Why Insulin Can Become Necessary For A Person With Type 2 Diabetes
Starting insulin treatment should not be seen as a setback.
People with type 2 diabetes may require insulin when their meal plan, weight loss, exercise and antidiabetic drugs do not achieve targeted blood glucose levels.
Diabetes is a progressive disease and the body may require insulin injections to compensate for declining insulin production by the pancreas. That is why starting insulin treatment should never be seen as a failure.
Starting insulin treatment should never be seen as a failure.
Treatment with insulin may be added to an antidiabetic medication or completely replace it. Regardless of the treatment, lifestyle habits are essential to managing diabetes.
Many people are reluctant to inject insulin for various reasons:
- Fear of pain or needles
- Guilt
- Impression that this is the last resort
- Fear of hypoglycemic attacks
- Fear of weight gain
- Memories of loved one who had to take insulin
If this is the case, do not hesitate to discuss your concerns with a health care professional. Some of your fears may be due to false beliefs. Learning more about todays insulin treatment will probably allay your fears. For many people, insulin is an effective way to achieve good blood-sugar control, which can prevent or delay certain diabetes complications over the long term.
Exercise Physical Activity And Weight Loss
Its important for people with Type 2 diabetes to be physically active. They should aim to get in at least 30 minutes of physical activity five days per week. If weight loss is desired, a modest goal for weight loss of five to seven percent of body weight will help decrease insulin resistance, and protect remaining beta cells in the pancreas.
Research in the United Kingdom has shown that just a small amount of weight loss around the pancreas will greatly reduce insulin resistance. Overall weight loss can help reduce visceral fat.
What Other Injectable Medicines Treat Type 2 Diabetes
Besides insulin, other types of injected medicines are available. These medicines help keep your blood glucose level from going too high after you eat. They may make you feel less hungry and help you lose some weight. Other injectable medicines are not substitutes for insulin. Learn more about noninsulin injectable medicines.
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How Nutrition Therapy Can Help Treat Type 2 Diabetes
If you have diabetes, you should have an individualized meal plan focused on management of not only blood sugar but also blood cholesterol and blood pressure, as well as any other medical conditions.
Theres no one-size-fits-all eating plan for people with diabetes, so it is often helpful to work with a registered dietitian or diabetes educator to design a diabetes meal plan that meets your diabetes goals and accommodates your food likes and dislikes, daily schedule, and usual access to food.
She notes that working with a registered dietitian to develop a meal plan to fit your lifestyle can be helpful, since the best diet is the one that a person can stick with for the long haul. To that end, Dungan notes that keeping a food log can help you understand how many calories, carbs, and nutrients youre consuming.
Can A Diabetic Dog Survive Without Insulin
A dog can go a day or so without insulin and not have a crisis, this should not be a regular occurrence. Dogs rely on their owners to monitor their blood glucose levels and administer their insulin injections.
There are two combined methods of managing your dogs diabetes: insulin injections and their diet. Insulin is usually injected twice daily with food, morning and evening. Your veterinarian will advise you how many hours apart the injections need to be and in what quantity.
You will also need to feed your dog his meals at the same time each day and do not change his food or portion sizes without vet recommendation.
If your dog is experiencing diabetic ketoacidosis he may be hospitalized for several days so the nursing team can get the glucose levels under control. Diabetic ketoacidosis is a condition in which a diabetic dogs insulin has been left unchecked and the dog stops eating and drinking.
Technology has come a long way in recent years and you are now able to purchase devices that enable you to check your dogs blood glucose levels. The first method is to use urine dip tests which will show the level of sugars in your dogs urine.
It is a good idea to keep a record of every reading you take and the time the test was performed. This gives your veterinarian a better idea of how your dogs blood glucose is being managed and if any changes need to be made.
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Is Diet And Exercise Enough Or Do I Need Metformin
In the past few years, the American Diabetes Association has seen changes to its guidelines related to the effectiveness of diet and exercise in managing diabetes. It is current practice to start metformin early to protect beta cells from further damage.
Metformin can lower A1C by 1-2 percent. It should be used in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes for this reason, along with its protective mechanism related to beta cells in the pancreas. Most people with diabetes will want to achieve an A1C of less than 7 percent in order to avoid the long term complications of diabetes.
Your healthcare provider will look at your A1C numbers, and determine the need for interventions, including diet, exercise, oral medications, non-insulin injectable medications for diabetes, or insulin. Generally, what happens is that a person with diabetes will do well on metformin for a number of years, and then they tend to start seeing their A1C creep up.
It becomes more difficult to keep the A1C below 7 percent with diet, exercise, and metformin. At this point, your healthcare provider may be looking at adding in a number of different oral medications for diabetes, or adding a GLP-1 injectable, and eventually insulin if A1C goal is not achieved by other means.
Some important factors that should be taken into consideration when picking a diabetes medication are:
- the costs,
- side effects , and
- the risk of a low blood sugar.4
Causes Of Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition, where the immune system mistakes the cells in your pancreas as harmful and attacks them.
