FCP 16: Insulin resistance - is anybody home?

Fertility Confidence Podcast

Welcome to another episode of the Fertility Confidence podcast. I am your host, Dr. Kelsey Duncan, naturopathic doctor, and the founder and creator of the Fertility Confidence method.

In today’s episode, we are talking about Insulin, the overlooked and under-discussed hormone that does, in fact, have an impact on our fertility.

This is part one of this conversation focusing strongly on Insulin resistance, what it is, how and why it develops and which options we have to test and address. So please do join us again next week for a deeper discussion into what we can do post-testing for Insulin resistance.

Here are the main topics of today’s episode:

• What is Insulin?
• Insulin resistance - is anybody home?
• How and why insulin resistance develops?
• PCOS and Insulin resistance
• Test, don’t guess

My sincerest thanks for pressing play today. Join our growing community of strong, hopeful women, each on their own fertility confidence journey; as well as those that are listening to gain the knowledge and understanding needed to support them via the Fertility Confidence Instagram @fertilityconfidencemethod or through our Facebook group Be Hormonally Confident with Dr.Kelsey.

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Quotes

• “Insulin is produced in the pancreas in response to glucose entering the bloodstream. It's like the cellular gatekeeper, to use glucose as fuel.

• “Insulin is not bad, it has to be there. What makes insulin a potential issue is when insulin resistance starts to develop”

• “What happens when insulin resistance starts to develop? It's almost as if glucose is knocking and knocking and knocking on the door. And after that 10th annoying knock, insulin is just going to stop answering. That cell is now resistant to that signal. It's no longer listening to the way that it should.”

• “It's pretty common for women with PCOS to also be insulin resistant but it’s not a diagnostic requirement ... meaning not all women with PCOS have insulin resistance and not all women with insulin resistance have PCOS”

• “If you've been told you have PCOS, but nobody has properly assessed for insulin resistance, please, please do. You may be missing a huge piece to treatment, especially fertility treatment.”

• “One of the biggest impacts insulin resistance can have is on ovulation, elevated levels of insulin in the bloodstream. Around the ovary, it can impact follicle, maturation and increase ovarian production of testosterone and higher levels of androgens around the ovary.”

• “High levels of insulin impact the maturation of the placenta, the health of the placenta, which is crucial in that first trimester of pregnancy.”

• “Insulin resistance inflammation is a physical body stress and can cause hormonal disruption.”