Everything To Know About Insulin Before Using It
visualspace / Getty Images
Medically reviewed by Sameena Zahoor, MD
Insulin is a hormone that your pancreas produces to help control the amount of glucose (sugar) you have in your bloodstream. Some conditions like diabetes and insulin resistance can make it difficult for your body to make enough insulin. As a result, you may need to take an insulin shot to get the right amount of hormone that your body needs to function. Fortunately, there are several types of insulin you can take to support your body, but sometimes, insulin shots come with side effects.
Purpose and Function
Insulin is a hormone that plays an important role in regulating and stabilizing your blood sugar levels. After eating, your blood sugar levels rise. This triggers your pancreas to release insulin which helps the sugars from your food to enter your muscle, liver, and fat cells, where the sugars can be used for energy or stored.
When your blood sugar decreases, the amount of insulin your body needs to produce also reduces. However, if your blood sugar is high, your body needs to make enough insulin to accommodate the glucose. Without the necessary insulin that your body needs, the sugar can build up in your bloodstream, causing conditions like hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) and diabetes to develop.
Why Do People Need Insulin?
People may require insulin treatment when their bodies are not able to make enough of their own insulin to regulate their blood sugar appropriately. In fact, several conditions can affect your body's ability to create and release insulin, such as type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, gestational diabetes (a type of diabetes that begins during pregnancy), insulin resistance, hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
Insulin is a common treatment for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. With type 1 diabetes, your immune system mistakenly attacks the part of your pancreas that produces insulin. This immune reaction makes it difficult for you to produce your own insulin. As a result, you often need to take insulin treatment from an outside source to properly regulate your blood sugar levels.
Type 2 diabetes, on the other hand, occurs when your body isn't able to produce or use insulin correctly. However, unlike type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes often occurs as a result of insulin resistance—a reaction that happens when your fat, liver, and muscle cells aren't able to respond to insulin and can't use the glucose from your blood. Because your body is resisting insulin, your body isn't able to use up the sugar from your blood, which can lead to high blood sugar.
To stabilize higher blood sugar levels, your body actually tries to produce even more insulin. Eventually, the cells in your pancreas become tired, causing them to fail and dysfunction. The combination of insulin resistance, high blood sugar levels, and the failure of insulin-making cells in your pancreas all lead to type 2 diabetes. It's worth noting that not everyone with type 2 will need insulin treatment, but those who aren't able to produce insulin will often require treatment.
Types of Insulin
If you need insulin treatment, there are several different types of insulin that are available to take. The type of insulin you need will depend on how long the treatment takes to start working (known as the onset of action), how long it takes for insulin to have its peak effect (or maximum benefit), and how long it stays in your body. Your healthcare provider can help you figure out which insulin is best for you. Your options may include:
Rapid-acting insulin: Usually starts working within 15 minutes and lasts two to four hours. You'll often take this insulin before eating a meal.
Short-acting insulin: Sometimes known as regular insulin, this type begins working in 30 minutes and lasts three to six hours. You should take this insulin 30 to 60 minutes before eating a meal.
Intermediate-acting insulin: The onset of action for this type is two to four hours, but the insulin can stay in your body for 12 to 18 hours total. Your provider may recommend this type of insulin if you need insulin throughout the day or overnight.
Long-acting insulin: This type of insulin takes two hours to start working and can last up to 24 hours. Unlike other types of insulin, long-acting insulin does not have a peak effect, but instead provides a steady release of insulin to your body throughout the day.
Ultra-long-acting insulin: A type of insulin that begins working six hours after you take it and stays in your system for 36 hours or longer. Similar to long-acting insulin, this type does not have a peak effect either.
Premixed insulin: Combines short and intermediate insulin together, which usually starts working between five minutes and one hour after taking the treatment. This insulin type can stay in your body for up to 16 hours.
How To Use Insulin
People using insulin at home will take their treatment through one of two routes: inhaled or subcutaneous. For inhaled insulin, you will receive your treatment through an oral inhaler. Currently, the only form of insulin available via inhaler is rapid-acting so people who use this type of insulin will also need to take some type of subcutaneous insulin alongside their inhaler.
Subcutaneous insulin is insulin that you inject into your fatty tissue just beneath your skin. All types of insulin are available subcutaneously. There are three primary devices you can use to receive subcutaneous insulin treatment:
Syringe: You can inject insulin using a syringe. The needles that insulin syringes use are made for subcutaneous injections, which means they are much shorter than a needle you would use for another type of injection.
Pen: The insulin pen is another way to give insulin injections. They come either prefilled with insulin or contain replaceable cartridges that you can use to give you the correct dose of insulin that your body needs.
Pump: An insulin pump is a device that delivers insulin through a small plastic tube that you insert into your subcutaneous tissue—usually in your stomach or the back of your upper arm. A pump gives you a baseline dose of short or rapid-acting insulin per hour. When you eat, you can program the pump to give a larger dose that covers your meal. Some people who use an insulin pump also utilize a continuous glucose monitor (or, a device with a sensor that is attached to your skin and gives you immediate readings of your blood sugar levels) to understand how much insulin the pump should be giving them.
Potential Side Effects
If you accidentally take too much insulin, your blood sugar can become too low. This condition is known as hypoglycemia and depending on how severe it is, can be a life-threatening emergency. Side effects of this serious complication include:
When To Contact a Healthcare Provider
If you require insulin treatment, it's vital for you to stay in touch with your healthcare provider regularly to ensure that your blood sugar levels are reaching or staying in a normal range. As you take your treatment, it's important to note if your blood sugar remains too high or if you're having symptoms of high blood sugar, such as increased thirst or needing to urinate (pee) frequently. If you're experiencing these symptoms, it's in your best interest to talk to your provider.
In the instance that your treatment isn't reducing your high blood sugar levels, you should also contact your provider. Having too much glucose in your bloodstream can increase your risk of life-threatening complications like diabetic ketoacidosis, which can lead to a coma. Symptoms of this condition may include shortness of breath, a fruity breath, or unexplained nausea and vomiting.
Contact a healthcare provider immediately if you or a loved one is also experiencing signs of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)—especially if symptoms don't resolve after eating or drinking something that is high in sugar. Just like too much sugar in the blood is dangerous for your health, not having enough glucose in the bloodstream can also lead to negative health effects.
A Quick Review
Insulin is a hormone your pancreas produces to help your body regulate blood sugar. Certain conditions, such as diabetes and insulin resistance, make it difficult for you to produce and release the insulin that your body needs. As a result, you may need to take insulin treatment from an outside source.
There are several types of insulin that are available to take—and the type that your healthcare provider recommends will depend on your specific condition, the symptoms you're experiencing, and how often your body requires insulin. There are four ways you can receive insulin treatment: through an inhaler, injection, pen, and pump. These methods can help your body better regulate your blood sugar and use the glucose it needs to create energy.
But, it's important to ensure that you're monitoring your blood sugar levels regularly. If your blood sugar levels are too high or too low, you may be at an increased risk of serious complications that may require medical attention.
For more Health.com news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on Health.com.
