Nicotine and Insulin

[spirit72]

Well, sorry bout that :^P The real point of all that is you can get an accurate blood tester fairly cheaply. It might be worth you looking into. If you're pre diabetic, you might be able to handle it yourself without getting doctors involved. Earlier's better than later for getting it under control :^)

Good info, thanks! I'm not convinced that I'm actually pre-diabetic. I don't have sugar issues at all on an ongoing basis, and my fasting glucose each year is always right on the knob. And, like I said initially, dropping snus has apparently lead to a complete reversal. I'm going to give that at least this next week, and then the first week of June I'm off on vacation, so that might be a good time to add the snus again and see what happens. Might can the snuff during that week, to see what happens when snus is my only nicotine source.

But it looks like the high volume of nicotine in snus *may* be helping to steer me down that pre-diabetic road, and if I can reverse that simply by heavily reducing or even eliminating my nicotine intake, then I am all over that. I'd like to keep using snuff, and so far so good it seems.

[Frosted]

I found this really interesting because about 6 months ago I was having typical symptoms of hypoglycemia. I went out and bought a blood sugar testing kit and the lowest reading I got when experiencing the symptoms was 4.6mmol/l which is not clinical hypoglycemia. The hypoglycemia symptoms were however very real.
Whilst having one of these hypoglycemic moments I'd eat pasta, my body muscles would relax, my body would warm and I'd feel almost euphoric - so it was a bit of a mystery. I had thought that it might be snus causing the symptoms which is why I find this article extremely interesting.

The only thing I'd add - I'm actually quite skinny despite the huge amount of carbs I eat at the ripe old age of 40.

[spirit72]

I found this really interesting because about 6 months ago I was having typical symptoms of hypoglycemia. I went out and bought a blood sugar testing kit and the lowest reading I got when experiencing the symptoms was 4.6mmol/l which is not clinical hypoglycemia. The hypoglycemia symptoms were however very real.
Whilst having one of these hypoglycemic moments I'd eat pasta, my body muscles would relax, my body would warm and I'd feel almost euphoric - so it was a bit of a mystery. I had thought that it might be snus causing the symptoms which is why I find this article extremely interesting.

The only thing I'd add - I'm actually quite skinny despite the huge amount of carbs I eat at the ripe old age of 40.

Since my fasting glucose has always been normal, I suspected too that I was not truly hypoglycemic---but that my body was simply responding to an abnormal level of insulin which it interpreted as hypoglycemia. Question was, what was causing that excess insulin? The fact that it completely reversed after discontinuing snus--within 24 hours, even--bolsters my suspicion.

Did this happen to you shortly after finishing a portion/prilla? Do you still get this now, or was it just for a short period 6 months ago? This wasn't the case for me right away, either--I started snusing in late 2007, and it was just last summer that I really began to notice this.

[JPono]

Really great link, Spirit.

I have hypoglycemia and have had it for awhile--long before I began using snus. Since I also have some kidney issues, this is something I spoke with my doctor about at great length before quitting ciggs in favor of snus. (He was in full support of that idea.)

The way is was explained to me and for my particular situation was that nicotine aggravates hypoglycemia (and blood sugar in general) by causing the adrenals to push out too much adrenaline in response to what it thinks is low blood sugar, and that then prompts the liver to release glycogen. All that *can* cause a rise in blood sugar and then the pancreas begins to pump out insulin in too large an amount, which causes a drop in blood sugar.

To be honest, I haven't had too much of a problem with this. I have noticed that if I snus with a cup of coffee or two--or anything containing a fair amount of caffeine, I'll have an issue and my blood sugar will go absolutely crazy. If I avoid caffeine while using snus, I'm just fine. Not sure if there's a link there or if that just comes down to using multiple stimulants at one time.

Anyway, thanks for the link, Spirit!

[Frosted]

It went on for a while and I knew that my body was producing too much insulin - I'm only aware of this because my grandfather was a type 1 diabetic all his life.
There's no pattern as to when it happens after snus but what I did discover was that too much sugar in its simple form was a definate problem creating havoc for my pancreas. On a night shift I'd sit and drink a bottle of 7 Up, eat Mars Bars etc etc (because I can and don't gain weight) so I cut sugar out altogether and concentrated more on complex but easy to eat carbs like pasta. This sorted my problem.

These days I eat simple sugars in moderation and I'm pretty much fine. If I know I'm going out for an extended period of time without eating I always take a packet of biscuits with me just in case because feeling hypo ain't no fun and isn't necessary as it's so easily sorted.

[spirit72]

Well, folks, I promised an update and here it is.

After being off of snus for close to two weeks, I put away the snuff and went back to snus. Within 24 hours or so, the symptoms and issues I described initially came right back. I still notice no issues at all while using nasal snuff---even though my usage has increased a bit.

Unfortunately, it looks as though my Swedish snus days are at an end, and I'm using nasal snuff exclusively now.

[lxskllr]

Thanks for the update!

There's worse things in life than being "stuck" using snuff. Good luck with your new(full time) snuff use :^)

[bipolarbear1968]

Well, folks, I promised an update and here it is.

After being off of snus for close to two weeks, I put away the snuff and went back to snus. Within 24 hours or so, the symptoms and issues I described initially came right back. I still notice no issues at all while using nasal snuff---even though my usage has increased a bit.

Unfortunately, it looks as though my Swedish snus days are at an end, and I'm using nasal snuff exclusively now.

There a lot of high nicotine snuff out there to keep you happy.

I'm sorry to hear about the bad news though.

[CoderGuy]

Well, folks, I promised an update and here it is.

After being off of snus for close to two weeks, I put away the snuff and went back to snus. Within 24 hours or so, the symptoms and issues I described initially came right back. I still notice no issues at all while using nasal snuff---even though my usage has increased a bit.

Unfortunately, it looks as though my Swedish snus days are at an end, and I'm using nasal snuff exclusively now.

That does suck. Sorry to hear but good to know.

[Frosted]

Well, folks, I promised an update and here it is.

After being off of snus for close to two weeks, I put away the snuff and went back to snus. Within 24 hours or so, the symptoms and issues I described initially came right back. I still notice no issues at all while using nasal snuff---even though my usage has increased a bit.

Unfortunately, it looks as though my Swedish snus days are at an end, and I'm using nasal snuff exclusively now.

What about using minis and snuff?

[tom502]

Just cut out carbs.

[SnusoMatic]

Very interesting post and it seems like you have done your homework for sure. i too am diabetic & i inject insulin. When i first started using snus i wondered if it would effect my levels so i watched pretty close. The only thing i have ever noticed is if i have not ate for a while and use snus sometimes i see my level jump up. I guess it effects us all differently. It's good you got it figured out so you don't have to put up with feeling that way.

[spirit72]

What about using minis and snuff?

Thought about that. Minis have always seemed like a bit of a waste to me. Plus, something I realized during this experiment is that I like nasal snuff now far more than I ever liked snus. So, I'm not really viewing this as a negative.

[spirit72]

Just cut out carbs.

I did. I'm keeping myself at or under 150g of carbs per day. It has really seemed to help with things through the normal course of the day, and I've continued to lose weight bit by bit the entire time...but, it didn't seem to make any difference when I started using snus again for two day.

[tom502]

150 is too high, and it depends on the type of carbs. Of course I can't dictate as my blood sugar is high, my bp is high, and I'm more addicted to high glycemic carbs than tobacco.