Without insulin, your body will break down its own fat and muscle, resulting in weight loss. This can lead to a serious short-term condition called diabetic ketoacidosis. This is when the bloodstream becomes acidic, you develop dangerous levels of ketones in your blood stream and become severely dehydrated.
This results in the body being unable to produce insulin, which is required to move glucose out of the blood and into your cells to be used for energy. This is called Type 1 diabetes.
Read more about the causes of type 1 diabetes
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Treating High Blood Glucose
Hyperglycaemia can occur when your blood glucose levels become too high. It can happen for several reasons, such as eating too much, being unwell or not taking enough insulin.
If you develop hyperglycaemia, you may need to adjust your diet or your insulin dose to keep your glucose levels normal. Your diabetes care team can advise you about the best way to do this.
If hyperglycaemia isn’t treated, it can lead to a condition called diabetic ketoacidosis, where the body begins to break down fats for energy instead of glucose, resulting in a build-up of ketones in your blood.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is very serious and, if not addressed quickly, it can lead to unconsciousness and, eventually, death.
The signs of diabetic ketoacidosis include:
- frequently passing urine
Read more about the symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis
Your healthcare team will educate you on how to decrease your risk of ketoacidosis by testing your own blood for ketones using blood ketone sticks if you’re unwell.
If you develop diabetic ketoacidosis, you’ll need urgent hospital treatment. You’ll be given insulin directly into a vein . You may also need other fluids given by a drip if you’re dehydrated, including salt solution and potassium.
What You Should Eat
It has been said time and again, but were going to say it again now eat your vegetables. Vegetables are an excellent source of fibre and help to keep blood sugar stable. Stick to the non-starchy vegetables like spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, French beans, and so on. Eating raw vegetable salads keeps you feeling full for longer and prevents sugar crashes which lead to sugar cravings.
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Exercise And Weight Loss
An active lifestyle can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
A healthful diet and regular exercise are the first steps to managing type 2 diabetes. Weight loss is the cornerstone of treatment for people with this condition.
A study from 2010 has shown that increased physical activity and modest weight loss can reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes by up to 58 percent.
The article in Diabetes Care stated that people with type 2 diabetes should partake in 150 minutes a week of aerobic activities, including:
- swimming
- brisk walking
- bicycle riding
Breaking physical activity into five 30-minute sessions throughout the week can help a person manage this amount of exercise. This may be enough to help the body manage diabetes symptoms.
Obligations That Come With Insulin
Insulin needs to be administered twice a day.
After your dog is diagnosed with diabetes, it will take some time until the vet is able to prescribe an adequate dosage of insulin, and there’s going to be some trial and error.
You or your vet will run tests on the dog’s glucose level several times a day or a week in order to see the reaction of your dogs organism to a particular dosage. The positive thing is that once a good dosage is established, the dog wont need the check-ups as often.
Insulin needs to be administered around the same time.
This means creating a schedule around your dogs injections. If you have frequent business trips, irregular working hours, or stay overtime often, you would need to think about the alternatives for keeping up with the schedule. You can ask a friend, family member or a pet sitter to administer it to your dog when you are unable.
Some dog owners feel anxious about giving a shot to their dog, especially because the dog is not thrilled about it either. But giving injections to dogs is fairly simple, and most people get used to it very quickly it becomes a regular routine for them and their pet.
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Why Is Diabetes Acritical Ailment
Diabetes is a common condition that occurs when your body cannot produce enough insulin or utilize it properly. Diabetes can have harmful effects on your body if left untreated. It can result in stroke, heart issues, nerve damage and kidney issues. This is why you must treat it as a critical disease. The good news is that there are some natural ways to control diabetes effectively.
Pramlintide Is An Injected Medicine For People With Diabetes
In type 1 diabetes, Pramlintide can be taken in addition to insulin to help control mealtime blood sugars.
If you have type 2 diabetes, and lifestyle changes are not enough to control your blood sugar, typically, your provider will first start you on a single medicine. For people who are overweight, metformin is usually the first medicine prescribed.
If the single therapy doesnt work, additional medicines can be added. Many people require treatment with 2, 3 or more different medicines. If pill combinations dont work, an injected medicine such as an incretin-based medicine, amylin analog or insulin may be prescribed. Medicine combinations are used because different drugs target different parts of your bodys sugar regulation system.
Rarely, and usually due to other medical conditions, it may be necessary to start medical treatment of type 2 diabetes with insulin therapy. Usually, however, insulin therapy is the last treatment prescribed and is added only after the oral medications or non-insulin injections dont work.
In this section, you will learn about the non-insulin treatment options for glucose control in type 2 diabetes including the different medicines, how they work, doses, and side effects.
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Ways To Control Blood Sugar Without Medicines
- 2 years ago
- 4 minute read
An estimated 8.7% of Indian adults between the ages 20 to 70 suffer from type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is caused when the body does not produce sufficient insulin or cells are resistant to insulin. Insulin is the hormone which facilitates the uptake of glucose by cells. With low levels of the hormone or when resistant occurs, glucose levels in the blood shoot up resulting in diabetes.
