What is Insulin?
Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas,
a gland located behind the stomach. Insulin
is necessary for a process called metabolism
by which digested foods are turned into the
energy your body needs. Without insulin, glucose,
a form of sugar produced when starches and sugars
are digested, cannot be properly used. Instead,
glucose builds up in the bloodstream and spills
into the urine showing sugar in the urine.
Unless
treated, a person with diabetes will have excessively
high levels of sugar in the blood and in the
urine.
People
with Type I (insulin dependent or juvenile)
diabetes do not produce the insulin their bodies
need. In order to supply the insulin needed
to burn glucose for energy, insulin must be
taken by injection every day.
Why
injection? If insulin is given by mouth, the
body's digestive juices destroy it. By injecting
insulin under the skin, it can be absorbed slowly
into the bloodstream.
Until
recently, insulin only came from the pancreases
of cows and pigs. While beef, pork and beef-pork
combinations are still widely used, there are
now two types of "human" insulins
available: Semisynthetic (made by converting
pork insulin to a form identical to human) and
recombinant (made using genetic engineering).
The
Goal of Insulin Treatment
The main goal of diabetes treatment is to control
blood-sugar levels and keep them in normal range.
The
Elements of Control
Blood sugar levels are affected by three basic
elements.
- food
intake
- physical
activity
- the
amount of insulin taken
Control
is achieved by balancing these three elements.
Food makes the glucose level rise and exercise
and insulin make the glucose level fall.
Self
Monitoring Your Blood Glucose Level
You can monitor your blood sugar level at home
with a blood glucose monitoring system. It involves
pricking your finger or ear lobe and putting
a drop of blood on a special strip. Depending
on which system you use, you compare the strip
with a color chart that shows equivalent blood
sugar levels or place the strips in a small,
portable machine which gives a digital readout.
Insulin
Reaction or Shock (Hypoglycemia)
Hypoglycemia occurs when the blood sugar level
falls below normal. The reason it happens in
diabetics is that insulin taken by injection
does not exactly match the body's minute-by-minute
need for insulin. The insulin is absorbed at
its own particular rare independent of your
activities.
It's
not surprising, therefore, that there are times
when too much insulin is circulating in the
blood. This is where an insulin reaction occurs.
Diabetes
Sources
- American
Association of Diabetes Education - 1800-338-DMED
- American
Diabetes Association - 1-800-ADA-DISC
- Juvenile
Diabetes Foundation - 1-800-JDF-CURE
- D.I.A.L.
(Diabetes Information and Action Line) - 1-800-DIABETES
Related
Websites
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