Diabetes and Insulin
If you are a diabetic, you should realize the importance of insulin and the role it plays in the workings of your body. Insulin controls your blood sugar. A person with diabetes either does not produce enough insulin, or has lost the ability to use the insulin naturally present in the body.
Insulin is available in 4 different formulations. They are
Your doctor takes many things into consideration before he prescribes a certain type of insulin for your diabetes and decides the dosage. Such variables as how fast the insulin begins to work, when the insulin reaches its highest level in the body, and how long one injection of the insulin will last are all based upon each individual’s own body chemistry, the type of food he is eating and how often, and when and how he gets his daily exercise. Most of the time, you will have to take a mixture of these types in order to better control your diabetes.
Insulin for a person with diabetes must sometimes be used more than once a day. You can give yourself insulin by an injection with a needle and syringe, or an insulin pen, which looks rather like a large writing instrument, using insulin in a cartridge made like the ink cartridges for these pens, and comes with disposable needles. There is also a device called an insulin pump which is the most modern way to get the insulin you need.
Insulin pumps are small, about the size of a cassette tape. They are made from plastic and designed to work as much like the actual human pancreas as possible. An insulin pump is made to hold enough insulin to last for several days. It supplies insulin to the body in two different ways. One way mimics the human pancreas in that it sends insulin in a small dose every couple of minutes. The other way sends a much larger dose. This large does is normally used right before a meal. You can also control and program the pump yourself, adjusting the amount of any extra insulin you might need, based on the results of testing your blood sugar, the amount of exercise you may have gotten, or how much extra food you may have eaten. These pumps do an excellent job at controlling diabetes.