Help me, I'm insulin-resistant

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Today has been pretty damn surreal, and it’s barely noon.

The doctor tells me that I’m resistant to my own insulin, a condition which, left unchecked, can progress into type-2 diabetes. He’s put me on a fairly strict high-protein low-carb diet (salad greens and cow food all day and no sugar - hooray! :stuck_out_tongue: ) And I need to exercise more.

Now, I’m not a terribly out-of-shape guy. I’m not diabetic (yet), though there is some family history. I’m only slightly overweight (5’7", 185 lbs. but I contend that a lot of that is muscle, the BMI chart be damned), I do a lot of walking daily (though not regular aerobic workouts) and I walk (often run) up and down stairs almost contantly. I drink at least 2 liters of water a day. I guess none of this really matters, when it comes to my pancreas.

Speaking of which, I’m still having difficulty understanding how I can be resistant to my own insulin. Is it just possible that the insulin I’m producing doesn’t bond as well to the blood sugar? The way it’s said – “insulin resistant” – makes it sound like it’s entirely my fault, and my ingrateful slacker pancreas gets off scott-free after producing sub-par insulin. The day it stops making insulin I can use, is the day the useless moocher finds another home.

I do love the sweets, though. I’m scrambling to find foods that I’m allowed to eat, that don’t make me want to hurl. Lettuce greens and beef? Bleurch. Cheesecake and Dr. Pepper? Dee-lish. At least now, I have a note from my doctor saying I need to munch on something something every 2 hours lest I slip into hypoglycemia. :frowning:

It also turns out I have mononucleosis. And an ulcer. This, on top of my migraines. I didn’t think life was supposed to hurt this much. I’m only 34, dammit. :mad:

I only have more questions after talking to the doctor. Why is sugar bad but honey OK? Why is caffeine out of the question? White flour is bad but whole wheat flour is good? Why the hell would you tell a patient with an ulcer that the only soft drinks he can have (V8, pineapple juice, tangerine juice) are loaded with acid?

And where, for the love of God, where can I find a chocolate chip cookie recipe that won’t kill me? This diet will kill me if I can’t get my chocolate chip cookies.

2

Subway Prophet, if I were home, which I’m not, I would send you some recipes, which I obviously can’t. But if you’d like some, drop me a line.

In reference to your post: insulin resistance means just what it sounds like: your cells are using the insulin you create, less efficently. Here’s a link to a PDF on the American Diabetes Association web site that you might find useful.

3

My father developed diabetes as a complication of pneumonia, and it went away after he got better.

It may be that having mononucleosis is enough stress on your system to wreak havoc with your body’s ability to use glucose properly.

By all means eat correctly and excercise, but you might want to be re-assessed once all your other health problems have resolved.

4

Weightlifting does a lot to improve your insulin sensitivity, and the more intensely you lift, the more it helps. Get ready to squat.

5

What did they tell you about treatment for the ulcer? IIRC they don’t do bland diets any more for that, since it seems that ulcers are neither caused nor worsened by acidic foods. I agree that life shouldn’t hurt that much. Is there comfort in the idea that one of those troubles is self-limiting (the mono) and one of them is treatable or curable (the ulcer)? I know, that only leaves you with migraines and insulin resistance. :eek: Bad enough, but better than what you’re dealing with right now. I wish I could be more help, but I am sending some good thoughts your way, if that makes any difference. Things will get better.

Also, I think it’s just possible that the change in diet may make enough difference in how you feel to make it easier to stick to it. Give it a good shot.

And yes, I agree with getting re-tested when the short-term things have been dealt with. Or at least ask your doctor if that could make a difference.

6

Sklad, big thanks for that link. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to look at the ADA website. But that PDF explained things a whole lot better than the doctor or Wikipedia did.

Oh, any any chance you get to send recipes my way, please feel free! :smiley:

7

Wow, I always thought that diabetes was something that, once you had it, you never recover from. Then I learned about gestational diabetes when my wife was pregnant, and now this. Clearly, I have plenty of learning to do.

My doc put me on a battery of antivirals and antifungals (?) for the mono, and we’re re-testing my glucose next month, and maybe a month after that, too.

8

I’d urge you to ignore the Wikipedia entry entirely, as it was apparently written by monkeys. EVIL monkeys.

As for the recipes, it is morally certain that I will forget to send them unless you email me.

9

The tendency towards diabetes can be exacerbated by any number of conditions that put stress on the system. In addition to those already spoken of, f’instance, patients under treatment involving steroids (prednisone, say), often experience symptoms of diabetes that end when the steroids are no longer being adminstered. If your pancreas is sub-par enough so that your blood glucose levels are already elevated, but not yet to a dangerous level (say in the 120+ range after an 12-hour fast) then additional stress to the system can tip you over, and you can return to normal once the stress is removed.

Prophet, forgive me if this is too personal, but are you overweight? That’s a major risk factor for developing Type II, both for the reasons given above and because it can cause insulin resistance.

10

The ulcer, it turns out, was caused by a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori. I’ve just finished the first round of treatment for it, which included PrevPac (twice-daily doses of antibiotics and stomach acid inhibitors). I think it’s doing the trick; I no longer feel so nauseated I can’t eat breakfast.

