechanism.
I will follow this with my geeky science head on. A lot of variables have just fallen into place.
 
Isn't Oxytocin the chemical that helps us form bonds in our relationships? It is also the bonding chemical between mother and her newborn. It is very powerful. On the darker side when we wonder why women in abusive relationships stay with their abusers it is the effect of oxytocin levels in their brains that keeps them in these horrible relationships.
 
EllieM said:
It's times like this that I really miss @Oldvatr who could be relied upon to digest the densest report.

Certainly a very comprehensive report with loads of references.
Click to expand...
I almost tagged him when posting this thread before that pang of a lost member hit me.
Glad to see that both @Outlier and @Melgar have had a look at the article, Oldvatr isn't our only member with a knack for research.
Although he may have been the best at finding exactly where the holes in any research lie, and where research may have been affected by hidden conflicts of interest and/or funding.
 
EllieM said:
Not sure if there aren't plenty of those already. The trouble is they are illegal (usually with good reason) and I doubt any studies have been done on their effects on metabolism...
Click to expand...
I have a friend in the USA and he is a manager of one of those specialist shops, he is always so chilled and super happy and cannot understand why the UK has no specialist shops! I explained that the specialist shops tend to be on the streets or in the potting shed at the weekends after working a high city job. I know of a person who does this, he then surfaces on a Sunday night after he has had his dosage, then goes back to his high city job!
 
For me my weight crashes when I am stressed/depressed and I can lose weight rapidly, fall in love it piles on!
 
I'm still wondering about this so now I'm tagging @Chris24Main , you love a good rabbit hole on all the complexities with metabolism, don't you?
I'm still seeing the pattern of going lowish on nights I share a bed, even if it's not with that same friend anymore.
 
Thanks for the heads-up @IanBish and @Antje77 - this is already on my list of things to get more into, but it's a really well known effect, and I've tended to think of it as "the cat - stroking peptide" - This starts to get into the mechanism of why human community and support (and hell, even the value of this very forum) is valuable.
 
Chris24Main said:
I've tended to think of it as "the cat - stroking peptide" - This starts to get into the mechanism of why human community and support (and hell, even the value of this very forum) is valuable.
Click to expand...
Oh wait, you may have just answered todays diabetic riddle with your mention of a cat-stroking peptide.
I spent the afternoon with friends to say goodbye to a beloved little dog with a cremation in my garden. She was hit by a car 3 days ago.
So very sad, but also a very strong sense of community and love, and the feeling we had accomplished something together, it was beautiful, much as it hurt.
And I've been having inexplicable hypos and almost hypos with more carbs and less insulin than usual...
 
For what it's worth, I just caught something related to this that may help to visualise:

Most hormones work in an antagonistic manner - so insulin and glucagon in constant battle (other than T1)

So it is with one set of stress hormones - Cortisol vs Oxytocin and Melatonin.

Cortisol - fight or flight
Melatonin - sleep and rest
Oxytocin - trust and connection


Thus - it's very difficult to feel trust while feeling stressed, and why cortisol wakes you up in the morning.
And in that kind of environment, you describe @Antje77 (and I can relate, letting go of our cat Whisky still breaks my heart thinking about it, now three years ago) - means that Oxytocin is very high, so cortisol is very low, which means no glucose production in the liver. (relatively anyway)
 
If you put it like that @Chris24Main , it makes perfect sense I went low while cremating my small friend, and it perfectly fits the repeated lows on nights I share a bed as well.
I'll have to ask my endo if she can prescribe me a nice man on the Dutch version of the NHS, apparently it works wonders for my diabetes but they're quite hard to find.
 
Yes indeed, oxytocin is also called the love hormone for a very good reason. It is a biggie in sex - on orgasm, the cuddling and closeness that can accompany it, and absolutey bonding with/cuddling and breastfeeding a baby. And the happiness felt when you're hanging with people you really love.

My blood glucose levels are always best and lowest when hanging out with my adult children, and beloved friends. And happiness/oxytocin secretion with the beloved cats I am sure (although it isn't the same as with my adult kids). Now that my BG is particularly high it is most noticeable. (I test a lot. Always have.) I was even thinking of telling my kids how good they were for my physical health, but figured it was probably not a good idea to lay that one on them . (They live in different countries from me.)

What the oxytocin-metabolism and blood glucose regulation connection is saying ultimately, in my peasant way of interpreting such - is how important human to human connection is to good health, for we as social animals. How important love, and happiness is to general health.
 
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