Diabetes And Insulin:

Ultimate Control Is Sometimes Better
From The Shot

Many times diabetes and insulin therapy may be your doctor's first line of choice for your treatment plan to control your blood sugars. Depending on your situation, insulin therapy may be the smartest choice to control your early symptoms of diabetes.

What Is Insulin

Insulin is a hormone produced by the beta cells in your pancreas. The sole purpose of insulin is to help your body convert glucose (sugar) to energy. Sometimes, depending on your type of diabetes, your pancreas either produces too little insulin or else your body loses its capability of utilizing this hormone effectively. In either scenario, for your own health, diabetes and insulin therapy may become your only route to allow the glucose in your system to move into your cells for your body's energy needs.

Types Of Insulin

A general overview of the different insulin types that are commonly prescribed by your doctor may include any of the following:

Types Of Insulin	Starts Working	Lowers During These Hours	Finishes Working
Rapid Acting-Human Lispro	within 15 minutes	1 1/2 hours	4 to 5 hours
Short Acting-Human Regular	1/2 to 1 hour	2 to 3 hours	4 to 6 hours
Intermediate Acting-Human NPH	2 to 4 hours	4 to 10 hours	10 to 16 hours
Intermediate Acting-Human Lente	3 to 4 hours	4 to 12 hours	12 to 18 hours
Long Acting-Human Ultralente	6 to 10 hours	14 to 24 hours	18 to 20 hours
Human Acting-Glargine	4 to 6 hours	no peak	24 hours

All of the above insulin therapies, with a few exceptions, are generally administered with the use of an insulin syringe. Care and safety routines though must be followed when disposing of this piece of equipment for the concern and safety of other people in the workforce. Your local janitors and maintenance crews, trash haulers, landfill workers etc. all can accidentally come into contact with these needles if not disposed of properly.

For some easy guidelines and a detailed listing of what is required by the states and some countries, please check with these safe needle disposal guidelines to ensure your cooperation and someone else's safety.

Other Possible Sources Of Insulin

Another common source of insulin is used by the type 1 diabetic. It is known as the insulin pump.

The pump is a small battery-operated mechanical device about the size of a deck of cards. After attachment to your belt or a pouch around your waist, the pump has a thin piece of tubing which runs from the device to a needle which is inserted into the abdominal cavity.

With this type of diabetes and insulin therapy, pre-programming your pump to certain hours and dosages is necessary. This allows your body to receive a continuous steady amount of insulin all day and night. To verify your sugars are staying within the desired range, monitoring and possibly re-programming is needed usually up to 4-6 times per day.

Coming Soon To A Market Nearby

Some new and experimental types of therapy are in the testing stages. Some of these include:

• Inhaled Insulin: An insulin spray or inhaled powder are currently being tested

• Artificial Pancreas: This device is being designed for the type 1 diabetic. A glucose sensor implanted into the abdomen has a built in storage unit. When the sensor receives a signal of high sugar levels, a dose of insulin will automatically be issued.

• Insulin Pills: These are currently being tested to try to find a way to prevent the pill being broken down by the digestive system. The objective is to get the pill into the bloodstream instead.

• Insulin Patch: An insulin molecule is too large to pass through human skin therefore a device to make an opening and inject a dose of the hormone insulin is in the testing stage.

So although a diabetes and insulin therapy program is not many people's choice for a first line of therapy, for the select few people who are dependent on insulin for their life, research facilities are continually designing new and more effective methods of delivery for the sake of every patient.

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*Disclaimer*
This site is not intended to replace the advice and supervision of your professional medical treatment plan. Although all of the information is true and accurate to the best of our knowledge, we still recommend you carefully check all food labels before consuming any food product. We can not assume any legal responsibility for any illness obtained while following the advice contained on this site.
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