What’s the first thing we learn as children? Our ABC’s. So, we thought it would be a fun idea to do the ABC’s of keto! This blog series looks at some of the main ideas and the not-so-main ideas of keto as we work our way through the alphabet. The next one in our series is: H is for hyperinsulinism.
What is Hyperinsulinism?
Have you ever heard of hyperinsulinism? Don’t worry, we hadn’t either until Bill went into the hospital and doctors diagnosed him with it. Even still, when you type it into Google, it gives you a bunch of information on hyperinsulinemia, which is not the same thing at all. Hyperinsulinism is when you have excess insulin in your blood because you have an issue with your pancreas. It causes low blood sugar.
When Bill underwent testing to find out why he was feeling faint and shaky if he didn’t eat every couple of hours, everyone assumed (including us) that it was due to diabetes. We didn’t eat great and we were obese, so doctors assumed he had type 2 diabetes. But, the symptoms were a little different. One doctor in the emergency room did not assume, and he may have saved Bill’s life.
The Story of Hyperinsulinism
Bill was struggling with his health. He had a constant need to eat or he would get shaky. If he went for more than 2 hours without eating, the symptoms would come on. He was having headaches, and he was constantly exhausted. It was like he wasn’t getting any value out of the food he was eating. And he was always feeling anxious. Finally, he had enough and, since we didn’t have a family doctor, he went into the emergency room to find out what was going on.
Like I said, doctors in the past had chalked it up to being overweight and prediabetic. But on this day, the emergency room doctor decided to keep Bill in the hospital for twelve hours and didn’t let him eat. For someone who was eating every two hours or so to keep from feeling bad, this was torture. But, it was for a good cause.
When they tested Bill’s blood after twelve hours of fasting, his blood sugar was low and he had high rates of insulin in his blood. After that amount of time without eating, he should not have had any insulin in his blood. There was no reason for it to be there. Yet, his pancreas was still producing it.
The Diagnosis
The doctor told Bill the results of the test and said it was hyperinsulinism. This took a while for us to process. We’d never heard of it before. Was this because we didn’t eat right? I mean, all the doctors had criticized and to some extent blamed us for Bill’s health concerns. Now, we were learning that it had to do with damage to the pancreas – not our lack of willpower.
The doctor gave Bill two options. One, he could take medication for it. It was hard on your body and down the road, he would need a kidney transplant. It works for some people and some it doesn’t. Or, he could do a keto diet. It would keep the pancreas from having to produce any large amount of insulin and avoid the issue of having too much insulin in the bloodstream.
The Decision of Keto
I’ve said before in blogs that you would think this would be an easy decision. But, food is our crutch so it really wasn’t easy. There would be no more take out of our favourites, no more Chinese food, no more nights of junk food. This sucked and we grieved this way of life. Bill offered to do it on his own. After all, I didn’t have the condition. I knew that was not an option. If he was doing it, I was doing it. And really, it’s not like I didn’t have health issues due to being overweight. It was the right thing for both of us.
So, we researched and started keto. At first, it was hard. But we went all in and as we got used to it, we started really seeing the benefits. We were losing weight like mad. Both of us had more energy, and the food we ate tasted better. We found out we enjoyed flavour other than sweetness. And, most importantly, Bill was feeling much better.
Controlling Hyperinsulinism
Today keto is just our way of life. We’ve found a few “cheat” treats for times when we are feeling the need to have some junk. It’s all sugar-free and low carb options. Usually they have some sugar alcohols in them, so they aren’t the best for us, but it keeps Bill’s insulin stable and doesn’t do any more damage to his pancreas. We like the way we feel and look. Bill’s diagnosis of hyperinsulinism turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to both of us.
Wendy
