Setting up a physical, asked for an insulin test

(Bob M) #1

And I have to pay for this myself.

What?

Are these people idiots?

For me, the best tests to get, in terms of gauging metabolic health, are probably: fasting insulin; fasting blood sugar; HbA1c; ferritin; HDL; triglycerides; Hs-CRP. You can learn an awful lot about yourself from these tests.

I think it’s idiotic that (fasting) insulin isn’t given to everyone.

Makes me wonder why I go to physicals in the first place.

I’m already getting fasting insulin taken at a test previous to this test. I’m going to water-fast to get my first set of tests (insulin, CRP, ferritin, fancy lipids, etc.) early in the morning. Then, I’m going to drink the maximum coffee and tea (both plain, with no cream), and get the second test for the doctors. This is see that happens to lipids and particularly insulin.

(Jack Bennett) #2

Amen! :+1:

(Todd Allen) #3

Fasting C peptide might be a better choice. Fasting insulin can be more variable as it has a shorter half-life probably because the liver can rapidly metabolize it while C peptide is cleared by the kidneys at a fairly steady rate.

(Bob M) #4

I’m getting that one, too, at the set of blood tests where I pay for them.

They just need something to weed out those people (like I was before 7 years low carb) who are probably metabolically damaged yet the “normal” markers aren’t high. For instance, my fasting (morning) blood sugar was only 101 before low carb (it’s actually higher after low carb), but I can guarantee that some metric of pancreatic function, such as insulin or C peptide, would have been off the charts.

I never got any test of pancreatic function or HbA1c or anything that told me I was metabolically damaged. The only thing they complained about was my low HDL, and they told me to exercise more (which is BS, because no matter how much I exercised, my HDL never went up). I had to do all the research to figure out what test to get and buy those tests.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

I’d add C-peptide and creatine (or is it creatinine? I’m blocking on it at the moment). The former is a marker for insulin resistance (per Paul Mason), and the other is another inflammatory marker (whichever it turns out to be).

That’s because they forgot to tell you to stay off the arterycloggingsaturatedfat! :rofl:

#6

To be fair, your numbers on paper are probably awesome and your doc can’t rationalize doing it in his mind. When Doc’s are tied to practices and not working on their own many times they need a “reason” to do a lot of stuff. All informed Keto’rs basically wind up being mild Biohackers and we want to know a lot of stuff that confuses the docs. More sadly, we many times know more than them on a lot as well.

I found a really good Doc that although she’s an MD she’s got a pretty functional mindset. The other Doc in there with her is a DO so between the two of them they’re all about root causes and know the things to check which is nice. Wasn’t easy to find. Plus, she’s Indian which I bet has a lot to do with it since she became a Doctor over there first so her mindset wasn’t wrecked from day 1.

(Troy) #7

Can you link or post this video please?

Not sure if this is the same thing as CK ( creatine kinese)

Thanks

(Bob M) #8

@PaulL I’m getting c-peptide at my own tests. Darn! Forgot GGT, which no one gets.

@lfod14 Had a friend who was convinced doctors from other countries were better than doctors from the US. They thought differently was his reason.

I’m going to this doctor because she’s one of the only low carb doctors I know of. Now, I’m not a big believer in any single marker, no matter what it is. Though some believe that certain levels of insulin immediately tell whether you’re insulin resistant or not. I find that difficult to believe, but I do think it’s a good marker.

And the whole point is that I take lipids and insulin while water fasting (all tests paid by me out of pocket), then drink coffee + tea and see what happens (second set of tests for doctor). if there’s a high difference, say going from 5 to 10 or 15 for insulin, do I quit drinking coffee and tea?

But I guess I’ll just buy the insulin test for the second set of tests and stop complaining. :wink:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #9

I’m going through the videos of Dr. Mason that I have bookmarked. It may take a while to find the right one.

(Troy) #10

Np
Thank You🙂

(Jane) #11

It’s your insurance that won’t pay, not your doctor’s office. Glad you have a supportive doctor - rare find.