Hey, I tried to look this up on the web, and only found a plethera of information on HIGH levels of insulin.
I have the opposite problem. Very low levels. (My docs words)
Anyways, I had a non-fasting glucose test which was 81. Then I asked for a fasting insulin/glucose test and my insulin levels were 2.6 and my glucose 83. What does this mean? I know the insulin levels are only slightly lower than normal but I need to understand...Thanks.
Well if your glucose levels are ok, I would think that low insulin would be a good thing. You should not have insulin in the blood when it is not working on some glucose. As far as I know...
Right, but you always hear about high insulin levels being a bad thing...ie insulin resistance, diabetes 2 etc. What does very low levels mean? Nothing? Does it just mean I am functioning properly in that area? I am at 2.6 and the nurse said normal range is 3.0-6.0 I think she said...so not to much lower, but she and my doctor both (two different dr. 3 years apart) have said I have "very low insulin levels" which is surprising to them considering I have PCOS. I am a thin cyster, don't know if that matters or not.
I wouldnt think it would cause any problems. I could see if it was low and your sugar was high maybe that would indicate that your pancreas has ran out of insulin to pump for the sugar but that is not the case. So I dont think it means anything.
i have insulin resistence and my dh is a type1 diabetic on an insulin pump..
ok.. here's how it works.... when dh eats, he needs to give himself insulin. b/c his pancreas doesn't produce insulin and if he doesn't take insulin his sugars are too high. however if he gives himself too much insulin then his blood sugar goes too low. he had an episode of this and he actually became unconscious while driving and got into a bad accident.
dh was diagnosed at age 26. he was always thin and ate whatever he wanted. in one month he lost over 20-30 lbs and he was eating ravenously. he got down to 120lbs (5ft 10in) his blood sugars weren't all that high but his pancreas slowly started to shut down and stopped producing insulin.
because of our society eating lots of processed foods and high sugar they are finding more people with type one diabetes who are being diagnosed later in life. (their pancreas was normal and slowly deteriorating.) he'd eat two bags of circus peanuts for lunch and still was skinny. then sit down and eat a large pizza and a 6 pack of beer. they are debating creating a third type of diabetes called type 1.5 (no joke)
you could be getting a high spike, followed by a crash which would cause low sugars. this happens when eating high glycemic index foods. if your pancreas isnt' regulating things properly then that could by throwing your insulin out of whack even though the results seem paradoxical. are you eating low glycemic index foods? or you could have a higher sensitivity to insulin (are you taking any herbal insulin desensitizers) that would make your cells react more to less amounts of insulin. that would give you low insulin and low sugar. (kind of the opposite of IR)
i have ir so i produce way too much insulin. i don't get low sugars b/c my cells are resistent. so my blood sugars stay pretty even.
good luck and keep us posted on what your diagnosis is.
__________________ ~Marion mom to 6 siberian husky babies 3 sets of littermates Maggie & Mollie 04/25/01 Sadie & Sophie 08/10/02 Hannah & Harley 04/27/06
M 32 DH 33 together since Jan 98, married 09/23/00 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
thanks. My dr. is on vacation and am waiting for her to call me back to explain what/if this means anything. The nurse didn't seem concerned, but I like to check myself because sometimes Dr. aren't that informed it seems...No, I do not eat a low glycemic index diet. I eat a diet that fits into my calorie range. Vegetables, whole grains, protein, ice cream. Whatever I want as long as I don't go over my calorie range.
Mluvsd-I don't really understand that post...kinda a lot of foreign info to process. So are you saying that you think I have type 1 or 1.5 diabetes or am well on my way to getting it? Sorry, I am just really confused about all this stuff. It can get overwhelming trying to learn all the things I could get because of PCOS.
Oh and I am not on any type of meds at all other than pre-natal vitamins, and my blood sugar is well within the normal range at 83, it is my insulin that is low at 2.6.
I just did a little search about hypoinsulinemia and if you're not malnourished it looks like it's trying to compensate for increased cortisol levels...
Previous studies suggest that women with FHA have no significant change in their serum glucose levels, and that their insulin levels are lower than their matched counterparts. The maintenance of their glucose levels in the face of hypoinsulinemia could be explained by the body's effort to convert other sources of energy into glucose in response to elevated
cortisol. The decrease in insulin levels could be explained by either their chronic state of undernutriton that results in depletion of pancreatic stores of glucose, or by their elevated cortisol levels. The above information could indicate that the body is in a state of "metabolic allostasis"- sustained compensatory mechanisms.
sorry to be confusing i was just trying to figure out why you have low insulin and low glucose.. since that seems like it should be the other way around.
for healthy people:
they eat; their food is broken down into glucose and the pancreas produces insulin in response. the glucose would make their blood sugar high if they didn't have insulin. but the pancreas regulates it so that their blood sugar stays stable.
for type 1 diabetics: they don't produce insulin or very little:
so they eat; no insulin is produce and the food is broken down into glucose. the glucose goes right into the blood. so high blood sugar. that is why they take insulin. without insulin the body can't use the glucose for energy so they tend to be thinner b/c the body doesn't get it's energy supply as easily.
for type 2 and insulin resistance: their cells dont' seem to recognize that the body is producing insulin.
so they eat; insulin is produced, but the cells don't recognize it, so more insulin is produced. (because the body thinks their isn't enough) which is why a lot put on weight easily. too much insulin. after years of overproduction the pancreas can fail. which is why type 1.5 is kind of like a mixture of both.
that is why insulin reisistance is called pre-diabetes.
