Insulin for Type 2 Diabetes: Pros and Cons
Insulin is one of the most powerful therapies available to lower the blood sugar of people with type 2 diabetes. Keeping your blood sugar levels in a healthy range is one of the essential goals of diabetes treatment and is important for preventing diabetes complications such as kidney and vision problems.
As a medicine, insulin functions like the hormone insulin that the body naturally produces, allowing sugar in the bloodstream to flow into the body’s cells and be used for energy.
Insulin: The Pros
Insulin has other benefits. For example, insulin doses can be adjusted frequently to match an individual’s glucose patterns and account for factors such as illness, stress, and dietary intake, says Betul Hatipoglu, MD, director of Case Western Reserve University’s Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism Center in Cleveland.
“Insulin is the better choice when you need rapid, dependable, titratable control,” says Dr. Hatipoglu. It’s also necessary in some people with long-standing type 2 diabetes, whose bodies have begun to lose the ability to produce their own insulin. In such cases, blood sugar cannot be controlled adequately without insulin, she says.
Insulin: The Cons
- It may cause weight gain. Due to its tendency to naturally promote energy storage, insulin can worsen excess weight, one of the most common root causes of type 2 diabetes.
- It can lower blood sugar too much. This potentially dangerous side effect is named hypoglycemia. People who use insulin need to be prepared to consume sugar or use emergency glucagon to bring their blood sugar back into a normal range.
- It may not support cardiovascular health. While insulin’s glucose-lowering effect can help reduce the incidence of complications like nerve or vision damage, prolonged use may increase the long-term risk of heart attack and stroke.
- It is challenging to use properly. There’s a significant learning curve to insulin use, and many people struggle with the complex treatment burden.
It’s especially important for insulin users to learn how to prevent and treat hypoglycemia. “If sugars are too low, it can lead to a dangerous, life threatening condition,” says Jennifer Cheng, DO, chief of endocrinology at Hackensack Meridian Health in Neptune, New Jersey. “It’s important to eat regularly when taking insulin injections to prevent low sugars.”
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