Diabetes is usually treated with insulin pills or even injections when required as well as other medications, but if blood glucose levels can be controlled naturally, medication can be avoided. Diet and lifestyle modifications are the best way to control blood sugar and can lead to a healthy and productive life.
How To Treat A Diabetic Cat Without Insulin: Alternatives And Lifestyle Changes
Feline diabetes is one of the most common illnesses caused by a hormonal disorder in cats. It leads to an excessive increase in your pets blood sugar levels due to a malfunction in the pancreas, which makes your cat fall sick.
If you suspect that your furry pal is diabetic or you already had it diagnosed, its your responsibility to know the different ways you can manage this disease. In todays article, were sharing a guide on how to treat a diabetic cat without insulin.
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Travelling With Diabetes Medicines
If you’re going on holiday:
- pack extra medicine speak to your diabetes nurse about how much to take
- carry your medicine in your hand luggage just in case checked-in bags go missing or get damaged
- if you’re flying with a medicine you inject, get a letter from your GP that says you need it to treat diabetes
Page last reviewed: 18 August 2020 Next review due: 18 August 2023
Diabetes Sick Day Rules
If you need to take insulin to control your diabetes, you should have received instructions about looking after yourself when you’re ill known as your “sick day rules”.
Contact your diabetes care team or GP for advice if you haven’t received these.
The advice you’re given will be specific to you, but some general measures that your sick day rules may include could be to:
- keep taking your insulin it’s very important not to stop treatment when you’re ill your treatment plan may state whether you need to temporarily increase your dose
- test your blood glucose level more often than usual most people are advised to check the level at least four times a day
- keep yourself well hydrated make sure you drink plenty of sugar-free drinks
- keep eating eat solid food if you feel well enough to, or liquid carbohydrates such as milk, soup and yoghurt if this is easier
- check your ketone levels if your blood glucose level is high
Seek advice from your diabetes care team or GP if your blood glucose or ketone level remains high after taking insulin, if:
- you’re not sure whether to make any changes to your treatment
- you develop symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis
- you have any other concerns
Read more about sick day rules
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Some Treatments Can Cause Side Effects
Different types of medication, surgery, and other treatments can cause side effects. The type and risk of side effects varies, from one treatment to another.
Before you start taking a new medication, talk to your doctor about the potential benefits and risks of using it. Ask them if it can interact with any other medications or supplements that you take. You should also let your doctor know if youre pregnant or breastfeeding, since some medications arent safe for pregnant or breastfeeding people to use.
Surgery can also put you at risk of side effects, such as infection at an incision site. Before you undergo any operation, ask your doctor about the potential benefits and risks. Talk to them about the recovery process, including steps you can take to reduce your risk of postsurgery complications.
If you suspect that youve developed side effects from treatment, contact your doctor. They can help pinpoint the cause of your symptoms. In some cases, they might adjust your treatment plan to help relieve or prevent side effects.
What Medications Are Used To Treat Type 2 Diabetes
Many people with type 2 diabetes start with the oral drug Glucophage to help control blood sugar levels. You may add other drugs to your regimen, either soon after your diagnosis or months or years later.
There are currently more than 10 classes of diabetes drugs, each of which lowers blood sugar in a different way.
If your current drug regimen isn’t lowering your blood sugar enough, your doctor may elect to add a drug from a different class.
Down the line, you may also need to add insulin to your treatment regimen.
Heres a breakdown of the different medications that your healthcare team may prescribe in your diabetes treatment plan.
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Why Is Alzheimers Disease Called Type 3 Diabetes
Type 3 diabetes is a term that has been proposed to describe the connection between Alzheimers and diabetes. A variant of a gene, APOE4, that has been associated with Alzheimers disease seems to interfere with brain cells ability to use insulin, which may eventually cause the cells to starve and die.
What Is Diabetes And Who Should Care
Diabetes is a problem of energy processing. At the root of the problem is insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas, an organ in the abdomen.
Insulin helps the body regulate the amount of glucose in the body. This is how the body knows how much glucose is needed for energy now, and how much needs to be saved for later.
There are four main types of diabetes:
-
Type 1 diabetes
-
Gestational
-
Other rare types of diabetes
All have a different problem with insulin, but the end result is the same: harmful, high blood glucose levels in the blood.
Both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are chronic conditions. This means that people with diabetes need to live with the condition and usually take medications for the rest of their lives. Diabetes can also cause a myriad of other health problems, so the emotional, physical, and financial costs of living with diabetes really add up.
Type 1 diabetes affects fewer than 5% of people with diabetes. It is usually diagnosed in childhood or the teenage years, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it.
Type 2 diabetes is much more common, affecting about 95% of all people with diabetes. The pancreas often produces enough insulin, but the body doesnt recognize it. Many people with T2D have a family history of diabetes, but with healthy lifestyle changes, the condition can be prevented or slowed down.
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