Difference Between Insulin Resistance and Diabetes
The pancreas is predictable most of the time, at least when it comes to producing insulin. It keeps on pumping it out, and most of the time the body makes good use of it just the way nature intended. It’s like a flagger in a roadway construction zone letting the motorists know where they need to go. Strange analogy? Maybe, but what insulin does is tell the blood glucose that it would be best if it went into muscles, fat, and liver cells for future energy-producing interests. When things start to not work that way then it’s either insulin resistance or diabetes. But with insulin resistance vs diabetes there certainly is a difference.
Insulin production is just one of the many different very important functions the pancreas serves, but sometimes the supply of insulin starts to dwindle. This is the scenario for people with Type 1 diabetes, the less common of the two types of diabetes. Here the immune system starts impeding the pancreas’ ability to make insulin, and that’s means no flag person telling the insulin where it should go. The same malfunction occurs with Type 2 diabetes, but with insulin resistance vs diabetes it is more a situation where the person has created a blood glucose overload situation rather than biological wires getting crossed.
Amaryl works well for Type 2 diabetes treatment, but some people struggling with blood sugar levels don’t have diabetes at all. This is where we’re going with insulin resistance vs diabetes, the fact that while many of the roots are the same they are different conditions with different physiological workings behind them. So that’s what we will look at with this entry here, the difference between insulin resistance and diabetes.
Communication Breakdown
So what we’ve established with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes is that the body either isn’t making enough insulin (Type 1) , or the amount it can produce isn’t enough to handle the majorly elevated levels of blood sugar (Type 2). Insulin resistance can be a PART of Type 2 diabetes, but it is also a condition that can exist on its own. So the crux of what makes up the difference with insulin resistance vs diabetes is this; with insulin resistance the pancreas is producing nicely and the insulin is being directed to where it should go, but the organs relied on to process it are not doing that properly.
Glucose can’t be taken up properly and stored, and what then happens is known as hyperinsulinemia – the pancreas making more insulin to try to counter the fast-rising blood glucose levels. This isn’t so problematic as long as the pancreas continues to keep up. But that’s often too much of a challenge and when it’s been playing catch up for too long then that’s when you’ll begin to experience the affects of insulin resistance vs diabetes.
Affects that can include:
- High triglyceride levels, which can have a direct connection to a person having heart disease even when they have their cholesterol under control.
- Atherosclerosis – hardening of the arteries which can also contribute to coronary artery disease, carotid and peripheral artery diseases, and kidney disease
- Hypertension – High blood pressure is a major risk for a heart attack, and it’s more pronounced with resistance when looking at insulin resistance vs diabetes
Insulin Resistance Symptoms & Cautions.
A list of these symptoms will be the same as one for high blood sugar symptoms, and in insulin resistance vs diabetes that makes sense as we know insulin resistance is always going to mean there’s too much glucose in the blood that’s not being redirected in the way it should be. These symptoms can be excessive and ongoing thirst, having to urinate more than usual, burred vision, and headaches among other symptoms. Some of the same signs of prediabetes may also be seen with people who are insulin resistant, but in that scenario they don’t always mean the individua is soon to be a diabetic.
So what should people do to limit their risk of developing insulin resistance? For starters, men in particular should be wary of having too much belly fat. This is visceral fat, and it is a super promoter for insulin resistance. The general guideline is that your waist shouldn’t be more than 40 inches around. Physical inactivity is also a detriment and potential contributor to insulin resistance, so the more often you can be breaking a sweat, the better off you’ll be.
Last mention around insulin resistance vs diabetes here will be for diet, and eating a lot of highly processed foods and ones with saturated fats may get you on the road to insulin resistance when you wouldn’t be forced to go down it the same way if you’d been eating more whole and fresh foods and a lot less food that’s prepared easily in a microwave.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The above information is intended to increase awareness of health information and does not suggest treatment or diagnosis. This information is not a substitute for individual medical attention and should not be construed to indicate that use of the drug is safe, appropriate, or effective for you. See your health care professional for medical advice and treatment.
