A person who has any type of diabetes mellitus has high blood sugar levels. At the same time, glucose is not enough in the cells of the body, which need it as a source of energy. In order for sugar from the blood to enter the cell, insulin is needed in diabetes mellitus.
Insulin is a protein hormone produced by special cells in the pancreas. The blood of a healthy person constantly receives the required amount of insulin according to the feedback principle. In other words, with an increase in blood glucose, the pancreas produces more insulin, and with a decrease in this indicator, less.
Graph of the amount of carbohydrates in human blood If you look at the figure, it becomes clear that a certain amount of carbohydrates is constantly in the blood of a person (indicated by a straight line), therefore insulin in small portions continuously flows from the pancreas into the blood. After eating food that contains carbohydrates, a large amount of glucose enters the bloodstream (indicated by peaks in the figures – their height and width may vary depending on the amount of carbohydrates in the food). In response to this, the pancreas begins to secrete more insulin. This mechanism of insulin production in accordance with changes in blood sugar values can be compared with a peculiar “autopilot” of the pancreas.
If the “autopilot” fails, the patient can help his body by observing special rules that differ depending on the type of diabetes the person suffers from.
There is the following classification of insulins:
By origin – there are human and animal insulins;
By the degree of purification – almost all insulins that are produced today are highly purified;
By concentration – one milliliter of insulin solution can contain 100 or 40 units of insulin;
According to the duration of action, there are short and long insulin.
How does insulin work on blood sugar?
Many people mistakenly believe that insulin in diabetes breaks down sugar in the blood. In fact, its action is much more complicated. With the help of insulin, sugar from the blood enters the cells. In its absence, glucose remains in the blood, but does not enter the cells, as a result of which the cells of the body begin to starve. Adequate insulin therapy allows you to almost constantly maintain a normal blood sugar level, which means it prevents complications of diabetes mellitus. For the maximum convenience of people suffering from diabetes, special bags and cases of MEDMAG have been developed, which have compartments for storing syringe pens, test strips, glucometer , autolancet and medicines used for diabetes. A distinctive feature of such bags is their unique design, which practically excludes the possibility of mechanical damage to the device when dropped.
Each person is an individual, with a lifestyle inherent only to him, which is why the dosage of insulin should also be determined individually. In addition, every day of the patient is at least somewhat different from the previous one, therefore, the dosage of insulin may be different on different days. Based on this, the insulin therapy scheme must be tailored to the lifestyle of a particular person, and not vice versa.
Patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus are interested in: “Are there any other ways of administering insulin besides injections, for example, in the form of tablets?” Unfortunately, they are not available at the moment. Insulin is a protein hormone. Once in the stomach, it is digested (destroyed), which means that it can no longer perform its functions. Perhaps, over time, other methods of introducing insulin into the human body will be developed. Scientists around the world are currently working on other methods of administering insulin. But now it can only be administered by subcutaneous injection. For this, there are such special devices as syringe pens (for example, HumaPenLuxura , NovoPen 4), which minimize the discomfort associated with this procedure. It is necessary to store such syringe pens with insulin at a certain temperature regime (18-26 ° C), for which special covers have been developed for transporting and storing Frio’s insulin .