Diabetes and low T

[lister02 (imported)]

There are studies that show a strong co-relation between low T levels and diabetis. It seems at low levels your body does not metabolize glucose at the same rate. Your blood glucose levels rise and insulin resistance is more likely. I hear men after prostrate cancer treated by castration are at a high risk for diabetis.

I was wondering if guys here with low T have been having trouble with this.

[devi (imported)]

I had somewhat high blood sugar. Remedy: Cut the starches!!! (as much as you can and get more exercise too).

[Paolo]

There are a lot of studies on it out there that you can find by doing a web search.

The issue is much like the chicken and the egg - does Low-T cause diabetes T2 in adult males, or vice versa?

Will one lead to the other?

In my case, I had low-T for a few years before coming diabetic. Did this cause it?

Well, combined with poor diet and sedentary lifestyle, I doubt it.

That's just me.

As Devi suggests, cut down on the starches and processed junk,as well as other prefab food that is touted as "healthy". It's not.

Trust me.

I lived on this stuff for years, and all it got me was fat and diabetic.

I had to learn to cook, and for those who have had a small sample of it at the MOM, I do cook and eat very well.

[tugon (imported)]

I am a no T eunuch and a diabetic. I was having hypoglycemic issues long before castration. Hypoglycemia is a sign diabetes may be in your future and I chose to ignore the signs. My fathers side of the family has had diabetes since my great grandfather and possibly earlier. Yes eating crap and no excercise can increase your risk and if you have family history of diabetes you really need to keep an eye on things. I do not think a lack of T was the problem as much as the lack of doing something about it.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

From my limited research, I'd say Paolo causes diabetes

[YodaNell (imported)]

During my stay in hospital for my castration, they told me I was diabetic. I never knew it before. I doubt I became diabetic one day after becoming a eunuch. I did, however gain LOTS of fat after castration. Now, going to gym the last 8 months, my sugar levels are more stable and I'm shedding the fat.

[yosam7532 (imported)]

I had low T before castration and that is when my type 2 diabetes showed up. I also exercised and ate properly to keep weight gain down and stamina up before the diabetes showed up. I have to believe it depends on the person, proper eating, exercise and family history. I have a lot of diabetes problems on my mother's side of the family and figure that this and the low T caused it.

[Paolo]

While I did not have a family history of diabetes, I did have a terrible lifestyle.

I was very sedentary, and I was eating fast food every day. At home, I was eating prefab food, yet it was the allegedly "healthy" stuff. Turns out, the low fat or no fat stuff that is so very touted is full of sugar, corn syrup, and worthless carbohydrates.

Type-2 or 'adult onset' does appear to run in families, and may very well have a genetic component.

For me, the symptoms included very short temper, very frequent urination, thirst, hunger, and all the classic symptoms, really.

What really got my attention was the numbness in my fingers, and finally, the constant annoyance of having to know where the bathroom was at all times.

It took 2 weeks to get an appointment with my GP, and in the interim, I stopped eating anything with a high carb count and/or anything that was not 'real food'. By this, I mean that I switched to fresh vegetables and a lot of meat, eggs, and cheese. Anything containing starches and sugars was given to the dogs.

In two weeks, the symptoms began to clear up. I started dropping weight and went from a 38" waist to a 32" in a few months.

I have maintained this diet, along with nightly exercise of basically running/walking about a mile over wooded terrain and doing some admittedly stupid things like running up hills to get my heart rate up and leaping ravines.

When you've got enough 'fall time' to think "wow, this is a long way down!", you know you've screwed up.

However, by limiting carbohydrate intake to only natural ones and a maximum of 50 grams/day, I have maintained a good weight and kept my A1C down in the 5's. My AM readings are always below 100, and have been as low as 60 mg/dl.

I take NO drugs or shots of any kind.

As for the weight issue, I have found that low-T or not, it's not hard to keep off with a careful diet.

The body needs fat to function properly, and this whole demonization of fat, I believe, is what has led to the rise in obesity and all sorts of other disorders in the past few decades. Take out the fat and replace it with sugar or useless carb filler.

Why does no one seem to recognize this?

It's got to be the money.

Diabetes is Big Pharma's wet dream come to life. Prescribe a diet that exacerbates the disease, then sell more drugs and supplies like test strips.

For anyone dealing with diabetes and/or the need to lose weight, I highly recommend you find a good carb counter online so that you can assess your daily carb intake and cut it back. See what happens to your blood sugar readings and your weight.

I do recommend you take a B-complex and D3 supplement, however. I take 10k IU of D3 in oil form every morning, and for me, that was a major changer. It's also a fact that Type-2 diabetics do not process B vitamins very well, so a large supplement of that isn't a bad idea either. When my feral fruits like apples and persimmons are not in season, I take a large dose of C as well. Don't want to end up with scurvy, after all!

As for the artificial sweeteners, I feel there's nothing wrong with an occasional treat. I make a very nice cheesecake using Splenda and heavy cream, which yields a (1 slice at a time) low carb cheesecake. I make the crust from almond meal and butter. However, some people react badly to sweeteners, and your mileage may vary on that as well.

In closing, all I can suggest is that if you have a family history of it, if you're overweight, and/or if you have low-T, keep an eye on your blood sugars. For $20 USD, you can pick up a Sidekick meter system to do an occasional check.

But as for the notion that castration without HRT will cause diabetes, I have to say no.

If this were the case, eunuchs in history after the advent of grain farming wouldn't have lived very long, and we do have evidence to the contrary.

[janekane (imported)]

There are studies that show a strong co-relation between low T levels and diabetis. It seems at low levels your body does not metabolize glucose at the same rate. Your blood glucose levels rise and insulin resistance is more likely. I hear men after prostrate cancer treated by castration are at a high risk for diabetis.

I was wondering if guys here with low T have been having trouble with this.

Correlation is not causality; and illusory correlations are abundant. If low testosterone levels are causal for Type 2 Diabetes (adult onset), then every woman who does not have typical masculine testosterone levels would be far more vulnerable to Type 2 Diabetes than "intact" men. Not so, ergo low testosterone is not, per se, causal regarding Type 2 Diabetes.

What might, in some non-pseudoscientific hypothetical way account for increased Type 2 Diabetes in men who have low (serum) testosterone?

How about a wild, if not also stupid hypothetical? Castrated or otherwise reduced-testosterone men who were of usual range serum testosterone who depended upon testosterone for motivation (and not on consciously willful purpose) for physical activity may have found their activity much reduced after significant testosterone reduction, and reduced physical activity does have scientifically plausible causality regarding Type 2 Diabetes.

As for myself, my physical activity has always been consciously motivated, as it was before my cancer-risk-minimization-intent castration. I simply kept doing much as I had been doing, and my muscles performed accordingly. Insulin resistance, so I have also read, may be increased by low physical activity.

I suppose there may be a difference in this regard between people who, much like me, choose to do physical activity and others who chose to avoid it.

[devi (imported)]

Since I have both a family history and personal disposition (being a eunuch) toward it, I took a class on diabetes and part of the project was limiting ourselves to only 100 grams of carbohydrates a day. It's actually very easy to do. But you do have to stay away from a lot of those who are dieting fo weight loss and certain health food faddists. It's just so hard to explain to them that most of the problems have to do with their grains, granolas, fake meats, and so forth. Whereas being overweight is a secondary culprit the overconsumption of starch is what is the number one primary culprit.