Insulin resistance - Pre-diabetic symptoms?

[Vugger]

I have been lifting on and off since I was about 18 years old. Throughout my twenties, I lifted in spurts, but not any longer than a year in duration. In May of 2006, at the age of 34, I began lifting regularly without any issues. Sometime during the first week of July, I began having a feeling that mimics hypoglycemia, but not as I had experienced previously. This symptom is different than the typical weak feeling, seeing spots, and extreme hunger associated with hypoglycemia.This symptom is more of an irritability, or very fidgety feeling that comes and goes. The first couple of times that I had these symptoms, it was in the evening, so I thought it was a lack of sleep. I would go to sleep and then the symptoms would be gone in the morning.

After a while, I began to notice these symptoms more often and especially after eating. I did my research and figured that I was not getting enough carbs post workout and began to increase my carbs post workout. The only thing that happened was I gained about 20 pounds (if I eat carbs, I gain weight like crazy) and the symptoms continued to come and go.

I finally went to see the doctor (internist) to get checked out and have my annual labs drawn. At this time, the symptoms were fairly new, so we just covered the basics. These are the results. I know that they are not good, but they were worse a couple of years ago.
Glucose: 96 / Cholesterol:192 / HDL:36 / LDL:135 / Triglycerides: 105

I thought that maybe it could be my magnesium, so i had that drawn. Mag:2.0
I also had some hormone levels drawn. T4, free: 1.26 / TSH: 1.11 - sometimes this symptom almost feels like it is something hormonal - test maybe?
The reason that I continue to link it with glucose is because I was having symptoms during a birthday party and ate some cake and ice cream and they almost instantly went away. I have a glucose monitor and have been following my sugars almost daily, but they are always 88-97 fasting and in the 90's post prandial. My diet is not the greatest, but I am working on it. I have been really limiting carbs lately and that seems to have helped some, but with my job, I have a difficult time eating consistently. I do go for long periods of time without eating, which I am working on.
These symptoms started since I began lifting and doing cardio, so that is why I am posting here. I am not looking for medical advice, but I am wondering if any others have struggled with similar symptoms. I do have a follow-up appointment with my doctor and I am sure that we will test my sugar and insulin resistance. Sorry for such a long post, I am just looking for more ammunition for my follow-up appointment.

Thanks!

[Clif]

I certainly cant give you any good advice here, it seems it might be had to do so with your diet as hit and miss as it is, im not sure that any one else can as well, ill go ahead and bump it up for you, maybe help to get some other folks to give it a look.

[KLMARB]

Originally Posted by Vugger

I have been lifting on and off since I was about 18 years old. Throughout my twenties, I lifted in spurts, but not any longer than a year in duration. In May of 2006, at the age of 34, I began lifting regularly without any issues. Sometime during the first week of July, I began having a feeling that mimics hypoglycemia, but not as I had experienced previously. This symptom is different than the typical weak feeling, seeing spots, and extreme hunger associated with hypoglycemia.This symptom is more of an irritability, or very fidgety feeling that comes and goes. The first couple of times that I had these symptoms, it was in the evening, so I thought it was a lack of sleep. I would go to sleep and then the symptoms would be gone in the morning.

After a while, I began to notice these symptoms more often and especially after eating. I did my research and figured that I was not getting enough carbs post workout and began to increase my carbs post workout. The only thing that happened was I gained about 20 pounds (if I eat carbs, I gain weight like crazy) and the symptoms continued to come and go.

I finally went to see the doctor (internist) to get checked out and have my annual labs drawn. At this time, the symptoms were fairly new, so we just covered the basics. These are the results. I know that they are not good, but they were worse a couple of years ago.
Glucose: 96 / Cholesterol:192 / HDL:36 / LDL:135 / Triglycerides: 105

I thought that maybe it could be my magnesium, so i had that drawn. Mag:2.0
I also had some hormone levels drawn. T4, free: 1.26 / TSH: 1.11 - sometimes this symptom almost feels like it is something hormonal - test maybe?
The reason that I continue to link it with glucose is because I was having symptoms during a birthday party and ate some cake and ice cream and they almost instantly went away. I have a glucose monitor and have been following my sugars almost daily, but they are always 88-97 fasting and in the 90's post prandial. My diet is not the greatest, but I am working on it. I have been really limiting carbs lately and that seems to have helped some, but with my job, I have a difficult time eating consistently. I do go for long periods of time without eating, which I am working on.
These symptoms started since I began lifting and doing cardio, so that is why I am posting here. I am not looking for medical advice, but I am wondering if any others have struggled with similar symptoms. I do have a follow-up appointment with my doctor and I am sure that we will test my sugar and insulin resistance. Sorry for such a long post, I am just looking for more ammunition for my follow-up appointment.