i was thinking if your cells were especially sensitive to insulin then when you eat; your body produces insulin you don't have as much as considered normal. which means your sugars should be on the high side. i'm thinking your cells may be able to use the insulin more efficiently than other people which makes your sugar lower. so it is best to eat the low glycemic index foods.
when you eat high glycemic index foods the insulin really spikes. if you have low sugar with low insulin it seems like if you ever have high insulin when you eat sugary foods your blood sugar will drop too too low and cause hypoglycemic episodes.
i hope that explanation is easier to understand. i found if i wrote it out in like a chart it was easier to comprehend.
i was just trying to figure things out since it doesn't fit the typical types.
no matter what, the most important thing with any type of sugar/insulin related condition is consistency. meaning limiting the high sugar foods which cause spikes and lows. stable blood sugar reduces complications. years of ups and downs is the worst thing for diabetics. (not just years and years of high sugars) as with any type of diabetic/ glycemic condition the best diet is using the glycemic index. that's great you watch your calories. i commend you for that, but your body might fair better eating the low glycemic index foods. at least try it for awhile and see if you level off.. so maybe you won't have to go on meds.
__________________ ~Marion mom to 6 siberian husky babies 3 sets of littermates Maggie & Mollie 04/25/01 Sadie & Sophie 08/10/02 Hannah & Harley 04/27/06
M 32 DH 33 together since Jan 98, married 09/23/00 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Hi ya..ive had the same low blood sugar 2.8 i was so fatigued and sickof it i went and got tested for diabtes..and she said no but you need to eat something its so low you will collapse..
I'd only eaten 1 hour before but it was this porrige made with millet/rice thinkc its white rice..and its high gi and the millet is not good for hypothyroid either slows down thyroid..
Ive stopped all hi gi and have noticed a big improvement ..i was eating rice cakes and noticed they do the same fatigue etc..
You can bring the gi down a bit if you add protien to it but better safe than sorry i think..
Normal fasting blood sugar is between 80 and 100. If you get below 70, that you are hypoglycemic and can have problems with confusion, etc. You need to eat something.
If your fasting blood sugar is above 100, then they start to check for diabetes, and insulin resistance.
Your doc will clear it all up but this should help ease your mind in the short term.
__________________ With hope for a better tomorrow,
Karen
Be the change you wish to see in the world.- Ghandi
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Only 2 weeks till the end of the Christmas Challenge!
knib and needtobebetter-It is not my blood sugar levels that are low...they are well within the normal range at 83. It is my fasting INSULIN levels at 2.6 accompanied by the normal blood sugar that is confusing to me...why so low insulin and normal blood sugar.
carminesandiego-I am not malnourished. And with that being said, don't really understand what that article is implying. LOL. I might as well have been reading greek. And I read it over and over again hoping to understand something...lol.
mluvsd-thanks for breaking it down for me. That was very easy for me to understand. I usually am on here after I put my daughter to bed and I am ready to pass out so I have tired brain by this point and need things put in a manner that a 5 year old could understand lol. Totally sleep deprived here.
I've done some serious googling with a bunch of different word combinations and I can't find any chart to say what 'normal' ranges are for an insulin tolerance test.
It seems that the ITT is used often in regards to growth hormone problems, there's not a lot of PCOS related materials coming up. Some controversy over the safety of the test itself and the reliability of the results, but as it regards these other uses so who knows.....
I would say first that every test has a range of inaccuracy. Like a glucose meter has up to a 20% inaccuracy rating, for example. So this low insulin reading could be well within the normal parameters for the test's inaccuracy range and it would be nothing to be concerned about unless further testing continued to show it low and going lower.
IF, big if there, IF the insulin levels were to continue to drop it would be a possible indicator for LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults), also known as Type 1.5.....it's basically someone whose body stops producing insulin in adulthood instead of in their teen years when most Type 1's are formed. It is still Type 1 diabetes, but because it did not have initial onset in youth and comes on slowly it's often misdiagnosed as Type 2 at first.
BUT, big but there, BUT there is ABSOLUTELY NO reason to think that this is going to happen to you at this point. And there is especially no reason to think this will happen to you when your glucose tolerance test comes back so amazingly well!!! That would indicate that you have no problems metabolizing food efficiently....which is the opposite of a diabetic. So it's not something you should worry about.
I've never had the ITT.....so I have no reference materials for this test from my own experience.
I have to agree with Saille. I am being tested for borderline type II Diabetes but they have never tested the ITT with me either.
My fall back is to call the doctor's office and ask the nurse. They are so helpful. Hope you get it straightened out.
__________________ With hope for a better tomorrow,
Karen
Be the change you wish to see in the world.- Ghandi
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Only 2 weeks till the end of the Christmas Challenge!
Being diagnosed diabetic wasn't that terrible. I mean, it's not like winning the lottery mind you! But there are so many much much worse things in the world. Thanks to my diabetes I have been forced to eat healthier foods, at regular intervals, to excercise regularly and basically maintain healthy habits. Because of being forced to do all these things I feel much better than I did before my diagnosis.
Yeah, it's a PITA to test my blood glucose regularly and yeah, I miss being able to eat an entire tube of chocolate chip cookies and only worrying about the calories, but I didn't need to be doing that anyway.
Compared to what else is out there, to what else I could be contending with, diabetes is okay. It's manageable.
So while I don't think it sounds like something you're going to have to worry about in the immediate future (keeping in mind I am NOT a doctor) don't let it make you afraid. Everyone gets something....and there are worse things.
Yeah....I'm an optomist.....but life's more cheerful that way.
Help me understand my insulin/glucose levels 