Oh, and thanks, everyone, for the words of support.

11

I’m very sorry for your troubles. There are lots and lots of low-carb recipes and resources out there. You’ll find when you haven’t eaten sugar for a few days, you will no longer crave it. If you mail me, I’ll send you a recipe for lots of nice meat with a delicious sauce, tasty green salad, with a delicious dressing, that only takes about 10 minutes to prepare.

One thing that does seem slightly incongruous though:

I’m the same height as you with a stocky bone structure, and at 159 lbs I consider myself to be overweight. 26 more lbs than me would have to be a hell of a lot of muscle. Muscle or no, that’s a BMI of 29 - one point under “obese”. As you say, BMI isn’t the ultimate definition of what you should weigh, but by that chart a “normally” muscled person would have an optimum BMI of around 143 lbs - if I were you, I’d take that as a base, and add your muscle weight onto that. I suspect that you’re not packing 42 lbs of muscle…

12

I think you missed it, Skald.

13

It’s my own damn fault for never learning how to read.

14

Look… I’m already having to admit I’m in denial for multiple things. Can’t I just have this one to keep? Please? :wink:

15

It’s important to manage it, but you will find ways to be creative and have options if you’re diligent.

  1. Your insulin is fine. Your cells’ sensitivity to insulin has diminished. This means you have to pump out more insulin for it to register, and once it does, there’s too much insulin floating around, so you may crash and get hypoglycemic, necessitating more food, etc. Exercise makes your body use the glucose more efficiently and decreases the effects of inbsuling resistance.

  2. Why is sugar bad but honey OK? Why is caffeine out of the question? White flour is bad but whole wheat flour is good? A. Honey isn’t good. Caffeine isn’t out of the q

16

I’m having bad luck on the Enter-Shift key axis.

As I was saying, caffeine isn’t out of the question for diabetes/insulin resistance. It increases adrenalin, which can affect your glucose levels, especially if you’re drinking a lot. I’ll guess that that directive was about your ulcer. C. True whole wheat flour (not just “wheat bread” which isn’t whole wheat) contains non-digestible and more complex carbohydrates. This slows the absorption of sugar and thus puts less strain on your system.

There are many threads, with recipes, here on SDMB. Search for “diabetes,” “low-carb,” “blood sugar” and you’ll probably find them.

I recommend reading Whitaker’s book Reversing Diabetes as an excellent, practical, research-based guide to decreasing your insulin resistance. There are also a number of low-carb cookbooks out.

If you’re going to eat something with sugar or flour, try to pair it with roughage and fat. This helps keep the insulin curve lower. JAMA has reported that alcohol increased insulin sensitivity. This doesn’t mean beer, which has carbohydrates. If you don’t drink, don’t start, and if drinking is an issue for you, don’t do this, but you may want to pair any alcohol you’re drinking with your dinner unless you tend to work out after dinner. We’re talking a few ounces here. Again, talk with your doctor re: the ulcer, and in case you’ve been given medications that interact with alcohol. Find the JAMA article too, on Medscape or elsewhere. A lot of writers suddenly get up in arms about alcohol; in my experience as a person with insulin resistance, and ounce of spirits after dinner lowers my blood sugar by 20-30 compared to the same meal without it. YMMV.

I’ve been taking Metformin for the last half-year, and while I haven’t lost any weight, I’m not gaining as I was for half a year before, and my blood sugar is much more even.

Best of luck, and try not to get overwhelmed!

17

You simpering sack of vomit! You couldn’t organize a piss up in an open bar service! If you had an ounce of…
Wait… not insult-resistant?! :eek:

Ooops! Sorry Subway Prophet. My bad. :smack:

I’m so embarassed… :wink:

18

Look, we’re all about pancreases here. Take your spleen jokes over to IMHO where they’re wanted. :wink:

19

My doctor put me on a Low GI diet just before I was diagnosed, although it was a forgone conclusion that I’d be Insulin Resistant (apparently, I’m “moderately” resistant). I was also put on medication, but I don’t know if they’d have given me the medication if I was dealing with IR alone (I have a concurrent condition that they gave more priority to treating). Anyway, the whole Low GI thing is about foods that take a long time to digest and release sugar slowly into your system. Pure white sugar has a GI of 100. Anything below 55 is low GI, 56 to 69 is intermediate GI and can be consumed in moderation, above 70 is high GI and should be avoided as much as possible. It’s a good diet and I steadily lose weight when I stick to it, but my downfall is always the amount of time it takes me to prepare the meals… I’m not good at maintaining the level of dedication to food prep that I ought to.

20

The PrevPac thing was quite expensive, as I recall, and my doctor was upset that the doctor who did my EDG (I think that’s right) had prescribed it, so he gave me the equivalent in separate meds. So for 15 days I took 14 pills a day, including iron and synthroid medicine. But it worked like a charm. About halfway through I felt so much better I thought the sun had suddenly come out. And I haven’t had a recurrence.

It sounds as if things are a bit hopeful for you, even if they’re sorta grim now. I’m glad you’re beginning to feel a bit better. We’ll keep keeping a good thought.