Treatment of Diabetes

Treatment of diabetes depends from the type, while the most important role in treatment has the patient. Only well informed and motivated patient can with help of medical treatment and therapy control diabetes without any significant impacts on quality of life or health. Successful diabetes management does not only require regular use of prescribed medications but also change of one's lifestyle.

At the moment there is no cure for diabetes but both Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes can be managed and people with diabetes can live completely normally. Type 1 diabetes requires insulin therapy - type, doses and timing of which are prescribed by a doctor according to glucose blood levels, physical activity and other factors which impact glucose sugar levels. Insulin therapy includes injection of insulin via syringes or insulin pens. Highly recommendable for managing Type 1 diabetes is also healthy diet which should be low in fat and carbohydrates which have high glycemic index (foods which release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream) and include foods high in dietary fibers. Very important is also regular exercise which help to reduce the glucose blood levels.

Healthy diet and adequate physical activity are also very important in treatment of Type 2 diabetes and in some cases might reduce the glucose blood levels without use of hypoglycemic drugs. However, if changing of diet and regular exercise do not help is necessary to use oral anti-diabetic drugs which work in different ways:

• increase the insulin production and increase sensibility of body cell to insulin (sulfonylureas, meglitinides)
• reduce production of glucose in the livers and its output into the blood (biguanides)
• inhibit metabolism of carbohydrates (alpha-glucasidase inhibitor)

Sometimes also a combination of different drugs is used.

Treatment of diabetes also requires regular monitoring of glucose blood levels as well as of cholesterol and triglycerides, blood pressure and body mass index.