Menopause and Insulin Resistance

I keep asking myself WTF on this one! For years I had low blood sugar and was hypoglycemic, or did they have it wrong all this time?

I lost faith in the adequacy of doctors so many years ago when I worked for the Canadian Celiac Association, now Celiac Canada. It took some people up to 10 years to be properly diagnosed with celiac. And with my own daughter, it took her about the same to be diagnosed with endomitriosis. 

Low Blood Sugar Problems

I have struggled with blood sugar issues since my early forties, which coincides with when I started perimenopause. I went to the doctor because I had started working out. I noticed that I was gaining weight and it wasn’t coming off, so I thought that with my age, I should get more exercise. I would always start shaking and feel tired in the middle of my workouts. At first, you might think that I was working out too hard, but that wasn’t the case. I don’t enjoy working out and never have so I do as little of it as I have to. I do it for my health, but I have a hard time seeing proper results because of the blood sugar problems.

The doctor tested the normal resting glucose levels and I was told that it was low, so hypoglycemic. Now, somewhere along the line it changed to borderline diabetic and after testing my insulin levels with a naturopath, because the GP didn’t do that, I came up highly insulin resistant!

From One Extreme to the Other

I had asked my GP at the time if you could go from hypoglycemic to diabetic and she had told me NO! Well, that was a lie, under normal circumstances anyway. I have since learned that insulin resistance and diabetes can happen during menopause. It is not necessarily a common symptom but lucky for me, it does happen.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF INSULIN RESISTANCE from Future Woman

• Weight gain
• History of (or current) PCOS
• Sugar cravings
• High triglycerides on a blood test 
• High cholesterol
• Fatigue
• Skin tags
• Fatty liver
• Signs of testosterone dominance

It’s All Connected

This explains so much! My hormone changes have made my personal stress so much worse  causing me to gain weight and throw my blood sugar out to left field! It has been all connected! The weight gain, depression, stress and hot flashes have been overwhelming at some times. I have almost all of these symptoms associated with insulin resistance. I would have never thought that fatty liver was associated with insulin levels, hormones or menopause, but it is! My mind is blown!

I can now see how the personal stress that I have been under during this time has been a factor that compounds it all. It’s a work in progress.

My hope is that sharing my experiences during my menopause journey, other women who are haveing similar issues know that they are not alone and can find the proper path to assist them on their journey.