Hyperinsulinemia is not another word for type 2 diabetes or even for borderline diabetes. It literally means too much insulin in the blood. If you have high blood sugar, that is called hyperglycemia, and too little sugar is hypoglycemia.
Because your pancreas, or more precisely the beta cells inside it, make the two hormones that keep glucose at a safe and steady level in your blood, they are part of your endocrine system. Endocrine glands release the hormones that affect every organ and cell, and they always come in pairs so they can balance, or turn on and off processes, such as growth, stress responses, mood and digestion.
An endocrinologist is a doctor who specializes in the understanding of endocrine systems. That's why diabetes doctors are endocrinologists. They study the disease and its symptoms, and they have learned how to treat those symptoms. They can identify hyperinsulinemia, and though they are not sure of its cause, they know what it does.
Elevated insulin in the blood causes an increased inflammatory effect in every organ of the body. If that doesn't sound too bad, think about this. Inflammatory bowel disease, inflammatory arthritis and chronic fatigue syndrome are only a few of the possible problems related to inflammatory reaction.
In hyperinsulinemia your pancreas is putting out larger amounts of insulin than your cells can use. Sometimes this is because of insulin resistance in the cells. Doctors know this is connected to the metabolic syndrome but they have no proof that the syndrome actually causes hyperinsulinemia. The result is often chronic low blood sugar.
On the opposite side is high blood sugar, what we know as diabetes or prediabetes. Elevated sugar in your blood damages blood vessels and spreads candidal infections through your bloodstream. The symptoms are not as obvious as those for hypoglycemia, which is why it is possible to have extremely high blood sugar for years and not know it.
You can have hyperinsulinemia for a long time, too, without being aware of it. Some of the symptoms of hyperinsulinemia are sugar cravings, intense hunger, weight gain, weakness, moods like grouchiness and anxiety, and poor concentration. These symptoms are very much like hypoglycemia.
Why Hyperinsulinemia Is Not Diabetes
Diabetes and borderline diabetes can lead to hyperinsulinemia, but there are other things that might cause it. One is a tumor called an insulinoma that makes the beta cells produce insulin when there is no need for it. There is also a disease called nesidioblastosis in which there are far too many beta cells in the pancreas pumping out insulin.
That means it's important to know the cause of high insulin in the blood so it can be treated properly. If the imbalance in your endocrine system is caused by insulin resistance, you are prediabetic unless your blood sugar count is high enough to consider you diabetic, and you can begin standard treatment of it with changes in diet and level of exercise.
Any endocrine imbalance is hard to treat medically. If you add insulin to bring down your blood sugar, you increase the chances of creating hypoglycemia, too little sugar in your blood.
That's why you use a blood glucose monitor every few hours while you're on insulin, and it explains why there's such a rush to make a continuous glucose monitor that is reliable. There is a great profit to be made by the company that perfects it.
And oral medications that try to mimic the actions of endocrine systems like the pancreas and heart always have undesirable side effects. You and your doctor have to weigh the risks and benefits carefully each time you are offered a new medication.
There Is A Better Way To Treat Hyperinsulinemia in Type 2 Diabetes
If your endocrine system is not regulating glucose properly because of insulin resistance there is actually something you can do about it. You can reduce insulin resistance by treating the metabolic syndrome. This has been proven to work.
Remember, the metabolic syndrome is a combination of conditions: High bad cholesterol with high triglyceridesHigh blood pressureBeing sedentary (lack of exercise)Obesity with fat deposits around the organs along with a low muscle massAbnormally high blood sugar
This syndrome is the consequence of lack of exercise, leading to low muscles and high fat. It is also caused by a diet full of over-processed and fast food with too much sugar and man-made fats. If that sounds too simple, the proof is in what happens when those two things are changed.
People who exercise, raise their muscle mass, and start eating things that are good for them actually find lower blood pressure, better cholesterol levels, and reversed hyperinsulinemia. It happens all the time.
The other option is to let doctors treat the symptoms with oral medications and insulin to help control the amount of insulin in your blood. It means a lifetime committment to this treatment because it does not offer a cure.
While researchers look for ways to artificially regulate insulin and blood sugar levels in your blood, you can be working on your own cure by helping your pancreas return to its normal functions. A 50% success rate is what doctors have measured with exercise and diet changes.
With drastic lowering of weight and high levels of exercise the rate of success is much higher. On the TV show The Biggest Loser they have seen a 100% rate of success in getting their diabetic contestants off of medications. That is beyond what any medication regimen offers you. It's more than just an option.
It's a way out of type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, and any other disorder that is caused by years of stress we have put on our pancreas and cardiovascular system. We could recover a healthy pancreas if we do what has been proven to work.
We type 2 diabetics can at the very least reduce our complications. It's worth doing, and it will only cost us one thing. We will have to change.
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