FAQ's-insulin for diabetes mellitus tratment.

In this article we will bust some myths of diabetes mellitus and answer some frequently asked questions about insulin for diabetes mellitus treatment.

for details regarding insulin-treatment of diabetes mellitus-insulin types,how to use insulin

1.Is insulin dangerous for diabetics?

it will not be correct to say inslin is dangerous for diabetias.
Insulin is a main stay of treatment in diabetes mellitus.
Insulin can prove to be dangerous only if a patient with diabetes: either don’t know to take insulin properly, or has not eaten properly after taking insulin injection.
This can result in hypoglycaemia which is one of the acute complications which can occur in diabetes mellitus patient.

2. When should diabetics take insulin for diabetes mellitus treatment?

In diabetes mellitus because there is no insulin in the body the body is not able to maintain the basal blood glucose levels as well as the post meal rise in glucose. Due to this reason two types insulins are used

1)Regular insulin or long acting insulin (insulin NPH or insulin glargine) to maintain basal blood glucose levels and is given 15-30 minutes before meal.

2) short/rapidly acting insulin (insulin aspart or insulin glargine) is given to combat the post meal rise in blood glucose and meal should be taken within 15 minutes of the insulin injection.

3. How is insulin produced for diabetics?

Insulin now a days is produced by a technique called recombinant DNA technique.
Insulin producing gene from human pancreatic cells is extracted and is put into a plasmid, this plasmid then introduces this gene into E.coli bacteria.
Then the E.coli is given signals to produce insulin. E.coli are kept In fermentation tank where they replicate thousands and thousands of times.
Now the insulin is extracted from E.coli bacteria and used in humans with diabetes mellitus.

4. Does insulin lower blood sugar?

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancrease. insulin help in transport of glucose from blood into the cells of body resulting in decrease in the glucose levels in the blood to reduce.
Insulin also act on liver cells and help in conversion of glucose t glycogen (storage form of glycogen) and thereby furthur decreasing the blood glucose levels.

5. What are the side effects of diabetic insulin?

Some of the side effects of insulin are decreased blood glucose levels (hypoglycemia), (reduced potassium levels) hypokalemia, lipoatrophy, flu like symptoms, edema swelling, some individual there can be allergic reactions and pain and inflammation at the site of injection.

6. Why is insulin needed for diabetes?

our body uses glucose for energy. in this process insulin plays a very important role. insulin help the cells of our body to take up glucose fro energy and also helps the liver cells to store glucose in the form of glycogen.
in diabetes mellitus there is very high amount of glucose in the blood but it cannot be utilized by the body as it lacks insulin. Therefore it is necessary to provide exogenous insulin for patient with diabetes mellitus.

7. Why does insulin lower blood sugar?

Insulin lowers the blood glucose by 2 main actions:

Insulin acts on the cells of the body especially the muscles and the adipose tissues and activates the GLUT4 transporter by which the glucose from blood movs inside the cells.
In excess of glucose insulin signals the liver cells to take up the glucose from blood and convert it into glycogen which is the storage form of glucose.

8. Why is my blood sugar high even with insulin?

The main reasons why blood sugar can reamin high even after taking insulin are:
Cells of the body might have become resistant to the insulin.
The site where the insulin injection is given do not absorb the insulin properly (in this case change the site)
The dose of insulin that you are taking might not be enough.
Insulin injections are not properly timed with your meal.
Note: if you have see that your blood sugar remain high even with insulin then do consult your doctor .

9. Does insulin cause kidney damage?

No, insulin is a hormone which is important for the body and is present naturally in all healthy individuals. Insulin can prevent the damage to the kidneys which is caused by the high blood sugar in patient with diabetes mellitus

10. What happens if a diabetic takes too much insulin for diabetes mellitus treatment?

Too less or too much of insulin are body bad for health. High dose h\of insulin will cause the cells to take up more than normal amount of sugar from the blood resulting in less sugar in the blood which called as hypoglycemia.
Hypoglycemia is a medical emergency and should be treated immediately or it can lead to some seriuos damage.

11. Is Metformin an insulin?

No metformin is not an insulin. Insulin is a hormone where as metformin is a drug belonging to the group called biguanides.
Metformin acts in following ways to reduce the blood glucose:
Reduces glucose absorption in intestine.
Reduces the production of glucose by liver.
Make the cells more sensitive to insulin.

12. How can I check my sugar level on my own?How to Test Your Blood Sugar at Home?

It has become very easy now-a-days to check your blood glucose at home.
There are devices called as glucometer available in the market which help you check your blood glucose. All u have to do is put a tiny amount of blood on the glucometer strip and it will tell you the reading within seconds.

13. How do diabetics inject insulin?

Procedure for injecting insulin:
Clean the area of injection.
Withdraw the amount of insulin that you require from the ampule. (this step is missed when you use prefilled insulin)
Do priming of the needle, that is needle is held upright and upto 2units of insulin is expelled into the air in a steady stream as a test shot.
Priming helps get rid of the air bubble from inside the
Select the site for injection.
Pinch and lift the soft part in between your index finger and your thumb.
Insert the needle inside at 90 degrees angle and push the plunger slowly to inject the insulin.
After the dose has been injected do not remove the syringe immediately, hold it in for about 10 seconds.
Withdraw the needle from the skin and dispose off the needle safely.

14.Where to inject insulin for diabetes mellitus treatment?

Various sites for insulin injection are: abdomen, thigh, shoulder, and buttocks
Abdomen is the most preferred site. Second preferred is thigh (upper outer portion of the thigh)
As shoulder and buttocks cannot be easily accessed by an individual so self administration of insulin at these sites is not possible. Whereas self administration of insulin is possible on abdomen and the thigh.

15. At what sugar level is insulin for diabetes mellitus treatment required?

Insulin is required when a person has uncontrolled high blood glucose, that is if fasting blood glucose is repeatedly more than 250mg/dl or if the A1c levels is more than 10%.

16.How quickly does insulin lower blood sugar?

Depending on which type of insulin you are using it will take that much time to lower the blood sugar levels.

RAPID ACTING: start acting within 10-15 minutes, peak action in 1-1.5 hrs and lasts for3-5 hrs
SHORT ACTING: start acting within 15-30 minutes, peak action in 2-3 hrs and lasts for 6-8 hrs
INTERMEDIATE ACTING: start acting within 1-2 hrs, peak action in 8-10 hrs and lasts for 20-24 hrs
LONG ACTING: starts acting within 2-4 hrs and lasts for 20-24 hrs