Diabetes Information

The injected insulin when gets absorbed into the body via blood, its action in lowering the blood sugar is continuous and bears no relation to the needs of the sugar levels in the blood. In other words, even when the blood sugar reaches the normal level or even below normal levels, injected insulin continues to act till it gets inactivated in the body. Many a times this leads to a major complication of insulin therapy called insulin hypoglycemia, the lowering of blood sugar to below normal level. If not attended promptly, it leads to serious consequences including coma. This is because of the absence of normal acting beta cells. To understand this let us see what is the function of normal acting beta cells that produce insulin, for example, in a non-diabetic person, the beta cells in the pancreas release insulin in direct proportion to the blood glucose levels in the blood, as is the case after meals, the production and secretion of insulin by the beta cells is maximum and when this blood level comes to normal, the insulin secretion almost stops. So under the conditions when the beta cells are functioning normally, there is no danger of hypoglycemia. Therefore, a properly designed insulin therapy for the type I or IDD patient must accomplish good control of blood sugar without having episodes of hypoglycemia.
The diabetic person on insulin, encounters problems both when there is excess insulin as well as when there is too little insulin. As mentioned earlier, excess insulin leads to hypoglycemia, known as shock. This is encountered by taking free sugars in the form of sweets or drinks. Care should be taken not to take too much of it as it may bounce back resulting in an increase in blood sugar too high. The insulin reaction of hypoglycemia may result in coma. This may occur when the person is in sleep and sometimes it is quite dangerous. The common cause of hypoglycemia are delay in taking meals, not eating sufficient food or doing some strenuous work. The diabetic who are on insulin should always carry some sweets like candy, fruit or sugar cubes. Mild hypoglycemia should not be a cause for panic, as with small amounts of sweets it can be controlled. If one is going out, the diabetic person should carry a sign of his ailment.

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Filed under: Insulin