Insulin Diabetes
The test measures the amount of insulin in the blood.
Insulin is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas and ensures that the amount of glucose in the blood is adjusted correctly. People with type 1 diabetes mellitus do not produce insulin themselves and therefore receive it. In type 2 diabetes mellitus there is insulin production, but it is insufficient. In addition, the cells in the tissues have become insensitive to the action of insulin.
- The stomach converts food into glucose
- From the stomach the glucose enters the bloodstream
- The pancreas, however, produces little or no insulin
- This means that only a little insulin enters the bloodstream.
- Glucose accumulates in the bloodstream, causing blood sugar levels to rise.
Insulin and glucose levels must be well balanced with each other. Too much insulin in the blood (hyperinsulinism) may be caused by a tumor that produces insulin (insulinoma). It is also possible that the patient is prescribed too high doses of insulin, which causes the amount of glucose in the blood to drop too much. This leads to symptoms such as sweating, trembling, getting hungry, confusion, dizziness, fainting or a seizure. In summary, this disease is called: hypoglycemia.
Diseases with increased amount of insulin in blood can result from too high insulin production, obesity or insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes). The amount of insulin is also increased when various drugs such as corticosteroids and levodopa are used.
Decreased amounts of insulin occur in type 1 diabetes mellitus, abnormalities of the pancreas (inflammation) or failure of the brain appendage (pituitary gland).
For a more complete picture, we also have the Homa index. This is calculated by insulin and glucose.
