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.
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
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.
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.
