what blood tests diagnose IR?

whitney86 · 11-03-2006, 01:43 AM

I am not overwieght at all, but I am wondering if I might have IR. I have some of the symptoms. I pee a lot, get tired after eating and stuff like that. The only diabetes type blood test I did that i could find on my labs was a fasting blood sugar of 77. My half sister has type 1 diabetes, and has the blood checker stuff. I use it sometimes to check mine, but dont really know what to look for, for type 2. Would my blood sugar be high all the time? What should I look for? Should I check it after a meal and see if its high? Or would it be low? Thank you so much for any advise cysters!

Jashobeam · 11-03-2006, 02:51 AM

They check insulin levels not sugar levels to see if you have IR. You need a fasting glucose tolerance test or a fasting insulin level test. My mom checks her blood sugar before eating, then again after. You can be thin and have IR and/or diabetes.

flyfisher · 11-03-2006, 05:09 AM

I am type 2.. No your blood sugar wouldn't be high all the time. Mine goes up and down. I have symptoms when it is high and have symptoms while it is dropping. I would go to the doctor and talk with him to see what he says. He may suggest a glucose tolerance test. That will let the doctor know if you are type 2 or not. You don't have to be overweight to be type 2. hths

whitney86 · 11-03-2006, 09:03 AM

Thank you for the responses! I am deffinitly going to ask my new doctor to test for that! I cant believe none of the other doctors I have seen tested me for it. They would test me for everything else, tons of times even though I KNEW that wasnt the problem. They had my thyroid tested soooo many times even though every time it came back perfect, and I knew they were just wasting there time. My new doctor is finally listening to me, even though she seems to think my testosterone is high because of my liver....? I dont think that is the problem either. I think we will find out that too much insulin is the problem. Dont you just know in your gut when your doctor is wrong. I sometimes wish I was a doctor so I could request all my lab work myself! lol Thanks again for all the info cysters!

Allison. · 11-03-2006, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whitney86

The only diabetes type blood test I did that i could find on my labs was a fasting blood sugar of 77. What should I look for? Should I check it after a meal and see if its high? Or would it be low? Thank you so much for any advise cysters!

I had a
Glucose Tolerance Test
Fasting Glucose
Insulin Test
A1C
C-Peptide
All showed no signs of Insulin Resistance or Diabetes. My Endocrinologist was sure that I was. I actually have Tradtional PCOS. (No Insulin Resistance/Elevated Androgens)
He still checks these levels regularly, as we (PCOS) are at high risk for insulin resistance.
Please go back to your doctor and ask for more tests. I recently had an iron issue. My PCP only checked my Hemeglobin. It was normal, but my iron store were depleted. I ended up needing an I.V. Iron infusion. This could have possibly been avoided if my PCP did the proper tests. It's sad that we sometimes have to know more than these people that went to Medical school for years.
I hope that you are able to get your answers soon.:

Jashobeam · 11-03-2006, 05:50 PM

Our family doctors (Mine, DH's Mom's DD's) ALL didn't do IR tests at all. One doc even told Mom they didn't have that capacity (they do). I had to drag Mom to my GYN to get tested and she was border line diabetic by then and defintly IR. She has such serious reactions to the meds (blacking out, etc.) she had to go off of all of them. She is going back next month and I hope they try her on something else. DH finally got his doc to test him, but the doc said he wasn't IR. I want to drag him to my GYN just to get tested, lol., but he won't. The only men that go to my GYN are those going thru sex change (from what I gather from thsoe in the waiting room), so I don't know if they would even test DH there.

I hope you get tested and the docs do it correctly!

whitney86 · 11-04-2006, 01:19 PM

Thank you cysters for all your help! I really appreciate it!

bec415 · 11-07-2006, 09:49 AM

It's really diagnosed by IR symptoms. Insulin moves around so much throughout the day, it's effected by what you eat, sleep, excersize, stress, so you can't really base it on one blood test. There is a test you can do (in the info below) my Dr wouldn't do it, he said I didn't need it since it was so clear that I had all the symptoms.

"The "gold standard" for diagnosis is a test called the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp study. It is a complicated and expensive study in which insulin and glucose is infused intravenously at several different doses to see what levels of insulin control different levels of glucose. Most physicians use fasting insulin levels of over 15 uU/ml to diagnose it because they have been shown to highly correlate with the euglycemic clamp study. Some doctors use a fasting glucose to insulin ratio or even a hemoglobin A1c to determine if further testing is needed. Remember that the main reason to diagnose insulin resisitance is to go further on to look for Type 2 diabetes. This is diagnosed by a 2 hour post 75 gram glucose load blood sugar of over 200mg/dl, a random blood sugar of over 200 mg/dl, or a fasting glucose of over 127 mg/dl. Most doctors would agree that if there was only impaired glucose tolerance -- fasting plasma glucose >= 110 mg.dl and <127 mg/dl, or 2 hour post 75 gm glucose load >=140 mg/dl and <200 mg/dl, -- and addtionally there was an elevated fasting insulin level, then dietary control at least should be begun as soon as possible"