Tabea - Because you need to match the insulin to your food. Quick-acting/meal time insulin lasts 3-5 hours so unless you're only eating one meal a day, your breakfast insulin will be long gone by dinner time.
micksmixxx - There are many different types of insulin, my friend, some of them fast-acting, some medium-acting, and some long-acting. The doctor would use a combination of two or more of these insulins in an attempt to ensure that blood sugar (glucose) levels neither rise too high, nor fall too low.
Some type 2 diabetics WOULD use a long-acting insulin, or a mixture of long-acting and fast-acting or medium-acting insulin, but they would also use oral medications too. This is because their beta cells (islets of Langerhans) of the pancreas still produces insulin naturally. A large dose of long-acting insulin would NOT make the blood sugar level fall as low as one of your respondents appears to be indicating.
Unfortunately, it would be different in a type 1 diabetic as their beta cells have been destroyed, so they have no naturally occurring insulin present. Type 1 diabetics would require a long-acting insulin, to act as a basal dose, once or sometimes twice a day, plus they would require a fast-acting insulin after each meal time. The idea being to keep blood sugar (glucose) fluctuations to a minimum.
Just curious. We've been learning about diabetes in biology :)
Caitrin - The body can't handle large doses of insulin, one large dose could be fatal.
ReplyDeleteTabea - Because you need to match the insulin to your food. Quick-acting/meal time insulin lasts 3-5 hours so unless you're only eating one meal a day, your breakfast insulin will be long gone by dinner time.
ReplyDeletemicksmixxx - There are many different types of insulin, my friend, some of them fast-acting, some medium-acting, and some long-acting. The doctor would use a combination of two or more of these insulins in an attempt to ensure that blood sugar (glucose) levels neither rise too high, nor fall too low.
ReplyDeleteSome type 2 diabetics WOULD use a long-acting insulin, or a mixture of long-acting and fast-acting or medium-acting insulin, but they would also use oral medications too. This is because their beta cells (islets of Langerhans) of the pancreas still produces insulin naturally. A large dose of long-acting insulin would NOT make the blood sugar level fall as low as one of your respondents appears to be indicating.
Unfortunately, it would be different in a type 1 diabetic as their beta cells have been destroyed, so they have no naturally occurring insulin present. Type 1 diabetics would require a long-acting insulin, to act as a basal dose, once or sometimes twice a day, plus they would require a fast-acting insulin after each meal time. The idea being to keep blood sugar (glucose) fluctuations to a minimum.
Gary B - NORMAL insulin only lasts for 2-3 hours. After that, you need MORE for your next meal.
ReplyDeleteMOST diabetics inject themselves just before each meal, and possibly just before a bed-time snack.
There are some insulin mixtures (like Lantus) that are once a day, but these are used IN CONJUNCTION with meal-time injections.
There are some non-insulin medications (like Byetta) that are injected once a day, but these are not insulin.