Complications (6)
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- Diabetic retinopathy
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- Diabetes management: How lifestyle, daily routine affect blood sugar
- Reading food labels: Tips if you have diabetes
- Insulin and weight gain: Keep the pounds off
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- Diabetes prevention: 5 tips for taking control
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- Erectile dysfunction and diabetes: Take control today
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Diabetes treatment: Using insulin to manage blood sugar
Understanding how insulin affects your blood sugar can help you better manage your condition.
By Mayo Clinic staffInsulin therapy is often an important part of diabetes treatment. Understand the key role insulin plays in managing your blood sugar, and the goals of insulin therapy. What you learn can help you prevent diabetes complications.
The role of insulin in the body
It may be easier to understand the importance of insulin therapy if you understand how insulin normally works in the body and what happens when you have diabetes.
- Regulate sugar in your bloodstream. The main job of insulin is to keep the level of sugar in the bloodstream within a normal range. After you eat, carbohydrates break down into sugar and enter the bloodstream in the form of glucose, a sugar that serves as a primary source of energy. Normally the pancreas responds by producing insulin, which allows sugar to enter the tissues.
- Storage of excess glucose for energy. After you eat — when insulin levels are high — excess glucose is stored in the liver in the form of glycogen. Between meals — when insulin levels are low — the liver releases glycogen into the bloodstream in the form of sugar. This keeps blood sugar levels within a narrow range.
If your pancreas secretes little or no insulin (type 1 diabetes) or your body produces too little insulin or has become resistant to insulin's action (type 2 diabetes), the level of sugar in your bloodstream increases. This is because it's unable to enter cells. Left untreated, high blood sugar can lead to complications such as blindness, nerve damage (neuropathy) and kidney damage.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Insulin basics. American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/medication/insulin/insulin-basics.html. Accessed Sept. 29, 2010.
- Diabetes overview. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/overview/DiabetesOverview.pdf. Accessed Sept. 29, 2010.
- Insulin routines. American Diabetes Association. http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/medication/insulin/insulin-routines.html. Accessed Sept. 29, 2010.
- What I need to know about diabetes medicines. National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse. http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/medicines_ez/meds.pdf. Accessed Sept. 29, 2010.
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