Learn how using insulin to manage blood sugar can help you prevent other health complications
If you have diabetes and are experiencing blood sugar issues, your physician may have suggested using insulin to manage blood sugar. Implementing insulin therapy into your regimen is an important aspect of diabetes treatment. And, the more you understand how insulin works in the body, and how it helps you manage blood sugar levels, the more comfortable you will be with the medication. In addition, the more you are educated on insulin and diabetes management, the better you can prevent diabetes complications from occurring in the future.
Insulin and its Role in the Body
When someone is diagnosed with diabetes and given a treatment plan, one of their top questions typically involves insulin and how insulin works in the body. The goal of the medication is to control the amount of sugar that is in your blood stream and keep this level within a specific range. Let’s take a closer look at the cycle of eating and glucose levels.
- When you eat a meal, any carbohydrates that were in the food are broken down by your body into glucose. Glucose is a sugar that is one of your body’s main sources of energy. When glucose is broken down, it enters into your blood stream.
- Next, in a healthy body, the pancreas would kick in at this point and produce insulin, which permits the broken down glucose to enter tissues/cells.
- In addition, after someone eats a meal and insulin levels are increased, any excess glucose not needed by the tissues will be stored by the liver in the form of glycogen. As the day progresses, and someone is not consuming food (between meals), the liver will release a stream of glycogen into the blood as glucose. This helps the body keep a healthy blood glucose range throughout the day.
- For patients whose pancreas are not secreting insulin, or secreting at very little amounts, the glucose level increases in your bloodstream, because it has no way to enter into your tissues/cells.
- If blood glucose is left at high levels over long periods of time, damage occurs to the body.
Now let’s discuss the use of insulin to manage diabetes. If you are a Type 1 Diabetic, implementing insulin therapy acts as the replacement for the insulin your body isn’t creating. Using insulin may also be necessary for certain patients who have Type 2 Diabetes or gestational diabetes. This occurs in specific cases when other treatment options have not worked properly.
If your doctor have performed blood tests and suggests your need for insulin, don’t hesitate as high blood sugar levels can lead to lasting complications such as kidney damage and blindness.
How to Use Insulin to Manage Diabetes
Depending on your specific health issues, there are a variety of insulin therapies you can try. Each one is different in how fast and for what period of time it can control blood sugar levels. In some cases, more than one type of insulin treatment is needed.
Insulin is taken in a variety of options, but is most often injected through syringes, insulin pumps or injection pens. Recently, an inhaled insulin was approved for patients, but this medicine may not be right for everyone with diabetes. Be sure to speak to your doctor about potential treatment options and how using insulin to manage blood sugar can help you prevent other complications.
