Insulin resistance occurs when the body decreases its receptivity to insulin, thus diminishing insulin's beneficial effects. The condition has a number of causes and risk factors. One of the main risk factors is genetics. There are certain drugs that are risk factors as well. In fact, over the years, there have been a wide variety of factors that seem to increase the odds of a person developing insulin resistance. A partial list of these factors are - obesity, pregnancy, metabolic syndrome, stress, infection, steroid use, and some diseases.
Type II diabetes mellitus is a condition where there is intense insulin resistance. It is a condition where the body cannot properly use insulin. This is true even in the cases where the beta cells are actually producing insulin.
In a normal body, insulin will bind to receptors in the body's cells. This, in turn, induces them to use up blood glucose for energy. But, where insulin resistance is occurring, the cells either do not respond at all to insulin or they respond poorly. As a result, this causes the pancreas to produce more insulin to make the body respond.
As the cycle continues, the body produces more and more insulin. Over time, if this scenario continues to happen without treatment, over time, insulin resistance increases, and the time will come when the pancreas ceases to produce insulin. And, when this happens, blood glucose levels will dramatically increase.
The degree of this type of insulin resistance can be diagnosed through measuring fasting insulin levels. There are also, glucose tolerance tests and the modified insulin suppression test which can help gauge the degree of the problem.
The best treatments for treating insulin resistance involves constant exercise and watching your diet. Particularly, eating more healthy foods and laying off of the junk foods that are so prevalent in the market place.
If the problem has escalated, however, dietary changes and exercise may not be enough. In this case your doctor will try a series of medications to see which ones your body will best respond to.
There are many medications used to treat insulin problems such as this. One such drug is metformin (Glucophage) which prevents the release of glucose from the liver into the blood and increases cellular sensitivity to insulin so that they remove more insulin from the blood and decrease blood sugar. Metformin has been known to halt the progress of diabetes by 31%.
Acarbose is another drug used to control the effects of insulin resistance; it slows down intestinal absorption of sugars, decreasing the need of the pancreas to produce insulin, especially after meals. Acarbose is reported to halt the progress of diabetes by 35%.
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