Thanks!

Good luck on you next appointment. The real problem with many doctors today is that they consider type II diabetes to be a cronic condition to be managed by insulin/other drugs. Not suprising really, in light of the strong influence by the pharma industry. Combine this with the folks who continue to preach low-fat, low protein, fruit, and whole grain based diets, all leading to insulin resistance, and in denial of both human evolution and biochemistry. Check out paleodiet.com for a different view....

[Vugger]

Originally Posted by Clif

I certainly cant give you any good advice here, it seems it might be had to do so with your diet as hit and miss as it is, im not sure that any one else can as well, ill go ahead and bump it up for you, maybe help to get some other folks to give it a look.

Thanks for the reply. Although my diet is far from perfect, it really is not that bad. My biggest problem is eating frequently. I feel certain that my diet is at least part of the culprit, but I have made some significant changes and I am still presenting the same symptoms.

[Vugger]

Originally Posted by KLMARB

Good luck on you next appointment. The real problem with many doctors today is that they consider type II diabetes to be a cronic condition to be managed by insulin/other drugs. Not suprising really, in light of the strong influence by the pharma industry. Combine this with the folks who continue to preach low-fat, low protein, fruit, and whole grain based diets, all leading to insulin resistance, and in denial of both human evolution and biochemistry. Check out paleodiet.com for a different view....

Thanks for the reply and the link. This is my concern too - many doctors lack the experience to deal with patients that exercise, eat well, and want to be healthy. This was the reason that I posted in this forum, I want to be prepared for the inevitable "here is a prescription".

[skywalker45]

Originally Posted by Vugger

I have been lifting on and off since I was about 18 years old. Throughout my twenties, I lifted in spurts, but not any longer than a year in duration. In May of 2006, at the age of 34, I began lifting regularly without any issues. Sometime during the first week of July, I began having a feeling that mimics hypoglycemia, but not as I had experienced previously. This symptom is different than the typical weak feeling, seeing spots, and extreme hunger associated with hypoglycemia.This symptom is more of an irritability, or very fidgety feeling that comes and goes. The first couple of times that I had these symptoms, it was in the evening, so I thought it was a lack of sleep. I would go to sleep and then the symptoms would be gone in the morning.

After a while, I began to notice these symptoms more often and especially after eating. I did my research and figured that I was not getting enough carbs post workout and began to increase my carbs post workout. The only thing that happened was I gained about 20 pounds (if I eat carbs, I gain weight like crazy) and the symptoms continued to come and go.

I finally went to see the doctor (internist) to get checked out and have my annual labs drawn. At this time, the symptoms were fairly new, so we just covered the basics. These are the results. I know that they are not good, but they were worse a couple of years ago.
Glucose: 96 / Cholesterol:192 / HDL:36 / LDL:135 / Triglycerides: 105

I thought that maybe it could be my magnesium, so i had that drawn. Mag:2.0
I also had some hormone levels drawn. T4, free: 1.26 / TSH: 1.11 - sometimes this symptom almost feels like it is something hormonal - test maybe?
The reason that I continue to link it with glucose is because I was having symptoms during a birthday party and ate some cake and ice cream and they almost instantly went away. I have a glucose monitor and have been following my sugars almost daily, but they are always 88-97 fasting and in the 90's post prandial. My diet is not the greatest, but I am working on it. I have been really limiting carbs lately and that seems to have helped some, but with my job, I have a difficult time eating consistently. I do go for long periods of time without eating, which I am working on.
These symptoms started since I began lifting and doing cardio, so that is why I am posting here. I am not looking for medical advice, but I am wondering if any others have struggled with similar symptoms. I do have a follow-up appointment with my doctor and I am sure that we will test my sugar and insulin resistance. Sorry for such a long post, I am just looking for more ammunition for my follow-up appointment.

