Diabetes is rife with complicated names for simple situations. Insulin Resistance is just one of these terms that needs explanation.
Insulin resistance occurs when the body’s cells become less responsive to insulin. Therefore, the body must secrete more insulin to maintain normal metabolism.
I find that using a simple analogy often helps. Imagine that you go to a bar and drink a pint of beer every day at athe same time. The result is that your body gets used to having alcohol in the system for most of the day. To get the same or similar effect in week 2 you’d probably need to drink twice the amount every day to get a similar effect. That is what happens with insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance, which is very common, doesn’t cause type 2 diabetes by itself. The pancreas usually rallies to compensate for the resistance by pumping out more insulin. For most people with insulin resistance, blood sugar levels stay within a normal range. But for some, the insulin-producing cells eventually fail to keep up with the increased demand. Blood sugar levels rise, resulting in type 2 diabetes.