High Fasting Insulin levels, but normal Blood Glucose

science
insulin
(Eric Parkin) #1

I recently got my blood work back after being seen about my weight. I’ve been keto for over a year now. And while I saw good results very early on, I’ve seen no long term improvement. I decided to have my insulin checked to see if I just produced more than normal. Turns out, it is higher than the normal range for most people, but what I find strange is that my hemoglobin a1c is normal and my cholesterol resembles that of which someone on keto would have (high total cholesterol, but good ratios) does anyone have any insight on why my fasted insulin is still high even after following a keto diet or am I just misinformed? Below are my results:

Age: 24
Height: 5’8"
Weight: 230

Insulin - 25.6 mclU/ml

Cholesterol - 223 mg/dL
HDL - 86 mg/dL
Triglycerides- 56 mg/dL
LDL - 125.8 mg/dL
VLDL - 11.2 mg/dL
Cholesterol/HDL - 2.59%

Hemoglobin A1c - 5.1%
Estimated Average glucose - 100 mg/dL

P.S. my thyroid marker has gone up 1.5 mlU/L in the past year, but is still in the normal range. Not sure if there is any correlation there… Thanks for the help

(Todd Allen) #2

What were your numbers before going keto?

(Bob M) #3

To me, those look fine. What was your fasting glucose?

My insulin has been all over the map (ignore the 41.3, which was 2 hours after 75g of glucose):

Insulin
Insulin.JPG355×578 36.9 KB

The yellow means I was fasting 4.5 days when I got that test done. I have yet figured out why some are higher. For instance, the 10/31/16, I was fasting a lot before then, but according to my notes I had “squash” for dinner the night before the test. I theorize the test is highly tied to what you ate the day before.

(Bob M) #4

“I have NOT yet figured out…”

(Eric Parkin) #5

Unfortunately I never had any testing done prior. Only the thyroid and A1c which my thyroid was at 1.1 mlU/L and an A1c of 5.7. My cholesterol was 176 total with a HDL of 64 and an LDL of 111. Same triglycerides

(Eric Parkin) #6

Not sure of my fasting glucose as I have never regularly tested. Figured the doc would take it all into account but he doesnt seem to have tested it. Only the average

(Bob M) #7

The average is from the HbA1c. You can go online and find similar numbers. If you had fasting blood sugar, you could calculate the HOMA-IR which is one measure of insulin resistance. See:

https://www.thebloodcode.com/homa-ir-calculator/

There’s some debate as to how relevant this is. (If you look at that webpage, my HOMA-IR indicates my insulin resistance has gone up while all my other values, weight, HbA1c have gone down; doesn’t quite make sense.)

(Bob M) #8

See:

https://professional.diabetes.org/diapro/glucose_calc

My HbA1c of 5.0 comes out to an average blood glucose of 97. How accurate is this? No idea. I usually have “high” blood sugar in the morning (over 100) that drops all day long.

(Eric Parkin) #9

My real concern with the insulin isnt being prediabetic per say, it is that I’m not losing weight (gaining if anything). If my insulin is high, doesnt that reduce my body’s ability to use fat for fuel and increase the likelyhood of storing more glucose as fat? If I’m not insulin resistant but have higher than normal levels, wouldn’t that slow down my ability to get the weight off?

(Bob M) #10

I guess, theoretically. However, I’ve lost weight and gained muscle mass while having all those values shown above. You have to remember that you got a single snapshot of basically what you ate yesterday with that test. Give it some time and have it tested again.

And if you’re really concerned, start intermittent and long term fasting. Those tend to lower your fasting insulin (the near and below 3s I got were while fasting a ton, long term).

(Eric Parkin) #11

I should have mentioned, I IF daily (23/1) and I do a 96 hour fast once every 2-3 weeks. But thanks for the insight. I guess I’ll just have to get tested again in a while. Easier said than done since the military controls the extent of my doctors visits lol

(Todd Allen) #12

It looks like you were pre-diabetic which typically means insulin resistance and elevated fasting insulin. Your average blood sugar has come down with keto though we don’t know how much your fasting blood sugar or insulin has changed. Continue testing going forward and you’ll be able to track your progress. Finger prick blood sugar testing kits are fairly inexpensive and can help you track your fasting blood sugar and how much your blood sugar rises in response to meals which can be a good indicator of your progress and help you test things you might try to improve it.

High fasting insulin can inhibit fat metabolism and slow weight loss - not impossible, just harder and slower. Both of the 2 keto dudes have dealt with this and have discussed it in their podcasts. Typically staying keto improves insulin resistance over time. Lots of things can affect insulin resistance and fasting insulin. Poor sleep, stress, infections. sickness, injury and many toxin exposures can make it worse. Fasting, exercise and thermal stress (sauna or deep chilling) can improve it. Because many things affect it a single test isn’t super meaningful.

(Cywgdave) #13

Catherine Crofts at Low Carb Breckenridge did a talk that mentioned that insulin is a pulsatile hormone, (Jason Fung has mentioned this as well- no chance I can remember where though) even baseline (effectively fasting) insulin is secreted in discrete pulses, can’t remember if it’s over a 5 or 15 minute period. Depending on where you are in that cycle your level could be measured all over the place. Her recommendation when getting fasting insulin assays done is 3 samples, 5 minutes apart to average out those fluctuations.

Her talk is here, I found it quite interesting, YMMV :slight_smile:

(Jane) #14

I paid for mine myself - got my fasting glucose and fasting insulin both tested for $25 and also added my A1C for an additional $23.

Life Extension does it and they have a doctor on retainer to submit the orders to LabCorp who does the blood draw and lab tests. I ordered it all online, set up my blood draw appointment, did the blood draw and in 2 days I had the results in my email.

(Bob M) #15

I’ll have to watch that video. I knew insulin was pulsatile (all hormones are), but I thought it changed slower than every 5 minutes, if you haven’t eaten or had anything but water. But I assume it’s like blood sugar and has some type of “morning effect”.

(Consensus is Politics) #16

Troubleshooting 101. Examine everything starting at the beginning. Assume nothing. Occams Razor, the simplest solution is probably the right one. Either the testing was done wrong, or you are leaving something out about your diet. Are you using any between meal snacks, or any kind? Any diet sodas? Any artificial sweeteners? Look at EVERYTHING with a critical eye. Especial the data you control.

It’s very easy for us to miss our own flubs. I do it all the time, which is why double and triple checking my own data comes first. If possible, get testing done at another facility.

I’m retired military. There is good reason why the term was coined “good enough for government work”. I’ve seen it first hand. “So what if I’m doing it wrong/sloppy/incomplete, what are they gonna do? Fire me? Bwahaha”. I was a stickler for by the book practicing. I gave no ground on safety practices. I brought the flight line at Osan AB in South Korea to a standstill for several hours because some munitions were delivered to me in “unsafe” conditions. By the book. The tech data I was required to use, said a certain safety device MUST be installed or I could not accept delivery. The tech data the delivery guys used stipulated no such thing. It went up the chain, to the Base commander. It became a shitstorm of politics. I refused to budge. They replaced my load crew with another who would play ball.

What does that have to do with this? Nothing, I just tend to rattle on like that, sorry. Just the way of things… [as I cut myself preemptively from going on again]

After rechecking my end of things, I would go outside the DEERS system, or base/post medical and find an independent lab and get tests done again.