Is Auto-Immune Insulin Resistance A Thing?

KnitOrMiss

Does anyone know?

@cstehansen @RalfLott @baconslave @Dragonwolf

cstehansen

IDK. I am not sure how that would work given the resistance is at the individual cell level.

KnitOrMiss

Well, I don't just have insulin resistance. I started having identical reactions with ketones/keto down the road with high calorie intake, even if it was 90%+ fats. So I think it is called cellular energy resistance, though it's not a "thing" I've found much of any research on, so maybe because it isn't just isolated thing? I looked in Postprandial Somnolence Auto-Immune, and it all came back crazy, too. Just digging a rabbit hole...

cstehansen

Good luck. I spend lots of time in rabbit holes.

GaleHawkins

I lean to YES because I am starting to see more and more Auto-Immue connections in more and more diseases/conditions.

diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/64/6/1886

RalfLott

This looks like a Q for @midwesterner85, though I'm not sure just what the question is.

Autoimmune diabetes (type 1 or LADA) destroys insulin-producing beta cells. But a significant minority of T1Ds will also develop resistance to the required exogenous insulin.

Helpful?

T1DCarnivoreRunner

I'm not aware of any mechanisms where autoimmune conditions directly cause insulin resistance.

LADA is not quite relevant except that it is often misunderstood. In fact, LADA is type 1; but was labeled as separate from type 1 in order to mask a lot of misunderstanding in the medical community, IMO. Because the autoimmune response is usually slower when it happens in older (generally adults) patients, the symptoms are often mistaken as type 2. Physicians were misdiagnosing these type 1's as having type 2. I believe it was easier for the medical community to come up with a new term rather than admit how common this was.

A lot of type 1's do develop insulin resistance, but this has been a phenomenon mostly in the past 10-15 years. I would assume this is related to the increased prevalence of obesity among the population as a whole, which includes the type 1 community. However, the timing also matches with the introduction of the newer insulin types. That doesn't mean much, but just is my observation that shortly after newer formulations (beyond regular and NPH) became common use; there seemed to be an increase in double diabetes cases. It's probably nothing, but maybe there is a link between the various newer insulin types and an increased prevalence of double diabetes.

KnitOrMiss

My eyes are just finally opened to the reality of auto-immune conditions and how screwed up it call all be. Much like @cstehansen - yet different from him, my IR doesn't "act normal." But, I do have elevated insulin levels, or have had off and on, so I know it fits ME. Also, getting on Metformin/Glucophase has made a difference in my symptoms, as well as reducing carbs alone did...for a while.

The fact that, for me, everything seems to work for "a while" during that honeymoon phase tells me that I'm more addressing the symptoms, and not the root causes. Considering looking back, I can now see how much inflammation was in my body, seeing pictures of weights similar to my current weight, and looking 50-100 pounds heavier due to the inflammation. Knowing that inflammation and a number of other issues, it is looking very much like I could be having issues that appear to point towards auto-immunity, which is a gravity-shift for me.

I'm just trying to wrap my head around everything before I go back to my endocrinologist.

The information on LADA of Type 1 is utterly fascinating to me. Until I met most of y'all in this post, and @Sunny_Bunny_ and others, I'd never understood how Type 1 was different from Type 2... I thought, in my blissful ignorance, that it was just whether you were born with it or developed it. I hadn't know about Beta cells and all of that stuff... I feel like I'm studying for a major dissertation or degree study...and I guess I am, the one called LIFE. I'm really soul-weary level of exhausted just trying to get to my root causes.

Thanks for all the opinions and information and links and studies here. Y'all are the main part of why I stay sane - or as much as anyone can, I guess. (HUGS)