Wednesday 12 August 2015

Can Insulin Therapy Best Combat Against Diabetes Mellitus?

Introduction

According to recent studies, seasoned diabetics need to go to full-fledged insulin therapy soon or later. Ideally, they are expected to move to insulin therapy about 6-10 years from the date of diagnosis. This is especially true for the type 2 diabetes. When the consulting diabetologists say that their patients need to shift to insulin for the efficient diabetes management, most of them think that it is the end of the road their lives.  This is because the insulin therapy is fraught with its own challenges. The wrong dose might push a person into a coma due to the lack of availability of glucose. Despite this risk, physicians always advise the patients to strictly follow the insulin therapy to get rid of the side effects associated with the medicines that insulin.

insulin receptors

Why Patients Fear Insulin Therapy?

There are many causes to turn away from insulin therapy. For some people, the pain of injection is the major cause of worry.  For the majority of others, the intermittent episode of hypoglycaemia that may arise out of an overdose of insulin in the body is the source of worry. Another group thinks that the shifting to insulin therapy as the growing sign of the body intolerance to treatment. They believe that the insulin therapy is advised only in the late stage of disease.  On shifting to the insulin therapy, there should be a better coordination of doctor and patient on a regular basis.  This again causes a fear in the minds of people who suffer from this systemic disease.


insulin therapy


Insulin Therapy

According to physicians, the reliance on insulin therapy can bring more benefits than the conventional use of medicines that replace insulin in the body. They say that the conventional medicines are basically organic compounds that are quite difficult to get digested in the body, leading to the formation of bye products that interfere with other biological processes. They say people on alternative medication would have to shift to the insulin therapy soon or later to lead a near normal life. The only catch is that the patients need to constantly interact with doctor to adjust the dose that needs to be given for efficient diabetes management. The patients should not go for self adjustment of doses to avoid unwanted hiccups with glucose level in blood. Apart from this medical intervention, the patients need to eat moderately at regular intervals to maintain glucose level at optimal value. Overdoses can lead to life-threatening complications due to a condition called hypoglycaemia. At any cost, the glucose level should not go below 35 mg/dl in blood.


insulin initiation


Type 2 Diabetes

It is a progressive, chronic systemic disease characterized by the worsening control over the level of glucose in blood due to insufficient or no production of insulin. This condition can arise also when there is an insufficient number of insulin receptor on the cells in the body. The experts say that more than 50% of beta cell production of insulin would have lost by the time the diabetes was diagnosed. With the passage of every year, about 4% reduction in the beta cell can be expected in type 2 diabetes patients. That is the reason why the treatment methodology also varies with time. Proper drug or insulin administration and suitable lifestyle changes help the patients lead near normal life in the remaining years of their lives.


type 2 diabetes