Blood insulin testing

[Bon]

Hi All,
I'm new to the forums. Some background info: My a1c was 60 about 5 months ago. I do not want to go on medication as I feel that it only cleans up the sugar out of my blood. The sugar (poison) is still in my body damaging my cellular structure so I have stopped putting it in (very low carb 0g per day when not fasting) and am trying to burn off what is there (combo exercising and intermittent fasting). Scheduled for another a1c end of October

I recently asked my GP to run a blood insulin test so I could determine how bad my insulin resistance is and as a baseline to see if it improves with the diet and fasting. He told me it was an arterial blood sample and, because of that, declined to order the test. I have since googled it and cannot see where it is arterial blood. Anybody have any info that can help?

 

[rebrascora]

I believe he is talking about a blood sample which is sent off to the lab for quantitive analysis of BG rather than a finger prick test which is less accurate and he may not have access to a "finger prick" blood monitoring meter..... the designated nurse practitioner who oversees diabetics will have such a meter and whilst they are not available to most Type 2s on the NHS many people self fund them and find them hugely beneficial.... they can be purchased relatively cheaply (approx. £15) but it is the on going cost of purchasing test strips for them which becomes more expensive, so choosing the model with the cheapest test strips is advisable and for that reason the SD Codefree is recommended on this forum. They are not generally highly accurate but will give you good guidance on how you are doing and which foods spike your BG badly and should be avoided.
Ultimately it is your HbA1c which will tell you how you are doing overall but waiting 3 or 6 months without any other idea of how you are doing in the meantime could potentially take you a very long time to make significant improvements, so if you can afford £15 (it usually comes with 10 test dtrips and a finger pricker and lancets and £8 for a pot of 50 test strips, it is well worth investing yourself.

 

[silentsquirrel]

Hi All,
I'm new to the forums. Some background info: My a1c was 60 about 5 months ago. I do not want to go on medication as I feel that it only cleans up the sugar out of my blood. The sugar (poison) is still in my body damaging my cellular structure so I have stopped putting it in (very low carb 0g per day when not fasting) and am trying to burn off what is there (combo exercising and intermittent fasting). Scheduled for another a1c end of October

I recently asked my GP to run a blood insulin test so I could determine how bad my insulin resistance is and as a baseline to see if it improves with the diet and fasting. He told me it was an arterial blood sample and, because of that, declined to order the test. I have since googled it and cannot see where it is arterial blood. Anybody have any info that can help?

I don't think the NHS does insulin blood tests, so assuming you are in the UK, you would need to get it done privately. I think it is more common to test for insulin levels in the US.

 

[rebrascora]

I would like to add that sugar is not in itself a poison.... as with many things it is the amount you take which, when it reaches a toxic level has a negative impact. The body breaks down carbohydrates (including sugars, starches and fruit) as well as a proportion of protein and fat into glucose which is used at a cellular level to provide energy. The body needs glucose to function but any surplus causes the body to deposit it as fat.(this is a simplified version) and our modern carbohydrate rich diet and relatively sedentary lifestyle along with a build up of fat on our organs makes us predisposed to diabetes.
It sounds like you are following an ideal management system to reduce your levels but I am not sure it is fair to demonise sugar.... as bread and potatoes and rice have similar effects in raising BG levels and in my experience, spike them for much longer but just as high as sugar.