Insulin Side Effects Concern Type 2 Diabetes Patients
This article does not constitute a medical treatment recommendation. Until other treatment is being prescribed or recommended by your physician– there is no intent to advise any of the readers to stop taking his/her medication.
When most diabetes patients hear “Insulin”, they think injections. For the average person, the idea of needing daily injections and having to inject themselves is a big concern. People don’t like needles, let alone having to be responsible for giving themselves the injection. An experienced physician is familiar with and empathetic to this initial fear and has in place, a support system for helping the patient overcome his fears and learn to take the responsibility for managing his insulin treatment. Still, there are other serious, very legitimate concerns, beyond the actual insulin shots. Type 2 Diabetes patients, who reach a point where they need insulin, may be concerned about the side effects that insulin can cause.
There are two primary concerns every diabetic needs to be aware of when taking insulin:
1. Severe Hypoglycemia – Low blood Glucose levels – This can happen as fast as 10 minutes from the time of injection, with a rapid-acting insulin. Blood sugar below 70 mg/dL is considered low. Blood sugar at or below this level can harm.
Hypoglycemia can happen when a patient takes too much insulin in respect to his/her blood glucose or takes his insulin at the wrong time. Symptoms can include blurry vision, fast heartbeats, feeling cranky or acting aggressive, feeling nervous, headache, hunger, shaking, difficulty sleeping, sweating.
When blood sugar levels reach acutely dangerously low levels, a patient can faint or even go into a coma.
2. Weight Gain
When a patient takes insulin, glucose can enter his cells, and the glucose levels in the blood drops. This is the desired therapeutic effect. However, if the number of calories ingested and the activity level result in more calories than the patient needs to maintain his current or healthy weight, his cells will get more glucose than they need. Glucose that isn’t used turns into fat and this causes weight gain. This weight gain can in the long run lead to an increase in the patient’s insulin dosage. This vicious cycle is self propagating increasing the patient’s risk for experiencing adverse events.
There are contradictory opinions among diabetologists whether it is helpful or harmful to start Insulin treatment early on in the course of Type 2 Diabetes, studies done to date are not conclusive.
It is believed that a treatment enhancing natural physiological processes as opposed to adding external perturbations in the form of substitutes and additives has a good chance of achieving the correct glucose Insulin balance, assuring glycemic normalization and minimal adverse effects.