Thanks!

This could be any number of things but at your age I would seriously consider total and free testosterone, thyroid, etc. Hormonal problems in men are becoming an epidemic in my opinion. I'm leaning away from insulin resistance, but I'm not a doctor. Insulin resistance would usually return an impaired fasting glucose on a fasting test so it would be >99 and usually around 105-115.

[Renaissance68]

Hi, Im not going to give you any medical advice, escially as you haven't been daignosed yet. Just more of a constructuve observation really. Even though you are obviously concerned that something i amiss, you talk of 'needing more ammunition' before returning to the medics? It is quite normal to feel anxious about outcomes and even want to 'prove them wrong', but as someone with experience in health-care I can honestly advise that the best thing to do is let the outcomes tell the story and then move on from there. That is, if there is IR or even a diabetic state, then so be it, listen to the adice and then make informed decisions to address the issue optimally. I do hear what you are saying with regards medics experience with regards exercise etc, but trust me this would more effect the management of a condition, not the diagnosis. Irrespective of fitness level etc the body's homeostatic mechanisms are there to keep things within pretty tight measures, thus abnormalities indicate a deviation from this optimal state that potentially need addressing, whether via life-style changes, medications, or both. The main thing is to founout what the problem is a THEN decide what advice to accept and action to take, not pre-empt 'potential' outcomes. See what they say first. You never know, it may no be as bad as you think. But if it is, at least you'll know d you can then 'research' around the issue to guide your decisions.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards

[Vugger]

Originally Posted by skywalker45

This could be any number of things but at your age I would seriously consider total and free testosterone, thyroid, etc. Hormonal problems in men are becoming an epidemic in my opinion. I'm leaning away from insulin resistance, but I'm not a doctor. Insulin resistance would usually return an impaired fasting glucose on a fasting test so it would be >99 and usually around 105-115.

I have never had a fasting glucose greater than 96, but I have read that 96 is considered high by many.
I was planning to have a total and free test done and I agree, hormone issues seem to be very common these days.
Thanks for the reply!

[Vugger]

Originally Posted by Renaissance68

Hi, Im not going to give you any medical advice, escially as you haven't been daignosed yet. Just more of a constructuve observation really. Even though you are obviously concerned that something i amiss, you talk of 'needing more ammunition' before returning to the medics? It is quite normal to feel anxious about outcomes and even want to 'prove them wrong', but as someone with experience in health-care I can honestly advise that the best thing to do is let the outcomes tell the story and then move on from there. That is, if there is IR or even a diabetic state, then so be it, listen to the adice and then make informed decisions to address the issue optimally. I do hear what you are saying with regards medics experience with regards exercise etc, but trust me this would more effect the management of a condition, not the diagnosis. Irrespective of fitness level etc the body's homeostatic mechanisms are there to keep things within pretty tight measures, thus abnormalities indicate a deviation from this optimal state that potentially need addressing, whether via life-style changes, medications, or both. The main thing is to founout what the problem is a THEN decide what advice to accept and action to take, not pre-empt 'potential' outcomes. See what they say first. You never know, it may no be as bad as you think. But if it is, at least you'll know d you can then 'research' around the issue to guide your decisions.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards

Thanks for the reply and this is good advice. My "needing more ammunition" was not about running and hiding from the problem, it was about making sure that I put everything on the table to diagnose the problem. I would rather have all of the diagnostic testing ordered without making various visits to the doctor if possible. Sometimes it helps to utilize suggestions for testing from others that have possibly been down this road before.

[Renaissance68]

Hi Vugger,

you'll have to excuse my ignorance on how things work there. Im in the UK and here we don't have to order any tests as they are all done via the doctor at the point of access. I didn't realise you had to order stuff in advance.

Regards

[skywalker45]

Originally Posted by Vugger

I have never had a fasting glucose greater than 96, but I have read that 96 is considered high by many.
I was planning to have a total and free test done and I agree, hormone issues seem to be very common these days.
Thanks for the reply!

96 could be considered the top of the range. Normal fasting glucose is 70-99 on most lab scales. Definitely do the Total and Free T tests (low testosterone can cause insulin resistance) and thyroid workup and post back to let us know the numbers and what your doc says. Good luck to you.