High insulin (not sugar) a cause of my neuropathy?

Posted by rickhood @rickhood, 6 hours ago

I am starting to think high insulin (hyperinsulinemia) may be a cause of my neuropathy, not high sugar.

My A1C is below 5.8, my fasting glucose is between 100 and 110, which is a bit high. Most of my doctors say sugar is not the cause as it is not high enough. However, I just had a glucose tolerance test and an insulin level test at the same time. The GTT was fine but the insulin level was high (40 and high end of normal is 25).

Insulin can cause neuropathy, not just sugar.

"While diabetic neuropathy is most strongly associated with hyperglycemia, studies have shown that prediabetic individuals with high insulin levels (and often normal glucose) can develop symptoms of neuropathy. "

The fix is apparently the same as for sugar: lose weight, low carb diet, exercise, etc.

See this for more https://chatgpt.com/share/6741cb68-6d98-800d-aa7e-21dac038ec0c

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Neuropathy Support Group.

John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | 4 hours ago

Hi @rickhood, I've always been in the pre-diabetic category and not wanting to make my neuropathy worse. I have idiopathic small fiber PN not related to diabetes but since learning about the metabolic syndrome a few years ago I started paying attention and focused on losing weight. There is another discussion on the "fix" that might be helpful:

-- Low-carb healthy fat living. Intermittent fasting. What’s your why?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/low-carb-healthy-fat-living-intermittent-fasting-whats-your-why/
Here are some references that I found informative and useful:
-- The Metabolic Syndrome and Neuropathy: Therapeutic Challenges and Opportunities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3881591/
-- Metabolic syndrome as a risk factor for neurological disorders
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21997383/
-- Dr. Jay Wortman - 'Undoing Atkins: A Cautionary Tale': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIegMp5cWBY
-- Dr Jay Wortman Diabetes Remission is Surprisingly Simple!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx6xw3wOAMc

rickhood | @rickhood | 3 hours ago

In reply to @johnbishop "Hi @rickhood, I've always been in the pre-diabetic category and not wanting to make my neuropathy..." + (show)

Thank you! That paper on Metabolic Syndrome was particularly interesting.

“Up until this last decade, it was generally believed that the underlying cause of neuropathy was hyperglycemia, irrespective of the type of diabetes (1 or 2). The more plausible and current hypothesis is that the MetS (metabolic syndrome) underlies the onset and progression of neuropathy and that obesity and its consequences are the driving factors leading to nerve injury.”

My BMI is 26.6 and need to get it down to 24-25. Fasting (no eating after 3-4pm) has worked great for me in the past, need to do that again.

Not clear if carb control helps or not, but that rather, weight loss, exercise, etc, is key. I should probably do both.

John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | 2 hours ago

In reply to @rickhood "Thank you! That paper on Metabolic Syndrome was particularly interesting. “Up until this last decade, it..." + (show)

I was wondering why none of my primary care doctors had even mentioned metabolic syndrome all the years they kept bugging me about lowering my A1C and telling me I was prediabetic. I was introduced to the low carb and intermittent fasting after reading a health blog by Lee Aase and learning about Dr. Jason Fung's work - https://www.social-media-university-global.org/2020/02/an-unfortunately-named-book/. Lowering my carbs plus the intermittent fasting helped me lose weight and maintain the weight loss which I had struggled with most of my adult life.