High levels of blood glucose can cause health problems over-time. Anti-diabetic medications help to keep these blood glucose levels steady. The types of anti-diabetic medications you take depend on your type of diabetes, your schedule, and your current health conditions.
If you have type 1 diabetes, your body no longer makes insulin. This means that you have to take it. Other anti-diabetic medications may also be prescribed if insulin is not enough to regulate your blood sugar.
Type 2 diabetes patients are usually prescribed medications. Normally, treatment starts with metformin, and if this does not solve the problem then other medications may be prescribed. Types of anti-diabetic medications include insulin, sulfonylureas, alph-glucosidase inhibitors, biguanides, meglitinides, and thiazolidinediones. They all work in different ways:
- Sulfonylureas work by increasing the amount of insulin released from the beta cells in your pancreas.
- Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors allow glucose to enter your bloodstream more slowly, regulating our blood sugar levels.
- Biguanides (metformin) reduce hepatic glucose output and increase peripheral glucose uptake.
- Meglitinides are generally taken before meals because they boost our insulin response to meals.
- Thiazolidinediones bind themselves to proteins in your blood plasma and increase the intake of our muscles while reducing glucose in your liver.
Gestational diabetes is diabetes which occurs for the first time when a woman is pregnant. Hormones or a shortage of insulin can cause this condition. Women can usually just treat this condition with diet and exercise, but sometimes insulin injections are needed.
Some people take combination pills. That is two or more kinds of anti-diabetic medication combined into a single tablet. Physicians often think that these take the precision of treatment, but many find this more convenient because they have to take fewer doses a day. You may ask your doctor about these if you take one or more of the same pill, taking several types of pills, are adding another type of pill to your medications, or are changing to another type of pill.
Insulin
Some people’s bodies don’t make enough insulin; therefore, they have to take it. Insulin can be taken through an injection, through a pump, or through a jet injector. An insulin pump is a small machine, about the size of a cell phone. It is usually worn on a belt or in a pocket or pouch. It is connected to a small plastic tube or needle which is inserted under the skin. The machine pumps insulin into your body. A jet injector looks like a large pin. It sprays insulin through the skin with high-pressure air.
These anti-diabetic medications work by moving glucose from the blood and into your cells. Some people only have to take an injection once a day, while other take it multiple times. The various types of insulin work at different speeds. Rapid-acting insulin, for example starts to work right after you take it, while long-acting insulin lasts for many hours.
Related articles: OneTouch Diabetes | Victoza Diabetes | Diabetes Antibody | Diabetes HGB A1C | Alpha-glucosidase Inhibitors | Antibodies in Diabetes | Avandia and Diabetes | Lantus and Diabetes | Ganoderma Lucidum Diabetes | Diabetes and Antibiotics | Corticosteroids and Diabetes | Pre Diabetes and A1C |
