Long-term insulin injections have 2 harmful effects on the body

Recently, a doctor shared the story of two patients he experienced online, let's take a look at them one by one.

Patient 1: He was admitted to the hospital for severe dizziness with polyhydramnios, and his fasting blood sugar was measured to be 24 mmol/L, and his postprandial blood sugar was even worse. We decided to inject insulin into the patient and lower the blood sugar first before considering the subsequent treatment plan.

However, the patient strictly refused to inject insulin, insisting that once he injected insulin, he could not stop and did not want to live on insulin for the rest of his life, no matter how to persuade him, it did not help. It was only after the family invited a relative of the family who is also a doctor to persuade him that accept insulin treatment.

Patient 2: The fasting blood glucose value was 8.0 mmol/L at the time of admission, and the blood glucose value reached 13 mmol/L 2 hours after a meal. The patient's condition was not very serious, and the diagnosis given at that time was to take medication for therapeutic intervention.

However, the patient did not know where he heard that he had to take insulin for diabetes, otherwise his condition was not well controlled. After asking for insulin and being refused by us, the patient immediately decided to go to a different hospital for insulin.

Many people have misconceptions about insulin, and this is not uncommon in clinical practice for patients like the two types mentioned above. Next, follow me to understand the misconceptions about insulin.

4 perceptions about insulin, are not desirable

1, the use of insulin treatment proves that the condition is very serious

Whether to use insulin is mainly based on the patient's condition to make judgment, these 5 conditions, all need to inject insulin for treatment, including type 1 diabetes patients, taking all kinds of hypoglycemic drugs, and blood sugar control is not ideal for patients.

Patients who have very high blood glucose values or have developed complications such as ketoacidosis in the initial diagnosis of type 2 diabetes; patients who are diagnosed with diabetes for the first time, but are not sure whether they have type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Some patients have suffered from diabetes for many years, the pancreatic beta cells are gradually failing, taking drugs cannot control the condition well, and even if the blood sugar is not high, they need insulin injections.

2, prefer to take hypoglycemic drugs without insulin

Taking medication or insulin for treatment mainly depends on the patient's condition, and if it is one of the above-mentioned types of patients, an insulin injection is needed for treatment. It is important to choose the treatment plan according to the professional doctor's advice, and must not be blind.

The side effects that may be brought to the body by taking glucose-lowering drugs will be greater compared to insulin. For example, metformin needs to be excreted through the kidneys, long-term use of the drug may cause impaired kidney function, a large accumulation of lactic acid in the body, the risk of kidney injury, and lactic acidosis will also increase.

Acarbose can easily cause flatulence and diarrhea, and cannot be used for patients with intestinal obstruction, intestinal ulcers, and hernias; Miglitol is likely to cause gastrointestinal reactions and is prohibited for patients with chronic intestinal diseases.

3. No need to control diet after insulin

Whether it is insulin injection or taking drugs to control blood sugar, it is necessary to cooperate with the control of diet to carry out, otherwise, it can not play a good effect on sugar reduction. Diabetic patients can help correct metabolic disorders in the body, reduce the burden on the pancreas and lower postprandial blood glucose by controlling their diet.

The metabolic disorders of some patients can be improved after diet control, and the blood glucose value in the body can be better controlled; when the diet returns to normal, the pancreatic islet cells can be allowed to rest and some functions can be restored; in addition, diet control helps to lower postprandial blood glucose.

Diabetic patients should pay attention to eating more fresh vegetables, a moderate amount of meat, and a small amount of staple food in their daily diet, and pay attention to eating only about seven minutes full at each meal. The best staple food is coarse and fine grains with food, coarse grains can help delay the rise of blood sugar after meals.

4, insulin injection can lead to fat, hypoglycemia

The two most common side effects of insulin are fatness and hypoglycemia, the reason why fatness is believed to be exogenous insulin will first be absorbed in the tissue, which will easily lead to increased tissue subcutaneous fat synthesis, and some energy balance conversion will also be carried out, which is more unfavorable for obese people to control their weight.

And some patients will be too much insulin use will lead to too fast blood glucose reduction, inducing hypoglycemia to appear, this situation can be avoided with the correct dosage. This situation can be avoided with the correct dosage. We can prevent hypoglycemia through daily blood glucose testing, regular and quantitative meals, and reasonable exercise.

What do I need to prepare for insulin injections?

For diabetic patients, these four things must be done for daily insulin injections!

Firstly, unopened insulin should be kept in the refrigerator, and unopened insulin should be kept at room temperature not exceeding 25℃ and protected from light, and should not be put into the refrigerator again.

Secondly, insulin is usually injected into the buttocks, upper arms, thighs, and abdomen, with the abdomen having the fastest absorption rate and the buttocks the slowest. It is not recommended to repeat injections in one area daily, and the injection site should be changed frequently to avoid fatty growth and hard nodules, which may affect the normal absorption of insulin.

Third, there are three main types of needles for insulin injection, 4mm, 5mm, 8mm, and 12.7mm, relatively speaking, 4~6mm needles will be safer and not easy to inject into the muscle layer, the specific needle selection needs to be judged according to different body types;

Fourth, use alcohol for disinfection before injection, and check whether there are scars, hard knots, depressions and tenderness at the injection site, etc. Once these abnormalities are present, the injection site should be replaced.

After the injection, it is best to leave the needle under the skin for more than 10 seconds before removing it to ensure that insulin can enter the body completely.

When diabetes is diagnosed, it is important to follow the advice of a professional doctor as to whether or not insulin injections are needed, and not to blindly resist or believe in rumors to avoid unnecessary threats to health.